Skip to content
Donate Now
  • Donate Now
  • logo
  • logo
  • News
  • Fundraising
    • Fundraising
    • Crowdfunding
    • Development
    • Donor Retention
  • Philanthropy
    • Philanthropy
    • Foundations
    • Grantmaking
    • Online Giving
  • Management
    • Management
    • Board Governance
    • Finance
    • Leadership
    • Technology
  • Policy
    • Policy
    • Activism
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Government
    • Healthcare
    • Taxes
  • Webinars
    • Premium Webinars
  • Magazine
  • Opinion
    • Editor’s Notes
    • The Cohen Report
    • Dr. Conflict
    • The Nonprofit Ethicist
    • Unraveling Development
    • Voices from the Field
  • Store
  • Donate Now

  • Subscribe
  • Member Log in
  • Manage Subscription
Link to subscription form
  • News
  • Fundraising
    • Fundraising
    • Crowdfunding
    • Development
    • Donor Retention
  • Philanthropy
    • Philanthropy
    • Foundations
    • Grantmaking
    • Online Giving
  • Management
    • Management
    • Board Governance
    • Finance
    • Leadership
    • Technology
  • Policy
    • Policy
    • Activism
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Government
    • Healthcare
    • Taxes
  • Webinars
    • Premium Webinars
  • Magazine
  • Opinion
    • Editor’s Notes
    • The Cohen Report
    • Dr. Conflict
    • The Nonprofit Ethicist
    • Unraveling Development
    • Voices from the Field
  • Store
  • My Menu

A New Nonprofit Is Born to Care for an Old Mill

By Marian Conway Marian Conway | February 13, 2019
Share16
Tweet1
Email
Share
17 Shares

Related names:Lefferts, JarvisVan Wyck, AbrahamVan Wyck, AbrahamWortman, ColesAnsteth, W RichardDaniels, Christine MYearby, Jean P [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

February 7, 2019; Newsday

The announcement of a new nonprofit can be met by groans from funders. However, there’s something to be said for the success of small organizations who zero in on a single ongoing project, as in the preservation of a historic grist mill.

Long Island, New York, is home to about eight grist mills in various conditions, including museum mills that still have a working wheel. Lloyd Harbor, jutting into the Long Island Sound, is home to a grist mill that is considered the best preserved in the country.

The Van Wyck-Lefferts Tide Mill was built in the 1790s to grind wheat into flour. The Van Wyck family operated the mill, on top of a dam, for about 70 years with power that came from tides in a man-made pond. After the mill stopped operating, it was used by families to have summer parties and go swimming nearby. Now, the mill can only be accessed at high tide by boat, which may keep vandals at bay but creates challenges in the maintenance. The original wooden gears and buffalo leather belts are still inside.

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) has owned the mill and surrounding land for about 50 years. TNC had changed its mission over the years and had to let the mill go.

“About 10 years ago TNC gathered the neighbors together and said, ‘we don’t want to do this anymore’ because it’s not their mandate,” explains Richard Hamburger, an attorney in Melville who has lived next to the mill for 25 years. “Their mission is preservation of large tracts of wide-open space.”

Hamburger is correct; the current mission of TNC is “to conserve the lands and waters on which all life depends,” focusing on such issues as climate change. Derek Rogers, TNC’s Long Island Preserves Director, confirmed that the nonprofit worked with local land trusts years ago.

The Lloyd Harbor mill will be maintained now by the Van Wyck-Lefferts Tide Mill Sanctuary, Inc., which was started by Hamburger, with the transfer of the 17 acres completed a few weeks ago. To assist with the Lloyd Harbor grist mill preservation, TNC also provided them with an endowment of $200,000 to do the work. TNC, in refining their mission, did not abandon the property, but instead honored the original intention of the estate gift. The Van Wyck-Lefferts Tide Mill Sanctuary will continue to partner with the Huntington Historical Society to conduct the tours of the mill.

“It’s all upon private parties to see what they could do,” said Hamburger, “because this mill deserves—after being there 225 years—somebody to love it and protect it, just because it is what it is.”—Marian Conway

Share16
Tweet1
Email
Share
17 Shares

About Marian Conway

Marian Conway

Marian Conway, the executive director of the NY Community Bank Foundation, has a Masters in Interdisciplinary Studies, Writing and a Ph.D. in Public Policy, Nonprofit Management. She has discovered that her job and education have made her a popular person with nonprofits and a prime candidate for their boards. Marian keeps things in perspective, not allowing all that to go to her head, but it is difficult to say no to a challenge, especially participating in change, in remaking a board. She is currently on eleven boards of various sizes and has learned to say no.

  • More by Marian

Read Next

  • NY AG Begins Three-year Oversight of a Nonprofit Guilty of Discrimination

    Yesterday, New York’s attorney general disclosed an arrangement with a Long Island community to end their discriminatory housing policies and practices.

Popular Posts

  • Green New Deal Bill Introduced in Congress
  • Counting What Counts: Why Social Accounting MATTERS
  • Reframing Nonprofit Leadership Succession: The Ultimate Strategic Hedge Against a “Bad CEO Hire”
  • Vu Le on “Funder Fragility” and Unproductive Philanthropic Practice
  • Cash Flow in the Nonprofit Business Model: A Question of Whats and Whens
  • The 2019 Gates Letter: What Surprises Them Scares Us

Write for NPQ

  • Our Mission
  • Advertise
  • Board of Directors
  • Foundations and Funders
  • Editorial Advisory Board
  • NPQ Staff
  • Contact Us
  • Press Release
  • Donors
  • Newsletters
  • Copyright Policy
  • Privacy Policy

  • Copyright Policy
  • Privacy Policy

Back to top ↑

To Access the Full Article, Please Login or Subscribe

Can't Login?

Register a New Account Forgot Password

Continue Reading