GHCF Founder Frank Larner
In the spirit of sharing the history of how the Grays Harbor Community Foundation came to be one of the top community foundations in Washington State, we wanted to go all the way back to beginning, to the man with a plan, Frank Larner.
We have spent weeks digging through old boxes of paperwork to come across notes, letters and a beginning vision of what our Foundation could potentially mean to Grays Harbor, and they all have one thing in common- Frank Larner's signature at the bottom.
Frank led as the Chair of the Foundation in an all-volunteer capacity for seven years before we finally hired a paid Executive Director. In those seven years, Frank led the Foundation to $1 Million in assets and the creation of ten funds. His goal was to attract donors to the benefit a community foundation can bring to the table- services to support specific charitable goals and address needs of the community at large.
Frank brought a team together of well-respected leaders in Grays Harbor with a vision that we believe they would all be proud of today, to be the leading source directing charitable support to meet our current and future community needs.
Today, the Grays Harbor Community Foundation holds over 200 funds and over $130 Million in assets. We provide support to our local schools, nonprofits, and students with an anticipated giving of over $4 Million this year alone.
Frank Larner spent over 50 years serving Grays Harbor between his roles at the Foundation and other local nonprofits. He was also a partner at Preszler, Larner, Mertz and Co., LLC.
When you go back to the beginning and see how powerful it is when people come together with an idea that actually came to fruition, that is what good leadership is all about. Thirty-two years later, that idea turned out to be a pretty great one. Grays Harbor is better for Frank and his team of people he brought together back in 1994.
When we talk about leaving a lasting legacy, Frank Larner is top of mind. His legacy will continue to serve generations of Harbor residents for many years to come, just as he has hoped it would from the old post-it note we uncovered in his handwriting, "Grays Harbor Community Foundation- For Good, For Ever."
For more information about setting up a fund with the Foundation, Executive Director, Eric Potts at eric@gh-cf.org
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