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Chrissie and Ezra Ripple, a couple very involved in local philanthropy efforts, at their home in West Hartford. STEPHEN DUNN|sdunn@courant.com

(STEPHEN DUNN / Hartford Courant)

DONNA LARCEN

Are you a giver? If so, meet some people like you.

If you write a check to a worthy cause, volunteer your time to a nonprofit board, or ladle soup for the homeless, you are a philanthropist.

The art of giving helps others. But here’s another reason to do it.

“Some people think it’s giving until it hurts,” says Christina B. Ripple, who goes by Chrissie. She is a lifetime board member of Hartford Stage, who, with her husband, Ezra, also supports Riverfront Recapture, the Asylum Hill Congregational Church, the Bushnell Center for Performing Arts and other causes. “I say give until you feel great.”

She’s right. The folks who study such things refer to a “helper’s high.” And in Hartford, there are lots of givers feeling good.

By almost any measure, Hartford is a generous community. The 90-year-old Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, which serves 29 towns, is the 18th-largest community foundation in the U.S. with $934 million in assets. (Silicon Valley Community Foundation is first with $6.5 billion.) The Hartford Foundation awarded $32.6 million through 1,997 grants in 2014.

The foundation was started by two bankers, Maynard T. Hazen and Clark T. Durant, in 1925. Its first gift was $1,000 from a dentist. In 1936, it gave out its first grant, $982.52 to the Watkinson Library, now at Trinity College.

“We are designed to last into perpetuity,” says Linda Kelly, the foundation’s president. “Philanthropy is a love of human kind, of giving back, of being part of the community. People give their time, talent and treasure to help others. We all have an interest in a strong, thriving community.”

The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving recently began a series of ads headlined “I Am A Philanthropist,” thanking donors and featuring the causes they support.

Anyone in the giving business will tell you that getting support for nonprofits is all about developing relationships.

“You need to match what you are doing with the interest of donors,” says Mary Cahalane, who runs Hands-On Fundraising, and has been on the development staffs of Hartford Stage, Riverfront Recapture and Charter Oak Cultural Center. “There is a myth that a professional fundraiser can come in with their list of big donors and make it rain. But it doesn’t really work like that. You have to know the culture of a place and find the people interested in your mission. Donors bring their own interest and you must make the connection.”

For Carl Zyskowski, that connection came through his church in 1990 when he was looking to do some volunteer work. He, with two brothers and a sister, run Central Optica, following their father Stanley’s longtime ownership of Pratt Opticians in Hartford.

“I am a member of St. Patrick-St. Anthony Church and I asked someone where I could get involved,” Zyskowski says. The Hartford church has a relationship with the House of Bread soup kitchen, so at 6 a.m. on Fridays, Carl would lace up his roller blades and skate over from Bushnell Tower to serve breakfast. His faithful service and people skills impressed founders, Sisters Maureen Faenza and Theresa Fonti, whose early years were in a small space on Ann Street, with a 12-cup coffee pot, two-slice toaster and bag of stale doughnuts.

Zyskowski went from front-line service to the board, where he is now president. House of Bread marked its 35th year, and Central Optica its 36th, in 2015.

Carl Zyskowski, owner of Central Optica in West Hartford Center, is a philanthropist in Hartford with a long history of helping out the House of Bread. STEPHEN DUNN|sdunn@courant.com

(STEPHEN DUNN / Hartford Courant)

“It becomes part of your lifestyle,” Zyskowski says. “Once you get involved, it absorbs you and you really find it’s humbling. It puts a great perspective on where you are and what you have.”

House of Bread now offers affordable housing, a drop-in center for the homeless, three transitional living houses, a soup kitchen doling out 1,500 meals a week, four Kids Cafes sites serving 450 children dinner, its own brand of pasta sauce, a GED program for mothers, a mentoring program for children, Project FEAST (Food Education and Service Training) for jobs in the food service industry, a thrift store and a literacy program for adults. Its annual Hunger Banquet fundraiser, at which folks pay a fee to eat soup, bread and an apple, sells out and helps fund its annual $1.5 million budget.

Do Unto Others

Sharing with the less fortunate is at the heart of most religions.

“The Jewish community in Greater Hartford is unbelievably generous,” says Michael Johnston, president and CEO of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Hartford. “It’s not unusual because it is a faith-based trait. It’s an obligation called tikkun olam, which means ‘repair of the world.’ That’s just not for us, but for everybody.”

