Beginnings, with Mary Anthony

L-R Ethiel Garlington 1772 Executive Director, US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Mike Clausen, Mary Anthony 1772 Foundation, and Gary Freemantle An Taisce CEO.

I have worked with the 1772 Foundation, based in New Jersey, for the past 22 years. Our mission centers on historic building preservation and farmland conservation. While our primary focus has been in the United States, we are now expanding our efforts to Ireland through a partnership with An Taisce, the National Trust for Ireland. Together, we are developing a "historic properties redevelopment program," modeled on successful initiatives we have supported across the U.S. This approach encourages nonprofit preservation organizations to act as "developers of last resort," actively acquiring endangered historic properties to restore and return them to appropriate public or private use. Since 2006, the 1772 Foundation has awarded over $23 million in grants and loans to more than 65 organizations engaged in this work.

Although our roots are in the U.S., we recently provided funding to support three initiatives in Ireland: start-up funding for a Friends group in the U.S. to support An Taisce, a charrette held last June that brought together U.S. and Irish preservation leaders to collaborate on a strategic plan for historic properties, and a $50,000 grant to seed a historic properties program in Ireland. In addition, I will be spending a year with An Taisce beginning this September to help advance this work. Our goal is to build the capacity and expertise necessary to save many endangered historic structures across Ireland — and we are off to a strong start.

Earlier this year, our Board traveled to Ireland to meet with the An Taisce Board, an occasion marked by a wonderful reception hosted by the U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Michael Clausen.