During our disaster recovery work from the 2017 fires we often referred to our experience as flying the plane while building it. Navigating each day with what we knew in that moment, pivoting where needed. This same phrase returns to me as we face the COVID19 pandemic and a constantly changing landscape. As we get new information each day, we are adjusting how we work and how we serve our community.

Our hearts, hands, and minds are engaged in safeguarding the well being of our staff and helping our community weather this public health crisis.

We are working proactively to…

Protect the health and safety of our staff. First, and foremost, we will continue to serve the non-profit community which rely on us as we are able, the donors who have entrusted us with their wishes, and the students who need us to support their educational endeavors. To do this, and to ensure the health and safety of our staff and community, we have made the decision to close our physical space to the public, and shift our full team of professionals to operate remotely in an effort to practice safe social distancing as recommended by public health officials.

What does this mean?
  • You can continue to reach our team members via email and office phones;
  • We will continue to process contributions to funds, grant requests, and scholarship applications;
  • We will continue to process grant and scholarship awards;
  • We will continue to engage in our community leadership projects in a safe and healthy way;
  • Previously scheduled live meetings will be rescheduled as video or telephone conferences.

If you have any questions about our business operations during this time, please contact me ( [email protected] ) as we navigate this new environment.

Responsibly steward the charitable assets we manage. In this time of market volatility, we are fortunate to have a very active and experienced investment committee, and a top ranked investment consultant (FEG) paying careful attention to the market and our investments. In our 26 th year, we are no stranger to market volatility. We have responsible mitigation strategies in place and will continue to monitor our investments closely.

Fulfill our mission as a community foundation. We exist to serve our community, especially in times of critical need. We will continue to pay close attention to needs related to the pandemic as they develop in Mendocino County, particularly in the populations most vulnerable to the coronavirus and in historically underserved communities. We will continue to provide support to the non-profits that rely on grant funding to serve these populations to the best of our ability.

We are painfully, urgently aware that this pandemic threatens to deepen the inequities we work every day to address. If you are in a position to help, we encourage you to donate through our Save-the-Day Fund to support non-profits, or through our Angel Fund to support individuals.

If you are an organization or individual in financial crisis due to COVID19, you may apply for assistance through the Save-the-Day Fund (non-profits) or Angel Fund (individuals).

We are deeply grateful for your partnership in this work and wish you good health.

Sincerely,
Megan Barber Allende
President and CEO