The foundation has assets of $104 million, manages about 1,300 funds and awarded $4 million in grants and distributed another $1 million in custodial funds in 2014. Its big initiative this year is the Aim Chai endowment campaign. It has raised $34 million of its targeted $40 million to set up a fund that will be invested and spin off money for nonprofit groups.

“This is a one-time ask on behalf of 30 organizations,” Johnston says. “We went to the local organizations and asked for their donor lists. It’s a leap of faith.”

The foundation also asked for support from local rabbis. They gave their spiritual endorsement through an ancient tradition called an ethical will, in which parents would leave their wish list to their children about life lessons and values.

The Greater Hartford Jewish Community Ethical Will describes Greater Hartford’s rabbis and their congregations as stewards of others’ generosity. In part it reads, “We found orchards of learning, bushes burning unconsumed and our air filled with compassion.”

“We affirm that we bear responsibility to each other and that our own spiritual journey is part of a larger covenantal framework which guides our lives,” is part of the will.

“What was remarkable was that 71 percent of those who donated to the campaign are first-time givers,” Johnston says. “This kind of ask engenders questions of legacy and making a difference in the lives of the generations that follow.”

The Art Of Giving

Giving addresses serious issues of poverty, hunger and homelessness. But giving in the arts world also brings an element of fun.

“That is absolutely true,” says Chrissie Ripple, who is often seen out and about with her husband, Ezra, at fundraisers. “I would say 90 percent of our friends and social life comes out of the groups that we support.”

The couple’s love of theater, and each other, began at the Kingswood and Oxford schools in 1964 when they tried out for a school play. She was a freshman and he was a senior.

“My mother was so happy that I had a friend with a car to take me to rehearsals,” Chrissie recalls while sitting near Ezra in their home in West Hartford. “Little did she know that play would change my life.”

What also influenced Chrissie was going to the Hartford Stage. Her high school drama teacher was married to actor-director Charles Kimbrough, who was directing “Bedtime Story” in the 1964 season.

Ezra Ripple went on to college and got into the insurance business. They married young, spent a year in Florida, and returned home, where Ezra settled in as a trainee at the Connecticut General Insurance Company. He later began his own firm, which he still runs.

Chrissie took a production job at WTIC in the old Broadcast House, answering phones, ushering children into the “Ranger Andy” show and rubbing elbows with on-air talent Brad Davis and John Sablon, who were doing their “What’s Happening” show. Then, she stopped to raise her two sons.

In the late 1980s, David Hawkanson, the managing director of Hartford Stage, called Chrissie and said: “Do you want to sell your soul to the devil and come be on our board?” They were starting an advisory board of younger people to plan cast parties and other social events. “That was right up my alley. I met Elliot Gerson and John Chapin. We met all the young actors. We had so much fun.”

She worked her way up the ranks and became president of the board. She is a life director. “So I started out giving my time. Now we give money, too,” Chrissie says.

She is hesitant to talk about that, but Ezra interjects. “Let’s set an example, Chrissie. If our friends see we are doing this and having fun doing it, then maybe they will do it, too. I’m always counseling my clients to share with others.”

In their younger parenting years, they helped out with a fundraiser for the Children’s Museum in West Hartford. Folks were asked to donate a tray of hors d’oeuvres and Chrissie was dazzled by a black lacquer tray holding sushi and decorated with miniature cutouts of kimonos.

“It was stunning. I volunteered to return the tray. I had to know who these Japanalia people were,” she says.

Dan and Eiko Blow and their young son Tei became lifelong friends. The couple was recently back from Japan and “we were trying to figure out what our business could be,” says Dan Blow, who, with Eiko, eventually set up a manufacturing space at 30 Arbor St. in Hartford to create Japanese-inspired women’s (and some men’s) kimono-based clothing designs, and higher-end Eiko creations, to give area women custom-designed outfits for charity galas and parties.

When Chrissie returned that tray, she was smitten.

“You could see they were special,” she says. “I volunteered to help them. I had time in the middle of my day. Dan had me press outfits. I graduated into producing his fashion shows. Ezra got them space in a client’s building in Wethersfield for a great Saturday night show.”

