Independence Community Foundation

The primary mission of The Independence Community Foundation is to help renew neighborhoods by promoting economic growth, educational attainment and housing development. We are committed to advancing a program of comprehensive and sustainable community development that builds upon and enhances local charitable giving-from the Foundation itself, oth... er foundations, the private sector and individual donors. We are focused on promoting collaboration among community nonprofits and cultural and educational institutions in order to produce measurable and lasting results, to provide replicable models for the neighborhoods we serve, and to promote the efficient use of philanthropic and public sector dollars. The former Independence Community Bank - a Brooklyn-based financial institution founded in 1850 - had a long and rich tradition of charitable giving in the communities it served. In the spring of 1998, the Bank established and generously endowed a new charitable institution, the Independence Community Foundation. In creating the Foundation the leadership and board of Independence Community Bank - particularly its Chairman and CEO at the time, Charles J. Hamm - gave expression to their long held philosophy that the Bank's success was tied to the well being of the communities where it did business and where its employees lived and worked. Since its founding, the Foundation's grants have given life to that vision and respond to a broad range of needs and issues identified locally.Read More