Email  Print

Sonoma Valley Fund distributed $400K

Sonoma Valley Fund, an affiliate of Community Foundation Sonoma County, announced that more than $400,000 was granted to Valley nonprofits from the Community Foundation in 2012.

This represents the single largest year for grantmaking to Sonoma Valley in the Community Foundation’s history and a significant increase over prior years. Since Sonoma Valley Fund’s inception in 2007, Community Foundation Sonoma County and Sonoma Valley Fund have directed a combined total of more than $1.5 million in grants to the Valley.

Grants to Sonoma Valley’s nonprofit organizations during 2012 came in all sizes, from $1,000 to $100,000.

Recipients included community organizations dedicated to educational and environmental improvements in the Valley, increased access to basic human services and to arts and culture.

Among the largest grants were $71,000 to La Luz Bilingual Center’s “English as a Second Language” classes following the closure last year of the school district’s ESL program; $35,000 to Sonoma Ecology Center to help create a community garden in Larson Park; $42,300 to the United Way of the Wine Country to help Sonoma Valley third grade students meet reading standards through the Schools of Hope program; and $40,000 to Pets Lifeline’s Wellness and Spay/Neuter Clinics in the Valley.

The money behind these grants derives from a variety of funds managed by Community Foundation Sonoma County, Sonoma Valley Fund’s parent organization. Some $290,000 represented initial grants from the Todd Trust, an $8.5 million bequest from Roland and Hazel Todd left to benefit nonprofit organizations primarily in Sonoma Valley.

Another $120,000 was distributed to Sonoma Valley nonprofit organizations based on Community Foundation Sonoma County’s overall discretionary grant-making processes. Some $29,000 represented final grants from the Ellman Fund, a five-year bequest targeted at Valley nonprofits.

“At Sonoma Valley Fund, we are dedicated to helping sustain and improve the overall quality of life in the Valley,” said Barbara Young, president of Sonoma Valley Fund. “It is gratifying to see that our efforts to “endow the Valley” have begun to contribute significantly toward this worthy goal.”

An affiliate of Community Foundation Sonoma County, Sonoma Valley Fund was created and is managed by community leaders to help sustain and improve the Valley’s unique socioeconomic, environmental, and cultural qualities for generations to come. For more information, visit sonomavalleyfund.org.