A prominent nonprofit organization in New Canaan announced this week that it’s hired a veteran of Washington, D.C. area community philanthropy as its new president and CEO.
Lauren Stillwell Patterson
Lauren Stillwell Patterson will take the helm at the New Canaan Community Foundation on Oct. 26, officials said.
According to a press release issued by Leo Karl III, chairman of NCCF’s board of directors, Patterson most recently served as director of programs at Washington Area Women’s Foundation—which serves women and girls in poverty—and “brings a wealth of experience, talent and enthusiasm” to the organization.
A hub of giving and needs assessments in town that had developed a number of successful programs under immediate past leader Cynthia Gorey, NCCF controls a little more than $16 million, and for the last several years has distributed more than $1 million in annual grants.
A graduate of Holy Cross, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology, Patterson also graduated from Princeton AlumniCorps’ Emerging Leaders program, the press release said.
She said in the release that throughout the application process she was “repeatedly impressed by the dedication, smarts, and enthusiasm of everyone involved with the New Canaan Community Foundation.”
“I’m deeply passionate about community-led philanthropy, and I can already tell that New Canaan is a wonderful place to do this work,” she said. “I see so much potential to help grow the foundation’s reach and impact, and I know your partnership will help us step confidently into the next chapter for the foundation.”
Karl in making the announcement said that the town “has an incredible history of individuals coming together to answer civic and social needs, and our New Canaan Community Foundation has been at the core of that philanthropy for almost 40 years.”
“Lauren will help bring out the very best in our community and I personally look forward to working with her in that mission.”
She has worked in community philanthropy for nine years, the release said. Most recently, she oversaw grant-making, advocacy and research in asset building, early care and education and workforce development strategies, it said. With the Women’s Foundation, she also led a multi-year, multi-million dollar collective funding effort to invest in children from birth through five, in partnership with corporate funders and local and national foundations.
She served on a steering committee for DC-based coalition of philanthropic and business investors focused on workforce development in the region, and launched new investments in two-generation strategies that invest in both parents and children.
Prior to the Women’s Foundation, Patterson managed grant-making and donor engagement at The Community Foundation for Montgomery County, an affiliate of The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region. There, she engaged over 250 families and businesses with donor-advised funds, helping them to meet their charitable goals and engage in several community-based philanthropy initiatives.
Lauren currently serves on the Board of Directors of Project Create, a nonprofit providing arts education opportunities for DC children and youth experiencing homelessness and poverty.
Gorey worked at NCCF through June. Karl thanked the organization’s search committee, led by Diane Hanauer and including past board Presidents Julianne Grace, Bill Walbert and Dave Hunt, along with current board members John Knight and Sharon Stevenson.
“On behalf of our foundation and the community of New Canaan, I want to extend a huge thank you to the work of our search committee, in particular our committee chair Diane Hanauer, for a comprehensive process that resulted in the review of over 200 applications for this position,” he said in the press release. “Their dedicated work has led to an outstanding new leader for our foundation.”