Cultural Groups Vie for $20,000 Berkshire Bank Prize
Bank Promotes Web Site with Charitable Contest
By: Larry Murray - Dec 22, 2009
"It's strictly one person, one vote, and in just the first few weeks there have been 17,000 votes on our new website so far," says Fedelina Madrid, the Vice President for Marketing at Berkshire Bank. She is talking about one crazy idea, to let the people decide where some of the bank's charitable money will go. "The stakes are $20,000 in grant money, no strings attached other than the recipient has to be a recognized nonprofit with 501 (c) 3 status with the IRS," explains Peter Lafayette, Executive Director of the Berkshire Bank Foundation.
In a recent telephone conversation with the two brains behind this giveaway program, it was clear that, although separate entities, the Berkshire Bank and its Berkshire Bank Foundation are working closely together.
The usually circumspect Lafayette, and the idea-a-minute Madrid make an unusual team. She was excited to the hilt about making sure everyone knew that this was "the most exciting bank in the Berkshires" and its new website a landmark of innovation. The Foundation, on the other hand, prefers to keep a lower profile, making "good and prudent decisions about where our grant money is awarded," according to Lafayette. She soars with ideas to promote the bank's new website. He is the anchor who keeps them grounded in reality. Their partnership has created something quite new and different, while the community benefits.
It all started when the Berkshire Bank decided to upgrade its website. Branding itself as "America's Most Exciting Bank." Madrid wanted to do something special to mark the launch and get people to click through to it. She came up with the unusual, $20,000 Join the Excitement Grant, administered through its Berkshire Bank Foundation, in which community members can nominate their favorite charity.
"Normally, the Foundation awards about 40% of its grants to education, 30% to community development, and another 30% to cultural programs for youth," said Lafayette. "Programs that are right for us are like the Morningside Community School in Pittsfield where we have a special relationship through volunteers, mentoring and even putting up a new fence for their playground."
The Foundation has also been a key sponsor of the National Award Winning Playwright Mentoring Project at Barrington Stage Company. In 2008-9 it offered teens from North Adams, Lee and Pittsfield the hands on experience of writing a play and performing it before a SRO audience. "It was a great chance to see what makes it such a model educational opportunity," said Peter Lafayette. The Berkshire Bank Foundation has been a longtime supporter of the program.
These programs were funded under traditional guidelines, available on the Foundation's website. The new one-time grant promotion is different.
Instead of proposals and applications, it will instead award four $5,000 grants to local non-profits, one in each of the regions in which the Bank operates. This includes Berkshire and Hampden/Hampshire counties in Massachusetts, eastern New York, and southern Vermont. The grants will be awarded to the non-profit in each of those four regions that receives the highest number of votes.
Local cultural organizations are taking it seriously, too. Through their newsletters and social networking sites, many groups are actively courting votes. The Berkshire Theatre Festival, for example, featured it in their online newsletter. It asked its fans to "please forward this information to everyone you know as every vote really does count. Thank you so much for your continued support of Berkshire Theatre Festival."
Competition for the grants is intense, for the bank's area of interest is regional, and the eligible organizations are not just culture and the arts, but include education, social, health and community based groups as well. Winning this nonprofit popularity contest is not the only way for organizations to receive grants and contributions from the Berkshire Bank Foundation in 2010.
The bank, headquartered in Pittsfield, is large and homegrown, with $2.7 billion in assets and 46 branches throughout the area. Each year its Foundation gives out an average of a million dollars in grant money. It is clear that this is more than just another bank, but one with a deep commitment to the well being of its community. In an age where consolidation has resulted in large financial institutions out of touch with the grass roots, the bank continues to have a significant impact on the continued health of the Berkshire region. For more information, visit www.berkshirebank.com or call 800-773-5601.
"We are really excited about our new Web site, said Michael P. Daly, President and CEO of Berkshire Bank. The new features were designed with our customers in mind. The Join the Excitement Grant is just the beginning of many new the exciting online programs we have planned."
Customers and non-customers alike are invited to visit the Bank's web site and nominate a nonprofit for a Join the Excitement Grant.
The voting is open to the pubic through January 31, 2010 at www.jointheexcitment.com and the winners will be announced February 15, 2010.
Not everything the bank does to help out has to do with money. The bank also supports a community volunteers program in which half of the bank's regular employees take part each year.
The Berkshire Bank Foundation's most intense focus remains on its Cultural Enrichment Program which benefits schools, cultural organizations and the community, all at the same time. Further reading on this fine initiative: Community Enrichment Program