December 29, 2016
What a year!
2016 has been a big year for Communities Foundation of Texas! We had a record-breaking North Texas Giving Day, once again helping pump millions of dollars into the nonprofits of our area. We’ve had talks given by nationally-recognized financial experts and an NPR science correspondent.
Between Freedom Day, our annual Family Service Project and year-round volunteer projects, CFT and partner companies have given over 6300 volunteer hours back to the community.
We started the CFT Advisor Connection, a newsletter for professional advisors, we launched the North Texas network of the Working Families Success model, and with our partners at Commit! and United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, we’ve begun our fourth Data Driven Decision-Making class, this time focused on Education-Oriented Nonprofits.
Our donors granted over $43.5 million this year to the nonprofit causes, schools and religious institutions that they care most about. Add that to the $1.3 million in scholarships that were given out this year, and our donors are right to be proud of the difference they’ve helped make this year.
Educate Texas took a delegation of business leaders and school and college representatives from Texas on an eye-opening trip to Singapore, a country who is consistently at the forefront of international education rankings, to discover what we can do to make our schools and teachers better.
The W.W. Caruth, Jr. Foundation made several game-changing grants to fund projects that will help transform North Texas and beyond, including bringing City Year to Dallas Independent School District, supporting a longitudinal research study within UT Southwestern’s Center for Depression and Mood Management, and funding ACT to increase community engagement and reduce crime in high-poverty neighborhoods in West and South Dallas.
In Dallas we have endured unimaginable heartache and transformed it into a dedication to talk about and work on the issues that divide us. We’ve grown, we’ve said good-bye, we’ve laughed and we’ve shed tears. At CFT we said good-bye to one President/CEO and hello to another. As we close the book on 2016 let’s remember what we’ve done, what we’ve accomplished and what we’ve learned.
From where we stand, 2017's future looks brighter than ever.