Stiller Family Foundation Honored by AFP-NNE

More than 200 fundraising professionals from Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire gathered to celebrate National Philanthropy Day on Nov. 15, 2012 during the Association of Fundraising Professionals Northern New England (AFP-NNE) Conference at the Stoweflake Mountain Resort in Stowe, VT.

The AFP-NNE celebrated the following award winners who join an impressive group of distinguished philanthropists and volunteers who are past awardees.

Outstanding Foundation — The Stiller Family Foundation, Charlotte VT

The Stiller Family Foundation is dedicated to helping people help themselves. The foundation was established by the family of Bob and Christine Stiller and their three children, David, Christian and Julian, reflecting their shared passion for improving people's lives in meaningful, sustainable ways. The majority of the foundation's work is focused on Vermont, and provides support to programs and organizations relating to education, and community development through organizations including Champlain College, the King Street Center, Burlington City Arts and Rebuilding Waterbury. The Stiller foundation most recently made a $10 million gift to Champlain College. Read about it here.

Outstanding Corporation — People's United Bank, New England

For 170 years, People's United has been a proud and active member of the community. With a footprint extending from Bangor, Maine to Long Island, New York, People's positively impacts the communities where their employees live and work. They also have a long history of employee volunteerism, as a community's health and strength has an important impact on the performance of businesses operating within it. People's chooses to make a difference in the world by working to improve the quality of life throughout their footprint.

Outstanding Individual Philanthropists — Jane and Bill Stetson, Norwich VT

Bill and Jane Stetson are well known Vermont philanthropists who are both deeply involved with their respective causes. Bill serves as a Trustee and Governor for the Smith Richardson Foundation (SRF). Created in 1935, the SRF's mission is to contribute to important public debates and to help address both domestic and international public policy challenges. Bill also is a Trustee to the Grace Jones Richardson Trust, which make grants in the areas of arts, education, and health & human services, and the H. Smith Richardson Testamentary Trust, which controls significant assets including 6,000 acres of protected land in the North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains. Bill sits on the board of Vermont Public Radio, and serves as founding President of the Boatwright Foundation, which gives primarily in areas of pediatric medicine and the environment. Bill is also a member of the President's Advisory Committee on the Arts.

Jane Stetson is a member of the Board of Overseers for Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center where she sits on the Community Advisory Board. She co-founded the William E. Boyle Community Pediatrics Program which works to create a family centered care atmosphere, and practice medicine under a collaborative model. Jane has served on the boards of The Mountain School of Milton Academy in Vershire, Vermont and Proctor Academy in Andover, New Hampshire. She is also an advisor for the Vermont Intercultural Semesters, an international student enrichment program.

Outstanding Volunteer Fundraiser — Leslie Halperin, Burlington VT

Leslie Halperin is founder and CEO of The Clothes Exchange, a "benefit business" social enterprise that sells pre-loved and new clothing to raise money for community-based nonprofit organizations. Since the first Clothes Exchange was held in her home in 2001, Leslie transformed a clothing swap among friends into one of Burlington's most well-loved and successful fundraising events. To date, The Clothes Exchange has raised more than $348,000 for organizations including Lund, King Street Center, Spectrum Youth and Family Service, The Visiting Nurse Association of Chittenden County and Vermont Works for Women. In addition to her work at The Clothes Exchange, Leslie is passionate about helping businesses, nonprofits and philanthropists craft creative and meaningful partnerships and strategies to effectively achieve charitable objectives.

Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy — Lyssa Jackson, Keene NH

In 2011, at the age of 17, Lyssa Jackson enlisted the entire Putney School campus to do manual labor tasks in the community to raise money to give to Kurn Hattin Homes in Westminster, Vt., her former home. Lyssa considers herself lucky to have been given the opportunity for a better life and is committed to giving back to the home that cared for her in a time of great need. With her steadfast determination, eloquence and poise, she explained how living at Kurn Hattin Homes transformed her life and how so many children not unlike her; continue to need their help. The Community Work Day Project could have gone in many directions. At the end of the day of hard work in the community, they had raised $5,316 for Kurn Hattin.

About AFP NNE:

AFP of Northern New England is comprised of 230+ members from the states of Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire. The chapter organizes an annual conference every November (which rotates among the three states) and offers professional development, educational and networking opportunities to its members in all three states.


Founded in 1878, Champlain College is a small, not-for-profit, private college in Burlington, Vermont, with additional campuses in Montreal, Canada, and Dublin, Ireland. Champlain offers a traditional undergraduate experience from its beautiful campus overlooking Lake Champlain and over 90 residential undergraduate and online undergraduate and graduate degree programs and certificates. Champlain's distinctive career-driven approach to higher education embodies the notion that true learning occurs when information and experience come together to create knowledge. Champlain College is included in the Princeton Review's The Best 384 Colleges: 2019 Edition. For the fourth year in a row, Champlain was named a "Most Innovative School" in the North by U.S. News & World Report's 2019 "America's Best Colleges,” and a “Best Value School” and is ranked in the top 100 “Regional Universities of the North” and in the top 25 for “Best Undergraduate Teaching.” Champlain is also featured in the Fiske Guide to Colleges for 2019 as one of the "best and most interesting schools" in the United States, Canada and Great Britain and is a 2019 College of Distinction. For more information, visit champlain.edu.