Heads Fund Study

Many communities are experiencing a widening gap between the needs of health and welfare agencies and the money that is coming in to support them. As the yearly appeals increase in number and goals, so does the resistance by some of the repeatedly tapped citizenry.

In Cleveland, a Commission of civic leaders, with DickStoddart '58 as executive director, has been appointed to look into these privately supported services and their financing in an attempt to solve this growing problem. The 29-member commission was formed upon recommendation of many agency leaders whose preliminary investigation concluded that amidst the proliferation of annual fund drives the real needs of the community might not be met. The study is expected to take six months and has been financed by grants from local foundations.

Stoddart, who is taking a leave of absence from his position as executive vice president of Shaker Savings Association to direct the study, said the commission's purpose will be to develop ways to evaluate and authenticate the financial needs of the services, establish priorities for allocating funds, and to develop new private and public sources for funds and more effective programs for raising them.

Dick Stoddart accepts his task "with no preconceived idea as to how the stated purposes of the commission should be met." Hence the study will examine, but is not committed to, the idea of a single fund drive.

Dick Stoddart has a successful track record in community service. He was named the outstanding young man of the year in 1968 by the Cleveland Jaycees and he is listed as one of the outstanding young men in America by the U. S. Junior Chamber of Commerce. He was elected to the Cleveland Heights City Council last year by a large majority, is a transportation expert, an outstanding conservationist, and not incidentally, founder and past president of the Dartmouth-at-Michigan Club.