Legacy Grants Opening in Cashmere, Chelan Valley, Upper Valley, and Wenatchee Valley

The Community Foundation of North Central Washington (CFNCW) is now accepting applications for its Legacy Funds Grant program. Now in its third year, this competitive grant program provides place-based, community-centered, unrestricted funding to charitable organizations by geographic region.

The application is open to charitable organizations in Cashmere, Chelan Valley, Upper Valley, and Wenatchee Valley. Qualified organizations will complete the same online application, regardless of location. The deadline is August 15.

Each Legacy Fund is guided by a Local Advisory Board (LAB) made up of volunteers from a range of different backgrounds who represent a broad cross-section of their community. LAB members receive training on how Community Foundation grants are reviewed and evaluated, and each board also includes a Foundation Trustee and staff member to help direct the process.

The LABs are responsible for establishing the grant criteria specific to their Legacy Fund, reviewing applications, and recommending awards within their respective communities. By placing grantmaking decisions in the hands of local volunteers, the program ensures that funding reflects each community’s most critical needs and opportunities.

“We are proud of how distinctly each community has made its Legacy Fund its own,” says Jennifer Short, CFNCW’s Director of Community Grants. “These are local voices who are shaping grantmaking, and there is so much creative energy and dedication coming through the Local Advisory Boards. Watching North Central Washington celebrate local grantmaking in so many different ways is inspiring. I can’t wait to get back out there for year three!”

Legacy Funds were developed by CFNCW in tandem with donors who made meaningful gifts directed to support their community: some through a will or bequest and others during their lifetime.  The Foundation reshaped its competitive grantmaking program to not only steward the wishes of these donors, but to draw on the knowledge of local community members and to create new advocates for the great work of the nonprofit sector.

To learn more or apply for the Legacy Funds Grants Program, please visit: https://cfncw.org/legacyfundsgrant/. For questions, please reach out to Jennifer Short, Director of Community Grants at Jennifer.s@cfncw.org