Introduction
Often, when learning about some of the toughest challenges that our community faces…housing, forest management, and sufficient support for our families, we hear the term “it doesn’t pencil.” This applies to workforce housing that isn’t tied to market forces, scaling the pace and scale of forest thinning projects, or something as simple as accessing mental health resources in our rural community. These all come with a significant price tag. And, unfortunately, traditional forms of funding simply can’t make these projects pencil.
That is where philanthropy plays a role. By securing flexible, nimble funds from the generosity of our donors, TTCF structures new ways for solutions to become a reality. Our grantmaking and impact investing can be catalytic and regenerative when we take early stage risk or inspire other funding to the table.
TTCF has a legacy of projects that support these kinds of solutions for our community. From the establishment of Community House in Kings Beach, to launching several social enterprises that accelerate housing solutions, to investments in the future of our forests, you can see our impact.
TTCF’s Impact Portfolio works across a spectrum of solutions that focus on our people and place. Thank you for joining us in this important work.
Please note: To scroll through the report, please see the top navigation on this site.
Let’s make it pencil,
Stacy Caldwell, CFRE
Chief Executive Officer
Philanthropies
Braddock Philanthropies Invests $10 Million with Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation – with a matching challenge
Braddock Philanthropies joined forces with TTCF for a groundbreaking $10 million commitment to our strategic initiatives over the next five years. This substantial gift comes with a challenge to our community members to match the gift. The Braddocks are multi-generational Northstar vacation homeowners. Through their Donor Advised Fund at TTCF, the Braddocks have donated to local nonprofits and built long standing relationships with TTCF’s Board of Directors and Investment Committee for more than 20 years. They invite fellow part-timers and vacationers to match their generosity by giving back to the place that they love. Read more in the press release.
We hope to inspire other part-time homeowners to recognize the need for their financial support to enable TTCF to address critical needs in the Tahoe Truckee region, even though it is not their primary home. We all have different reasons for loving this place, and TTCF’s mission addresses them as interconnected, so the match is open to any funding contributions to TTCF.
Dr. Katherine Scribner
Executive Director Braddock Philanthropies
The Braddock Philanthropies match applies to any area of TTCF’s work. By donating to any of these funds now, your contribution has twice the impact!
collective Giving
12
Funding Agencies
$450k
Committed
3 years
Secured Funding
Washoe Tribe secures collaborative funding for a Lake Tahoe Community Liaison
For the first time, the Wá?šiw (Washoe) will have a full-time, paid representative at community meetings and decision-making tables. This liaison position has been guaranteed for at least three years thanks to the collective action by twelve local funders.
The Washoe are a sovereign tribal nation who are the original inhabitants of Dá?aw ?ága (Lake Tahoe) and its surrounding areas. The Tribe has always acted as stewards and protectors of the natural environment of this area, and are experts in local biology and ecology. It is critical to have the Washoe voice consistently integrated in planning conversations during a pivotal moment of environmental and community decision-making. The Community Liaison will help foster meaningful dialogue, knowledge-sharing, and deeper community resilience. Read the press release.
Having the Washoe Liaison will ensure the Washoe Tribe’s voice is consistently heard in the heart of our homelands. The Washoe Liaison ensures the best interest for the Washoe Tribal Members are being met in the Lake Tahoe Basin. This position is responsible for the development and maintains outreach with other governments and organizations within the Lake Tahoe Basin, with both California and Nevada.
Serrell Smokey
Chairman of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California
On behalf of the twelve funders who came together for this grant, TTCF published a press release capturing the power of bringing the Washoe Tribe’s voice to the table.
Forests
$3.47M
to Protect our Communities
$1.87M
to Build Forest Economy
$150k
to Accelerate Market Solutions
Collaboration in Action: Billy Mac Canyon
TTCF’s Forest Futures Impact Strategy identified the three impact areas above when we launched the campaign in September 2021. Up until now, a great deal of our focus has been on the area of Protecting Our Communities to mitigate the immediate threat of wildfire and restore forest health. These projects require collaborative action and collective funding as environmental projects require significant investment of both to pencil. A project in Billy Mac Canyon is a perfect example of coordinated partnership bringing together private landowners, the Truckee Donner Land Trust, and TTCF financial resources through both Forest Futures and the Truckee North Tahoe Forest Management Program in coordination with CAL FIRE.
Improving the forest health here protects critical natural resources in the heart of one of Truckee’s most popular recreation destinations and travel corridors. TTCF’s funding is helping to protect 90 acres, while the Truckee Donner Land Trust is addressing another 167 acres.
The Truckee Donner Land Trust is grateful for Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation’s funding of this forest health project critical for its location, fire resiliency, and habitat restoration. This funding brings together all the property owners in Billy Mac Canyon to do cohesive forest health work between Donner Memorial State Park and Interstate 80, helping to protect neighborhoods like Donner Lake and Tahoe Donner from wildfire risk, while also restoring meadow habitat and aspen stands along the main tributary to Donner Lake. The funding drove the process from planning to implementation.
