For the 8th time, the Children’s Forum will examine the condition of children, families and our community. The Forum begins at 8:30 AM, April 12 at the William A. Grant Water & Environmental Center at the Community College. Seating is limited. Contact Teri Barila for more information.
In addition to a review of a comprehensive data book on community health indicators, the Forum will discuss community wide initiatives to improve conditions for local children and families.
by Mari Sanders,
Assistant Director of Donor Services
I did some filing today. Now normally I couldn’t admit getting excited about filing, but today was a different story.
Here at the Foundation we have files for each of our funds where we file deposit slips and any fund specific documents. Today I am proud to say that I filed the first ever deposit slips for our Impact! Funds.
Why is this exciting you ask? Because these were the first ever gifts to our Impact! Funds. These gifts go directly into our grants program! Direct to local non-profits!
The Foundation categorizes all of our grants by Impact! area, for example Arts or Education. A gift to an Impact! Fund is a way that you could make a gift to an array of local non-profits, knowing that BMCF is evaluating grant requests and grants are being made to support work that is valuable to our communities.
If you’d like to make a gift to an Impact! Fund, click here. There’s still time to avoid some taxes and also to make a positive impact on the communities you care about. And also to make me a smile the next time I get to file gifts to Impact! Funds!
To read more about Impact! Funds and our 2012 grantees click here.
This year give a gift that continues giving throughout the year. Join us in making a gift to a Blue Mountain Community Foundation Impact! Fund. Your gift will go directly to local non-profits working to strengthen our communities.
Blue Mountain Community Foundation has launched our first ever year-end giving campaign!
Lawson will be on KUJ Monday morning at 7:30 a.m. visiting with Jim Bock to talk about the first ever Blue Mountain Community Foundation year-end giving campaign. Tune in at 1420 a.m. to listen in and learn about how you can make an Impact! on your community this Holiday Season.
Blue Mountain Community Foundation held it’s Annual Meeting on October 18th where it announced the grantees for it’s 2012 grant cycle. There were approximately 130 people in attendance which included, Grantees, Volunteers and Donors.
Lawson announced the grants by Impact! Area which include:
Arts!
Needs!
Economy!
Education!
Health!
Earth!
Neighbors!
Over $233,000 in grants were awarded.
To read more about the grants or to see a list of grantees please click here.
The Foundation’s Annual Report is also available on our website.
A $165,500 fund to protect wildlife habitat in Garfield County has been created under an agreement between Puget Sound Energy, Garfield County and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The endowment, administered by Blue Mountain Community Foundation, is called the Puget Sound Energy Lower Snake River Wind Habitat Project Fund.
Establishment of a long-term fund to preserve and enhance wildlife habitat is the brainchild of Grant Morgan, public works director for Garfield County. Morgan saw the fund as an opportunity to create an enduring asset for Garfield County – not unlike PSE’s new Lower Snake River Wind Facility. Anne Walsh, PSE’s senior environmental and communications manager in Southeast Washington, suggested that Blue Mountain Community Foundation manage the fund. The 2009 WDFW Wind Power Guidelines provided the framework to develop the mitigation strategy that ultimately resulted in the Puget Sound Energy Lower Snake River Wind Habitat Project Fund.
“By using mitigation funds from PSE’s Lower Snake River facility for an endowment,” Walsh said, “we can support environmental projects over the life of the wind project and beyond.”
The habitat endowment is designed to provide grants to local projects in Garfield County for the benefit of wildlife and the county’s citizens. Blue Mountain Community Foundation will invest and administer the fund.
The primary purpose of grants will be for stewardship—management, monitoring, restoration, enhancement, protection from degradation—of high-value habitat in Garfield County. Environmental mitigation for large construction projects traditionally involves a one-time investment, such as acquisition and preservation of an environmentally sensitive tract of land. Never before had the Department of Fish and Wildlife seen mitigation take the form of a long-term endowment.
“During my tenure, this is the most novel and innovative approach to using mitigation funds,” said Mike Ritter, WDFW Mitigation Biologist. “WDFW’s mission is to preserve, protect and perpetuate ecosystems. With an endowment, we have created a way to conserve habitat for generations in Garfield County.”
“Blue Mountain Community Foundation is delighted about this fund for a couple of reasons,” noted Foundation Executive Director Lawson Knight. “We say we serve Garfield County and this fund joins others that benefit Garfield County and demonstrate our commitment to serving the County. Another reason is we invest for a Healthy Community, which includes the environment. This is the most significant fund for the environment in the Foundation’s history.”
