Because the arts bring communities to life.
With $160K of support from ECCF’s Creative County Initiative, the Essex County Creative Nonprofit Resiliency Grant Program succeeded in helping forty-seven creative nonprofits weather the early economic devastation of COVID-19, and the CCI creative network continues to grow and strengthen as a result. The Essex County Artist Fund remains open for individual artists economically affected by COVID-19.
IMPACT STATEMENT
Besides donations from individuals and board members, our primary source of income is obtained through different non-profit and other local organizations utilizing our space. We are the former First Universalist Society of Salem (FUSS) and a newly formed 501(c)(3) non-profit. We have been tapping into the Endowment funds donated to our organization by FUSS for additional operating expenses while we create our identity and presence within the North Shore community. We finally created new relationships with other local non-profits to bring us to an income level of self-sustainability. We had numerous events planned for the Spring and Fall of 2020 but all have been put on hold or canceled due to the pandemic. The timing could not be worse for us as our 100% volunteer board, made up primarily of former congregants of FUSS, has finally started to see the benefits of our painstaking efforts over the past five years to bring our beloved building back to life. The primary purpose of our organization was to save our historic (on the National list of Historic buildings) building while slowly and deliberately creating programming that would benefit the local community. We have done focus groups and met with many local government officials, including the mayor, to help steer us in the right direction. Just as we were beginning to thrive the pandemic hit. Our monthly operating costs average between $6,500 and $7,000 to just keep the building running and in good condition. Losing the anticipated revenue for this Spring and Fall has put us in danger of being able to continue in the long term as we need to withdraw additional funds from our Endowment. This puts our sustainability as an organization at great risk just as things were beginning to come together for us.The revenue at risk is between $15,000 to $20,000.
Non-Profit: 211 Bridge Street Corporation: The Bridge at 211 – Salem
Learn more: thebridge211.org
Mission: The Bridge at 211 is a hub for artistic, cultural, and social events. We are here to engage, enrich, and support our community as a meeting place, a home to arts and service organizations, and a partner to other groups.The Bridge at 211 is part of Salem’s rich heritage and an active participant in its future as the place to connect, celebrate, and learn. We have been the home of the Salem Food Pantry and local substance abuse anonymous meeting groups.
Learn more about the Essex County Community Foundation
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