Sonoma Women’s Leadership
In March 2017, Community Foundation Sonoma County hosted the second annual Women's Leadership Circle Retreat for Sonoma County nonprofit executives. The retreat is designed to support leaders through networking, self-care, and mutual support and expertise. Beth Brown,...
A Confluence of Moments
An unfamiliar subject line on the monitor read: A confluence of moments. As representatives of Community Foundation Sonoma County, many of our inboxes have a rich archive of eloquently titled emails that tug at the heartstrings, pique our curiosity, or both. However,...
Sonoma Wildflowers
Nearly a century ago, poet and playwright Edna St. Vincent Millay wrote, “I will be the gladdest thing under the sun! I will touch a hundred flowers and not pick one.” Although development has overtaken swaths of the wild hillsides and meadows of Sonoma County, the...
Disrupting Giving
Women are changing the nature and structure of philanthropy (and not just because they are giving more and more often than men). They are redefining what giving is about by using their work to build cultural understanding and open conversations about difference. Some...
A Parent’s Struggle Inspires
Mary Stompe’s high job satisfaction is rooted in a truly personal situation; her mother experienced what far too many seniors do. Mary explains, “My own mother, who had lived a middle class life in Marin, began a rapid downward spiral when my father died unexpectedly....
Stewarding Resources
At Community Foundation Sonoma County, we believe in the power of connecting people, ideas and resources to benefit all who live here. One critical component of our mission includes ensuring that all funds are managed with prudent fiduciary oversight and good...
Discovered Artists
Ten years ago, the Artists Awards Endowment at the Community Foundation Sonoma County began supporting up-and-coming artists in our community. The fund was created by more than 50 Community Foundation donors between 2007 and 2011 with support from the James Irvine...
A Family’s Legacy
Brothers, ages 11 and 9, are put on a train alone to escape a growing threat to Jews as war looms. Their parents stay behind in Germany, hoping to join them after taking care of family affairs. They will never see each other again. Hans (“Hank”) Cohn and younger...
New Format for Quarterly Coffees!
We have deeply appreciated the opportunity to share coffee and conversation with more than one hundred nonprofit partners in 2016. This year we will offer a new format for Quarterly Coffee by inviting different members of our staff to sit in conversation with Karin....
Season of Sharing
Some organizations offer lavish parties or other year-end perks to their employees. At Community Foundation Sonoma County, the best perk for our staff is the opportunity to make grants to local nonprofits in our community which are personally meaningful to them. While...
Find Your Holiday Light
"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." Leonard Cohen We find ourselves in a season of contrasts of darkness and light. Today is the shortest and darkest day of the year. We reflect on the year coming to a close and chronicle our...
Winter Worries
In Sonoma County we consider ourselves lucky to escape the snowy, downright freezing weather that many of our fellow Americans contend with over the winter months. But that’s also taking for granted a dry, warm place to call home that insulates us from the elements....
Sonoma Wine Country Weekend Grant Workshops
We are excited to share that on December 2nd, 2016 Sonoma Wine Country Weekend will be launching the 2016-17 Community Grants Program, a broadly accessible, responsive grants program designed to address the most pressing needs in our communities. To learn more about...
Gratitude for Our Community
At Community Foundation Sonoma County, we regularly share things we are personally and professional grateful for. It is, quite frankly, part of our culture and the work we do every day. Recently, President and CEO Beth Brown led our staff through a “speed gratitude”...
The AIDS Fight for Civil Rights
A New York Times review of How To Survive a Plague – The Inside Story of How Citizens and Science Tamed AIDS by David France caught our eye. The review is beautifully written, inspiring and highlights the moving work AIDS activists and scientist undertook to create a...