“It has been a true honor to lead CFT these past six years. I am proud of what we have achieved towards building a better community and strengthening Texas education. Our extensive progress has been a collective effort through our amazing staff and our dynamic Board of Trustees, in collaboration with our many partners. CFT is uniquely well-positioned to build on this momentum and continue this path, driving greater impact across our community, our state, and on behalf of Texas students.” – Dave Scullin
“We extend sincere gratitude to Dave for his incredible service and leadership to CFT and our community. We congratulate him on a renowned and influential career and know that his profound impact on this organization and our work in the North Texas region will be apparent for many years to come,” said Alfreda Norman, chair of CFT’s Board of Trustees.
Dave will continue his leadership role at CFT through March 3 to facilitate an orderly transition, while the board of trustees initiates a national search for a new president and CEO.
CFT’s Board Chair-Elect, Richie Butler, has been named chair of the search committee, with efforts currently underway to select an executive recruitment firm partner.
“Dave has presided over a period of unprecedented growth and transformation at Communities Foundation of Texas. We are deeply grateful for his leadership, dedication, and vision, and for what he has done to boost the power of philanthropy across our region,” said Butler.
During the six years of Dave’s tenure as President and CEO, CFT has substantially increased in scale and effectiveness. As a hallmark priority, Dave established CFT as A Place Where Talent Thrives, focused on the attraction, development, and retention of outstanding employee leaders to maximize the organization’s community impact.
“Dave’s leadership has inspired staff to add their own unique value across their various areas of expertise in alignment with our vision of a thriving community for all,” added Norman. “The result has been growth not only in giving and grantmaking, but CFT’s impact has also become more meaningful, measurable, and enduring.”
This impact is evidenced by the following key organizational accomplishments under Dave’s leadership:
- Annual gifts received saw a 118% increase to over $205 million in 2022.
- 2022 grantmaking to nonprofits has grown by 57% to reach a record high of more than $165 million.
- In response to stakeholder services demand, CFT’s annual program and services operations, particularly Educate Texas, have tripled to $51 million and staff has grown by 76% to 139 employees, making CFT one of the largest and most impactful of nearly 800 community foundations across the country.
- From March 2020 – March 2022, during the COVID-19 pandemic, CFT mobilized more than $375 million for nonprofits in collaboration and leadership with donors and partner funding organizations. This was primarily accomplished through North Texas Cares (a collaborative of 30+ partners), three Giving Days, gifts from CFT’s donor-advised fund holders, and through the deployment of nine separate COVID-19 relief funds.
- North Texas Giving Day has become the nation’s largest single day of community-wide giving; this year pumping $62.6 million into more than 3,000 local nonprofits, from 94,000 donors in North Texas, plus all 50 states and over 40 countries. This result represents a 69% increase over the past 6 years and brings the total dollars raised for our community through North Texas Giving Day to more than $500 million.
- CFT significantly expanded and accelerated the impact of its consultancy and advocacy initiative, Educate Texas, as a trusted change agent to strengthen K12 and higher education in Texas. Educate Texas is focused on increasing academic achievement and educational equity by leading programs, policy, and partnerships to reach over 2.5 million students statewide across 400 campuses and 250+ school districts, colleges and universities with its innovative work concentrated on the goal of increasing the number of students earning a degree or credentials toward a living wage.
- Dave broadened CFT’s strategic plan to incorporate the need to advance equity across the community. A formal Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiative was created, which established a DEI framework, including the appointment of a Chief Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer as a direct report, to ensure equity would become embedded in CFT’s work both internally and externally in the community.
Please join us in our deep appreciation for Dave’s continued leadership in support of our community and in our congratulations as he embarks on a new chapter in spring 2023.
About Dave Scullin
Dave Scullin joined CFT as President and CEO in January 2017 after a 40-year career with two major global firms, Deloitte and Arthur Andersen, where he served as a strategic advisor to Fortune 500 clients with an extensive network in the North Texas community and beyond.
Prior to joining CFT, Scullin was recognized as a top partner, holding multiple leadership roles over his career, including managing partner, lead client service partner for major global clients, industry leader, and creator of Deloitte’s nationally recognized North Texas CFO Forum.
Read this in My Sweet Charity, The Dallas Morning News article and interview with Dave, Dallas Business Journal, Dallas Innovates, and People Papers.
About Communities Foundation of Texas
The mission of Communities Foundation of Texas (CFT) is to improve the lives of all people in our community by investing in their health, wealth, living, and learning. CFT works to accomplish this by growing community giving, expanding community impact, and advancing community equity. With a vision of building thriving communities for all, CFT works locally and across the state with many individuals, families, companies, foundations, and nonprofits through a variety of charitable funds and strategic grantmaking initiatives. CFT professionally manages more than 1,200 charitable funds and has awarded more than $2.4 billion in grants since its founding in 1953.
CFT is committed to serving and understanding donor needs, expertly handling complex gifts, wisely managing charitable funds, and leveraging its community knowledge to increase charitable impact, in addition to powering several initiatives including the W. W. Caruth, Jr. Fund at CFT, CFT for Business, Educate Texas, Emerging Leaders in Philanthropy, GiveWisely, and CFT’s North Texas Giving Day. CFT’s North Texas Giving Day raised nearly $63 million on a single day in 2022 to help over 3,000 North Texas nonprofits. Learn more at www.CFTexas.org.