John Svahn
Executive Director of the Land Trust
Forest Futures Salon: Prepare for the 2024 Wildfire Season
In June, Forest Futures and the Community Collaborative of Tahoe Truckee (CCTT) co-hosted the salon “Prepare for the 2024 Wildfire Season.” It featured COAD and experts from the Town of Truckee, Nevada County, and Placer County Offices for Emergency Service. The Salon provided a comprehensive education for community members and service providers to help us reach more people. TTCF and CCTT are providing more of our materials in Spanish, the second most common language in our region, and the salon provided live Spanish translation and resources.
The recording is now available in English and Spanish. Resources that every resident and visitor should know include identifying your evacuation zone, properly packing a “go bag”, where to sign up for alerts, and the routes of evacuation from where you live, work, and play. Here are some quick links to get you started:
Ensure your family is receiving alerts, Knows Your Zone, and is prepared in case of wildfire by watching the salon below.
Families
11%
of Tahoe Truckee adults work more than one job (MHC Community Survey)
22%
of community members have 3 or more components of social vulnerability (US Census Data) (US Average 20%)
32.2%
of TTUSD students are socioeconomically disadvantaged (TTUSD)
Maintaining the Safety Net for Our Families
For over a decade, the Community Collaborative of Tahoe Truckee, a program of Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation, has partnered with First Five Placer County and First Five Nevada County to convene organizations that serve children aged 0-5. Through this work, we help align efforts, share data and resources, and address complex issues impacting children and families. These networks improve community access to healthcare, transportation, childcare, and mental health services, as well as empower parents by offering guidance and a sense of community, helping mitigate stress and support children’s well-being.
This intentional and regular collaboration creates a safety net for our local families that is especially helpful for community members experiencing multiple components of social vulnerability. These components include economic instability, lack of access to healthcare, and inadequate housing. This is because when households approach a service provider with one vulnerability, that provider then connects them to additional support they need via another CCTT partner. It is thanks to the generous sustained support from First Five Placer County and First Five Nevada County, CCTT ensures that all families receive the comprehensive support they need to thrive and stay in the community. We’re now celebrating another round of funding from both counties to continue this work, even in the face of decreasing State funding.
First 5 Nevada County promotes the importance of early childhood by investing in complex systems of care, empowering families, and strengthening the community. First 5 Nevada County values the collaboration of all community partners who participate in CCTT. CCTT inspires organizations county-wide to embrace the power of coming together with a family-centered approach.
Melody Easton
First 5 Nevada County Executive Director
Preparing for Disaster: Community Supports COAD for Another Year
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2021 Dixie, Beckwourth Complex, and Caldor Fires, Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation mobilized to establish and fund an emergency response that does more than react. TTCF worked to set up the Tahoe Truckee COAD (Community Organizations Activate in Disaster) which develops and enhances partnerships prepared to response and recover in disasters. In a matter of months, TTCF had rallied donors and public funders, received a grant from the League of California Community Foundations to establish a permanent COAD, and approved the hire of Anne Rarick, longtime local leader, as manager. Learn more about the COAD in this recently published California Local article.
The Community Collaborative of Tahoe Truckee (CCTT), a program of TTCF, is thrilled to announce that we have secured funding for the Tahoe Truckee COAD for the upcoming year. By convening key funders and stakeholders, TTCF successfully navigated contract negotiations and secured funding from Placer County, Nevada County, and Town of Truckee to continue the Tahoe Truckee COAD’s work for another year. TTCF also sought and leveraged an additional $55,000 grant from the League of California Community Foundation’s Disaster, Relief, and Recovery Fund.
The Community Collaborative has been convening 45 social service agencies and nonprofit partners for the past 25 years, so they were able to move through the blueprint process in a matter of months. [Tahoe Truckee COAD], all of this, is built on the culture of collaboration that we have in the Tahoe Truckee region.
Anne Rarick
Manager, Tahoe Truckee COAD
Three years later, our COAD partners recently relied on the COAD structure to respond to the Royal Fire, reinforcing our partnership and protocols in real time. Dive into this article to learn more about Tahoe Truckee COAD.
Housing
213%
Increase in ADU application in Truckee since 2020 (MHC ADU White Paper)
366%
Increase in ADU Applications in Eastern Placer County since 2020 (MHC ADU White Paper)
$80.7M
Attracted to Regionally Housing Solutions (2017-2023)
Making Projects Pencil: The Housing Funders Network
TTCF remains committed to close collaboration with the community to shape housing strategies and continuously identify shared priorities. On a monthly basis, we convene the major housing funders in our region who assist in subsidy, tax credits, and grants via the Housing Funders Network to ensure that collectively we support development and housing solutions that meet community needs and contribute positively to the area.
