2022 Annual Report - Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation

Letter from the CEO & Board Chair

Dear Donors and Friends of Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation,

We want to express our heartfelt gratitude for your unwavering support. Together, we’ve witnessed the remarkable power of collective giving in our community.

Your generosity has allowed us to focus on what truly matters to our region. From disaster preparedness through the Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) model to fostering Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, and supporting local students’ dreams through scholarships, your contributions have made a profound impact.

Additionally, you have supported our initiative work. Our initiatives represent many of our toughest challenges that no one organization can address. Through regional collaboration that engages leaders, aligns strategies and leverages resources, the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation remains dedicated to addressing our community’s unique needs.

Together, we can transform our region into a more resilient and thriving community. We are immensely grateful for your partnership as we continue this vital journey together.

With heartfelt thanks,

Hannah Sullivan, Board Chair 2020-2022

Stacy Caldwell, CEO

Change is the only constant in life.

Heraclitus

Community Organizations Active in Disaster

Photo courtesy of Michael Kennedy

Community Organizations Active in Disaster

Why a Tahoe Truckee COAD?

Our region crosses multiple jurisdictional boundaries, which makes preparing for and activating during a disaster much more complicated. For example, if you live on one side of the Sierra Meadows neighborhood, you get an evacuation alert from Placer County, and if you live on the other side, you get it from Nevada County. Neither of these counties use the same service to deliver their alerts. And similar situations occur throughout the Tahoe/Truckee region.

Our region includes various agencies, service networks, nonprofits and individual volunteers who play critical roles during a disaster. If they are not coordinated and follow the same protocols, we can end up with a lot of people who are doing their best to help, but are actually making it more difficult for the professionals. That’s the real-world problem that the COAD (Community Organizations Active in Disaster) model is designed to solve.

COAD provides continuing support for individuals who have experienced a disaster, whether it’s an evacuation, power loss or other stress-inducing situations. A COAD can ensure that support services are all aligned and working well together so that people are served as effectively as possible.

After watching disaster upon disaster (pandemic and wildfires being the most notable, but not the only ones) the team at TTCF worked tirelessly to raise the funds, develop the blueprint, and pull together a multi-jurisdictional agreement for the first two years of operations. We especially appreciate the many organizations, including our partners of CCTT, who helped inform this process and identify a permanent home for the program at Connecting Point 211.

Now we can rest assured that we are doing our best to ready our community for the unknowns, manage and coordinate resources, and communicate throughout recovery. This work stems out of our Emergency Response Fund. If you believe in supporting community readiness during and after disaster, please donate.

GIVE TO THE TAHOE/TRUCKEE EMERGENCY RESPONSE FUND

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Photo courtesy of Jeremy Jensen Media

In 2022, TTCF supported a DEI Training Series which provided racial equity training to our Community Collaborative partners and other nonprofit organizations. Through this first time series, partners gained insight into what it means to be an ally to others in the work of anti-racism, including how to create more safe spaces for diverse opinions and voices during meetings. In total, 161 community members participated in these training sessions, including staff who do not normally attend our meetings. We are targeting early 2024 for a second year offering to a broader network of community professionals.

GIVE TO OUR FAMILY STRENGTHENING EFFORTS

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever does.

Margaret Mead

Collective Giving

Community Grant Cycle

$487,500 to 52 organizations

TTCF’s consolidated grant cycle is a streamlined process making it easier for nonprofits to request the support they need. It also provides us an opportunity to see the big picture of what is happening in our community and how nonprofits are responding to emerging needs and trends.

The Foundation is broad based in its funding interests and applicants must show community benefit in their mission and programs. Areas of interest include:

Animal Welfare
Arts and Culture
Community Improvement
Education
Environment, Conservation, Recreation
Health and Human Services
Youth Development

The Community Grant Cycle is made up of the Open Competitive, Tahoe Donner Giving, Queen of Hearts, and Nature Funds.

Scholarships - 2022 Graduates

On an annual basis, TTCF partners with local scholarship committees to make more than 100 community scholarships available to help students pursue their dreams through college or vocational school.

In addition to bringing local businesses, organizations and families together as funders, TTCF provides an online platform with a common application, making the process easier for the students and for the committees responsible for reviewing these applications.

Multiple scholarship committees collaborated to ensure an equitable process. Explore our scholarship list.

Highlights

$1.35M awarded
231 awards
121 local students
50 first-generation students
Read the recap and stories about two extraordinary scholarship recipients, Angel Barajas and Iran Martinez.

