17 North Beach Street
Nantucket, MA 02554
(508) 228-1515
THE SUNNY SIDE
A quick chat with the Community Foundation for Nantucket’s new executive director, Sunny Daily.
What’s one thing that most people might not know about the work of the Community Foundation?
I think the Community Foundation is best known for the grants awarded to island nonprofits through the Nantucket Fund and ReMain Nantucket Fund. This year we awarded $300,000 to 26 organizations through the Nantucket Fund alone! People may also know us through the community scholarships we award. This year we awarded $80,000 through 16 scholarships to 27 students. What people may not know is the role we play in convening around the island’s critical needs, and that we have over 100 other funds that are held to support individual families’ philanthropy and specific community initiatives.
Is there one area that you plan on focusing on from the beginning?
Coming in on the heels of the founding executive director, I want to be sure to build on the success the foundation has had while also strategically planning for the positive impact we will have moving forward. There are internal operational ways to improve efficiency and external measures we can take to engage even more regularly with our community. I have ideas for the immediate and long-term success of the foundation and will prioritize healthy sustainable growth for our organization.
What legacy has Margaretta Andrews left behind from her long tenure at the Community Foundation?
Margaretta’s legacy is the culture of informed philanthropy she has fostered for the benefit of our Nantucket community— it is a real gift for our future. Namely, she created a strong organization with an endowed Nantucket Fund that will be able to support Nantucket’s nonprofits for years to come, and she has been a trusted advisor within our community and with donors to the foundation. She has brought together people who care and connected them to the needs of the island community. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to build on Margaretta’s legacy.
Why do you think you will be a good fit as executive director?
Community foundations are unique and so is our island. I have an understanding of both. I am driven by our mission, which aims to strengthen Nantucket now and for future generations through thoughtful philanthropy and community leadership. The foundation plays an important role supporting the work of island organizations and can be a strong advocate for the broad needs of the people who make up our community. I am ready to work to assure that all islanders have the social, physical, cultural, economic and environmental conditions essential to flourish and fulfill their potential.
What experiences have prepared you for this role?
I am bringing my experience as an islander and someone who really cares for the people and our future on this island. I have raised my family on Nantucket, I have done the Nantucket shuffle, I have a partner in the trades, and we own our own businesses. I have worked one on one with families during a very important and often vulnerable time in their lives as a doula and midwife; led an island nonprofit providing health care, nutritional support and education to uninsured and underinsured people through the pandemic; serve on a number of advisory committees; and feel that I understand the diverse needs of the people who make up our island community.
What impact do you hope to make?
I hope to grow the Community Foundation for Nantucket into an even more robust foundation of support for our community so the island can remain a welcoming place for people from all places, ages, cultures, means and stages of their lives. I will work to maintain the foundation’s role as that trusted resource well into the future—for donors and for the community that makes this island the uniquely beautiful place we are fortunate to call home.
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