Stanwood-Camano Area Foundation

1) Strengthening the community through project funding.
2) Strengthening the community through non-profit leadership.
3) Strengthening the community through educational opportunities.
4) Strengthening the community through facilitation of community initiatives.

Project Funding:
1) We provide matching funds for capital projects of significant community impact.
2) We provide emergency assistance for nonprofits facing expenses that couldn't be foreseen, can't be covered from their own reserves, and for which they don't have time to fundraise.
3) We provide capacity building grants for nonprofits that are trying to grow to the next level.
4) We provide a platform for fundraising through an annual Giving Tuesday campaign for local nonprofits.
5) We provide general community grants.

Non-Profit Leadership:
1) We provide workshops for nonprofits and their boards.
2) We lead combined marketing efforts to build awareness of resources.
3) We lead combined grant efforts and provide grant resources.
4) We provide funding for ongoing collective resources such as our online community resource hub.

Educational Opportunities:
1) We facilitate a community scholarship program that provides over 250 scholarships to graduating high school seniors each year.
2) We facilitate an adult scholarship program for adults needing further education to better compete in today's workforce.
3) We facilitate a music grant program for middle school music programs.

Fiscal Agency and Facilitation of Community Initiatives:
1) We provide fiscal agency services for new nonprofits.
2) We provide funding and facilitation for collective impact initiatives.

The Stanwood-Camano Area Foundation is the second oldest community foundation in the State of Washington. Founded in 1960 by local community leaders, the Foundation has always attracted a highly qualified and professional board of trustees who have been able to lead the organization through its many stages of growth. The board of trustees continually assesses the needs of the community and responds to those needs through targeted programs and services.

The Foundation is unique among local non-profits in its strong connection to the business community, to public agencies, to other nonprofits, and to the philanthropic community at large. We are able to marshal these resources to work together to meet community needs.

In 2015 we introduced SC Give, an annual online Giving Tuesday event for the local nonprofit community. The pilot program in 2015 raised $29,000 for local nonprofits. This grew to $88,890 in 2020.

The high school scholarship program grew from $150,000 in locally supported scholarships in 2015 to $308,000 in 2022.

An annual community grant fundraising event was introduced in 2017 and has provided $25,000 to $30,000 in additional community grants per year.

In 2017 we facilitated a collective impact initiative designed to help families in poverty become self-sustaining, and to enable the children to meet educational milestones and be set up for future success. We brought together 17 cross-sector partners to discuss how best to help local families out of poverty, and together designed and created a comprehensive, long-term mentoring program that partnering organizations are directly involved in supporting through their time and services. In 2018 we secured a three-year United Way grant in the amount of $210,000 per year to fund the program.

In 2021 we secured a substantial three-year grant to increase kindergarten-readiness in our local Birth-PreK population. One of our objectives is to increase access to early education tools, programs, and resources for all families. Since we know that means meeting children where they are at, whether at home, in childcare, or in a preschool environment, we are taking a multi-pronged approach to be able to benefit as many children as possible.

Some of the projects that are planned include: Providing educational toys, books, workbooks and support to childcare providers to increase early learning results in those environments; Ensuring existing preschools have the materials and support they need to produce measurable results; Providing on-site enrichment programs that include trained early learning professionals visiting and spending time with children weekly on structured learning activities; Provide off-site enrichment programs such as educational field trips that provide children with diverse learning experiences.

We continue to assess community needs and design innovative programs to involve the community in meeting those needs.