Martha’s Vineyard Donors Collaborative

CONTACT:

P.O. Box 1018
West Tisbury, MA 02575
508-645-3690
www.mvdonors.org

Peter Temple, Executive Director

DESCRIPTION:

As with Nantucket (Cats’04-’06), the Vineyard’s year-round population of 15,000 swells to 80,000 during summers, and soaring real estate values and higher taxes have made it difficult for year-‘round residents to make ends meet. Cost of living is 60% above the national average, and 12% above Boston’s. Economic stress exacerbates social and public health problems such as substance abuse, domestic breakdown and violence. Many natives have been forced to leave, and their grown children have difficulty finding viable livings on-island. MVDC was founded in 2003 by philanthropists who noticed that charities’ revenues were not keeping pace with increasing costs and demands for services, so they promote philanthropy through donor-education, advocacy, and capacity-building among the charities themselves. Last year they produced an excellent short film narrated by Mike Wallace, for island movie theatres and cable television, showing how quality of life on the Vineyard depends on its philanthropic organizations. MVDC also publishes a bi-annual newsletter, op-ed pieces and letters to the editors, mailings to new home-owners, and a comprehensive online Directory of local charities. They facilitate e-giving, credit card, and donations of securities for small charities; offer two popular workshops annually on technical issues in philanthropic management and fundraising; and they have a much-used resource library with access to the Foundation Center’s online database of grantmakers. “We have created a real [philanthropic] community here, where none existed before, and we’re creating a growing awareness of its importance and needs. “One thing we DON’T do is publicly solicit funds for ourselves.” They are funded primarily by their own Board members and whatever donations happen to come their way. They do solicit funds for others—the Vineyard’s Community Foundation and for charities of the donors’ choices. The key to their success is their Board— knowledgeable (80% long-time major donors, officers and trustees of Vineyard and other charities) and deeply committed.

(2008: PROMOTING PHILANTHROPY: General)