“If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”
(African proverb)

The Membership Team is asking you to go far with us and the Blaine County nonprofits who need us more than ever. Yes, it’s that time of year again! The Membership Team is encouraging all WRWF members to renew their memberships. Writing your check or sending in your credit card information to renew your membership is critical. This is without a doubt the most important time in our fifteen-year history to generate grant funds for our local nonprofits. Click here to link to the Member Renewal form.

The Wood River Women’s Foundation is pleased to announce it will begin accepting online applications for our 2021 Grants program on Monday, November 2. Full details and instructions for the online grant application can be found under the “Apply for a Grant” tab on our website or by clicking here.

The completed application, including required attachments, is due on or before midnight on Tuesday, December 1, 2020. We accept grant applications in a variety of areas including Arts, Education, Environment, Health and Recreation, and Social Services, with grants awarded in amounts from $5,000 to $25,000. Awarded grants will be distributed in July of 2021.

This year, the WRWF would like to emphasize to our grant applicants that grant requests may be used not only for new or current projects, but for the support and sustainability of their organizations.

If you would like to join the Grants Committee, please contact Kit Wright, Co-Chair of the Grants Coordinating Committee. Grant volunteers’ work begins the second week of January and ends February 17. It is an exciting process to read the grant application, discuss the merits of the grant with committee members, visit the nonprofits to review their applications and be a part of the committee that selects the finalists for the membership ballot.

We look forward to sharing more details of the 2021 Grant season as the year unfolds.

Gina Wolcott, Kit Wright, and Patti Zebrowski – Grants Coordinating Committee

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:

Idaho Community Foundation no longer requires our members’ donations to be on deposit for six months prior to grant payout. This allows us more flexibility to issue grants sooner, putting your donation dollars to work faster.

Why does recycling and waste management matter to Blaine County? What is happening to stuff we “throw away?” What can we do to reduce waste? In the spring of 2020, the WRWF granted $75,000 to three collaborating organizations who now have the funds to actively address these questions. The benefits of doing so include reducing environmental pollution, reducing the need to extract more raw materials from the earth, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, reducing expansion of landfills, and saving costs by repurposing valuable materials.

Sharon Patterson Grant, of the Ketchum Sustainability Advisory Committee (SAC), Lexie Praggastis, Executive Director of the Sun Valley Institute: A Center for Resilience (SVI), and Lindsay Mollineaux, Executive Director, Environmental Resource Center (ERC) have already researched these issues and are taking a valley-wide, data-driven, and long-term strategic approach to problem-solving. For example, they have determined that approximately one-third of stuff we throw away is organic material that could be composted or handled differently. In addition, they have identified contamination at recycling centers as a major, but treatable, problem. They have identified many possible ways to support waste management and educate the public—who do care about waste and recycling! Future actions are likely to include: creating an online map of recycling collection sites; increasing collection of single use plastic film; improving design of recycling bins; creating new signage; improving collection of aluminum; supporting interest in local food production; improving curbside recycling methods; and finding end markets for recycled building materials.

To view the recorded ZIP Session, click here.

Our next ZIP into Philanthropy Session, “Addressing the Equity Gap in Education in the Covid-19 Era,” will be held on Thursday, November 12, from 4:00-5:00 PM. Mark your calendars now.

More information, including a registration link, will be coming. Watch your emails.

COVID-19 has not stopped the YMCA from enriching the lives of young area scholars. Through its Enrichment Camp held at The Mint in Hailey as well as at the Y in Ketchum, the Wood River Community YMCA continues to support early childhood education: providing access for online learning and enrichment activities. WRWF granted $15,000 to the Wood River Community YMCA for its Power Scholars Academy.

Read Eye on Sun Valley’s report on the Wood River Community YMCA’s Enrichment Camp here.

