Our Goals

The broadly stated goal of the Ventnor Community Fund and Endowment is to foster charitable giving by private individuals for public amenities and worthy objectives within the City of Ventnor and among its citizens and stakeholders. As part of this process, these are related goals:

Grow Endowment. The minimum amount required to “seed fund” an endowment at CFSJ is $10,000. This minimum amount was donated and deposited at CFSJ in October 2015 with a donation from the DeLuca Family Charitable Foundation, established in 2007 by members of a family with historic ties (since 1962) to Ventnor through ownership of a home in town. That donation was soon joined by further donations from several other generous Ventnor people named Rand, Pete, Barbara and Don. There have also been several $500 to $1,000 pledges to donate toward Endowment upon formal launch of the charitable endeavor. The first kernels of “seed corn” have been planted. All Ventnor stakeholders are invited to plant more kernels, no matter the size. The goal is to grow the endowed corpus to $1,000,000 as a triggering point at which investment yield will be applied to current needs. The long-term goal is to increase corpus into several million dollars so that it can produce an abundant harvest of annual income in perpetuity for Ventnor’s benefit.

Achieve Project-Funded Improvements. The proof that Ventnor is moving in the right direction will be to see the very tangible, physical signs of how donations to our Projects Fund are getting things done around town. New Titus Field playground equipment. Fencing, surfacing materials, paths, shade shelters, agility equipment at a Dog Park. Some native species plants and educational signage along new planned pathways through Ventnor West. Downtown Ventnor getting block-by-block sprucing up.

Engagement in community. A natural byproduct of a “big tent” community fund is that people get to know others in the same town. They broaden their circle of acquaintances.They deepen friendships through collaborative work to achieve shared dreams.

Three T’s + Three O’s. Time, Treasure, Talent + Optimism, Opportunities, Ownership. Any town which cultivates a giving spirit among people who donate the Three T’s imparts a return gift of the Three O’s. Optimism grows. Stakeholders become more alert to further opportunities to improve their town. Those who give get back a genuine sense of ownership and pride in their town. Such towns often find a fourth “T” reduced, and that is burdensome Taxation. Why? By encouraging the role that private resources can play in meeting the needs and wants of a town, a government of bare essentials and lower-cost is made possible.

Private money kept in private hands, managed by experienced people, applied to projects with true popular support. There is no better way to gauge if any project intended to benefit a town and its people has the genuine support of the residents it claims to serve than to allow people to “vote with their dollars” and their time, labor, and insights. Taxation is coercive demand; donation is voluntary invitation.

Network. Through affiliation with CFSJ and its much larger counterpart the Community Foundation of New Jersey, our further goal is to attract matching grants and donations from donor-advised funds within those larger entities which are compatible with the objectives of our own chosen projects. Grant-giving entities want to find recipients willing to meet them half-way. It is human nature to prize that which a person has worked to get. The level to which Ventnor’s private citizens rise on showing we "prize" any given project will set the bar for attracting other potential donors to join and help us achieve a goal turning project to reality.

What is YOUR dream for Ventnor? Share it with us and maybe it, too, can become a dream placed on the table for us to review and approve as a project / goal. Info@VentnorCommunityFund.org