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Grant Principles

The Whatcom Community Foundation invites creativity and imagination in the preparation of grant requests. We see the grant application process as an exploration of possibilities, so that all parties can become engaged in working together for a better Whatcom County.

The Whatcom Community Foundation is primarily interested in working with organizations and individuals in Whatcom County to build community capacity.

• We define community capacity as the combined influence of our community’s commitment, resources, and skills which can be utilized to build on community strengths and address community challenges.

Rather than impose our particular areas of interest, we trust creative members of our Whatcom County communities to suggest the best specific ways to build community capacity. We are interested in supporting activities and organizations that improve the ability of people to help themselves, increase nourishing connections among people, take cooperative approaches to community issues, and enable community institutions to be responsive to all citizens. Successful proposals to us will describe not only what an organization proposes to do, but also how it involves others in the community who need to be a part of truly successful problem-solving and long-term planning for Whatcom County’s future. Competitive grant applicants will address underlying causes, and not merely treat symptoms. They will seek to change policies or institutional arrangements in order to help achieve equity for all people.

Community enables people of different strengths, interests, views and needs to work through their differences together to confront common issues in ways that produce mutually beneficial solutions. Community extends to our relationship with the unique natural environment of Whatcom County, and it looks ahead to what we leave for future generations. This means that many effective proposals we receive are likely to involve and affect youth and will take a long-term view of living in concert with the natural environment that makes Whatcom County such a desirable place to live.