Join us for perspectives and Q&A from state Humanities and Arts organizations in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming. Learn how and where federal dollars flow to states, the impact on local communities if this funding source is eliminated and advocacy efforts to date.
Cities consist of many communities tied together by proximity, infrastructure and networks. But what happens when some communities are overlooked, when neighborhoods are gentrifying or otherwise going through changes that may not necessarily be in everyone's best interest? How do you prevent this from happening — or how do you deal with it when it does? Place-based philanthropy can ensure the sustainability of urban development efforts by providing long-term strategy, mobilizing patient capital and connecting funders with grassroots community leaders. In the Northwest, I recently visited three extraordinary urban sustainability projects that demonstrate the power of place-based philanthropy as a convener and catalyst: Yesler Terrace in Seattle, Living Cully in Portland and the Puyallup Watershed Initiative in greater Tacoma.
Between the changing political landscape, our membership renewal cycle and planning for major programs, the first two months of this year have kept us busy at Philanthropy Northwest! Before we continue at this rapid pace and scale — adding the next edition of Trends in Northwest Giving and the second cohort of our Momentum Fellowship to the mix — we'd like to pause for a moment to welcome five new organizations to our network this year: Beneficial State Foundation / Beneficial State Bank, The Sheri & Les Biller Family Foundation, Idaho Community Foundation, Legal Foundation of Washington and Washington Research Foundation.
Greater Seattle's public, private and philanthropy sectors came together last month to support the annual No Child Sleeps Outside campaign to address the crisis of hundreds of families and children sleeping outside in King County, Washington. Including major gifts from The Starbucks Foundation, Schultz Family Foundation and Microsoft, more than 50 local businesses and organizations and thousands of online and Starbucks store donors raised $4.5 million for Mary's Place, the region's largest family emergency shelter provider.
Philanthropy Northwest is supporting a network of community foundations in Washington state, through the generous support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. As part of this work, we are helping to plan the annual Community Foundations Convening, which brings together the leadership of community foundations and other community investors across the state.
On behalf of our interim board of directors, it is my pleasure to introduce Philanthropy Northwest's network to Group Health Community Foundation. GHCF’s formation as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization is one component of the proposed acquisition of Group Health Cooperative by Kaiser Permanente. If the acquisition is approved by Washington state regulators and completed, Kaiser Permanente will provide approximately $1.8 billion to fund this new health foundation. We look forward to deepening our connections within the Philanthropy Northwest network in the coming years.
