Since joining the Community Foundation Sonoma County as interim CEO in February of 2022, I’ve been grateful to have had the opportunity to work with the dedicated and talented staff, meet our donors, and work with our board as we seek our next permanent CEO. I’ve...
“Are you familiar with the Jewish religion? Do you know what ‘tikkun olam’ means?” Carol Newman asks. “It means, ‘to repair the world.’ It’s a mitzvah, a good deed.” Her husband, Barry Sovel, adds, “It’s very much a part of our cultural and religious background.” Carol and Barry’s...
Sam and Betz Miller met when Sam worked in sales for West Publishing, and Betz worked as a cataloging librarian for a Bay Area library. Married for the past 31 years, Betz and Sam have loved making their home in Santa Rosa and, after retiring...
“YouthTruth is changing how sites and districts do school,” says Jessica Progulske of the Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE). The YouthTruth survey is a national effort to gather student and stakeholder feedback to inform school improvement. It asks students, teachers, and parents about a range...
At CFSC, as we worked to innovate our grantmaking in light of the coronavirus crisis, we asked a critical question: How could we inspire more people to give? We knew our regional affiliates—Healdsburg Forever and the Sonoma Valley Fund—were already doing incredible work in their local...
During a year characterized in so many ways by tragedy, change, and heartbreak, Community Foundation Sonoma County has responded to what feels like never-ending cycles of disaster brought on by seasons of wildfires and a pandemic. At the same time, we’ve witnessed daily examples of...
Sonoma volunteer and generous community donor Whitney Evans grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, the birthplace of the very first community foundation, which might help explain his love for the community foundation model. "I spent the first 50 years of my life in Cleveland, and I knew...
As grantmakers, we aspire to do more together because we know that when we can leverage funding and make collective grants, we can create impact on a larger scale than would be possible by making grants alone. This principle is at the heart of a...