Animal Welfare Fund Bestows Gift to Newtown Nonprofit

NEWTOWN, CT —The Julia Wasserman Animal Welfare Fund has named the Newtown Forest Association as one of five area nonprofits to receive its inaugural gifts totaling $110,000.

The fund works in partnership with Fairfield County's Community Foundation. Wasserman was a resident of and a Connecticut lawmaker until her passing in 2015.

Other grantees include Boots and Buddies; Connecticut 4-H ; Danbury Animal Welfare Society and Wildlife in Crisis. The beneficiaries of were selected by the Wasserman family with input from Fairfield County’s Community Foundation to "honor Ms. Wasserman’s values and fulfill her legacy. These charities share a mission of protecting animals, their health and their environments, in addition to incorporating benefits to people to foster social skills and a sense of responsibility to the world around us," the fund said in a release.

“It was so rewarding to help the stewards of Julia’s legacy, who were intent on finding the best way to perpetuate her philanthropy, create a fund at Fairfield County’s Community Foundation and utilize our philanthropic services to accomplish her wishes,” says Nancy Tartaglia, Director, Gift Planning & Philanthropic Services, Fairfield County’s Community Foundation. “Philanthropy can be amplified for many generations when a donor advised fund sets parameters for you to give back in ways that are important and significant to you and your family."

Currently, there are approximately 600 donor advised, scholarship and other charitable funds, like the Julia Wasserman Animal Welfare Fund, managed by Fairfield County’s Community Foundation totaling an estimated $220 million in assets.

Photo of Julia Wasserman provided.