By convening this key group of stakeholders, TTCF fosters collaborative and aligned housing solutions by coordinating philanthropic and public resources and processes, provides a single point of entry for developers, and shares due diligence on projects that have social and economic impact on our community. This ensures that proposed housing projects in North Tahoe – Truckee avoid duplicative conversations and make projects pencil. Our goal is to increase housing in our area by developing new units and unlocking existing ones, ensuring we address housing solutions identified through the Truckee North Tahoe Regional Housing Needs Assessment.
TTCF-Led Research and Support Lays the Groundwork for Local Workforce Housing Solution
TTCF is pleased with the portfolio of solutions that have been catalyzed through our collective impact efforts, through Mountain Housing Council, since 2017. We now celebrate the Tahoe Housing Hub, which our partners ideate through our Regional Housing Implementation Plan, and through substantial collaborative funding for initial operations and to launch an ADU Accelerator Pilot Program. Accessory Dwelling Units, or ADUs, are attached or detached residential dwelling units which provide independent living facilities without contributing to expensive housing developments and urban sprawl. The Hub guides homeowners through the entire ADU process, including permitting, construction management, and leasing.
The Truckee Tahoe Workforce Housing Agency (TTWHA) is excited about the Tahoe Housing Hub’s ADU Accelerator program launch. This program will provide the community with education, support, and expertise around the entitlement process and steps in building an ADU. ADU’s are an important component to providing the much-needed housing in our community, and we are excited to see the success of this program, and the housing it will bring to our community.
Heidi Volkhardt Allstead
Executive Director of the Truckee Tahoe Workforce Housing Agency
Verified and locally adapted solutions are made possible by TTCF’s Housing Solutions Fund. Advance the goals of local housing initiatives and impact investments.
Scholarships
52%
of community scholarship applicants* were determined to have significant financial need
57%
of TTCF recipients are the first members of their family to attend higher education
95%
of TTCF scholarship recipients were students determined to have significant financial need
*TTCF partners with local scholarship committees to make 100+ community scholarships available via a single common application.
Addressing students’ financial need through scholarships
Can you imagine how difficult it is to select scholarship recipients from hundreds of applications in a small community? It isn’t easy! Our young people have so much talent, passion, and ambition. Reading all that they’ve accomplished and dream of at such a young age bolsters our faith in the next generation of leaders. We engage numerous volunteers each year, across many different funding organizations, to help us review and award these scholarships. To even the playing field, TTCF provides processes and tools to ensure coordination and transparency, and do our best to help the decision makers decide the highest and best use of charitable dollars.
There can be some misunderstanding in the community about why some students receive multiple awards while other fantastic students don’t receive any. For this reason, TTCF is pulling back the curtain on how we strive for equity. Dana Crary, TTCF Program Coordinator who helps lead the community scholarship process, shares how TTCF brings our commitment to Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) into our scholarship process with a detailed and strategic approach every step along the way. Read more in this article. Some things we cover include:
- Designing the application questions to uncover more than what is at the surface
- Offering a common application that provides equitable access to apply for available funding
- Providing unconscious bias training to committee members
Student Highlight: Roger Flores Carrasco
Roger is an inspiring young man who has encountered a lot of adversity. Two years ago, Roger was forced to flee his home in Honduras to escape violence, hunger, and economic strife. Roger crossed three borders to fulfill the American dream and was detained for over a month upon arrival in the US. While being a full-time high school student and maintaining a strong GPA, Roger works as a cook at Fifty-Fifty Brewing to pay for his living expenses and legal fees for his asylum seeking process as well as helping to support his parents at Honduras.
An enthusiastic learner, Roger is passionate about becoming a teacher and will be attending Sierra College with the intent to transfer to a 4-year school to study Education and become a Spanish teacher. Due to the circumstances in which Roger arrived in the states, he is ineligible for government grants like Pell and Cal as well as the CA DREAM Act. To meet his financial need and help pursue his dream of becoming a teacher, Roger has been awarded $38,625 in awards from five different scholarships.
I will always get up, I will believe in myself, and work hard and value the things I do. I hope and have faith that in the future I will be a great Spanish teacher. Even though obstacles and barriers await me, my enthusiasm and my head will be held high. I am excited to become a young man who does find the true American dream.
Roger Flores Carrasco
TTCF scholarships address student needs through a DEI lens that starts with thoughtful application design. Learn how we make our scholarship decisions in our most recent blog.
