WASHINGTON COUNTY COMMUNITY FOUNDATION

Community leadership the foundation works to identify and address community issues and opportunities and also serves as a leader and convener. For years we have hosted free educational sessions for local nonprofits on a variety of topics impacting the sector. While we had been pleased with the results of those sessions, we knew that a more comprehensive educational program was needed. In response, we developed the community pillars program which provides in-depth educational sessions on six broad topics: mission, strategy & evaluation; governance & leadership; legal compliance & ethics; finance & operations; fundraising & resource development; and public awareness & advocacy. The pillars program was modeled after an accreditation tool of the pennsylvania association of nonprofit organizations, a leading authority on nonprofit governance and management. The pillars program convened its second annual class in the fall of 2024 with a 25% increase in enrollment over last year. Launched in 2023, wccf hosts the community snapshot website which serves as a community needs assessment tool for both charities and donors. Information gleaned from our research, focus groups and annual survey is continuously accessible to all community members. On community snapshot, nonprofits have the ability to specify their individual needs which is a component unique to our website. The result is a centralized location to learn about broad community needs, as well as the specific needs of local nonprofits providing valuable services in our community. Our donors have quickly embraced this tool and have directed more than $100,000 in grants from donor advised funds to needs identified on the community snapshot website. Annually, the foundation hosts a giving event, wccf gives, which is conducted over several months. Community giving begins on june 1 with check contributions and concludes on a designated day in september when credit card contributions are also accepted from 8 a.m. To 8 p.m. Via a dedicated website. The wccf does not charge any fees to charities or donors to participate in wccf gives and annually secures a bonus pool to encourage giving. Cumulatively, over $13,750,000 in grants has been issued through wccf gives.