Grant Details

The Foundation supports programs that address the developmental needs of youth and their families:

• Help youth develop the life skills, attitudes, and internal resources to make informed and responsible life choices.
• Provide opportunities for creative expression and physical well-being, and enhancement of individual strengths. Programs that foster leadership development are of particular interest.

The Foundation supports efforts to expand educational opportunities at all levels:

• Nurture a love of learning in children to prepare them to learn and succeed in school.
• Strengthen the teaching profession through programs focused on developing effective teachers and principals.
• Motivate students to achieve and gain the skills that allow them to reach their academic and career goals, including vocational training.

The Foundation supports efforts to protect wilderness areas and natural resources, preserve cultural heritage, and create lifelong stewards of the environment. Organizations that combine educational and environmental components take precedence:

• Ensure the adequate protection, restoration and management of lands and waters of conservation importance for people, wildlife, and ecosystems.
• Support preservation and protection of endangered cultural heritage sites of significance and ensure the long-term sustainability of these regional efforts.
• Expose youth - future stewards of our environment - to the wonders of our natural world, reconnecting them to nature through firsthand experiences and engaging them as active caretakers of California’s unparalleled resources.
• Provide technical skills, research, and education to ensure proper stewardship of our environment.
• Protect Northern Sierra Nevada’s most valuable natural, cultural, and recreational resources, through partnerships that develop and fund strategic approaches that result in long lasting benefits.

The Foundation defines stewardship as people caring for that to which they are entrusted. The Foundation supports efforts to strengthen communities and regions through existing and new organizations focused on forging collaborative, multi-sector models of stewardship for economic, environmental, social, and governance improvements. We are particularly interested in programs that:

• Provide resources and support to stewardship efforts that promote the idea that strong and vibrant communities are built on an innovative economy, livable communities, sustainable natural resources, social inclusion, and a collaborative style of governance; and that galvanize individuals and organizations in these efforts.
• Promote sustainable practices across disciplines and populations.
• Support and strengthen non-profit leaders and encourage philanthropy and civic leadership from throughout our diverse communities.