A Foundation and a City: The Parker Foundation in 2008
The Parker Foundation focuses its grantmaking exclusively on Lowell, the fourth largest city in Massachusetts. Lowell was established in 1826 as the first planned industrial city in America. With the decline of the textile industry, followed by the decline of high tech, it experienced an economic depression throughout much of the 20th century. Inspired civic leadership and an influx of immigrant population (including the second largest Cambodian population in America) have given the city a new life. A recent positive development has been the growth of a creative economy, spearheaded by the relocation of numerous artists to the city.
As has been true for most foundations, the economic turmoil of 2008 presented the trustees with difficult decisions. The grants payout of $861,865 was somewhat lower than in the previous four years, when the foundation easily exceeded its five percent payout requirement. With less money in hand, the trustees reconsidered their approach to basic human services, and made a number of pure anti-poverty grants. Among these was a grant of more than $100,000 to Community Teamwork, Inc. to provide fuel assistance and weatherization services for families in Lowell who live just above the federal poverty level and are therefore ineligible for federal assistance. This grant has been effective even in a year when the cost of heating oil escalated to record levels and then crashed within a matter of months.
In the field of the arts and economic development, the Foundation made two notable grants through the nonprofit Cultural Organization of Lowell (www.cultureiscool.org), a close affiliate to the newly created City Office of Cultural Affairs and Special Events. The Parker Foundation provided leadership support for a “What’s Up in Lowell?” campaign on WGBH Radio, to alert the Greater Boston community to the city’s many cultural and entertainment opportunities. It was also instrumental in launching the first Massachusetts Poetry Festival some of state’s most prominent poets and held in Lowell in October 2008. This recurring event has the significance of being the only statewide poetry festival in the US, and with the demise of the Geraldine Dodge Foundation’s national poetry festival, the only large-scale poetry festival in the country.
Newell Flather is president of the foundation’s board of trustees, which includes Andrew Bailey, Karen Carpenter, and Thomas Leggat. In 2008, the Parker Foundation experienced a major transformation of its governance when the trustees appointed an advisory board as a way of preparing for an eventual leadership transition. The new members, all with strong connections to Lowell, include D.J. Donahue, an investment specialist, Luis Pedroso, a local business and philanthropic leader, and Sophy Theam, a banker and former Parker Foundation Fellow.
The Parker Foundation is staffed at GMA by Phil Hall and Kirstie David. During the year, the trustees were also pleased to appoint Doeun Kol as the new Foundation Fellow. Where today none of Parker’s staff or trustees live or work in Lowell full-time, its fellows help the foundation stay in touch with local developments. The Parker Fellowship was established in 1998 to provide exposure to the field of philanthropy to young people of talent living in Lowell, and to serve as an information resource for the trustees and staff.