2007 ANNUAL REPORT

The Montclair Foundation continues to be vital resource in our community, both through the Van Vleck House & Gardens and the Foundation’s management of an endowment that provides community grants for Montclair and its environs.

The Foundation’s year ending June 30, 2007 was a successful one.  The principal investment accounts overseen by the Foundation’s Board of Trustees reached a combined value of $4.9 million, an increase of 15.1% from the prior year.  This reflects generous contributions and good investment results even as we have improved our property’s programming and maintenance and maintained a healthy grants program.  It also reflects the receipt of a generous new bequest from the Wilhelmina Watson family.       

In its 2007 fiscal year, the Foundation awarded $88,000 in grants to not-for-profit organizations and social agencies that serve the Montclair area. 

The Van Vleck House & Gardens (owned by the Foundation and operated for the welfare and enjoyment of the general public by the Van Vleck Board of Management) also completed a successful year.  The “Friends of Van Vleck” program recorded increased membership, new volunteers have gotten involved and fundraising to support the gardens and its programs have set new records.  Special events, such as the annual “Deck the Halls” holiday reception, spring plant sale and Roses-to-Rock-Gardens tour raised more than $100,000 to support the House & Gardens.

The Foundation trustees, its Board of Management and its staff and generous volunteers are finding new and innovative ways to realize the vision of our donors who understood the unique value of a community resource like the Montclair Foundation, both as a trustee of funds managed for the long-term support of our community’s needs and as the steward of an historic property open to public and non-profit use.

Jerry Raymond Chairman