In just a few weeks, New Canaan’s major local philanthropic organization and host to several unique human services-related programs has received a very strong response in its search for a new president and CEO.
Since Cynthia Gorey stepped down June 30 as head of the New Canaan Community Foundation, the nonprofit organization has interviewed four candidates for the important position, including people who live locally and across the nation, according to Diane Hanauer, a past board member who is leading the search committee.
NCCF has “made huge inroads over the last several years since our merger with United Way—we really feel like we are well-positioned in town to go to the next level and we’re for leader who can take us there,” Hanauer told NewCanaanite.com.
“The next level of fundraising, next level of partnership in the community, next level of education and information-sharing. Cynthia did a great job bringing us where we are—literally from starting with three cardboard boxes in the trunk of a car—to where we are today, and we are ready.”
Those who are interested in the position—a full description can be found here—should contact the search committee as soon as possible at careers@newcanaancf.org.
In 14 years under Gorey, who left to take a position with a private boys’ school in Fairfield, NCCF developed into a local hub of philanthropy. It grew from controlling about $3 million in assets in three or four separate funds to more than $16 million in nearly 40 separate funds. For the last several years, NCCF has distributed more than $1 million in annual grants, officials say.
The search committee in casting its net posted the job to its own website as well as philanthropy- and fundraising-specific sites and larger job search boards such as Indeed.com, Hanauer said.
The response was immediate and “we are actively engaged in talking to people, some really great candidates,” she said.
Because NCCF has stellar staff members in place and a highly engaged board, there’s no special hurry or timetable in place to find the organization’s next president and CEO, Hanauer said.
“This is about finding the right person,” she said.
Cynthia Gorey, the original director of the New Canaan Community Foundation, is responsible for putting the Foundation on firm footing financially, for establishing it as the most efficient and trustworthy repository for charitable giving funds and for executing the highest standards of grant making, scholarship offering and overall management. The Foundation has helped tens of thousands of people indirectly through grants to NGO’s in the area and through several millions in college scholarships for local students to have a better life and better opportunities. The New Canaan community can be justly proud of this remarkable foundation, and it deserves our full support. Cynthia Gorey has been there from the get-go, deserves much of the credit and will be missed. Thank you, Cynthia.