Wainwright Finds Food Bank a Worthy Investment

Boston Business Journal

October 18-24, 1996

When The Greater Boston Food Bank found itself bursting at its seams six years ago, it confronted one of the biggest challenges any thriving nonprofit organization can face: how to come up with a way to finance a move to bigger quarters. By late 1990, Food Bank officials were certain of one thing: In the midst of becoming New Englands largest hunger relief charity, the organization had outgrown its headquarters on Amory Street in Roxbury. What they werent certain about was where they would go and how they would get there. The good news: A state-of-the-art facility was available at 99 Atkinson St. in Boston's Newmarket area, a prime location where Dorchester, Roxbury, South Boston and the South End meet, But securing the necessary financing to purchase the $2 million building seemed daunting.

In 1991, they launched the Greater Boston Food Bank Capital Campaign Drive, with the goal of $2 million with which to buy the building. However even with campaign pledges coming in, a two to four year time lag meant an initial outlay of capital would still be needed to fund the purchase. It was at that point that Wainwright Bank & Trust Co. of Boston stepped forward.

Wainwright, with its long history of community involvement and particular expertise with the nonprofit sector, guided the Greater Boston Food Bank through the complexities of the financial world. With Wainwright's assistance, the Food Bank secured a deal with Mortgage & Realty Trust of Pennsylvania, which had bought the Atkinson Street site at an auction. The deal was structured as a three year, $1.6 million promissory note to supply upfront funding for the purchase. To the satisfaction of all participants, the loan was announced in early 1993 and the building, complete with a 60,000 square-foot warehouse, became the Food Bank's property.

Wainwright Bank's commitment to the nonprofit sector and the community in which it does business has been evident from the start. Founded in 1987, Wainwright is a $300 million bank, with more than 10 percent of its loan portfolio in nonprofits. But it isn't just a similarity in the bank's and the service sector organizations' way of thinking that motivates Wainwright officials. They also see it as good business. In fact, bank officials say, the backing these organizations receive from the private sector makes prompt repayment of these loans that much more likely.

Wainwright took the initiative on a venture that few financial institutions would bother with in the relentlessly bottom-line driven corporate world of the 90s.

"We quickly realized that we were the bank to do this," said Pam Feingold, Wainwright's senior vice president who helped orchestrate the deal. "The Food Bank's mission to help end hunger fit right in with our commitment to socially responsible community development, and in fact, our loans to nonprofits are among the banks strongest performers."

The Greater Boston Food Bank was no exception, because of the strong support it received during its capital campaign drive, and by limiting its operating costs, the Food Bank was able to pay the note off four months early. And by clearing itself of any building debt less than three years into its new facility, the Food Bank is able to reallocate its hard-won dollars into the recruitment of additional food products.

"Because we had virtually no history of borrowing, we needed somebody who understood and believed in what we did," said George Downey, President of the Greater Boston Food Bank's Board of Directors. "As a result of Wainwright's involvement, we were able to develop the resources to pay off the loan early."

What began as a financial association has developed into a deeper partnership. A group of Wainwright employees now regularly volunteers at the Food Bank, and earned one of the Food Bank's 1996 service awards. And bank chairman Bob Glassman and his family have become so involved that Glassman's 14 year-old son, Matthew, recently donated a portion of his bar mitzvah money to the Food Bank. As Glassman noted, "Our involvement with the Food Bank does much to define the commitment to social justice that both institutions share."

It is clear that without these types of partnerships, the Food Bank would be unable to keep its doors open. Celebrating its 15th anniversary, the Food Bank distributes nearly 11 million pounds of food annually to more than 700 charitable feeding programs in eastern Massachusetts, including soup kitchens, food pantries and homeless shelters. Serving more than 72 percent of those in need in Massachusetts, the Food Bank helps to feed 465,000 hungry people each month.

As Catherine D'Amato, executive director of the Food Bank, said, "Wainwright Bank has been a great partner for us. Being able to purchase this facility, with everything it offers both internally and externally, has been essential to our evolution as a food bank."

Partnering is edited by Ann Kurkjian of the Boston Foundation, a community foundation serving Greater Boston since 1915.

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