The Melville Charitable Trust

Susan Thomas serves as President, a role in which she oversees the Trust's grantmaking, real estate operations, and policy partnerships. A second-generation board includes Trustees Stephen and Ruth Melville, children of founding Chair Frank Melville. The Trust has not disclosed an internal investment committee structure, but its alliance with Living Cities — where Thomas serves as Secretary — and its Special Limited Partner stake in Preservation of Affordable Housing suggest a collaborative approach to deploying program-related assets.

Preservation of Affordable Housing acquired the Billings Forge Apartments from The Melville Charitable Trust, but the Trust retained an ongoing role as a Special Limited Partner. This stake aligns the Trust with a large-scale affordable housing owner-operator, giving it direct exposure to housing preservation beyond its own Hartford portfolio. The structure mirrors program-related investment models used by foundations that want to keep capital in mission-aligned for-profit entities.

Yes. The Trust owns and operates real estate directly, including the mixed-use Billings Forge Apartments in Hartford's Frog Hollow neighborhood and the Lyceum Resource and Conference Center. It also holds a commercial interest in the restaurant Fire by Forge. These assets function as program-related investments, generating revenue and employment while anchoring the Trust's place-based strategy in Connecticut.

The Trust splits its work between Connecticut — where it maintains a concentrated portfolio of real estate and local grants — and national policy advocacy. Its Connecticut presence centers on Hartford's Frog Hollow neighborhood, where it owns significant assets. Nationally, its policy efforts and coalition memberships, including co-founding Funders Together to End Homelessness in 2004, extend its influence beyond the state.

The Trust's endowment was established in 1990 through the estate of Dorothy Bigelow Melville. Her late husband, Ward Melville, built the Melville Corporation, a retail conglomerate best known for the Thom McAn shoe chain and later CVS. Their son Frank Melville served as the founding Board Chair, and grandchildren Stephen and Ruth Melville now serve as Trustees.

The Trust operates its own real estate assets — including apartments, a conference center, and a restaurant in Hartford — rather than functioning solely as a grantmaking entity. This operating-firm approach creates a built-in feedback loop: the Trust is a landlord, employer, and grantmaker simultaneously. It also embeds its leadership in coalition governance, with President Susan Thomas serving as Secretary of the Living Cities collaborative.

There is no current relationship with either entity. Dorothy Bigelow Melville's wealth originated from her late husband Ward Melville, who built the Melville Corporation before his death in 1977. CVS was originally part of that corporation but was fully separated decades ago. The Trust's endowment is independently managed and has no disclosed ties to the former parent company or its successors.