Polly Family Fund
Est. 2025 by Matthew Polly
Mark Nolan finds giving time and money to charitable causes so rewarding that he has made sure to bring members of his family into the experience.
For many decades, the San Diego native has focused his philanthropy on helping children and families in Mexico with such support as scholarships and housing. His work inspired his nephew Matthew Polly to organize clothing drives for Mexican orphanages when Polly was in high school. During his college years, Polly started a group that would go to Mexico during spring break and volunteer for orphanages introduced to him by Nolan, and help neighboring families with housing repairs and other needs.
Now that Polly lives in New Haven with his wife and son, Nolan has helped the family establish a donor-advised fund for giving to causes important to them. He has done the same for his niece, Polly’s sister, who lives in Maryland. In this way, Nolan is ensuring that generosity, and the sense of purpose that comes with it, takes root in the next generation.
“At some point I realized it was actually more fun to spend money helping others than it was to spend it on myself,” Nolan says. “It’s something people don’t really understand until they experience it themselves.”