To bring our members together in a safe and comfortable setting, the Membership Committee scheduled three walks at the Colorado Gulch Preserve during October. The “Walks in the Woods” were led by Courtney Jelaco, WRWF member and Wood River Land Trust Development Director. Each walk included between 12-14 members who met at 10:00 AM prior to the one-hour walk, where they enjoyed coffee and sweet rolls, taking the opportunity to reconnect with members they had not seen in a while and to meet others new to them. At each walk, Courtney provided wonderful details about the amazing work of the Land Trust and their current and future projects. Each group then took a short walk on the trail to view the pollinator area and the footbridge funded through a WRWF grant in 2017.

For everyone’s safety, all attendees wore masks. The feedback on each walk has been very positive. Members were so happy to be getting together again. We hope you will join us for a future walk. The Membership Committee will be scheduling more walks and outdoor activities in November so watch for emails as well as the WRWF website for details.

As an active member of the WRWF, you may now enjoy the many benefits available to Philanos affiliates. Previously, access was limited to a small group from each affiliate. Now all members in good standing of any Philanos affiliate are eligible for full member portal access on our website as well as directly receiving Philanos communications such as news, announcements, webinars, and conference information. This allows affiliate members to engage with the network and collective giving on the national level.

A video recording of the October 13 Philanos webinar entitled, “Trust-Based Philanthropy,” may be accessed here. This webinar presented principles and practices of trust-based philanthropy, the reasons for its emergence, and the impact it has had on the social sector.

To get added to the Philanos member database, please provide Christina Bauer (christinabwrwf@gmail.com) with your email address. This will allow you to set up a member account with Philanos.

Please consider investing in WRWF’s future. Dig deeper and donate to the WRWF Endowment Fund, a permanently restricted fund that helps ensure the Foundation’s long-term sustainability. Since its inception in 2017, the fund’s value has grown to the point that it provides meaningful operating support. We are thankful for the generous gifts contributed by our Endowment Founders’ Circle, a group of more than 108 members, and to those who continue to make the endowment a giving priority. If you would like to contribute to the WRWF Endowment Fund, please click here. If you have additional questions about the Endowment Fund, please contact us at 208-359-2530 or wrwcf1@gmail.com.

The Wood River Women’s Foundation also welcomes legacy gifts in members’ estate plans. These expressions of confidence in our organization will have enduring value, both to our Wood River Community, and to the long-range mission of the WRWF. Through a bequest to the WRWF Legacy Giving Fund in your will or trust, you are continuing to ensure that the community enjoys our substantial support across the spectrum of needs.

Our sincere gratitude goes to those WRWF Legacy Giving Fund donors we are currently aware of including:

• Lisa Adam
• Judy and Kevin Cahill
• Susie King
• Ruthie Lieder
• Sandy McCullough
• Barbara Thrasher

Please contact the WRWF office at 208-359-2530 or wrwcf1@gmail.com if you have questions and to advise us if you’ve included WRWF in your estate plans; we will respect your privacy if you wish to remain anonymous.

We are thrilled to share the exciting news that Little Caesar’s has renewed its WRWF sponsorship jumping from $2,500 in 2019 to a very generous $10,000 donation this year! We appreciate the vote of confidence in the work of our organization and look forward to our continuing partnership. Thank you, Little Caesar’s!

The Social Media Committee is seeking new team members. The committee is an active part of the Communications Committee, which oversees the Website, News Brief, Marketing, Sponsorship, Advertising, Media Relations, Photography, Publicity and ZIP. As a member of the Social Media Committee, you will learn more about WRWF communications, becoming part of a savvy group of women working to coordinate our mission-driven communications.

The Social Media Committee is a standing committee that oversees WRWF mission-centric communications via Social Media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Using these platforms, the team shares timely information about our community engagement, interaction with our grantees, our educational forums and our member activities with our membership and the public at large.

If you are interested in joining this amazing team or would like to hear more about the Social Media Committee, please contact Carrie Morrow at cmorrow1314@gmail.com or 858-922-8857.

The WRWF Finance Committee kindly reminds members to write checks out to the WRWF instead of the ICF. We also ask that you send checks directly to our P.O. Box. 3686, Ketchum, ID 83340. Please inform your charitable trusts of the change of address.

Carter Cox – Hailey, ID
Martha Keck – Seattle, WA