Welcome!

Launched in late October 2015, the Ventnor Community Fund and Endowment is a private initiative of regular citizens and business owners who thought about all that Ventnor could become. We asked some questions, and we think we found their answers.

The questions:

1. Is it mere good luck that creates high quality-of-life towns, or is it deliberate choice?
2. How can our town achieve dreams that excite many of us?
3. How do we avoid creating a nightmare of higher taxes to pay for the cost of dreams?
4. Who can a town count on to achieve its dreams and become its best self?

The answers:

1. Deliberate choice.
2. Less talk about others doing it for us, more Let’s Do It!
3. Private philanthropy – voluntary “voting with our dollars” to make projects happen.
4. Ourselves, the people with stakes in Ventnor. Let’s begin with us.

The Mission of the Community Fund is to build a bridge that links one side of a gap that finds most of us aspiring for improvements and amenities in our town, and the opposite side of tangibly achieving them. Public budgets have been unable to do it. The Ventnor Community Fund and Endowment is a charitable 501(c)3 endeavor. It operates as a public charity to improve Ventnor with two funds, as follows:

Online donations are made through a portal hosted by CFSJ for Ventnor Community Fund.

Projects Fund. This fund is devoted to current projects for which there is popular support as shown by private citizens expressing interest. Donations to that fund are intended to reach a funding goal and then be passed through to execute on specific improvement projects. You can donate online for projects through the Fund.

Endowment. The other fund is an endowment, or permanent fund. Donations to endowment are not spent in hand-to-mouth fashion but rather, invested and grown. A town the size of Ventnor should aim to build endowment of several million dollars, and put it to work to earn a stream of income. That income from investment can be spent to address future needs and opportunities. You may donate online to the Endowment.

Fund Advisors are homeowners, both full-time and seasonal, and business owners in Ventnor. The by-laws expressly prohibit advisors from holding employment with, or elective office in, the City of Ventnor. The reason is simple: the Fund seeks to distinguish its position as being of and from and for the private sector of homeowners, residents and businesses.

The Ventnor Community Fund and Endowment anticipates municipal government cooperation with its endeavors, but the Fund does not wish such cooperation to trigger any taxpayer burden. Privately raised funds donated to this effort will not be commingled with the public funds managed by Ventnor municipal government. Your donations are tax-deductible and 100% of your contributions will be used to support worthy causes in Ventnor.

An eventual revenue stream of income from invested Endowment is a resource that can be used to maintain the projects which Fund donations have financed. In the past, the city has been gifted significant improvements. Over time, the city has not maintained them.

All Ventnor stakeholders, regardless of employment, are welcome to participate on project committees which plan a specific project, calculate its cost, and move it forward to tangible achievement.

There’s a bridge to build and to cross – please join us in this next chapter of Ventnor’s journey.