What is a community foundation?

Community foundations are organizations that can help manage community-wide discussions and collect and distribute funds for local projects.

A community foundation is a tax-exempt public charity created by and for the people in a defined geographic area. It enables people to easily and effectively support the issues they care about—immediately, or through their wills. They serve a vital role as facilitators of good works by bringing together people from across the different sectors of the community to address social and regional challenges.

Investing in your community and organizations that share your passion is a great way to give back to a place you love!

The Seeley Lake Community Foundation is a nonprofit organization that’s set up to wonder, ‘What if…?’

Community foundations encourage people to engage in conversations about the present and future vision of their community. This can include discussion about current and future leadership capacities, how to strengthen relationships, build trust, and work to identify, prioritize and address the needs and aspirations of the community.

The SLCF strives to be a catalyst for innovative approaches to improving the quality of life in the Seeley Lake area. Some of the leadership projects the SLCF has helped spearhead include:

Hundreds of volunteers worked to build the Eagle’s Nest Playground at the elementary school in 2006. In just five days, the SLE park was transformed into a magical children’s landscape. Many hands made Eagle’s Nest possible, including the SLCF, whose initial grant of $2,500 provided a critical down payment on the $100,000 investment and demonstrated how a community foundation can play a central role in rural community development.

Did you know Seeley Lake used to have the highest measured levels of winter PM 2.5 air pollution in Montana? The SLCF helped provide funding to kickstart the woodstove changeout process in 2013, which resulted in over 150 woodstoves replaced and dramatically improved winter air quality for the Seeley Lake airshed.

In 2016, the SLCF partnered with the Montana Economic Developers Association to perform a community needs assessment, to look at the area’s assets and challenges to better inform future projects and priorities for this special place.

In collaboration with Missoula Aging Services, in 2017 the SLCF helped create a HYPERLINK Community Health and Support Guide booklet built to point the way for Seeley-Swan residents to access critical services and resources in the area.

The SLCF has provided over 1700 trips to medical appointments since 2017 through iRide, our van shuttle service, meeting a critical need for Seeley Lake’s seniors and disabled residents.

Our new home, the nonprofit center at the new SLCF Building, is a place to wonder, ‘What if…?’ What if Seeley Lake had a gorgeous community space that increased access to important services and opened new doors for Seeley Lakers?

The Seeley Lake Community Foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to gathering and growing resources for the Seeley Lake area.

The SLCF has an endowment, which is a permanent fund, similar to a savings account for the entire community’s benefit. The interest earned on the endowment is distributed to support charitable causes in our community, but the principal (the main pot of money) remains intact to grow for future generations.

Montana—like the rest of the United States—is undergoing the largest intergenerational transfer of wealth in history. Montana’s unique circumstances – children moving out of state and a rapidly aging population – makes capturing some of this wealth transfer absolutely critical if our communities are to remain places where people want to live, work and raise children. This means there is a huge potential for people to leave donations and bequests to nonprofits in the near future!

It is estimated by Macke, Markley, & Binerer (2012), that between 2010 and 2060, approximately $123 billion of wealth will be transferred in Montana; if just 5 percent, or $6 billion, of this wealth transfer was captured in permanently-endowed funds, a potential $307 million could be available annually through foundations for grants to support community development.

With even a small fraction of that potential money endowed to help this valley, can you imagine what community projects, or community services, Seeley Lake could undertake to support the people who live, work, and play here?

Including a charitable bequest in your will is a simple way to make a lasting gift to an organization that shares your passion and is a way to benefit your community forever!

The Seeley Lake Community Foundation engages in strategic grant-making

The SLCF has granted over $900,000 for charitable projects that strengthen our valley since 2003. Grants are made to support arts & culture, community & economic development, basic human needs, education, and natural resources & conservation.

Since 2016, over $630,000 has been donated to Seeley Lake area organizations through our annual Change Your Pace Challenge, a community fundraiser that encourages giving to local groups.

In the aftermath of the Rice Ridge fire, the SLCF brought in a grant from The Center for Disaster Philanthropy of over $40,000 to support mental health in our elementary school. The grant also helped the community learn about brain development in children and how to minimize the impact of stressful situations like natural disasters.

Can you imagine how the SLCF can continue to grow as a community resource, advocating for funds to improve Seeley Lake for everyone who loves it here? The possibilities are huge! This organization has the potential to help make incredible things happen in this small, rural, unincorporated community.

So, in sum, we’re a 501c3 nonprofit that guides philanthropy and helps build and strengthen community. Your support of the Seeley Lake Community Foundation and other nonprofits doing great work in this area helps ensure the vitality of this community for future generations.

Thank you to everyone reading for all the work you’ve contributed over the years to help make the Seeley Lake area so great.