Feel free to stop by and help us unpack or just stop by to say hello!

Here is our new info:

Blue Mountain Community Foundation
McBride Building (corner of 1st & Poplar)
22 E. Poplar St, Suite 206
Walla Walla, WA 99362
(509) 529-4371

Please feel free to stop by and help pack some boxes (we know you are only going to take one last look at the view) or visit us in our new space starting May 1st.

Here is our new info:

Blue Mountain Community Foundation
McBride Building (corner of 1st & Poplar)
22 E. Poplar St, Suite 206
Walla Walla, WA 99362
(509) 529-4371

The guidelines and application are available by clicking here.

Who may apply?
501(c)(3) orgs in the Foundation’s service area

How much is available?
Approximately $225,000 will be available to grant

When will grants be awarded?
Grant checks are usually issued in late October

When are applications due?
July 1, 2013

For more information visit our website at http://www.bluemountainfoundation.org/grants/discretionary-grants-program2013/

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.

Sector Leaders Tell Lawmakers Limits, Caps Not a Solution to Fiscal Crisis  

 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Millions of people throughout America are at risk of losing crucial nonprofit services if Congress enacts limits to the century-old charitable tax deduction. Hundreds of foundation and philanthropic leaders are in Washington, D.C. this week to make sure lawmakers understand that unraveling the charitable deduction is not a solution to the budget crisis.

The timing is key as Congress and the president tackle deficit reduction and tax reform. The House and Senate both released their budget plans last week and the proposed Senate budget suggests limits to itemized deductions – one of which is the charitable deduction – putting at risk billions of dollars in charitable donations.

“The charitable deduction is unlike anything else in our tax code, encouraging people to invest in their communities without personal gain,” said Kevin Murphy, president of the Berks County Community Foundation in Pennsylvania and board chair of the Council on Foundations. “Limiting the charitable deduction would have the greatest impact on those who need the most help, especially during tough economic times. How could we possibly limit or tamper with incentives that allow people to give away their income to benefit others?”

Foundations on the Hill is an annual event sponsored by the Council on Foundations, the Alliance for Charitable Reform and the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers. It brings together hundreds of leaders from community organizations to make sure elected officials clearly understand the inextricable link between charitable giving and thriving communities – from jobs and economic growth to spurring innovation and improving education and health to crisis relief, human services and more.

Gloria Johnson Cusack, executive director of Leadership 18, an alliance of CEOs leading America’s largest nonprofits, said, “I don’t believe any policymaker intends to undermine charities. But the fact is that major decisions about a range of issues are going to be made very quickly behind closed doors in this unusual legislative environment. That’s why we have to act now to make sure lawmakers understand that giving will go down significantly if they change good, existing policy that incentivizes people to support communities. We know policymakers face tough decisions, but now is not the time to experiment with the charitable deduction. The burden falls on nonprofit organizations and the people they serve.”

Michael Litz, president and CEO of the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers, said, “Philanthropy is an independent, innovative investment for improving our communities and it needs to be preserved, recognized as different, and encouraged, now more than ever. It is critical that we educate members of Congress about how philanthropic innovation tackles society’s greatest challenges and benefits their constituents – by educating children, improving lives, revitalizing neighborhoods and strengthening communities.”

Lawson Knight, executive director of the Blue Mountain Community Foundation Washington state, said, “Giving to others sustains positive change where I live. In our area, charitable giving resurrected a local theater, renewed a downtown, built parks, provided swimming lessons for children and scholarships for aspiring college graduates. Giving is not simply a luxury afforded to those taking a charitable deduction. It is central to the American experience. It is essential that it remain so.”

“When it comes to who benefits from the charitable deduction, we think of people in need, not donors who take a deduction,” said Peter Bird, president of the Frist Foundation in Nashville, Tennessee. “Those who benefit from our grants range from families seeking health care and job opportunities to Alzheimer’s patients and their loved ones. When you think about revenue, tax reform, deductions and exclusions, think about how all of that would impact the way we care for each other.”

