About the Community Foundation
Core Values
- Providing excellent service to donors, grantees, and the community.
- Exercising personal and organizational integrity in all our interactions.
- Treating everyone with dignity and respect.
- Promoting and facilitating collaboration in all of our work.
- Assuring the Foundation's relevance within the community.
- Maintaining the Foundation as a permanent and enduring community resource.
Our Accomplishments
The San Luis Obispo County Community Foundation was established in 1998. The Foundation's initial goal was to reach $20 million in assets by the year 2008. By 2006, the Foundation had:
- Assets of more than $27 million
- Awarded more than $10.3 million in grants and scholarships
- Established more than 180 funds
- Secured $300,000 from the James Irvine Foundation to boost local artists and arts programs
- Secured more than $575,000 from the James Irvine Foundation to support and improve operations
- Recruited and trained a motivated and diverse Board of Directors
- Hired a small but talented and dedicated staff
History
In 1998, the San Luis Obispo County Community Foundation began its mission to provide the local community with an enduring form of support. However, the inspiration and first steps towards the organization began years earlier, with a group of likeminded individuals, looking to create a positive change in the County. Coalescing their ideas, they established the blueprint for an organization that would prosper through helping others prosper. With that concept, the Community Foundation was born.
In 1994, a group of community leaders from the Foundation for Community Design (FCD) met with The James Irvine Foundation to discuss the possibility of starting a community foundation in San Luis Obispo County. After successfully securing a $150,000 grant from the Irvine Foundation, a steering committee consisting of Dee Lacey, Maria Singleton and Warren Sinsheimer was appointed to begin the development and organization of the new foundation.
The first Board of Directors was seated on September 28, 1998, and included a diverse group of leaders from all parts of the county. Today, the mission of the Foundation continues as strong as ever, with a diverse group of community leaders from throughout the county.