It means a lot to us at the Foundation to be able to apply a donor’s generosity in the way that furthers their legacy in meaningful ways with causes that they held so dear. When former Foundation President and Founder Paul Wiseman generously left a significant sum to the Foundation to further conservation education, we were honored to ensure the money was used as he intended. It’s important that we honor the wishes of our benefactors whether they name a core area of our focus or give to the general fund to help wherever we most need it.
In February, we’ll be approving the first-ever Norm Winn Grants. When long-serving Director Norm Winn passed away, he named the Foundation in his will to receive a substantial bequest to be set aside for Community Grants that support conservation and efforts beyond the Salish Sea region. His generosity allows us to reach beyond our own region to support those furthering our vision of getting people connected with and actively engaged in the Foundation’s work to support healthy ecosystems
The Norm Winn Grants Committee is hard at work reviewing 18 applications and determining which ones will be brought forward for vote at our February meeting. We know Norm would be proud and pleased by our efforts to honor his wishes and we are excited to see how the grants further his work and vision for the future.
If you have named the Foundation in your will, we thank you for thinking of us and we want to assure you we will honor your wishes for how it should be used. If your will uses our previous name of Mountaineers Foundation, we encourage you to update it to Keta Legacy Foundation to avoid any confusion. Please reach out to us if you have questions or want to learn more about how this change to your will help us expedite your wishes.
– Mindy Roberts, Secretary