2019 Impact Report
Your support and involvement in 2019 created an impactful year. Thanks to you, we were able to make 999 grants totaling $13,253,000, launch a new initiative, start the Nonprofit Academy, complete the Village on Sage Street, and expand other areas of our community engagement work. I am pleased to release the 2019 Impact Report.
Over the last few years, evaluation and impact have become a major component of our work. However, the addition of evaluation can be traced to 2012 when an external assessment revealed the Community Foundation had the potential to address significant community problems. The board then amended the Community Foundation’s mission to add “and leadership” to our mission statement. As Chris Askin wrote in the 2019 Impact Report, “that small change became a tsunami of changes within the Community Foundation.”
In 2018, Community Foundation staff took a closer look at measuring impact. We suspected we were making an impact but needed the data to prove it. Evaluation methods were added to the Family Estate Planning Series, Caregiver Support Initiative, and the High School Giving Circle. Last year, we published our first comprehensive Impact Report. We identified three steps to creating impact:
- Community Engagement – We are a neutral convener and have a place for everyone who cares
- Action – We gather our community to create tangible solutions
- Evaluation – Evaluation is the final step to measuring impact and guides our work
- Results of the Community Fund grants
- Grant stories on the Women’s Giving Circle, Kendyl Depoali Memorial Fund, Truckee River Fund, and more
- Outcomes lodgers achieved while living at the Village on Sage Street
- How the Nonprofit Academy strengthened 17 executive director’s skills
- How WashoeCaregivers.org reduced the amount of time caregivers spent looking for resources
- How the Washoe Caregivers Guidebook reduced stress and increased readers’ knowledge of caregiving
- How the 100% Giving Board Award made it easier for charities to accept donations from board members