GIVE TO OR START A SCHOLARSHIP FUND

GIVE BACK TAHOE

The 8th annual Give Back Tahoe campaign raised a record $730,522 from 2,343 donors, surpassing last year’s total by $200,893, or 27.5%! Since 2014, TTCF has sponsored this fundraiser to bring awareness and flexible dollars for local nonprofits during a popular time for philanthropy.

Givebacktahoe.org serves as a guide to more than 70 nonprofits all year long, with extra incentives for donations made during the challenge grant period. Read the recap.

Highlights

$730,522 from 2,343 donors
$50,198 in challenge grants
70 nonprofits

In the news

Sierra Sun: “Give Back Tahoe: Truckee Community Foundation campaign lasts through Dec. 13“
California Local: “If You Love Tahoe, Step Right Up! “

Truckee Tahoe Airport District Agency Partnership Program

TTCF served as the trusted administrator of the Truckee Tahoe Airport District’s (TTAD) Agency Partnership Program. The program supports larger projects that benefit constituents district-wide through partnerships with local agencies and nonprofits. There were two rounds of submissions between September and October and the TTCF Committee worked alongside the TTAD Board of Directors to make funding decisions. Having TTCF administer this program ensures a transparent and equitable process for applicants.

$416,397 awarded to 10 organizations, including: Achieve Tahoe, Aim High, Friends of the Truckee Library, Gateway Mountain Center, Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe, North Tahoe Fire Protection District, Placer County Law Enforcement Chaplaincy, Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships, Truckee Donner Recreation & Park District, Truckee Downtown Merchants Association

The Truckee Tahoe Airport District Board of Directors and staff have enjoyed working with the knowledgeable team at the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation. Their industry expertise and guidance has helped bring a level of professionalism to the application process of the Airport District’s popular Agency Partnership Program. TTCF has also helped align airport funding expenditures around applicable public purposes as set forth by the California Airport District Act, to maximize benefit to the community at large.

Jeff Menasco, Director of Aviation

Donor Advised Funds

$828,098 Awarded | 120 Funds

Nonprofit Training

Capacity building training in 2022 featured a four-part series in English and Spanish.

Facilitative Leadership: Practical Approaches for Navigating a Complex World. Throughout the series, attendees developed concrete skills needed to lead through facilitation and collaboration including active listening, technology support and more.

If you missed it, the trainings are available on our YouTube Channel.

Session 1: What We’re Talking About When We Talk About Facilitation
Session 2: What tools do we have to make our meetings more participatory and inclusive?
Session 3: How do we bring our tools and methods together to create an inspiring experience?
Session 4: Learning from practice and looking ahead as facilitative leaders
Primera Sesión: De qué estamos hablando cuando hablamos sobre la facilitación
Segunda Sesión: ¿Cuáles herramientas tenemos para crear los eventos más participativos e inclusivos?
Tercera Sesión: ¿Cómo se unen nuestras herramientas y métodos para crear experiencias inspiradoras?
Cuarta Sesión: Aprender de la práctica y mirar hacia adelante como lideras facilitativas

Families

CCTT

The goal of TTCF’s Family Strengthening initiative is to improve the health and resiliency of all community members. Areas of focus include: safety net services, mental and behavioral health, disaster preparedness and response, education and economic well-being. Our Community Collaborative represents a partnership of more than 45 social service organizations that play a role in this important work.

The Community Collaborative of Tahoe Truckee has been convening for over 25 years to strengthen families and improve our community’s health, education and safety.

Highlights

Convened more than 21 partner meetings, with 157 participants from 44 different agencies and nonprofits
$283,150 raised for family strengthening/social services
1,120,099 meals provided (March 2020 – Sept 2022, Sierra Community House)
800 community members supported by the Mental Health Services Act (from July 1, 2021 – June 30, 2022)
2,929 Respite Day Center guest visits (July 2021 – June 2022, North Tahoe Truckee Homeless Services)

2022 Community Engagement and Behavioral Health Survey Report

The 2022 Community Engagement and Behavioral Health Survey Report informs our work as we address one of our community’s most pressing issues.

A total of 858 of our neighbors participated in the survey, answering 37 core behavioral health questions and 15 questions specific to North Tahoe.

Survey findings confirmed that living in a tourist town comes with stressors that negatively impact our mental health. Though this may be a tourist town, it’s also a close-knit community filled with neighbors looking out for one another.

Highlights

83.9% trust this community
39.8% have considered moving away
46.9% struggle with mental health
62.6% know about local resources
60% have been impacted by substance abuse

EXPLORE THE COMPLETE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SURVEY REPORT.

