The Roger R. and Theresa S. Thompson Endowment Fund announces the awarding of $119,000 in grants to six non-profit organizations in New Hampshire and Maine: Berwick Academy, Children’s Museum of NH, Pine Tree Society, Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center, Future In Sight and Strawbery Banke Museum.

The Trustees of the Trust approved a grant to the Children’s Museum of New Hampshire, Dover NH to support the “Enhancing Family Play Interactions through Signage” project, using best practices to provide insight, prompts and suggestions to help children and caregivers explore the Museum. This is the first major signage upgrade since the Museum’s move to Dover in 2008.

Museum president Jane Bard noted,

“This project focuses on two efforts—replacing the signage and several components in existing exhibits that have been impacted by our second-floor expansion project, which is nearly complete and will open in February 2025.  And second, updating dated signage throughout the Museum, to focus content on enhancing caregiver/child interactions. We are grateful to the Thompson Endowment Fund for their important support, which will enable us to provide an enriched experience at the Museum for the over 100,000 visitors we welcome each year.”  

Theresa Thompson established the endowment fund in memory of her husband Roger, to make a difference in the local community by rewarding six specific educational and charitable organizations whose work was having a positive local impact on the Seacoast communities of NH and Maine. It was important to her to retain local administration of the grants so that there was a direct connection between the Trustees and the organizations she believed were the best able to create a lasting legacy in the names of Roger R. and Theresa S. Thompson. Although the six organizations named in the Fund are set, the Trustees determine each one’s eligibility for grants on an annual basis, reviewing not only their proposals but their achievements working with previous grant funds.

In making the announcement, Thompson Fund Managing Trustee Charles B. Doleac commented, “The Roger R. and Theresa S. Thompson Endowment Fund Trustees are pleased to recognize the work of the six Thompson Fund beneficiaries by awarding this year’s grants. Since 2015, the Thompson Fund has awarded close to $1 million to the six beneficiaries. These annual awards ensure that the legacy the Thompsons intended is sustained: 1) to help local organizations advance their core missions with innovative programs; 2) to build local Board leadership; and 3) to provide an example of a successful independent, directed philanthropy that others might follow.”

The distributions are not guaranteed and the non-profits named in the Trust must apply each year to be considered for the beneficiary awards that are paid from the income of the Roger R. and Theresa S. Thompson estate trust fund.  To learn more about Thompson Fund beneficiaries and prior grant-funded initiatives, please visit ThompsonFund.org and follow the Thompson Fund on Facebook.