SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – In just seven years, the Tahoe Women’s Community Fund (TWCF) has spread out $537,018 to South Lake Tahoe area nonprofits, with the latest group receiving checks at a celebration Tuesday
TWCF is a collective giving organization created in 2015 in South Lake Tahoe when Wendy David and Kathy Haven sat down to create a group for the community and made up of the community. Today there are 208 members and a board of directors.
Through a simple grant-making process, the annual proceeds from membership provide financial support to nonprofits that address pressing issues facing the communities of Lake Tahoe.
Members vote on a list of focuses and impacts for grants each year, then open up the grant process to nonprofits that address those focuses. Members then vote on which group should be awarded funding.
In the first year of giving, 2016, TWCF members donated funds to distribute $22,000 to Bread & Broth ($10,000), and $4,000 each to LTUSD (Bijou, Sierra House, & Tahoe Valley), Tahoe Coalition for Homeless, and Tahoe Turning Point.
The following year $29,000 was distributed, and now, in 2022, that has grown to $110,433. This year’s grantees:
Focus Grants (Addressing Poverty, Housing, Basic Needs; Education and Youth):
Elder Options, Inc (Pov/Hous/BN) $9,459
Mt Tallac High (Poverty/Housing/BN) $10,000
Bread and Broth (Pov/Hous/BN) $10,000
Tahoe Home Connection (Poverty/Housing/BN) $10,000
CASA El Dorado (Education & Youth) $10,000
SOS Outreach (Education & Youth) $10,000
Gateway Mountain Center (Education/Youth) $9,775
Boys & Girls Club (Education/Youth) $9,266
Lift Literature (Education & Youth) $6,933
Impact Grants (Addressing Mental Health; Environment & Animals; Community, Art, and Culture):
HERO Scholarship (Community, Art, and Culture) $2,000
Pathways for Veterans (Community, Art, and Culture) $5,000
Tahoe Art League (Community, Art, and Culture) $3,000
Tahoe Youth & Family Services (Mental Health) $5,000
EDCF- Drugstore Project (Mental Health) $5,000
Humane Society of Tahoe (Environment & Animals) $5,000
Membership in TWCF is open to anyone (men and women) with a minimum $100 annual donation. All members have equal voting privileges, no matter the donation. For more information, visit http://www.tahoewomenscommunityfund.org/.