The Chilkat Valley Community Foundation (CVCF) reached its $185,000 fundraising goal this month, an amount that will be doubled thanks to the Alaska Community Foundation and Rasmuson Foundation match program. The CVCF reached its goal in two years, half the time provided to raise the funds, the first of 11 community foundations statewide to make its goal.
In February 2017 the Alaska Community and Rasmuson foundations announced the matching program designed to incentivize charitable donations. Community foundation affiliate programs in communities such as Fairbanks, Ketchikan and Sitka are all participating. CVCF program manager Sara Chapell said, in Haines, the campaign “worked like gangbusters.”
To reach the $125,000 endowment fund goal, about 275 donors made ongoing gifts and 400 people gave individual donations since 2017, Chapell said. Donors also helped raise money to reach a $60,000 goal, that will also be matched, to pay for the cost of administering the program.
“Donations came from all over the place,” Chapell said. “From folks who live here year-round, (to) lots of seasonal residents; fishermen who spend their summers here, and lots of people who grew up in Haines and have moved to other places. When you look at it geographically, they’re all people who have a connection of Haines and Klukwan.”
CVCF co-chair Liz Heywood said they board was initially worried that it wouldn’t be able to raise $185,000 by the four-year deadline. “We did it in two,” Heywood said. “The community stepped up and in two years did something pretty darn amazing because I looked at the other affiliates that are close to that match like Fairbanks, (which) has 32,000 people, and Ketchikan, (which) has over 8,000 people.”
“We’re one of the smallest communities and it’s pretty remarkable,” Chapell said.
Similar to the state’s permanent fund dividend payments, the Chilkat community foundation awards grants from its investment earnings. The larger the fund is, the more they can give away to local community organizations. Last year, they doled out $28,000 in grants to organizations including the Klukwan School, Haines Little League, Geppetto’s Junkyard, Haines Friends of Recycling, Hospice of Haines and more.
It has granted more than $164,000 since 2009. After the matching grant funds are awarded, the community foundation will have $911,000 in its fund.