The percentage of income that Connecticut residents donated to charity in 2012 was the sixth lowest of the 50 states, but up from 2006, according to a report by nonprofit industry journal The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
Connecticut residents gave 2.34 percent of gross adjusted income, which is income minus some expenses, retirement contributions and other deductions. That was up from 2.25 percent in 2006.
Though the state’s giving ratio ranks 45th in the country, the total amount given — $3.07 billion — is the 20th highest of the 50 states and second highest in New England.
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The Aetna Foundation awarded a $100,000 grant to The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp to support programs for children and families coping with sickle-cell disease. The programs include summer camp sessions and family retreat weekends at the Camp’s facility in Ashford, as well as visits to children hospitalized throughout the Northeast.
The grant also serves to support the Camp’s ongoing research and evaluation efforts, allowing the organization to better understand the impact of its programming on families.Â
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YMCA Camp Chase received a $3,500 grant from The Lily Palmer Fry Memorial Trust in support of youth programs that promote personal growth in the areas of caring, honesty, respect and responsibility. Camp Chase provides its campers with team and relationship building with peers and adult mentors, daily recreational and enrichment activities that promote personal growth, and swim lessons to combat the recent rise in accidental youth drowning rates.
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West Hartford’s New Children’s Museum recently announced the departure of its President and CEO Robert Griesmer. As CEO of the museum, Griesmer was influential in redefining the role the museum played in the community, and creating a learning laboratory for the region’s children.
His operations expertise helped the organization increase its 2013 revenues. Griesmer will be moving to Virginia where he will take the role of CEO at the Virginia Air and Space Center.
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Billings Forge Community Works recently received a three-year, $180,000 grant from the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving to help Hartford youth and their families learn how to choose, grow and prepare healthy food.
These funds will allow Billings Forge to expand its farm-to-table youth programming, which builds on its core areas of expertise — cooking, urban gardening, and social enterprises through interaction with its farmers’ market and cafes and diverse teaching staff.
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The TD Charitable Foundation, the charitable giving arm of TD Bank, has awarded The American School for the Deaf $7,500 in support of ASD’s Comprehensive Literacy Initiative. The program is designed to provide students in pre-K-12th grade the necessary support services to address their complex literacy challenges and unique learning styles.
