Worcester Business Journal

8 Giving Guide 2023 Worcester Business Journal www.wbjournal.com Nonprofit Status 2023 Fundraising Is Hard. We Make It Easier. Our expert consultants excel at helping nonprofits maximize their potential at every stage of the fundraising journey. Let's raise your organization's efforts to new heights! O U R S E R V I C E S Assessments & Audits • Feasibility Studies Fundraising Campaigns • Data Analytics Interim Development Management Systems & Change Management Training & Leadership Strategic Planning Contact Us | (617) 292-2666 ccsboston@ccsfundraising.com Arthritis Foundation, The 200 Foundation, Westborough Pop Warner, and much more. "We pretty much try to help anyone that needs help," said Silverman. In 2011, Silverman created Mark's Northeastern Furniture Foundation, a non-profit organization with two objectives: to re-purpose and donate discarded furniture to New England individuals, families, charities, and businesses; and to rescue thousands of pounds of trash from local landfills each year. In the ensuing years, the Foundation has fulfilled those objectives, several times over. Since its inception, the Foundation has collected new and used furniture from customers, merchants and manufacturers, then delivered it to partner organizations for distribution. The Foundation has collected more than 2,700 pieces of discarded furniture and has donated more than 300,000 pounds (or 150 tons) of furniture to those in need. During the last five years, Silverman had been donating mattresses to families in need. "Nobody deserves to sleep on the floor," he said. In 2022, Mark's donated 140 new mattresses to Household Goods in Acton, a non-profit that furnishes homes for people in need. The Foundation's good works have not gone unnoticed. In 2016, Mark's Foundation received the Newton-Needham Chamber of Commerce Green Initiative Award. Silverman attributes the success of Mark's Moving & Storage to flexibility and believes that adapting to the current economic climate and to customers' changing needs is key to remaining viable in today's market. Similarly, Silverman embraces a philosophy of giving back to the community that has sustained his company for more than four decades. "We are not just a moving company or just a storage company. We offer those services, but our focus has always been and continues to be on the customer and their individual needs beyond those of a traditional moving and storage business." That focus extends to aiding the non-prof - it organizations that are doing so much to help those in need. n ROCKLAND TRUST: Building Relationships with Businesses and the Community I n 1907, a group of businessmen in Rockland, MA decided they needed a bank to promote and grow business activity in the area. To accomplish this goal, they took over the First National Bank of Rockland and created the Rockland Trust Co. Starting with $200,000 in assets, the institution began to expand, adding services, establishing a statewide footprint, providing financial literacy to children, teens, and adults, and contribut- ing in several ways to the local community. Rockland Trust has always been an innovator and in 1910 launched "automobile banking" as a way to bring the bank to the people. Bankers would drive around the community in a Model T Ford, a convenient and original idea ahead of its time. By 1927, Rockland Trust's 20th anniversary, the institution's deposits had grown to approximately $3.5 million. That growth continued and by 1980 the bank had 18 branches on the South Shore and $220 million in assets. Fast forward to 2011 and Rockland Trust becomes one of the first banks in New England to launch mobile banking; the same year, the bank opened a Commercial Lending Center and Wealth Management Office in Providence, Rhode Island. In 2022, Rockland Trust reported $19.3 billion in assets and more than 120 branches, 19 commercial banking centers, 10 investment management offices and continued from page 7

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