Building a legacy of service and philanthropy

SEELEY LAKE – Sitting around a table at the Elkhorn Café in the fall of 1999, Seeley Lake resident Stan Nicholson told Loren Rose and four other future board members that there were 28 nonprofits and quasi-government agencies in the Seeley Swan Valley.

"They all needed a 'boost' and bake sales aren't going to cut it," Rose recalled Nicholson saying. "How can we raise serious capital for all those entities to flourish?"

From this initial discussion and many more involving the community, the Seeley Lake Community Foundation officially became a 501c3 nonprofit Dec. 26, 2000. After 20 years, the Foundation has distributed $1.4 million to the Seeley Lake area, facilitated community discussions and led numerous projects that impacted the community.

"A community foundation is a mechanism, a catalyst, for people to make a community-wide impact," wrote Claire Muller, SLCF executive director. "Ideally we can help 'gather and grow resources' for the Seeley Lake community."

History

In 1999, Nicholson approached the Seeley Lake Elementary School Board to discuss creating a foundation for the school. After several community discussions the SLE Board decided that the school was too small for its own foundation. However, there was interest from the larger Seeley Lake community to start one.

In December 1999, Larry Marx, Mary Ann Morin, Stan Nicholson, Anita Richards, Loren Rose and Mark Williams agreed to serve on the new Seeley Lake Community Foundation's board. Nicholson wrote a check for $250 and sent an application to the Montana Community Foundation (MCF) to become an affiliate.

The SLCF's original bylaws stated that the Foundation's mission is to "Enhance the quality of life and the sense of community of the Seeley Lake area." Board members identified their general purpose as supporting nonprofit programs, schools and local government agencies while investing in itself through a permanent endowment. The IRS established the SLCF as a tax-exempt organization Dec. 26, 2000.

Nicholson said an important exercise for the new board was defining the community.

"Defining the community is in part defining the connection observed at the center. You let the heart define community," Nicholson said. "That is an important step because people are willing to give based on their heart more than they are on rational calculation."

In an effort to raise funds early on, Williams said they invited 10-15 people to dinner to tell them about the Foundation and encourage their support. At the end of the night they asked them to pay for their own dinner.

"It was a real bait-n-switch that no one should take pride in if they are going to be running a nonprofit," said Williams who felt remorse. "That was the last time we ever asked anyone to pay for it without knowing beforehand."

Despite initial hurdles, the Pathfinder reported in March 2001 that after its first year the SLCF raised over $15,000 for its permanent endowment fund, received a gift of 80 acres of timberland and assisted three local organizations in obtaining $4,200 in grants from the MCF.

Nicholson explained the "generous gift" of 80 acres came from business partners Wes Wills and couple Kevin and Wendy Wetherell. The offer was made on Dec. 15, 2000 with the requirement that the gift be accepted by year-end. When Nicholson approached the MCF, he was told selling it would be "too much trouble."

However, the SLCF board welcomed the gift. The land sold for $100,000 in the summer of 2005 to the US Forest Service. It pushed the endowment fund beyond $180,000.

"Writing the $250 check was a cute little way to illustrate a little bit of the community foundation," Nicholson said. "However [having the structure] to accept 80 acres of land has much more impact on developing a community wealth."

"Most nonprofits are not structured or positioned to accept a gift of real estate with such short notice," wrote Kevin Wetherell in an email. He views supporting the SLCF as a meaningful and leveraged way to give back to the community.

The Foundation began holding an annual banquet in the early 2000s. There the Board would announce grants and scholarships. It has since turned into their single largest annual fundraiser. In 2018 and 2019 the event reached its 120-person capacity and has raised $60,000-$100,000.

"The whole idea was we want to get together and give money away, not get money," Williams said. "That has become a very effective way to get our message out."

With a $10,000 donation from Art Ortenberg and Liz Claiborne in 2002, the Small Grant Program was born in 2003. Each year, nonprofits apply for funding for local projects in five areas: art & culture, community & economic development, basic human needs, education, and natural resources & conservation. Muller said now they receive two to three times as many applications as funds are available.

