2024 Funds for Whatcom County Grant Round Focused on Health and Wellness of Nonprofit Sector Staff What would life look like here without you and our entire essential nonprofit sector? Where would we go for culture and entertainment, to adopt animals, to find affordable and supportive housing, to feed our families, to get healthcare, to...
The Whatcom Community Foundation Youth Philanthropy Program (YPP) was created for students to engage in experiential based learning opportunities that foster leadership, technical and critical thinking skills. YPP connects youth to the community through charitable giving. This year the team will focus on learning about youth homelessness and youth mental health challenges that often exacerbate youth...
Earlier this year, the Whatcom Community Foundation partnered with the City of Bellingham to learn together about the needs and challenges of our local small and mid-sized housing and shelter providers. The findings were compiled in the a report in September 2023: Capacity Building for small and mid-sized housing and shelter providers: Needs, priorities, and...
Hello neighbors! Today we’re looking at housing in Whatcom County, and how to crack the serious lack of places to live affordably for anyone who makes less than $150,000 a year. Both locally and statewide, there are many smart and compassionate people across the public, private and nonprofit sectors focused on improving housing infrastructure. They are...
Hello neighbors! What a stunning summer it’s been, especially considering the extreme heat experienced virtually everywhere else in the country. But our community has not wholly escaped the consequences of hot dry conditions– as I write, the Sourdough fire is not expected to be contained until October; I just spoke with partners about relief funding for...
Happy Summer, Neighbors! In keeping with the spirit of optimism that maximum daylight brings, we’re continuing our focus on economic opportunity in Whatcom County with a spotlight on employee ownership. As an option for business owners that brings a variety of both individual and collective benefits, employee ownership offers a lot of upsides. Read on for...
Hello Community Builders! How is it almost Memorial Day already? Time flies when you're breaking ground on our county's first community benefit project! More on that in a later issue. For now it's neighbor time: backyard BBQs, front porch visiting, summer concerts, farmers markets and all the other ways we get outside and get to know the...
The Whatcom Community Foundation is currently the Lead Agency for the “Emergency Food Assistance Program” (EFAP) for Whatcom and San Juan counties. The Biennial Spring Meetings have been set! The purpose for these meetings are to give existing EFAP food pantries an opportunity to vote and voice their opinion on how the funds would be...
Help Make a Difference Before Disaster Strikes Along with our partners, Whatcom Community Foundation is working to ensure that if we as a community are not responding to a disaster, we are preparing for one. Our goal? Rapid, orderly, sufficient and equitable care for neighbors in the face of our next community crisis. Are we a resilient...
Hi Neighbors - We’re focusing this and the next two issues of THRIVE on economic opportunity in Whatcom County. With such a big topic, it’s good to start at the beginning — so let’s talk about babies! After that, we’ll look at the many benefits of employee ownership and then conclude with the Millworks, a community...
