The San Juan Island Community Foundation (SJICF) connects islanders with the nonprofit organizations and projects they care about to build a strong and resilient community. Since its founding in 1994, the foundation has strived to make San Juan Island a place where all residents can thrive, and the hands-on services they offer are proof of this sentiment. 

Carrie Unpingco, operations manager at SJICF, explains the foundation’s reasoning behind their work and programs. “Our purpose is to support the quality of life on San Juan Island by acting as a resource for both our donors and nonprofits. We continue to witness the important work being done by local nonprofit organizations and recognize the value of investing in our community for a sustainable and healthy future.” 

This work is especially important because of the distinctive problems the island community faces. Examples of these challenges include access to medical care, lack of childcare and lack of affordable housing. 

“Because of our remote location, healthcare access is still an issue,” says Carrie. “Peace Island Medical Center has improved access but there are certain treatments that require patients to travel to the mainland which is another expense. Lack of childcare and early childhood education are also an issue. Because the field doesn’t pay well, people often leave for better opportunities.” 

Despite being smaller than most mainland foundations, SJICF is deeply involved in their community and has a packed to-do list. 

“Because of the various island needs, our work is never done. Annually, we have three grant cycles as well as a community-wide giving campaign during the county fair where, this year, we raised a total of $98,000 for local organizations,” says Carrie. “Over the next few years, we plan to fundraise for the San Juan Community Home Trust’s affordable rental housing project along with several other large community projects. Definitely a packed calendar.” 

Because Carrie has worked for SJICF for nearly a decade, she’s familiar with the work of community foundations. She says the true role of these foundations is “to build collective efforts and partnerships within the community and to ensure the foundations reflect the communities they’re serving.” 

Similar to SJICF, the Whidbey Community Foundation (WCF) connects people who care to causes that matter. Founded in 2016, the organization has established itself on its island which is home to approximately 80,000 residents and 200 nonprofits. 

Jessie Gunn, WCF’s executive director, described how the Whidbey Community Foundation came to be. “Before our foundation, we were the only area in Puget Sound without any community foundation representation. Community members started looking around and realized these other foundations were doing a lot for their community and we wanted to do the same for Whidbey Island, especially because we have a large number of nonprofits per capita.” 

During its early years, a primary service WCF offered was capacity-building workshops to nonprofits that essentially taught these organizations how to optimize their work. Additionally, the foundation would develop a nonprofit directory that easily organized the island’s charitable organizations into a single database. 

“I think one role we’ve really filled here on the island is simply being a hub,” says Jessie. “We act as a single gathering place for anyone interested in learning more about charity on the island. That’s our nonprofit directory. We support donors interested in opening funds, so stewarding their giving, and most importantly we connect people.” 

When the pandemic hit, the foundation had existed only for three years, and the sudden increase in need presented them with a particular challenge. However, through that challenging work, WCF developed a deeper understanding of the community’s needs. 

“The foundation launched a COVID Resiliency Fund, then did a broad callout where we asked nonprofits what they needed,” says Jessie. “And we got our answers, but we also learned that before our callout many in the community didn’t yet know about us. Our name recognition improved, and we learned more about systemic issues on the island.” 

In response to being asked what’s next for WCF, Jessie had this to say: 

“We just completed our new three-year strategic plan, and what we’re hoping to do is expand our giving. Specifically, we want to create more endowments and more legacy giving,” says Jessie. “The plan also includes efforts to work with more donors and provide more educational services to nonprofits. Lastly, we’re hoping to get into impact investing and spread that knowledge to our community. To name a few.”