Grantmaking
1
Community Grant Cycle
5
Co-Funding Institutions
60+
Nonprofit Applicants
Request for Proposals: TTCF Nonprofit Grant Cycle
Every August, TTCF opens up its annual grant cycle to all eligible nonprofits in North Tahoe-Truckee. This grant cycle provides an opportunity to check-in with our nonprofits to understand their individual needs, challenges, and visions for our region. This, of course, provides us with a deeper understanding of what is happening across our region as a whole. Through our grantmaking, we are able to respond to these immediate needs and serve the people and places of Tahoe Truckee through the nonprofits that work directly with them. The upcoming grant cycle launches on August 12, learn more here.
Truckee Tahoe Airport District Opens 2024 Agency Partnership Program
Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation is proud to work again with the Truckee Tahoe Airport District (TTAD) on its 2024 Agency Partnership Program. This program supports larger, regional projects and programs between local nonprofits and partnering regional public agencies. Applicants are encouraged to request $5,000 or more for projects that align with TTAD’s public purpose and its mission. Eligibility requirements and additional information can be found at https://www.ttcf.net/ttad-partnership-program/.
The Truckee Tahoe Airport District (TTAD) has a long history of supporting our community. Oftentimes, rural regions are overlooked for funding opportunities from outside institutions. Local funders are vital to the projects and programs that benefit our community. Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation is excited and grateful to help facilitate this program on behalf of TTAD and our community.
Phyllis McConn
Community Impact Officer, TTCF
TTCF’s grantmaking supports local nonprofits across every area of impact. Whatever your passion, your donation helps all of Tahoe Truckee’s people and places. Our 2024 grant cycle opens in August.
Our Team
Two Board Members Complete Their Tenures
Hannah Sullivan
Hannah brought to TTCF a breadth of business and investment experience as well as a profound love of the outdoors and serving our forests. She served as TTCF’s Chair of the Investment Committee, Finance Committee, Executive Committee, Capital Attraction Committee, and served as Board Chair from 2020-2022. Her early years serving on the Investment Committee provided a champion for TTCF’s Impact Investing. Hannah’s passion and curiosity for the forest lead us to a series of discussions that eventually became the Forest Futures program. Hannah’s eagle eye to detail and generous heart will be missed on the Board!
Geoff Edelstein
Geoff completed his tenure with TTCF in the role of Board Chair from 2022-2024. During his time, Geoff served on the Investment Committee, Finance Committee, Audit and Executive Committees, and Capital Attraction Committee. Early on in his service, Geoff helped launch the Tahoe50 Giving Club and he and his wife Alison continue to be ambassadors for that program. Geoff and Alison committed many volunteer hours and committed the first major gift to the Forest Futures campaign. Geoff provided steady and thoughtful leadership on the Board, and his kind and helpful nature will be missed.
Welcoming Two New Team Members
Maeve Donovan
Program Manager
Maeve brings her wealth of engagement and strategic skills to her position as Program Manager within TTCF’s Community Collaborative of Tahoe Truckee, Mountain Housing Council, and other impact initiatives. Prior to joining the team in 2024, Maeve gained in-depth experience in grant management, data storytelling, direct services, and youth education, equipping her with a deep understanding of community needs and effective program implementation strategies. She is driven by mission-led environments and works to create sustainable solutions for community resiliency.
Ashley A. Beck
Director of Engagement & Communications
Ashley is a multi-passionate storyteller, community builder, and nature lover. Through her work with nonprofits, social impact initiatives, and tech startups, she has partnered with incredible people to make the world a little better. She creates and holds transformative spaces and events that dissolve perceived barriers and encourage people to think beyond the obvious. From 2014-2020, Ashley was TTCF’s storyteller then communications manager. After a brief hiatus, she is happy to again be part of TTCF’s mission in 2024. She brings to the mission a deep passion to save our forests, and skills that include project management, strategy, campaign development, and grants management.
Funding Opportunities
Braddock Philanthropies Match
Braddock Philanthropies has gifted our region with $10 million. Recognizing that all areas are integrated, Braddock Philanthropies is challenging the community and part-time homeowners to meet their match by donating to any area of TTCF’s impact.
Emergency Response Fund
When crisis strikes, TTCF is ready to respond. Help us ensure that we can quickly deploy funds to meet the emergency needs of Tahoe Truckee.
College Scholarships
Every year, college costs rise. Help local high school students achieve their dreams through scholarships.
Forest Futures EVERGREEN DONOR
Join the Forest Futures as an evergreen donor a contributing a monthly gift. Donations of all amounts make a difference, especially with TTCF’s one-to-one matching donation! Your ongoing support helps us protect our forests and communities. Together, we can make a lasting impact and nurture the forests that sustain us.
Community Grantmaking Fund
Donate to TTCF’s grantmaking funds and your dollars will be leveraged with those of other donors to address our region’s greatest needs through an annual grant cycle.
To learn more about our community impact and how you can partner with us to make a difference, contact Stacy Caldwell at stacy@ttcf.net.