Image description: Archival files from a document titled, “Foundations: A Potential Source of Support For The Mansfield Training School Foundation.” This details where the MTS foundation could receive support from other institutions like the University of Connecticut.

As MTS saw a growth in research and became a national spotlight for its services for disabled people, the establishment of a foundation to maintain funds and donations became necessary. The years 1973 to 1976 saw the birth of an entity that would be known as the “Mansfield Training School Foundation.” Similar to the “UConn Foundation” which was founded by previous (1940) MTS Board of Trustee President, Treasurer, and Auditor Lester E. Shippee in 1962, the UConn Foundation served as a framework for what the MTS Foundation would aspire to be. The UConn Foundation, like any other institutionally related foundation, existed solely to solicit, receive, and administer private gifts and financial resources that provided additional support beyond UConn’s grant income and state funding. The UConn Foundation spent the majority of its existence conducting private fundraising on behalf of the University of Connecticut. Could it be that the former MTS Board of Trustees member, Lester Shippee, aimed to cross over from MTS to UConn by establishing this foundation during the first year of Babbidge’s presidency? Either way, Shippee’s UConn Foundation acted as a blueprint for the MTS Foundation.

The Mansfield Training School Foundation served several purposes. The first purpose is to receive gifts, grants, money, personal property, or real estate from any person or corporation, but the foundation could also refuse any gift or contribution that may be restricted in any way. These gifts and funds would then fall under the complete control of the directors of the Mansfield Training School Foundation where they could invest or reinvest where they saw fit. The final purpose would then be to use and expand the income from said funds to provide facilities, equipment or services that would improve or benefit the care, education, training and comfort of the residents at MTS. This foundation would also guarantee that the property of said institution would be used for the sole purpose of said institution.

However, a clear article in this Act mentions that all property would be permanently and exclusively devoted to its corporate purposes, provided however, that in the event of sale, mortgage, alienation, pledge or transfer of any of the property of said Corporation, that all the proceeds thereof should be required to be used for said purposes. The remaining assets of the Mansfield Training School Foundation, upon dissolution, would then donate any remaining assets to non-profit institutions devoted exclusively to the benefit of people considered intellectually or developmentally disabled. No person or member of the Corporation has the right to any remaining assets, meaning assets of the Foundation cannot be made to any organization that does not exist for charitable purposes. The MTS Foundation Board of Directors would manage all affairs of the organization and members must be: (1) 18 years of age at least, (2) mentally competent, (3) interested in furthering the objectives of the Corporation. Members were also chosen based on their knowledge of the needs of the residents at MTS and overall understanding of disability. Two members of the Foundation Board of Directors must be parents or close relatives of a resident, one must be from the MTS Board of Trustees and the Parents Association, while another member must be from the general public. None of the board members would be a resident at MTS.

Wallace Moreland would be serving as the President of the MTS Foundation during these early years. With his deep connections to UConn and MTS, Moreland worked closely to see just how much support he could garner from the Connecticut community for the Foundation. Until 1974, MTS Foundation had not sought outside support from other foundations since none of their pre-existing projects needed enough planning to submit an acceptable application. However, under the guidance of Director Helen Ballou, MTS began to discuss receiving financial funding from The Connecticut Bank and Trust Company and others such as the Elizabeth Carse Foundation. The latter would disperse $100,000 annually to MTS, yet, the MTS Foundation would still require a project in order to apply. In the meantime, the MTS Foundation would still have the consistent support of the UConn University Research Council in the form of access to resources, the Taft Information System, and the Foundation directory to continue finding financial resources.

Behind the walls of board meetings and conversation with the leaders of MTS, the Foundation began developing plans for projects they could request funding for. Three years after the MTS Foundation was established, two possible projects were proposed. The first project was developing a section of astro-turf for one of the building’s playgrounds, and the second was satisfying the need for wheelchairs. Two vastly different projects, the need for wheelchairs at MTS outweighed its desire for turf. Following an update in 1976, the Assistant Superintendent of MTS, Joseph Siegle illustrates that MTS would need 130 wheelchairs for their residents. At the time, they had 122 wheelchairs being shared with 175 clients. Aside from the immediate 130 wheelchairs needed, MTS also lacked extra wheelchairs for children, adults, and elders at the Training School in case of injury or new arrivals. With insufficient equipment and care for their residents, there is no update given as two if these wheelchairs were purchased for the residents of MTS. Whether Moreland or Ballou found funding for these purchases will remain unknown. However, a year later, in 1977, MTS Foundation drafts its first official large-scale project for funding deemed “The UConn League-Mansfield Training School Project.”