Valley Foundation Fund

In 2024, in a historic moment for the Valley Community Foundation (VCF), the Valley Foundation Fund, established in 1980, was transferred from The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven (TCF) to VCF. This transfer represents the fulfillment of a long-anticipated vision set forth by committed Valley leaders and advocates more than four decades ago.

The Valley Foundation Fund was born from the foresight of the Valley Chamber of Commerce, which in the late 1970s formed a Foundation Feasibility Committee to explore the establishment of a dedicated foundation to serve the Valley’s five towns: Ansonia, Derby, Oxford, Seymour, and Shelton.

The committee, led by William E. Hoblitzelle III, recognized the importance of securing local control over charitable funds while leveraging the established infrastructure of TCF. In 1979, Attorney Charles Kingsley said that a Valley-based foundation should one day be able to assume full control of its own fund.

On July 31, 1980, Henry W. Bassett, a prominent Valley business leader and philanthropist, made the first contribution of $2,000 to what was then called the Valley Fund. This fund, later renamed the Valley Foundation Fund, was intended to serve the long-term philanthropic needs of the Valley. Bassett and his colleagues envisioned a future where the Valley would have its own community foundation, dedicated to addressing local needs. That vision became a reality 24 years later with the help of Valley philanthropists and leaders who worked hard with TCF to establish VCF in 2004.

“This is a full-circle moment,” said Bill Purcell, President and CEO of the Valley Chamber of Commerce. “When the Chamber and Harry Bassett established the Valley Foundation Fund in 1980, the hope was that one day it would grow into something that could truly benefit the entire Valley.”

For decades, the Valley Foundation Fund was managed by TCF to support charitable work in the Valley. In 2024, VCF staff met with then-TCF President and CEO, William Ginsberg, to discuss its future. Given the fund’s strong Valley ties and VCF’s upcoming 25th Anniversary endowment campaign, they determined it would be the perfect repository for the initiative. Ginsberg and the TCF Board wholeheartedly agreed. The fund, now a preference fund at VCF, will provide vital support for future VCF community and leadership building initiatives.

“People from the Valley have always been very benevolent minded,” said Charon Closius, VCF’s President and CEO. “Harry Bassett and the Valley Chamber had the foresight to lay the foundation for a community-based philanthropic vehicle, long before VCF existed.”