For The Future

 A million dollars doesn’t seem like a lot these days, what with federal officials arguing over department budgets in the billions, the nation’s debt in the trillions of dollars and even the annual budgets of local towns in the multi-millions of dollars. Heck, you can barely buy a house on Cape Cod for less than $1 million.

 But for small nonprofit organizations, $1 million is a lot of money. Three local community organizations found themselves on the receiving end of donations in that amount last week, contributions that are “unprecedented,” in the words of Michael Woehler, president of the Chatham Historical Society. 

 The society, along with the Nickerson Family Association and the Edward Bangs Kelley and Elza Kelley Foundation, received the bequests from the estates of Joshua “Jan” Nickerson and Louise “Weezie” Nickerson. According to the executors of the estates, both Jan, who died in 2023, and Weezie, who passed away in 2005, had long ago planned that a percentage of their estates would go to the organizations, which they had supported for many years. 

 For the historical society and the Nickerson Family Association, the donation will give a $1 million boost to each organization’s endowment fund, which will help ensure their continued operation into the future “without struggling,” noted association president Robert Nickerson. The infusion will give the Kelley Foundation more resources to devote to scholarships and grants to local nonprofits. 

 Jan and Weezie Nickerson clearly loved the Lower Cape towns that they called home. With all the uncertainty now hanging over grant funding, their bequests ensure that these small nonprofits will continue to serve the community for many years.