Taylor Farms Scholarship at the CFMC For the past decade, Taylor Farms has been awarding college scholarships to outstanding children of employees looking to further their education, and in 2018, the program doubled! In July 2018, we held Taylor Farms Scholarship Fund of the Community Foundation for Monterey County (CFMC) luncheon and awarded 20 students – more than ever before...
The James Irvine Foundation and the Community Foundation for Monterey County (CFMC) have partnered to strengthen local nonprofit organizations and develop local leaders in an effort to ensure low-income workers in Salinas have the opportunity to advance economically. Ten Salinas-based organizations have been selected to take part in the 18-month project. Nine received $35,000 grants in December 2018 to start...
2019 Legacy Society Luncheon The Legacy Society honors those who have made the important decision to name the Community Foundation for Monterey County (CFMC) in their estate plans to benefit the nonprofit(s) of their choice. This year more than 175 Legacy Society members and friends gathered February 5, 2019 at the annual Legacy Society Luncheon to hear how their partnership with the...
Thanks to the generosity of local individuals, families and businesses, the Community Foundation for Monterey County (CFMC) announced that more than $1.43 million in scholarship awards is available for Monterey County students who aspire to attend college. The CFMC has increased its focus on scholarships, doubling the dollar amount of scholarships awarded from 2017 to 2018. In 2017, the CFMC...
By Dan Baldwin, Community Foundation for Monterey County President/CEO It appears a new era of services for the homeless in Monterey County is just around the corner. Approximately $10.5 million in state HEAP (Homeless Emergency Aid Program) funds have been approved for Monterey County. Many meetings have taken place to get public feedback, to hear from homeless services providers and...
By Cristina Medina Dirksen, Community Foundation for Monterey County Communications Coordinator Everyone has likely played the game Monopoly. The object is to acquire properties, collect mounting rents from players who land on your properties, thus building compounding wealth. By applying those rules to the concepts of inclusion and equity at a Center for Nonprofit Excellence workshop, panelist Ed Allen, Diversity...
$50,000 AVAILABLE FOR RESIDENT-LED GROUPS THROUGH THE NEIGHBORHOOD GRANTS PROGRAM Information Sessions: January 30, 2019 (Salinas), January 31, 2019 (Greenfield) Application Deadline: by 5 p.m., February 15, 2019 The Community Foundation for Monterey County (CFMC) has a total of $50,000 available to award to volunteer-led groups through the 2019 Neighborhood Grants Program. Community groups throughout Monterey County are encouraged to...
By Dan Baldwin, Community Foundation for Monterey County President/CEO Noise. That seems to be the dominant feature of our daily lives in recent months. Noisy tweets. Noisy talking heads. Noisy battles in the media. Noise over standing and kneeling. People arguing over what constitutes patriotism, even while hundreds of thousands of DACA students who want desperately to be part of...
By Dan Baldwin, Community Foundation for Monterey County President & Chief Executive Officer I’ve spent the last couple of weeks trying to wrap my mind around the events in Charlottesville, and the aftermath, which is ongoing. Normally, this space is reserved for addressing topics of direct relevance to our work at the CFMC, so the question becomes how marchers in...
By Dan Baldwin, Community Foundation for Monterey County President & Chief Executive Officer We think of housing as an inalienable right. We get up. Work. Go home to a house or apartment we might own or rent. Whatever we can afford. For many folks in Monterey County, it’s not that simple. The unfortunate reality in many parts of California, and certainly...
By Dan Baldwin, Community Foundation for Monterey County President/CEO There’s talk of doing away with the Johnson Amendment, a law that prohibits nonprofits, including churches, from endorsing political candidates. Divides Church and State, Clamps Partisan Endorsements In place since 1954, the Johnson Amendment has created a bright line in the separation of church and state. Ministers, and other religious leaders, are not...
By Dan Baldwin, Community Foundation for Monterey County President/CEO Presidential elections typically answer more questions than they ask. However, the 2016 election seems to have put a lot of the country in a wait-and-see holding pattern on just about every aspect of governance as we’ve come to know it. Health care. Foreign policy. Immigration. The environment. The economy. As...
Monterey County Giving by Dan Baldwin, President/CEO Community Foundation for Monterey County Year-end always seems to prompt thinking about what was accomplished over the past 12 months. Our lives run at such warp speeds, that we move from one item to the next to the next, and so on. Every now and then we just need to take a breath and...
Dan Baldwin, President & CEO, Community Foundation for Monterey County (photo by Bradley Zeve, Monterey County Weekly) Disasters don’t create character; they reveal it. The Soberanes Fire has made clear that the residents of Monterey County are resilient and caring. Certainly, one of the reasons we choose to live here is our wonderful outdoors, including the rugged and beautiful landscape of...
The Fund for Homeless Women (FHW) of the Community Foundation for Monterey County has topped $1 million in cumulative grantmaking. Since the fund began awarding grants in 2014, it has distributed 43 grants to 11 different nonprofit organizations totaling $1,149,110. The $230,000 awarded in 2018 to seven organizations in December 2018 helped the fund reach the grantmaking milestone. Fund organizers...
The Community Foundation for Monterey County (CFMC) is responsive to community needs through its Opportunity and Organizational Development grant programs. Grants to 22 Nonprofits in 2018 Opportunity grants support new and emerging efforts and unexpected time-sensitive needs. Organizational Development grants can strengthen an entire organization’s effectiveness and efficiency. This year, nine organizations received Opportunity grants and 13 received Organizational Development grants....
By Susie Polnaszek, Program Officer, Center for Nonprofit Excellence of the Community Foundation for Monterey County Have you considered your social media voice – just how your organization portrays itself through its messaging? A workshop presented by the Center for Nonprofit Excellence of the Community Foundation for Monterey County explored this topic and helped participants from smaller nonprofits develop guidelines...
Monterey County Gives! brings together donors big and small to support local nonprofits and their Big Ideas. Monterey County Gives! Nov. 8 – Dec. 31, 2018 By Dan Baldwin, Community Foundation for Monterey County President/CEO and Steve John, Monterey Peninsula Foundation CEO Monterey County Gives! is here—nonprofits have submitted their applications highlighting their Big Idea for this year, website retooling is...
Giving Options There are many ways to integrate charitable giving into your financial planning in 2018. The Community Foundation for Monterey County (CFMC) can help. You can give to causes you care about while gaining maximum tax benefit.” – Christine Dawson, Vice President of Philanthropic Services Each of these options offer tax advantages and can help you make a meaningful...
By Susie Polnaszek, Center for Nonprofit Excellence of the Community Foundation for Monterey County Volunteers can make a big difference in nonprofits reaching their mission. Independent Sector has even calculated an economic value for volunteer hours in California: $29.09 in 2017! Volunteer managers and coordinators from a range of local nonprofits recently discussed best practices and lessons learned for how...
(l to r) CFMC Board Chair, Ken Petersen, Distinguished Trustee Recipients Leon and Sylvia Panetta, CFMC President/CEO, Dan Baldwin Leon and Sylvia Panetta Honored for Philanthropic Leadership Secretary Leon Panetta and Sylvia Panetta have made an incredible impact on the Central Coast. Their accomplishments were celebrated Wednesday, October 24, 2018 by the Community Foundation for Monterey County (CFMC). 2018 Distinguished...
