Legacy of Caring Program

Legacy of Caring Objectives

Our Foundation has an objective to support nonprofits that help families and businesses stabilize or recover from disasters. That means supporting nonprofits that help people overcome major hurdles in education, finances, housing and jobs. Often, these challenges are interconnected. And when a disaster happens, it’s the families that were already living paycheck to paycheck that have the most difficult time rebounding. Even more often, People of Color are disproportionately impacted. 

What Nonprofits Qualify for Legacy of Caring?

Select a nonprofit that meets our objectives. Here are some examples of nonprofits that could qualify.

Nonprofits that help businesses through:

• Low-interest loans 
• Assistance accessing federal dollars
• Mentoring business owners who are from underrepresented groups

Nonprofits that help families with:

• Achieving educational goals
• Understanding budgeting or bank products
• Finding a more affordable place to call home 
• Obtaining a better paying job
• Navigating an unexpected event

Steps to Nominate 

Step 1: Gather the necessary information before you complete your nomination:

• Identify a nonprofit that helps under-employed families overcome barriers
• Nonprofit Name
• Nonprofit contact person – name, email address and phone number
• Coordinate with others in your agency. Be sure the person responsible for marketing in your agency is aware. A key goal of Legacy of Caring is bringing attention to the progress nonprofits are making in your community.

Step 2: Complete the nomination form

Nominations are limited to one per agency, regardless of the number of locations.

Nonprofit Steps

STEP 3:

• Once you complete the nomination form, an email will automatically be sent to the nonprofit to complete the application (contact will be made with nonprofits starting 2/5).
• Nonprofit completes the application. The email will guide the nonprofit contact person to register and complete the application.
• Nonprofit submits the form. After the nonprofit completes its portion, they will hit the “submit” button to formally submit the application.
• Your agency will receive notification of submission. Once the nonprofit has completed their portion of the form, the nonprofit will receive an email confirmation of receipt. On a weekly basis, Westfield will notify agencies whose nonprofits have submitted their applications.

Westfield Steps

STEP 4:

Westfield’s community investment department will review all submissions and if approved, will award a donation starting at $3,500:

However, some nonprofits may receive a larger donation based on information provided in their application and availability of funds. Enhanced donations may be given to nonprofits that demonstrate the following criteria in their application:

• Addressing more than one of the major hurdles: education, finance, housing, and jobs
• Serves clients who are more than 50% People of Color [Demographics of the clients served]
• Nonprofit’s top leadership is comprised of more than 50% People of Color 
• Agency is engaged with the nonprofit

Nomination Deadline: March 7, 2025

Questions? Reach out to Westfield Community Investment Leader Gretchen Long.