BCF Reports Change In Board Leadership
The Bermuda Community Foundation [BCF] has announced Board leadership succession with the appointment of Michael Schrum as new Chair of its Board of Directors.
A spokesperson said, “Mr Schrum, a senior banking executive, has served as Treasurer of the BCF for the past five years and takes on his new position on February 1. He succeeds Peter Durhager who has led the BCF since its inception.
“Mr Schrum, Group Chief Financial Officer of the Bank of NT Butterfield, is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales with more than 20 years of banking and financial experience in New York, London and Bermuda. He is also the Honorary Danish Consul in Bermuda.”
Michael Schrum [New Chair], Myra Virgil and Peter Durhager:
A statement from the Board of Directors said, “We’d like to thank Peter Durhager for his dedication to the BCF since its creation. He has done an outstanding job for the organisation, which, as we observe our fifth anniversary of operation on 31 January 2019, is an internationally accredited community foundation. This effectively represents ‘the end of the beginning’ for the BCF; we have transitioned from an idea to a viable entity. In our next chapter we will continue to build and strengthen the BCF’s endowment to support the crucial work of Bermuda’s third sector.
“Our focus remains firmly on evaluating where this support is most effectively directed. This will be achieved by further development of both our community assessment programme, Vital Signs, and social impact measurement tool.”
“Reinsurance executive Mr Durhager has chaired the BCF Board from our founding in 2014. “Knowing that the BCF is on such strong footing is a source of pride,” said Mr Durhager. “There are many people to thank for this achievement, but I’d like to make special note of the early supporters who demonstrated confidence in Bermuda and its third sector by contributing to seed funding for the BCF. This led to significant additional grants from the corporate and private sector.
“In the context of Bermuda’s slow recovery from the global financial crisis, we referenced the old saying that the best time to plant a tree is “20 years ago”. Well five years ago we did, and in 15 years’ time Bermuda will without doubt benefit from this planning. That’s really what the Bermuda Community Foundation is all about.”
“The BCF’s annual report for financial year 2017/18 is released today. The Board of Directors announced approval of grants and fiscal sponsorships of $1.1m to 168 nonprofits and community projects between July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018.
“BCF’s grantmaking programmes are supported by a range of unrelated donors who wish to ensure the sustainability and success of nonprofits in Bermuda via endowments. Donor gifts, combined with the BCF’s unrestricted contributions, resulted in an extraordinary set of grants and shows the incredible range of organisations supported through the generosity of BCF donors.
- 80-plus grant distributions were made through Donor-Advised, Designated and Agency endowment funds at BCF with the help of their granting committees and fund advisors.
- BCF considered over 100 programmes on behalf of all donors and fund holders with some of these grants approved from BCF’s own unrestricted pool of funds.
- Of the total number of grants and distributions this year, nearly half were made at the direction of donors from 12 donor-advised charitable funds.
“Dr. Myra Virgil, BCF’s Managing Director, says the BCF ramped up its grant-making process this year, in line with findings through its Vital Signs initiative.”
Dr. Virgil said, “Vital Signs has enabled us to evaluate and determine more clearly the most-needed programmes in the community. Our grant-making was adjusted in 2018 to align with those needs. Accordingly. we made changes to our process, inviting new applications, and contacting organisations with effective programming in the identified priority areas. Using the BCF central fund, we also contributed to some valuable but under-funded programmes.”
“Families or individuals interested in setting up their own Charitable Funds to improve Bermuda can learn more about donor-advised philanthropy at www.bcf.bm. A complete list of grant recipients will also soon be posted on the website under ‘Our Work – Grantmaking History.”
The full BCF Annual Report follows below [PDF here]:
