Sonoma Valley Fund honors six nonprofits
Sonoma Valley Fund, in conjunction with its parent, Community Foundation Sonoma County, has awarded six 2015 Capacity Building Grant awards to Valley nonprofits exhibiting a commitment to organizational effectiveness.
The six nonprofit organizations selected to receive the grant and participate in the program are ARTescape, Boys & Girls Clubs, La Luz Center, Sonoma Overnight Support, Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance and Teen Services Sonoma.
The capacity-building grant program provides funding and technical assistance to organizations interested in committing time, energy and innovative thinking to increasing their organizational effectiveness.
“This year’s grant program makes an exciting contribution toward building a stronger nonprofit sector in the Valley,” said Joshua Rymer, Sonoma Valley Fund president. “The recipients will be supported as they work to improve their ability to carry out their core missions.”
Additionally, Rymer said, the recipients will work as a team to learn from other local organizations and from professional consultants who will facilitate and guide this yearlong process.”
Each of the selected organizations will receive a small cash stipend; have access to ongoing professional consultation from Informing Change, experts in non-profit capacity building; participate in a comprehensive organizational assessment; participate in a facilitated learning cohort comprised of staff and board members from the selected organizations; and, receive consulting support as they develop a capacity building plan for their organization.
Thirteen nonprofit organizations serving Sonoma Valley submitted applications in September and six were selected to receive the stipend and participate in the capacity building work. Barbara Hughes, Sonoma Valley Fund Grants Committee Chair, said that, “After a rigorous review process, we successfully identified organizations that are at a particular moment in their organizational lives where they will benefit from cross-organizational learning and are ready to tackle organizational change.”
An affiliate of Community Foundation Sonoma County, Sonoma Valley Fund was created and is managed by respected community leaders to help sustain and improve the Valley’s unique socioeconomic, environmental, and cultural qualities for generations to come. Sonoma Valley Fund promotes and facilitates local philanthropy and legacy giving by serving as a bridge to the future, helping nonprofits build successful legacy and endowment programs, encouraging estate-planning professionals to discuss Sonoma Valley bequests with their clients, offering a set of prudent investment options for donors and non-profits, and providing trustworthy, responsible, and thoughtful stewardship of donor gifts. For more information visit www.sonomavalleyfund.org.
