For the past 16 years at the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, Richard “Dick” Ober has asked himself the same question: “How can we make more impact for good in New Hampshire?”
That pursuit became the guiding light of his tenure as president and CEO of the organization, a community foundation that stewards financial resources from donors across the state to provide more than $70 million in scholarships and grants each year.
“What’s been most special for me is to see this incredible coming together of generous people who have set up charitable funds and then matching those funds with the hundreds and hundreds of amazing nonprofit organizations in New Hampshire,” he said.
As Ober prepares to retire from his role in July, he sees tremendous potential in the future of the Foundation, whose next leader will be Shawn Morehead, the current executive vice president and chief program officer at The New York Community Trust.
“This has been my whole career, and it’s all about doing a little bit to serve the place that I call home and that I love,” said Ober, who spent 43 years working in the nonprofit sector.
Ober previously worked at the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests and the Monadnock Conservancy then stepped into his role at the Charitable Foundation in 2010.
Under his leadership, the Foundation nearly tripled its funding for annual grant-making, in addition to weathering a global pandemic, political polarization and economic uncertainty.
All of these elements, he said, have “landed really hard on the nonprofit organizations that New Hampshire depends on for health, environmental protection and care for the most vulnerable in our communities.”
Morehead, who began as a teacher before transitioning to a career in law, described nonprofits as “the fabric of our communities.”
“When I think about our desires to care for each other, as neighbors, as peers, as fellow Americans, as fellow residents of New Hampshire, nonprofits are the tool that allow us to do that kind of caregiving,” she said.
During her time as a lawyer, she led civil rights cases on behalf of public school students. Then, in the past decade and a half, she spearheaded the New York Community Trust’s grant program, which awards $60 million annually. Morehead has taken the lead on endeavors centered around aiding young immigrants, in addition to working on philanthropic supports for public education.
Like Ober, Morehead sees how targeted investment can help individuals and their communities.
With recent public funding cuts at both the federal and state levels, nonprofits are filling in the gaps while relying more heavily on individual donors and foundations for financial support, Ober said.
“We have done everything we can to lower the obstacles to nonprofits receiving support. We have deepened our commitment to really listening and understanding from nonprofits, or on the front lines of all of these issues, what their needs are,” he said.
The NH Center for Nonprofits says that all Granite Staters have benefited from a nonprofit in their lifetime. These organizations comprise 14% of the state’s workforce and generate $17.2 billion for the New Hampshire economy each year.
And yet, Ober said, “the nonprofit and philanthropic sector cannot ever fill the gaps left by inadequate public support, public funding.”
Nonprofits in New Hampshire provide services in a broad range of areas, including education, food assistance, housing, physical and mental health, in addition to working with underserved populations such as immigrants, refugees and individuals with disabilities.
In 2025, the Charitable Foundation administered $87 million in grants to over 2,500 nonprofits. Over the last three years, this marks an almost 22% increase in grantmaking and around a 33% increase in the number of organizations receiving grants. Last year also saw over $7.5 million in scholarship funds awarded to 2,065 students.
Leading this organization is a responsibility Morehead takes seriously.
“It’s actually not about me. It’s about my interactions with people in New Hampshire and how I can be a conduit for continuing the tremendous work the Foundation has done, and continue that work into the future as we face new opportunities and challenges,” she said.
Ober, who has dedicated much of his life to the nonprofit sector, plans to continue finding ways to stay involved.
“It’s all about doing a little bit to serve the place that I call home and that I love,” he said.
For more information about the NH Charitable Foundation, visit www.nhcf.org.
