The Grahams: Meeting Community Needs

When Suzy and John Graham established the their fund at the Foundation, they chose to make it an Unrestricted Fund so that it could meet the region’s most pressing needs-now and forever. As a Trustee of the Foundation, Suzy knew that the organizations working to meet local needs faced funding challenges, and also that the Foundation was pivotal in assessing which of those organizations were most qualified to receive grant funds. “We had never heard of so many of the organizations,” she says. “Nor did we have the expertise to assess their ability to succeed. But we knew that the Foundation-with its tremendous resources of talent-did.” The Grahams also wanted to give the Foundation the flexibility to meet future needs-whatever they might be. “Because our fund is unrestricted, it can be used for the best possible good in the community-now and always. In this way, we hope to help the Foundation accomplish its goals.”