Thanks to the legacy of Benjamin N. Phillips, a community leader who had a high-profile career in banking for nearly 60 years in Port Angeles, 11 nonprofits will share $185,450 this year from the Benjamin N. Phillips Memorial Fund, established by the estate of his late wife Joy in 2008 with a contribution of $8,660,276. After seven years of grant-making, $7,673,270 remains in the fund. When it awards grants next September, the fund will have given away $935,000, according to Claire Bishop, director of the fund, which is part of The Seattle Foundation.
“We have a very broad mission and the fund’s intention has been to support a broad variety of community interests that are exclusive to Clallam County,” Bishop said. “Typically, we don’t make grants greater than $30,000 and they’re for one year only. However, we do some capacity building grants that are for two years. The fund primarily is for operating expenses but we have made a couple of capital grants such as to the Rainforest Players (Forks) for costumes, lighting and sound systems, etc., and we also funded a grant to the Forks Food Bank for a new roof.”
Grantees
Organizations receiving grants and their amounts in 2014 are:
• Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula — $15,000
• Clallam Mosaic — $15,000
• Dungeness River Audubon Center — $15,000
• First Book of Clallam County — $2,000
• First Step Family Support Center — $25,000
• Healthy Families of Clallam County — $25,000
• Juan de Fuca Foundation for the Arts — $10,000
• North Olympic Salmon Coalition — $18,450
• Sequim Food Bank — $30,000
• St. Andrew’s Place — $25,000
• The Answer for Youth (TAFY) — $5,000
“Because ours is such a wide-open mission, we really look at our role in strengthening and supporting nonprofits in Clallam County. What we find is the need for funds to pay staff salaries to keep their doors open,” Bishop said.
“The types of organizations we fund are in the areas of education, the arts, health, the environment and social services. We receive many more applications than we can fund from all parts of the county, including smaller and tribal communities. I do site visits and work with the fund’s advisory committee who are all from Clallam County.”
Bishop added, “We very much engage other community organizations in Clallam County to increase the knowledge level and leadership qualities of the nonprofit sector. There’s a good deal of conversation between the applicants and myself for better planning and in that, I work with the Olympic View Community Foundation and United Way of Clallam County on leadership conferences every other year. We bring in people for strategic and financial planning and fundraising for nonprofits.”
Following are what current and previous grant recipients say about the impact of receiving funding from the Benjamin N. Phillips Memorial Fund:
Mark Ozias, executive director, Sequim Food Bank
• The Sequim Food Bank was recently awarded a two-year, $30,000 capacity-building grant from the Benjamin N. Phillips Memorial Fund which is administered by The Seattle Foundation.
These funds help provide the Sequim Food Bank with the resources necessary to build a staff, volunteer crew and donor base sufficient to support our current efforts as well as our future growth. Our vision is to ensure that “No one goes hungry in our community” and this grant affords us the opportunity to better meet that vision.
• Susan Hillgren, director and creator of TAFY
The money that we received from this grant will be used to purchase hygiene products, socks, sleeping bags and other front line essentials that help keep the homeless youth and young families we serve on their feet and warm and dry. More than half of our clients are destitute and need many of their needs to be met by others.
This money will make it easier to keep the shelves filled with warm sleeping bags and even some tents. Socks and dry shoes keep them from getting foot infections and ending up in the ER. Hygiene products are a prize for most, because when our clients couch surf, the homes where they stay often don’t want to share their own personal hygiene products.
So housing is allowed often because they can provide this for themselves. This money will make a difference to over 450 clients that will walk through our doors in the next year. We are very grateful.
• Mary Budke, executive director, Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympics
The Benjamin N. Phillips Memorial funding has been transformative for our Boys & Girls Clubs. The awards have assisted us in strengthening the organization, deepening our programs and widening our community outreach. The 2014 grant will make a crucial difference in our sustainability plan and to expand teen and academic programs.
• Priya Jayadev, executive director, Clallam Mosaic
Clallam Mosaic is uniquely providing essential programming and support to people with developmental disabilities in Clallam County.
The dollars provided by the Phillips Fund through The Seattle Foundation, will support all areas of Clallam Mosaic’s mission to enrich, encourage and empower people with developmental disabilities. Specifically, grant dollars will be used for scholarships, for program costs such that participant costs are maintained at the lowest level possible and for support of two parent and caregiver networks/support groups.
• Tom Sanford, executive director, North Olympic Land Trust, a previous award recipient
The Benjamin N. Phillips Fund directly improves the quality of life in Clallam County. With the North Olympic Land Trust, they have invested in building our capacity to permanently conserve the farms, fish and forest that make this a wonderful place to live, work and visit. The Phillips Fund has has a very purposeful eye to supporting specific projects that can make a gift today leverage impact into the future. With the Land Trust, the Phillips Fund has recognized our ability to turn community support and donations into landscape-scale conservation for our community’s farms, fish and forests. They are therefore investing in the Land Trust’s efforts to increase land donations, mitigation opportunities, planned giving and more so we can increase our base income and exponentially increase impact.
