Philanthropy

Norwich Partners and its principals are committed to the communities we serve. While we are a profit driven company, we also recognize the importance and the obligation to give back to our communities.

David Leatherwood, CEO of Norwich Partners, has had a longtime ambition of dedicating a percentage of Norwich Partners development profits to charity. In 2003, he and Jenny Williams, a Norwich, Vermont resident and local philanthropist, established the Children's Fund of the Upper Valley, a component fund of the Upper Valley Region of New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. Through revenues from Norwich Partners development companies, Norwich Partners along with Jenny and Stan Williams have contributed over $3 million to children's charities in the last twenty years.  Having supported thousands of Upper Valley youth over the last two decades via the Children's Fund, Norwich Partners has now sunsetted this fund, in order to focus on two primary priorities:

FINDING OUR STRIDE, a 501 (c)(3) founded by Ms. Williams.  The mission of Finding Our Stride is to empower Upper Valley youth through after-school running programs, by boosting fitness, self-esteem and resilience, and connecting kids to peers, mentors and community. https://www.findingourstride.org


SANIBEL ISLAND RECOVERY: In 2022, Norwich Partners responded to the devastating impact of Hurricane Ian on the Sanibel Island community by helping to rebuild the local business community.

Norwich Partners encourages our employees to volunteer in their communities. We provide innovative “time-off” credit for full time employees to support non-profit organizations.

Philanthropy is not only “the right thing to do” – it is also good for business. Our customers appreciate supporting like-minded community leaders. We view philanthropy as an investment in our community. We see the return on that investment every day in the form of heightened employee morale, repeat business and new customers.

 

Finding Our Stride Executive Director - Jennifer A. Williams

Jenny Williams has been a Joint Venture partner with Norwich Partners since 2003. Jenny has partnered with affiliates of Norwich Partners of Florida, LLC in the development and/or acquisition of many of our hotels.

Jenny is also the Founder and Executive Director of Finding Our Stride, one of Norwich Partner's main philanthropic priorities - please see more detail and website above.

Jenny worked in higher education fundraising for 13 years, 11 of them with Dartmouth College. Her current and past volunteer roles include: Member of the Board of Overseers of the Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College; Chair of the Advisory Board of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation/Upper Valley Region; Trustee and Chair of the Board of the Montshire Museum of Science; Trustee and Chair of the Board of the Children's Literacy Foundation; Trustee and Chair of the Board of WISE of the Upper Valley; Trustee and Vice Chair of the Board of Let's Grow Kids; Trustee of Finding Our Stride; and Trustee of the Lebanon Opera House.

Jenny graduated from Dartmouth College with honors in French is 1985 and holds a master's degree in Public Administration from NYU. She lives in Norwich, Vermont with her husband Stan. They have three children.