The Fund’s executive committee, composed of representatives from Puget Sound Energy, the Garfield County Board of Commissioners, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, is developing grant guidelines and will seek project proposals. A project committee, including executive committee members along with a representative from a wildlife-oriented organization and an at-large member, will review grant requests and select recipients.
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Washington state’s oldest local energy utility, Puget Sound Energy serves 1.1 million electric customers and more than 750,000 natural gas customers in 11 counties. A subsidiary of Puget Energy, PSE meets the energy needs of its customers, in part, through cost-effective energy efficiency, procurement of sustainable energy resources, and far-sighted investment in the energy-delivery infrastructure. PSE employees are dedicated to providing great customer service that is safe, dependable and efficient. For more information, visit www.PSE.com.
Garfield County is located in southeastern Washington with the Snake River Canyon in places descending well over 1,000 feet to the river. The Oregon state line marks Garfield County’s southern border with elevations rising to the Blue Mountains. Agriculture has dominated Garfield County’s economy with farms occupying two-thirds of the county. Wheat is the main crop, though other grains such as barley and bluegrass are also grown. Now, the County has begun harvesting wind. At 712.80 square miles which encompasses a portion of the Umatilla National Forest, Garfield County is the seventh-smallest county in the state. As of 2000, the population is 2397, making it the least populous in the state. The county seat is at Pomeroy, the county’s only city.
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife mission is to preserve, protect and perpetuate fish, wildlife and ecosystems while providing sustainable fish and wildlife recreational and commercial opportunities. With six regional offices spread across Washington State, the Region 1 office (Spokane) is responsible for conservation and protection of native fish and wildlife in Eastern Washington State, including Garfield County as well as providing sustainable fishing, hunting and other wildlife-related recreational experiences.
Since 1984, the Blue Mountain Community Foundation has served donors who care about Blue Mountain area communities, including Washington’s Garfield, Columbia and Garfield Counties, as well as the Northeast section of Umatilla County in Oregon. Through this generosity, BMCF grants in excess of $1.6 Million each year. It has grown to over $30M in assets in 250 component funds. Several Foundation funds benefit Garfield County including the Lawrence and Margaret Slater Scholarship Fund for Pomeroy High School graduates and the Garfield County Health Foundation Fund.
Blue Mountain Community Foundation has awarded two additional grants from the First Fruits Fund, a component fund of the Foundation.
Community Council, a citizen led group that brings people together to study regional issues and follow up with actions, was awarded $3,395.00 which helped them meet their $80K fundraising goal for the fiscal year and receive a Sherwood Trust matching grant. Community Council has completed three community studies in the four years since the organization was founded on the following topics:
Links to the study reports can be found here. A new study on Effective Communication between Citizens and Government will begin this fall. Visit Community Council’s website at www.communitycouncil.org to learn more about the work Community Council is doing and the process used to study issues.
Walla Walla Public Schools’ Farm to School Program was awarded $6,200.00 to help establish a program that will bring more local farm fresh produce to school lunches and will expand the school garden programs and curriculum. This effort led by Beth Thiel has already been able to bring local farm fresh asparagus to Sharpstein and Blue Ridge this spring. Click this link to read an article in the Union Bulletin about the program.
The First Fruits Fund was established in 2008 with a generous grant from the Vista Hermosa Foundation. Since that time, the Fund has made 69 grants exceeding $567,000.
The stated goal of the First Fruits Fund is to “encourage collaborative and innovative approaches to building self-sufficiency for the most under-served in our communities, including improved access to such basic needs as housing, food, education and livable wages.” Founders believe that the most impactful way to achieve that goal is to support community-based initiatives that empower people themselves to identify their needs and collectively own the process of change.
Blue Mountain Community Foundation welcomes you to its 2012-13 Grant Year. It is our goal to make the grant application process easy for the grant seeker and also greener for our environment, requiring much less paperwork. Please read the Guidelines for Grant Applications carefully before submitting an application to determine if your organization is eligible and if the Foundation’s funding timeline suits the needs of your program.
Submit the following items to Blue Mountain Community Foundation by JULY 2, 2012:
Do not use a binder. Staple each application and program/project description sheet together in the upper-left hand corner. Upon review of your submission, BMCF may request additional information, including but not limited to financial statements, project budgets and a list of members of your governing board.
All grant applications must be postmarked or received in the BMCF office at 8 South 2nd Avenue, Suite 618, Walla Walla, WA 99362, by JULY 2, 2012
Grant awards will be announced at the Foundation’s annual meeting in October, 2012. Declined proposals will be notified in writing by or before the annual meeting.
Blue Mountain Community Foundation, P.O. Box 603, Walla Walla, Washington 99362 509-529-4371 Fax: 509-529-5284
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