The Ripples were frequent attendees at Japanalia’s jazz events, when Dan would put racks of clothing out of the way and jam in about 75 folks to hear jazz. When it came time to close the business last year, the Ripples insisted that there had to be a big farewell and were one of many to put up money to stage a show at the Wadsworth Atheneum, where singers donated their talents, and the faithful paid admission to say a loving goodbye to the couple that brought so much fun to Hartford.

“It seemed like a good place to do it,” Dan says, “because we put on a great series of shows there with folks like Anne Cubberly and Jacques Lamarre, all at our own expense. And Eiko had a terrific fashion exhibition there along with weaver Edjohnetta Miller.”

Eiko, who is divorced from Dan, remains in the Hartford area doing private showings. Dan and his life partner, Larry Wilhelm, have decamped to the Bahamas, where they have a constant stream of visitors from Hartford.

“We always ran our business to make a living and put Tei through college, but it was more than that,” Dan says. “We always gave more in contributions, happenings. We wanted to make Hartford a fun place, a thriving place. You do that by giving back. Your payment is certainly not in money, but in creating a place that’s lively.”

Following The Leaders

One of the places where young entrepreneurs are getting help is at reSET, which operates an incubator for social enterprise startup businesses.

It began when Kate Emery, CEO and founder of The Walker Group, a Farmington-based technology firm, was looking to make a more meaningful contribution.

“I was tired of people excusing bad corporate behavior by saying, ‘Oh, that’s just business.’ I decided to take one-third of the profits from Walker and use it to fund Social Enterprise Trust,” she said.

The new nonprofit began in 2007, just before the recession. There are many ways to describe a social enterprise, but Emery is interested in startups that make something for the good of the world and employ people who might have trouble getting a job, including the formerly homeless, urban youths and ex-convicts.

Kate Emery, left, reSET founder, and Ojala Naeem, Incubater and IT manager at reSET, celebrate a victory on recent legislation.

(Dan Haar)

In its new offices at Park and Bartholomew streets in an old factory building, reSET provides a co-working space where folks can claim a desk and network. Current tenants include a health policy expert, a singer-songwriter and the author of the Connecticut By the Numbers blog.

The trust also funds an annual Impact Challenge, open to young entrepreneurs and startups in New England who have a business plan to address a social or environmental challenge. This year’s Social Impact Challenge, held Oct. 29, honored 12 businesses chosen from 100 candidates. There was an online contest for a “People’s Choice Award.” A pool of $75,000 and continued support from experts was awarded.

Anthony Price has a drop-in desk at reSET. He recently launched Loot Scout, calling himself Chief Loot Officer.

“I help raise capital for small businesses,” says Price, who held the Hartford Capital Summit, his first networking event, on Oct. 1, and invited inner-city high school kids to meet entrepreneurs. “I think it was important for the kids. It’s not often they will see people of color and women as leaders. We are often in the room, but not always the experts.”

He gives back by serving on boards. He’s the president of Hartford Communities That Care, based in Hartford’s North End. “We try to help kids stay on the right track to avoid drugs and violence,” Price says. He’s also on the board of Access Rehab in Waterbury, where he worked in economic development and was recommended by the former head of Waterbury Hospital. He recently joined the board of the Hartford YMCA, which is about to move from the Hartford 21 complex to the space occupied by Club Longitude in Statehouse Square.

“Boards need board members with all different skill sets,” Price says. “I don’t have a lot of money, but I do contribute and I bring a set of financial and networking skills with me.”

Everyone should have the opportunity for the helper’s high. The Chronicle of Philanthropy keeps statistics on giving ratios broken down by annual income. In 2012, in the 06105 ZIP code in Hartford, households with incomes up to $25,000 had a 6.36 percent giving ratio, for an average contribution of $1,713, compared with a 2.55 percent giving ratio in households of $75,000 to $100,000, with an average contribution of $2,800.

“If you look at giving in strictly religious terms — the divine spirit or God or whatever you want to call it — everything we have comes from that source, so we are already beneficiaries,” says Rabbi Donna Berman, executive director of Charter Oak Cultural Center. “So in giving we are imitating the divine. We are in alignment with that beautiful force that created oceans and trees.”

Michael Johnston, of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Hartford, also turns to trees when citing an example of why communities are stronger when they work together.

Giant sequoia trees can grow to be 300 feet tall, but their roots only go down about 3 feet. How do they survive?

“They help each other,” he says. “They grow in stands and their roots intertwine so they hold each other up. When we talk about community, that’s what we mean: Thinking about your neighbor and holding each other up.”