Dear FMC Community,

Friends Meeting at Cambridge received a generous gift of $400,000 from the estate of Marilee Wheeler in 2021. The Bequest Process Discernment (BPD) group invited proposals for use of the money in 2023, with a deadline of September 30. We received 16 proposals; one was withdrawn because the funds were no longer needed. Since then, BPD has been working to create a process that will allow us as a community to consider the remaining 15 proposals and discern how we wish to use these funds—thus we have asked our community—members, attenders, newcomers, and those deeply familiar—to tell us how they feel Spirit is leading us.

With gratitude for your participation in this exciting opportunity,

The Bequest Process Discernment Group–Lynne Weiss (convener), Susan Davies, Jim Hannon, Carolyn Hilles-Pilant and Michael Shanahan. If you have questions about the process or need help with the text of the proposals listed below, please contact a member of the Bequest Process Discernment group at bequest@fmcquaker.org with input and questions.

Click here for a printable summary of the proposals.

Discernment about the bequest will be on the agenda of the Meeting for Business in Worship in the afternoon of May 5.

CHEERFULLY SEEKING…ways to deploy $400k of bequest money

Outreach Personnel for First Day School/Young Adult Friends $41.3k for one year
Hire an Outreach Person to rebuild a sense of community among First-Day School families and Young Adult Friends for one year.
Co-sponsored by the Imagining Faithful Structures Working Group and the First Day School Committee

Material Aid And Advocacy $70k over two years and cover letter
Express our Quaker testimonies by supporting MAAP’s critical work and bolster their ability to offer assistance and advocacy to our unhoused neighbors by funding a QVS Fellow or part-time community organizer for two years at $35,000 a year for a total of $70,000
Sponsors: John Bach, Sara Sue Pennell, Jennifer Hogue.

Nonviolence International Ukraine $18k
Unrestricted gift to support Nonviolence International/Ukraine in training members of Russian diaspora to communicate with friends and family still in Russia to erode support for the war.
Sponsor: Lynne Weiss

Urban Farming Institute $40k (or 10% of total distributed)
Reparations/reparative justice in the form of an unrestricted gift to the Urban Farming Institute, an organization founded and run by African Americans who are turning vacant land owned by the Boston Farms Community Land Trust (BFCLT) in Dorchester, Roxbury and Mattapan into urban farms supporting neighborhood farmers and providing healthy food to the community.
Sponsor: Wendy Sanford for Reparations/Reparative Justice Group

Native Land Conservancy $40k (or 10% of total distributed)
Reparations/reparative justice in the form of an unrestricted donation to the Native Land Conservancy, a charitable organization founded and run by members of the Aquinnah, Herring Pond, Mashpee Wampanoag and Nipmuc tribes in Mashpee, Massachusetts with a mission “to preserve healthy landscapes for all living things and help restore land back to its original state wherever possible.”
Sponsor: Polly Attwood for Reparations/Reparative Justice Group

Masters Djembe Workshop Series $44k over two years
Funding to develop a self-sustaining Masters Djembe Workshop Series following the success of Toussaint Liberator’s weekly drumming series to grow and enhance the exposure of West African music as a tool for healing and building a healthy multi-racial community and making it accessible to black and brown and underserved communities
Sponsor: Toussaint Liberator

Volunteer Coordinator for FMC $130k over two years
Hire a Volunteer Coordinator to collaborate with others in organizing activities, such as the annual breakfast, the Easter Fair, the New Year’s contra dance, visits to museums, and other special events and create and implement a system for tracking volunteers for Sunday tasks, including Care of Door, after-worship refreshments, lunch, tech+ spiritual hosts on Zoom.
Sponsor: Daria Casinelli

Sun Moon Farm donation $60k over three years
Donation to Sun Moon Farm, located on the grounds of the former Meeting School, to fund a transformational investment in climate change preparedness and support the farm’s prophetic witness about climate change, community, and how much Friends’ testimonies have to say about our current moment.
Sponsor: Jennifer Hogue

Cambridge Friends School Capital campaign support $200k
Kickstart Cambridge Friends School Capital Campaign by hiring professional assistance in developing + implementing a campaign and address pressing needs to repair the building. See CFS Deferred Maintenance Master Plan December 2022.
Sponsors: Jan Nisenbaum and Rick Talkov

Coffee House at FMC$2.5k one-time
Purchase equipment and launch a monthly coffee house (First Day Cafe) featuring acoustic music to bring the FMC community together and provide public outreach.
Sponsor: Jonathan Vogel-Borne

Funding Youth activities at FDS $10k over two years
Establish a Youth Activities Fund at FMC for the use of groups of parents and/or youth for projects they propose
Sponsor: First Day School

Funding Young Adult Friends activities $10k over two years
Establish a Young Adults activities fund to be used for activities proposed by FMC Young Adult Friends.
Sponsor: Walker Bristol

Funding free public concerts, cello and more $4.5k to fund 10 concerts in one year
Support for free public concerts featuring cello and sometimes other instruments to advance spiritual and emotional growth and healing and to support local artists living in Cambridge.
Sponsor: Miranda Henne

Retain all of bequest money to strengthen FMC finances $400k
FMC retains the entire bequest to be used for necessary building upkeep costs not covered by the budget and for unavoidable future budget deficits at FMC.
Sponsor: Tom Sander