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The Council on Foundations, formed in 1949, is a nonprofit membership association of grantmaking foundations and corporations. Members of the Council include more than 1,700 independent, operating, community, public and company-sponsored foundations, and corporate giving programs in the United States and abroad. The Council’s mission is to provide the opportunity, leadership, and tools needed by philanthropic organizations to expand, enhance, and sustain their ability to advance the common good. www.cof.org

The Alliance for Charitable Reform (ACR) works to advance the principles that promote vigorous private giving to charities and to preserve the rights of these donors. A project of The Philanthropy Roundtable, ACR educates legislators and policymakers about the central role of private giving in American life and thus the importance of protecting philanthropic freedom—the ability of individuals and private organizations to determine how and where to direct their charitable assets. ACR seeks to prevent policies that would diminish private giving, limit the diversity of charitable causes Americans support, or place undue government regulations on philanthropic organizations at both the federal and state level. www.acreform.com

The Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers (the Forum) is the national philanthropic federation and network of 34 regional associations of grantmakers serving nearly 5500 grantmaking entities and funder collaboratives. The mission of the Forum network is to connect and support regional associations — in ways that expand their capacity to lead, add value to their members, and strengthen philanthropy in their regions — and to bring the knowledge and experience of the regional associations into the national conversation on philanthropy. www.givingforum.org

The BMCF Scholarship program is available to both undergraduate and graduate level study. There are two types of scholarships offered: Need Based and Special Requirement.

To read more about the requirements and to print an application please click here.

Financial aid professionals will assist families who need to complete their FAFSAs or CSS Profiles. The families need to bring last year’s taxes or their W-2s.

“We are happy to assist families with completing these critical documents in the financial aid process,” said Marilyn Ponti, Whitman’s director of financial aid services. “It can be a little overwhelming, but we are well prepared to help and answer questions that families may have about applying for financial aid at colleges across the country.”

Contact: Marilyn Ponti, Whitman College director of financial aid services
pontimk@whitman.edu
527-5986

I had the pleasure of eating school lunch today. I’m not kidding. My third grader invited me to join him at Sharpstein today because his best friend Christian’s mom was cooking lunch. An Italian soup was just about all he knew about it.

What my son Eden doesn’t know is that there is no other place in Walla Walla I’d rather eat than at Christian mom’s restaurant, Brasserie 4. So, there was no way I was going to pass up this opportunity!

What else he doesn’t know is that my good friend Beth Thiel, the Walla Walla Public Schools Farm-to-School coordinator was in charge of the effort to bring this wonderful meal to the kids at Sharpstein.

Beth’s successes were highlighted in an article in the Union Bulletin yesterday which you can read by clicking here. She has been the recent recipient of a $96,000 grant from the USDA to help further her program in the Walla Walla Public Schools. Congratulations Beth!

So back to lunch… it was delicious! For $3.25 I was served a bowl of Minestrone soup topped with fresh grated parmesian cheese and a roll, and helped myself to a large salad from the salad bar with Orange Poppyseed dressing, three slices of pineapple, and some 1% milk. I’m not the only one who loved it. Kids all around me were slurping up soup and dipping rolls in the broth. The kids ate, and seemed to be genuinely enjoying their meals.

When asked if the meal was a tremendous amount of work, Hannah, the chef replied, “No! it was totally do-able, and the staff was great to work with!” So… more meals fresh from the kitchen to come! A great day for Sharpstein, and for the Farm-to-School Program!

The Walla Walla Public Schools Farm-to-School program was the recipient of a grant from the First Fruits Fund, a fund at BMCF, established in 2008 with a generous grant from the Vista Hermosa Foundation.  Since that time, the Fund has made over 60 grants exceeding $550,000.

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.

For more reading on the Washington State Farm-to-School program click here. To keep up to date on the Walla Walla Public Schools Farm-to-School program you can “like” their facebook page by clicking here.

That’s a lot of dough!

So if you know someone from Walla Walla that is graduating from high-school or even already enrolled in college make sure they know about our program. All the details are on our website, click here to find out more.

The deadline is March 1st so don’t delay.