Tompkins Today and Tomorrow Endowment Fund for Grantmaking

Tompkins Today & Tomorrow Initiative 

In late 2024, a group of local advisors and volunteers embarked on the meaningful first steps to grow the Tompkins Today & Tomorrow Endowment, quietly and intentionally laying the groundwork for an initiative that will strengthen our community’s future. These dedicated committee leaders and advisors continue to bring deep expertise, broad relationships, and genuine passion for Tompkins County. 

With the unanimous endorsement of the Community Foundation board of directors, and generous early support from a number of our most enthusiastic donors, the Community Foundation launched a special fundraising initiative to build the endowment. We invite you to join this historic undertaking! 

The Community Foundation can do so much more with your help.  

Your investment in the Tompkins Today & Tomorrow Endowment will grow a permanent source of grantmaking, mobilizing more resources to empower nonprofits and enrich more lives throughout Tompkins County. Now and for every generation to come. 

The Tompkins Today & Tomorrow Initiative was publicly announced on June 30th at the Annual Celebration at the State Theatre to a crowd of 200 community members. The Initiative leaders set an ambition goal of raising $4M. As of June 30th, we have reached 186 donors, and the Initiative has raised more than $2.9 million.  

In 2026, help us reach 250 donors to unlock up to $50,000 in donations from a local family, whose challenge was issued to encourage wider community participation.

Bold Action. Big Steps. Donate Today!

Take a look at our 2025 Annual Report AND our Tompkins Today & Tomorrow brochure HERE

Initiative Leadership 

In addition to oversight by Community Foundation’s Board of Directors and staff, the following individuals provided invaluable contributions to building the TTT Endowment: 

Leaders 

Frank Kruppa, Jim Mazza, Susan Murphy, Marybeth Tarzian 

Advisors 

Christine Barksdale, Tom Bruce, Janice Conrad, Caroline Cox, Jonathan Culler, Stamie Despo, John Foote, Sarah Johnson, Ann Martin, Alan Mathios, Alice Moore 

Ambassadors 

Dante Acquavella, Jeremiah Craig, Aly Evans, Millie Clarke-Maynard, Jason Pomeroy, Don Manuel Presents, Frank Towner

Why an endowment matters 

An endowment is a designated pool of assets that is prudently invested. While the corpus of the endowment remains invested in perpetuity, each year a portion of the earnings from the endowment, as determined by the Community Foundation’s board of directors, is distributed. A competitive grant process overseen by professional staff and a team of local volunteers determines the grants made annually to local nonprofits and services organizations.  

Unlike nearly every community foundation in the United States, which were launched with significant endowments from their very beginning, Community Foundation of Tompkins County was established without an endowment gift. Increasing the size of the Foundation’s grantmaking endowment will provide a source of stable, permanent funding to supplement annual gifts and grants from donor-advised and field-of-interest funds. 

Increasing the size of the Foundation’s grantmaking endowment will provide a source of stable, permanent funding to address the needs of Tompkins County. In an ever-changing political landscape, the grants from the TTT Endowment are awarded where they are needed most, as determined by community members’ assessments of applications from nonprofits. A larger Tompkins Today & Tomorrow Endowment will help to ensure that support will be there when needed for the unpredictable twists and turns. 

“It’s important that we, as local residents, keep an eye on our local community to keep it as healthy as we can,” says Susan Murphy, one of the leaders of the endowment initiative and a former board chair. “The Community Foundation serves as both a hub and catalyst for the community. It convenes conversations, identifies needs and opportunities, and offers support.” 

You can help 

Gifts of all sizes to the Tompkins Today & Tomorrow Endowment Initiative are welcome and payable over three years. Gifts of cash, real estate, securities, donor-advised funds, qualified charitable distributions build the endowment immediately; certain planned gifts, such as future gifts from your will, retirement assets, or irrevocable trusts will help over time. Note: gifts to enhance or create new field of interest funds also will count towards this initiative. 

Donate now!  

For more information, please contact: 

Steph Bailey, Vice President for Development, sbailey@cftompkins.org 

George P. Ferrari, Jr., President, gferrari@cftompkins.org 

Or call 607.272.9333