Many Tahoe/Truckee residents face significant mental health challenges. CCTT is dedicated to improving the well-being of our community.

Forests

The Forest Futures campaign focuses on increasing wildfire resilience and forest health in the Tahoe Truckee community. By supporting projects and partners through our three impact areas protecting communities, building infrastructure, and accelerating market solutions for a forest economy, Forest Futures aims to scale and accelerate forest management. We are approaching this urgent issue both strategically (for community protection) and opportunistically (for the future of our forests), as well as for our region’s economic development.

Over the past two years the Forest Futures initiative has increased capacity for wildfire resilience and forest health projects in our region by supporting our partners working on the ground, and by bringing a CAL FIRE Wildfire Resilience Block Grant to our region to build the Truckee North Tahoe Forest Management Program for private property project support.

GIVE TO FOREST FUTURES

Highlights

$5.66M raised to date
$1.9M block grant secured from CAL FIRE
23 individual projects funded
5,000+ acres of forest impacted
100,000+ people reached and educated
20 jobs supported
$12M leveraged through funding distribution and project support
Hired Forest Futures Program Coordinator, Anne Graham
Continued participation in the North Tahoe Truckee Biomass Task Force
Facilitated California State Fair Forestry Workforce Development Exhibit
Hosted our fifth year of Forest Futures Salons where we have grown our audience and built a YouTube channel to educate and engage the community on topics such as Evacuation Preparedness, Forestry Workforce Development, Forest Resilience Community Resources and the 2022 Fire Season Recap.

In the news

Sierra Sun: Forest health partners deploy new technology to help reduce wildfire threats
Sierra Sun: LTCC forestry, fire programs received funds for scholarships, equipment
Sierra Sun: TTCF Collaborates to promote forestry careers
Snow Brains: Big win for wildfire fuel reduction projects in Olympic Valley, CA | funding approved

Housing

mountain housing council

As a small mountain community, we face housing issues like the rest of the country, yet our realities and solutions are different from our urban and suburban neighbors. After six years of hard work, collaborating across a region with three jurisdictions and more than 17 special districts, the Mountain Housing Council (MHC), a partnership of 29 local organizations, businesses and public agencies, celebrated emerging strategies for implementation, including:

Highlights

Nearly 500 housing units have been built, or are in progress to be built
More than 100 of our existing units have welcomed new workforce tenants through the Lease to Locals program which expanded from Truckee to Placer County in August 2022.
The creation of the Truckee Home Access Program (THAP) and eligibility expansion. Recent changes to Placer County’s Workforce Housing Preservation Program have made it easier for the local workforce to secure housing. The programs pay up to 16% of the value of a home (or up to $150,000) for a deed restriction so that only local workers can purchase or rent them.

2022 Speaker Series

MHC offered 11 Speaker Series events with 552 registrants. Watch the recordings here.

November 4: Regional deed restriction Incentive programs
September 16: Updates on rental incentive programs with Landing Locals Lease to Locals program
September 7: Interim homeless through tiny homes
July 21: The intersection of housing and forestry issues
July 14: Vacant-home taxes: Can they help with the housing crisis
May 12: Untangling tiny home regulations
April 21: An Overview on the “Safer From Wildfires” Insurance Program
March 16: Using temporary winter community housing
March 14: Using sustainable design solutions to solve housing challenges
March 3: Can 3D homes help solve the housing crisis?
Feb 15: How new California legislation could affect zoning restrictions and housing in our region

In the news

August 12, 2022 | SF Gate: ‘Desperate’ to unlock housing, Tahoe program pays $24,000 to homeowners who rent to locals
August 5, 2022 | San Francisco Chronicle: Tahoe’s housing crisis is so bad ski resorts are lodging workers in campsites, tiny homes
May 1, 2022 | Tahoe Daily Tribune: Homelessness an issue in North Lake Tahoe

GIVE TO THE HOUSING SOLUTIONS FUND

Tahoe50

High-impact philanthropy + exclusive, all-season experiences at 10 ski areas and clubs.

Established in 2014 by the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation (TTCF), the Tahoe50 Giving Club serves as an essential source of flexible dollars ensuring that TTCF can make an immediate and significant impact across our initiatives. Tahoe50 is designed for those who value unique mountain experiences while fueling community impact.

Our 2022/23 season giving club members held fully-transferable and unrestricted passes to 10 ski areas.

EXPLORE BECOMING A TAHOE50 MEMBER

We’re grateful to our participating sponsors: