The South Mountain Partnership (SMP) is excited to announce a new collaboration with The Foundation for Enhancing Communities (TFEC). SMP is launching the Friends of South Mountain Partnership – a Project of The Foundation for Enhancing Communities, fiscal sponsor, that allows for membership and tax deductible donations to further the cause of the partnership.
The SMP is a regional, landscape-scale conservation project in south-central Pennsylvania launched in 2006 to envision and secure a sustainable future for the South Mountain landscape. TFEC was established in 1920 as The Greater Harrisburg Foundation as an organization “to support community members seeking to create long-lasting, meaningful impact.” TFEC handles donated assets and creates permanent funds, investment, and grantmaking for the benefit of local nonprofits in the region, and inspires giving by partnering with donors to achieve their charitable goals, and strengthens our local communities by investing in them now, and for future generations.
Janet Pollard, Executive Director of the Franklin County Visitors Bureau and a member of the SMP Leadership Committee said that “The Foundation For Enhancing Communities opens a new door for the South Mountain Partnership by bringing more exposure to its work and vastly increasing the Partnership’s relationship-building capacity through the Friends Group, while growing recognition throughout southcentral PA.”
“I am thrilled to launch the Friends of the South Mountain Partnership for many reasons, one of which is financial,” said SMP Director, Katie Hess. “To ensure the partnership is a resilient and powerful force for good in our region, our Friends group will start by offering memberships and securing tax deductible donations from interested individuals and businesses, and will soon launch a corporate sponsorship program. Our first and only consistent source of funding since 2006 has come from competitive grants submitted for the Commonwealth’s Environmental Stewardship Fund through Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. However, that special fund is consistently threatened for redistribution into Pennsylvania’s general fund during annual budget negotiations. Residents in our region deserve more investment, not less, and we will continue to help attract sustainable investment to the region.”
“Another reason is embodied by our tag line of ‘one million people, one future.’ The future quality of life and wealth of our children and communities depends on the work that we do right now to conserve our landscape resources, create vibrant communities, share a common sense of place, and collaborate on well-planned growth and sustainable economic development. We will continue to come together to build community and investments that are based on this region’s natural strengths and carried out in sustainable ways.”
If you are interested in learning more about the Friends of the South Mountain Partnership and how you can provide tax free support to the organization, please visit https://southmountainpartnership.org/friends-of-south-mountain.