Lloyd Center’s Transforming A Legacy Campaign receives foundation grants
The Lloyd Center’s Capital Campaign, Transforming A Legacy, has received three generous foundation grants to support its educational programs and facilities improvements. The Bafflin Foundation has given the Center $25,000 to assist with site improvements in keeping with the lifetime efforts of Lois Orswell to “support plants and the earth”.
Through the Community Foundation of Southeastern Massachusetts, the Acushnet Foundation Fund has committed $25,000 to be paid over the next five years in support of “efforts that safeguard the environment”. And also through their donor-advised fund at the Community Foundation, the Henry H. Crapo Foundation Fund has allocated a total of $25,000 over five years to the Center’s campaign as “an educational and charitable project (serving) New Bedford and neighboring towns.”
In its applications to these foundations, the Lloyd Center explained that it was undertaking the first-ever capital campaign in its 36-year history with a goal of $3M. $1.5M will fund future programs and the needed endowment increases to support them. In 2009, the Center’s Board of Directors committed to providing programming to under-served schools and districts even when economic constraints made them unable to pay. This commitment has required that the Lloyd Center raise the necessary program funds through private and foundation sources which has burdened the annual operating budget. In order to assure financial stability, the Center’s Finance Committee has developed a carefully-crafted plan to increase revenues over five years.
The second $1.5M of the Transforming a Legacy campaign will enable the Lloyd Center to embark on a new level of institutional development which will bring the environmental quality of its facilities into balance with the excellence of its environmental education programs and research. The current Lloyd Center buildings are inadequate to support its core functions and increasing environmental education demands. The existing access arrangement must also be improved to provide adequate space for buses and cars to turn around, park, and unload visitors of all ages safely. Current access conditions also limit appropriate provisions for disabled visitors and will become increasingly challenging with the Center’s continued growth.
A $1.5M expansion and renovation project will upgrade facilities and access to correspond to and expand the excellence of the environmental programs. A “restorative” new building, the Welcome Center will be the first in southern New England to showcase how a building can generate rather than consume energy. Renovation of the existing headquarters to passive house standards will illustrate how environmentally conscious improvements can actually make older buildings healthier and more efficient. A new 600-square-foot waterfront pavilion built into the natural environment of the woods along the Slocum River will offer a handicap accessible, open-air learning structure and a shelter in inclement weather. Low-impact site development with roadway and parking improvements will highlight the processes involved in and positive outcomes of ecologically sensitive changes.
The Lloyd Center is grateful that these foundations have recognized that the renovations, additional facilities, and enriched educational programming, will enhance the mission and extraordinary success of the Lloyd Center and have a direct impact on the communities served. Strengthening the Center’s environmental education superiority, every building and up-grade will be an additional teaching tool inspiring the Center’s diverse clientele, young and old, to become knowledgeable environmental advocates and stewards.