Although the CFMC could not hold its annual Women’s Fund Luncheon due to COVID-19, donor investment continues to generate impact. Thanks to recent donations in combination with the Women’s Fund endowment, the fund granted more than $100,000 to five organizations in March 2022. The power of these grants is evident. Shannon, an MPC student from Salinas and previous recipient, shared...
Simplify Your Gift Planning The CFMC “Create Your Legacy” Guide to Gift Planning reviews the benefits of different types of charitable gifts. It simplifies the many options available by explaining how donors can support the causes or nonprofits of their choice through vehicles including: Donor advised funds Gifts of appreciated stock or real estate Life Income Gifts Charitable Gift Annuity...
Jett Ramsey loved rainbows, the color green and his pet rabbit, Pepper Pancake. His grandmother, Debbie Harlan, speaks warmly of watching him ride around in his little green Jeep the months before he passed away, at age 5, of pediatric brain cancer. “He loved that Jeep….he rode it around just everywhere in his pajamas. He was always wearing his pajamas.”...
The Community Foundation for Monterey County (CFMC) is pleased to announce the addition of Jesse Lopez, René Mendez, Larry Oda and Tyller Williamson to their Board of Directors. “We are excited to add Jesse, René, Larry and Tyller to the board. Their talent and perspective will expand the impact of the CFMC to help strengthen our communities,” said Dan Baldwin,...
VIDA Leadership and Community Health Workers Select 25 People for Special Recognition Monterey County, California — The VIDA (Virus Integrated Distribution of Aid) leadership team and VIDA community health workers (CHWs) have chosen to recognize 25 community members who contributed to the success of VIDA and, in turn, the health of the community during the COVID-19 pandemic. These VIDA Champions...
by Susie Polnaszek, Director, Center for Nonprofit Excellence (CNE) Staying Engaged – An Evolving Challenge Staying engaged at work right now can feel like a dance. If it’s a dance, then the tempo keeps changing and we’re learning new steps. Michaelle Stanford, who presented our recent CNE webinar, called this a “uniquely disruptive time” in the workplace. A poll asked...
15 Nonprofit Leaders from Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz Counties to participate in year-long professional development program The Community Foundation for Monterey County (CFMC) selected 15 emerging nonprofit managers to join the LEAD (Leadership, Education and Development) Institute’s 2022 cohort. LEAD is a year-long professional development institute offered by the CFMC’s Center for Nonprofit Excellence to foster strong, effective...
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...
VIDA Leadership and Community Health Workers Select 25 People for Special Recognition Monterey County, California — The VIDA (Virus Integrated Distribution of Aid) leadership team and VIDA community health workers (CHWs) have chosen to recognize 25 community members who contributed to the success of VIDA and, in turn, the health of the community during the COVID-19 pandemic. These VIDA Champions...
by Susie Polnaszek, Director, Center for Nonprofit Excellence (CNE) Staying Engaged – An Evolving Challenge Staying engaged at work right now can feel like a dance. If it’s a dance, then the tempo keeps changing and we’re learning new steps. Michaelle Stanford, who presented our recent CNE webinar, called this a “uniquely disruptive time” in the workplace. A poll asked...
15 Nonprofit Leaders from Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz Counties to participate in year-long professional development program The Community Foundation for Monterey County (CFMC) selected 15 emerging nonprofit managers to join the LEAD (Leadership, Education and Development) Institute’s 2022 cohort. LEAD is a year-long professional development institute offered by the CFMC’s Center for Nonprofit Excellence to foster strong, effective...
The Weston Call Fund for Big Sur granted $37,500 in 2021 to nonprofits that focus on projects and programs that benefit Big Sur residents from Mal Paso Creek to the Monterey County line. This is the first round of competitive grants for the fund since it was created in 2020. Prior to these grants, the fund granted $43,797 for fire...
By Breanna Wilson, California State University Monterey Bay Intern with the Center for Nonprofit Excellence Imagine this: You just got hired in your dream role of nonprofit fundraising and development. You have done some work in the sector but mostly programs. You get your brand new shiny Mac computer and when you open it, rainbows and unicorns start jumping out...
Many Monterey County students aspire to attend college, but the cost of higher education keeps them from achieving that dream. The Community Foundation for Monterey County (CFMC) has been working with generous individual, family and business donors to help close the gap. The CFMC announced that more than $1.4 million in scholarship awards are available in 2022 for Monterey County...
The Community Fund for Carmel Valley granted $29,242 in December 2021 to nonprofits that focus on projects and programs benefitting the communities surrounding Carmel Valley. Ten nonprofits received grants to strengthen Carmel Valley communities in areas such as education, safety, meals for families, youth camp scholarships, and other community-enhancing programs. One recipient was Carmel Valley Angel Project (CVAP), which received...
