Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund

Neil Tillotson’s philosophy was simple: “Be humble, be creative and be kind.”

When he passed away in 2001 at 102, he left the bulk of his assets for charitable purposes. His wife Louise established the donor-advised Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund at the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation in 2006. The fund is one of the largest permanent rural philanthropies in the country. It is guided by a local advisory committee and distributes more than $3.5 million annually. Since 2006, more than $41 million has been awarded to organizations in Coös County and surrounding regions.

It was a bold strike. And it was an act of creativity and kindness for a region that needed both.

The vision of the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund is “to serve as a resource for the people of Coös County and neighboring communities in New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont and southern Québec to forge their own pathways to well-being and cultivate a region that thrives.” The Tillotson Fund serves as a stable and consistent source of support for the people of the region to:

• Create and enhance opportunity;
• Preserve and uplift the historical and cultural assets that make the region unique;
• Hold the confidence and capabilities to foster strong communities and healthy rural landscapes.

The Tillotsons had wide interests and global connections. In addition to the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund, the Foundation manages the Louise Tillotson Teaching Fellowship, the Neil and Louise Tillotson Scholarship Fund, the Coaticook (Québec) Region Fund, Hereford Forest Fund, Dixville Cemetery Fund and the Tillotson Guatemala Fund.

Each year, The Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund awards more than $3.5 million in grants to support economic development, education and community safety net programs that focus on the people in Coös County, NH and communities in New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont and the MRC De Coaticook in Québec, Canada that share a border with Coös County.

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