Kitsap Community Foundation

Kitsap Community Foundation is dedicated to both the place and the people who call it home. Our focus is on creating opportunities and inspiring community members to invest in the greater good by giving to the causes they are passionate about.  Since 1993, Kitsap Community Foundation and our thousands of donors have granted over $35 million to grow a vibrant Kitsap Peninsula.  Our unique mission is to lead philanthropy wholeheartedly and to inspire greater local investment in our region’s nonprofit sector – which delivers undeniable public benefit to us all.   

Your gift to Kitsap Community Foundation supports ALL nonprofits in our region, so we can continue to offer the annual Kitsap Great Give to nonprofits at no charge, consult with nonprofit leaders and boards about best practices, orchestrate the annual competitive grants process, and help local nonprofits build and manage their endowments – and reserves – so they can dedicate more time fulfilling their missions.

Our experienced staff understands the technical complexities of charitable giving and helps simplify the process. We are your personal support team, here to help you manage your philanthropic funds, explore tax-saving opportunities, and give confidently. We look forward to helping you support the causes you love. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at (360) 698-3622 or info@kitsapfoundation.org.

The Your Cause is Our Cause Initiative

Kitsap Community Foundation is currently working to secure capacity-building gifts to build a plug-and-play program for nonprofits to encourage longtime supporters and volunteers to include nonprofits in estate plans.  Smaller nonprofits, especially the 47% of nonprofits with no paid staff--do not likely have the time, expertise, or budgets to promote planned giving among their donors and volunteers knowledgeably. However, they are the same organizations that would most benefit from planned gifts to help annual operations and safeguard sustainability by building endowments.

Once funding is secured, Kitsap Community Foundation will create the infrastructure to:

• Provide nonprofits with easy-to-use, brandable, planned giving tools and messaging that nonprofits can integrate into their communications.
• Provide nonprofits access to KCF planned giving experts who can help donors with complex estates (as well as straightforward ones). Donor intention will be held sacred (giving to referring nonprofits will be reinforced and encouraged).
• Help nonprofits easily start and/or build endowments to safeguard their missions in perpetuity. Doing so will assure donors of the nonprofit’s long-term stability and support of a mission the donor adores.
• Provide a service for everyone in our community to create a legal will online for free, while encouraging—yet not requiring--bequests for charities.

Early feedback about the initiative:

“KCF’s new capacity-building initiative will further advance the nonprofit sector in our part of the state. It takes money to make money in business, and in the not-for-profit world, it takes money to raise money. If funded, their request…would strengthen an already connected network of NPOs through a new communications campaign; toolkits customizable by unique NPO brands aimed at growing planned giving pledges; and starting/building endowments as repositories for larger gifts, which also would grow volunteer and donor bases.”   Kitsap County Commissioner Christine Rolfes 

"As the leader of a small philanthropic foundation, I value and depend on the work that Kitsap Community Foundation did ten years ago when it launched the Kitsap Great Give to support annual giving in our community. Frankly, I need KCF to do the same for planned giving. This is a moment of urgent opportunity. To let it pass will literally mean that our community will miss out on hundreds of thousands of dollars in critical charitable support - billions actually according to the Transfer of Wealth study. I do hope that you will seriously consider this request for funding as it will benefit untold numbers of other nonprofit organizations in our community.”  Wendy Kile, Executive Director, Kitsap Library Foundation

The Your Cause is Our Cause initiative is based on the belief that every individual in our community has the power to make a meaningful difference, not just those considered wealthy. By mobilizing planned giving as a force for good, we have the potential to significantly enhance long-term funding for nonprofits in our region. While we cannot guarantee that increased charitable giving will solve every problem in our community, we can promise that it will enable nonprofits to deliver more services and programs than they currently can. This will benefit all of us.

Thank you for considering the Your Cause is Our Cause initiative as part of your Kitsap Great Give giving this year!