What We’re Up To

New Hampshire Tomorrow

The Foundation is investing in four proven focus areas to increase opportunity for New Hampshire’s kids — from cradle to career.

• Turning hurt into hope

  Network of Child Advocacy Centers around the state provide a child-centered, consolidated approach to help children at the center of abuse allegations.

• Progress for the youngest among us

  In recent years, the Charitable Foundation has made investments that helped push statewide policy change and funding, build coalitions and secure significant federal dollars to help improve outcomes for young children. Christina Lachance, who had been leading that work, has now taken the helm as director of the New Hampshire Council For Thriving Children.

• Mentoring organizations adapt to keep supporting kids

  The support that mentoring programs provide to young people may be more critical than ever during this time of social isolation. These nonprofits have met the moment with tenacity and creativity to keep mentors connected with the kids who rely on them.

Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund

One of the largest permanent rural philanthropies in the U.S. is strengthening communities and spreading economic opportunity.

• Meet Sonya Salanti

  Sonya Salanti of Bethlehem has joined the Charitable Foundation as director of the Neil and Louise Tillotson Funds. She talked to the Foundation’s Lois Shea about the joy of applying her skills in the place where she lives, the Tillotson Funds’ work during COVID – and how volunteering to park cars in the rain helped connect her to her new hometown.

• Trail Finder put trails — and local businesses — on the map

  Trail Finder puts up-to-date, trail-manager-sourced information for multiple outdoor activities at users' fingertips, along with information about local businesses — from inns to bike shops to breweries. Grants from the Foundation's Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund are supporting the service.

• NH Legal Assistance sees increasing demand for services

  The ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic mean an increase in need for services from the nonprofit that represents people in civil cases. Unlike in criminal cases, litigants in civil court have no guarantee of counsel, even when their homes, economic stability or personal safety are on the line. That is where New Hampshire Legal Assistance comes in. A grant from the Foundation's Community Crisis Action Fund is helping meet the need.

Substance Use Disorders Portfolio

The Foundation has made a long-term commitment to reduce substance use among New Hampshire youth.

• Using telemedicine to deliver on the mission

  Nonprofit community health centers and recovery support centers around the state have quickly implemented telemedicine technology to continue to safely deliver critical services. Grants from the Community Crisis Action Fund have connected them with the computers, cameras, software, improved wifi and cell phones to make it happen.

• Remembering Charlie DeGrandpre

  Longtime Charitable Foundation board member and regional advisor helped to structure charitable gift that has made a significant difference for people struggling with substance use disorder in New Hampshire.

• A call to the edge

  A new report shows that New Hampshire has the second-highest rate, per capita, of children who are affected by their parents' opioid misuse. Tym Rourke, director of the Charitable Foundation's "New Hampshire Tomorrow" initiative, on how we all have the opportunity to help make sure these children have the chance to succeed.

Wellborn Ecology Fund

The Wellborn Ecology Fund is dedicated to increasing environmental and ecological science knowledge in the Upper Valley.

• Helping schools pivot to outdoor learning

  As schools began to close this past spring, educators across the state scrambled to figure out how to keep teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Programs supported by the Wellborn Ecology Fund have been helping schools move to more outdoor instruction for years, and more schools are now making "outdoor classrooms" a regular part of the school day.

• Chipmunk Game Theory 101

  The latest installment of "The Outside Story," sponsored by the Wellborn Ecology Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, explains how eastern chipmunks have evolved to be energy maximizers, seeking to strike the optimal balance between energy gain per cheek-pouch load of food and number of trips back to the burrow.

• Nearly $300,000 in grants will support place-based ecology education

  The Wellborn Ecology Fund of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation supports place-based ecology education in the Upper Valley region of New Hampshire and Vermont