GRAYS HARBOR COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
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GRAYS HARBOR COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
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A BRIEF HISTORY The 90-year history of community foundations begins in the much older world of trusts and banking.
In 1914, in an effort to improve the way the Cleveland Trust Company did business, the company's president, Frederick Goff, established in Ohio the world's first community foundation, The Cleveland Foundation. The problem Goff faced was one of efficiency. His company, like many others, managed several small endowed charitable trusts, some of which were established for specific purposes -- such as education or health -- and others of which were intended simply to benefit the residents of greater Cleveland. Goff's company was having difficulty identifying the most worthy recipients for the income from these trusts. His proposed solution created a separate organization (an initial committee would later become an independent corporation) that divided the work of managing charitable trusts. The bank would continue to do what it did best (investments) while the foundation would do what it did best (grant making). Thus was born the first community foundation, a solution to a problem of efficiency. A NATIONAL TREND The Department of Treasury soon gave formal recognition to this new type of organization, granting community foundations the unique advantage of being able to treat multiple trusts and corporations as part of a single institution rather than as separate organizations. (Each sub-entity is known as a "component fund.") Amazingly, a community foundation with 500 different component funds still files only one tax return. The idea spread rapidly throughout the country. In Cleveland many banks joined Goff in supporting the Cleveland Foundation, just as bankers around the country came together to establish community foundations in their own cities. Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Chicago and dozens more American cities all had their own community foundations by the end of the 1920s. Today community foundations manage over $30 billion in combined total assets. The Cleveland Foundation alone holds more than $1 billion, while the largest community foundation, the New York Community Trust, stands at just over $2 billion. Hundreds of community foundations -- like Grays Harbor's -- presently manage less than $10 million each. Community foundations as a field award grants each year of more than $2 billion, and they reach the lives of over 100 million people.
REGIONAL DEVELOPMENTS The Seattle Foundation, Washington's first, was established in 1946. Today it manages over $500 million in charitable assets. Today in Washington there are community foundations in Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, Olympia, Bellingham, Everett, Sequim, Renton, Wenatchee, Moses Lake, Walla Walla, Vancouver, Skagit County, Bainbridge Island, Orcas Island, Snohomish County, and Stanwood. Most are less than a decade old, but are modeled on proven examples. Community foundations are defined in part by serving a specific geographic area. In Washington State, most community foundations serve an area of one or several counties. We, of course, serve Grays Harbor County. By contrast, the whole state of Oregon is served by a single foundation, the Oregon Community Foundation. LINKS An introduction to community foundations What is the Grays Harbor Community Foundation?
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Grays Harbor Community Foundation is a tax-exempt public charity dedicated to serving the broad needs of Grays Harbor County in Washington State. We are a member of the Council on Foundations; we have committed ourselves to the National Standards for U.S. community foundations; we are audited annually; and we consider ourselves accountable to the public upon whom we depend for support.We thank Darrell Westmoreland, Kevin Hong, Ellen Pickell, and the Polson Museum for providing the photographs used in this website. We'd like to showcase the work of more local photographers and artists on this website and in our publications. Please contact us if you'd like to help. Mail: 707 J Street | P.O. Box 615 | Hoquiam, WA 98550Email: info@gh-cf.orgPhone: 360.532.1600Fax: 360.532.8111Last modified: 01/11/06 |
THE CLEVELAND FOUNDATION