Saving the Bay and so much more

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s mission is straightforward: Save the Bay. However, that mission can mean different things to people depending on where they live, said John Rodenhausen, Maryland Director of Major Giving at The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF). That’s why, said Rodenhausen, CBF looks at the Bay’s ecosystem as a whole. That view can also be applied to community giving, he said.

“When I think about reaching donors in our region, I feel like the community foundation does a job similar to what we’re doing in that they look at the entire ecosystem of philanthropy. We want to be a part of that,” said Rodenhausen about why CBF established an agency endowment fund with the Community Foundation of Anne Arundel County (CFAAC).

At first, Rodenhausen was uncertain how he could approach CBF’s leadership to establish the fund. “As a nonprofit, we are used to bringing money into our organization and here I was asking leadership to send money out of the organization,” he said. “However, the more we talked about establishing an agency endowment fund with CFAAC, the more we saw the benefits. We understand that it’s a long-range investment and I think the reputation of the community foundation gave us the confidence to say this is something that will be good for the community and hopefully, for water quality in our region.”

Rodenhausen believes the power of the endowment is a sign of organization maturity. “It shows that you’ve been around long enough that people have confidence in your organization and they want to see you stay around for a long time,” he said. “Endowments in general are something that we [CBF] certainly value. The opportunity to expand that endowment into the community foundation will continue to bring the philanthropic interest of the community in a way that it will improve water quality and bring us all together.”

Rodenhausen said that the benefits of creating an agency endowment fund with CFAAC are numerous, including the management of paperwork, the ability to reach donors who he might not be able to access, and the capacity to generate awareness. Creating awareness of CBF is especially important since the CBF has the lofty goals of planting 10 billion oysters in the Bay, planting 10 million trees in Pennsylvania, and reaching a million new people and getting them to take action.

“We want to make sure everybody knows that these are real possible goals but we can only do it with the involvement of a lot of people,” he said. “Working with a community hub such as CFAAC, is a great way to go about it. I see the broad impact that CFAAC has and they really bring the fabric of the community together.”