Orcas Island Community Foundation is one of nine community foundations in Washington to receive a Community Foundation grant from Philanthropy Northwest.

Thanks to generous underwriting from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Philanthropy Northwest has granted one hundred sixty thousand dollars ($160,000) to nine Washington community foundations. These grants are designed to build the capacity of nonprofit organizations throughout the state. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant also supports a staff position at Philanthropy Northwest dedicated to supporting a peer network of community foundations.

Grant awards ranged from $13,000 to $25,000. While the projects vary in size and focus, each project reflects the recipient’s unique strategy for building community and supporting nonprofit capacity in their area. The grants support a wide variety of strategies, including programs to address recruitment and training for nonprofit boards, support for collaborations among nonprofits, and professional development for nonprofit staff. Grant recipients will attend at least one convening to share their experiences with each other and more broadly with the community foundation and capacity building fields.

Other community foundations receiving grants are: Blue Mountain Community Foundation, Greater Everett Community Foundation, Jefferson County Community Foundation, Kitsap Community Foundation, Community Foundation of North Central Washington, Community Foundation of South Puget Sound, Greater Tacoma Community Foundation, and Whatcom Community Foundation.

An advisory committee of Northwest leaders, with community foundation and nonprofit expertise, developed the grant criteria and reviewed the grant applications. The members of the Advisory Committee were: Samin Dadelahi, Wyoming Community Foundation; Jock Edwards, Sherwood Trust; Kit Gillem, M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust; Audrey Haberman, Pride Foundation; Carol Lewis, Philanthropy Northwest; Mark Putnam, Building Changes; Tawnya Rupe, Mountain Sky Guest Ranch; and Marie Sauter, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Community Foundation Initiative builds on a collaborative effort of seven Philanthropy Northwest member organizations committed to building Washington’s nonprofit sector, particularly in light of the economic downturn. Philanthropy Northwest supported this work through its consulting arm, The Giving Practice. A copy of their report, An Assessment of Capacity Building in Washington State, was completed in December 2009 and can be found here.