Medfield Foundation helps generate $1.3M for nonprofits

Slightly more than a decade after its creation, a volunteer-run organization known as the Medfield Foundation has facilitated the raising of more than $1.3 million for roughly 20 local nonprofit entities.

A key benefit of the program is that it spares volunteer groups from the cumbersome process of creating a 501(c) 3 nonprofit entity on their own, according to Medfield Selectman Osler “Pete” Peterson. And because the Medfield Foundation’s overhead has remained low – the only notable expenses are insurance and accounting – only 1 percent of the money that individual groups raise goes to cover administrative costs.

The Medfield Foundation “facilitates a lot of things that are at the edges,” said Peterson, an original member of the organization’s steering committee. “This is about getting things done that otherwise might not happen.”

Peterson said that the foundation has been especially useful for raising money for school-related projects that don’t fit neatly into any school budget category, such as improvements to the football stadium. One fund, called “Field of Dreams,” raised $600,000 for synthetic turf; a second collected $175,000 for bleachers.

Other organizations under the Medfield Foundation umbrella include the annual “Medfield Night” fireworks; a neighborhood art gallery; a college-scholarship fund; the local Medical Reserve Corps unit; a Council on Aging bus-transit program for seniors; and “Fest Fund,” which enables the Parks and Recreation Commission to host concerts by teenage musicians.

The Medfield Foundation also honors outstanding volunteers, many of whom are teenagers, Peterson said.

When the foundation was created in 2001, it was touted as a means of alleviating the town’s reliance on property taxes. Peterson described the average annual tax increase over the past decade of 2.6 percent as relatively modest, given that three new schools were constructed during that period.

For more about the Medfield Foundation, visit www.medfieldfoundation.org.