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Flexibility. One of the best words to describe 2020 also applies to the Woodside Community Foundation’s stepped up approach to helping others during a difficult year.
Between the pandemic and the wildfires, the nonprofit recognized the need to switch from being reactive to proactive. Instead of waiting for locals to come to it with ideas, the organization ramped up its outreach, starting new funds to benefit families, employees and animals in the larger community.
The foundation provides a platform to groups that qualify for tax-deductible donations, and has its own general fund that can be used for matching grants. Between the two sources more than $200,000 was donated in 2020.
Some of that went to three community-led funds that are now closed: Roberts of Woodside Employees Gratitude Fund, WES COVID-19 Community Coalition Fund, and B.O.K. Ranch Equestrian Scholarship Fund.
The Roberts fund led to $540 checks thanking 75 essential workers at the market, the Woodside Elementary School fund distributed $1,000 to 17 families to help them stay afloat, and the B.O.K. fund supported eight children participating in the program at the Horse Park in Woodside.
Another new fund, the Local Disaster Relief Fund, paid to rescue, evacuate and feed livestock and large animals during the CZU Lightning Complex fires. WCF President Marsha BonDurant calls it “a preparedness fund,” with reserves at the ready in case winter rains cause landslides and flooding in the impacted area and more evacuations are needed in the future.
Established in 1952, the foundation “was pretty hyperlocal in the past, but this year we’re reached out beyond our borders” BonDurant says, to Fair Oaks and Redwood City where people who work or go to school in Woodside live.
For example, the foundation recently joined San Mateo County’s Child Care Relief Fund to raise money for subsidized child care homes and centers that serve low-income families. That fund is still open.
The foundation’s general fund covers administrative costs and is used to promote funds. The desire for rapid response in 2020 has spurred on changes in the way the organization communicates with the community, through group email blasts, and the now-digital newsletter which is linked to the town of Woodside’s website.
Go to woodsidegiving.org for more information about the foundation.
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