Nicholson said the conversations he enjoyed most with the board were when they discussed community issues such as clean air and water, who was responsible to solve them and what role the SLCF played. He added that one of the tools they offer is to provide leadership while convening local stakeholders.

"The foundation has no particular interest other than the betterment of the community," Nicholson said. "Defining leadership includes allowing people with resources to invest them in the community under the sponsorship of nonprofit leadership."

Out of these discussions came several projects.

In 2006, the Foundation took a leadership role in financing Seeley Lake Elementary's Eagles Nest Playground. They received a $15,000 leadership grant from the MCF, invested $19,000 total in the project and helped raise nearly $100,000.

"It was truly a community event and the Foundation was really instrumental in getting the funds to run that," Williams said.

The SLCF hired Jenny Rohrer, owner of Rohrer Film & Video, to produce a video entitled "Sky's the Limit" to help share the Foundation's message. Cathy Cooney, MCF Director of Donor Services, said the MCF shared the video with other foundations across the state to exemplify what was possible through community foundation leadership.

"Seeley Lake Community Foundation was the poster child because it brought tears to people's eyes when they saw that playground video," said Cooney. "People thought 'Wow, maybe we could do something like that here' because it was so inspiring."

In 2009, the SLCF launched another leadership project called the Clearwater Valley Coordinated Forest Management Initiative that brought stakeholders in the Clearwater drainage together to talk about forest management in the area. They received two, $5,000 leadership grants in 2009 and 2011 from the MCF and contributed an additional $5,000 to the project.

In their quest to address air quality, the SLCF helped provide funding to kick start the Woodstove Changeout Program in 2013. With a fourth MCF leadership grant for $13,500, they worked with the Missoula City-County Health Department and the Seeley Lake Community Council to address winter air quality in Seeley Lake.

"I thought that showed a lot of initiative because that was a collaboration with the health department in Missoula County," said Cooney. "This was an example how Seeley Lake has been partnering with all kinds of different entities to make things happen in their region."

Cooney added that the Red Lodge Area Community Foundation is the only other Community Foundation that has received four MCF leadership grants. The process is competitive and makes it "very unusual" to get that many.

"Seeley Lake really takes it way beyond [grant making]," Cooney said. "They had leadership that were smart, intelligent people that were visionary, willing to collaborate with others and take on complex leadership projects where it wasn't reactive, it was proactive."

In 2008 and 2009, the SLCF was recognized by the MCF as the #1 endowment builder of the nearly 50 affiliate foundations for adding $48,000 to the endowment in 2008 and another $75,000 in 2009.

"Being recognized twice as the most successful Community Foundation, in a collection of the Montana Community Foundation affiliates, for fundraising and leadership work in the community, I thought was very significant," said Nicholson.

"Many small community foundations struggle to make early progress but we were making tremendous progress relative to the size and volunteer nature of our community foundation during that time," said Carolyn Mehl who served on the board for more than 12 years. "I think it is easy for Community Foundations to be pulled in many directions but we had a unique synergy with the original board members and managed to keep our focus on building the endowment."

In 2015, the board decided to hire a full time executive director to devote additional time towards making the SLCF a visible, meaningful contributor and fundraiser in the community. The SLCF hired Anne Beach of Colorado.

"Anne Beach, the networking phenomenon that she was, really gave us solid footing within the community," Williams said.

According to Cooney, of the current 74 local community foundations, very few have paid staff and even fewer have paid staff and a public office.

"For Seeley Lake, such a tiny community, to have had paid staff at all, is a huge commitment for the board," said Cooney.

Cooney shared a story about SLCF members discussing the issue of wastewater treatment during a meeting with outside funders whom the MCF brought in to talk about the role of funding in rural communities. 

"There are all these funders from these big foundations that are used to doing all these different types of projects but definitely not sewer," said Cooney. "They saw that as their responsibility as a community foundation, not just to do the glamorous grants that are nice. To bring up sewer systems in front of all these funders was just a great education for these Foundation folks."

The SLCF facilitated a $500,000 donation from the LOR Foundation that was directed toward engineering and initially funding the Seeley Lake Sewer Project. Rose, who was a founding board member and served as SLCF president from 2007-2011, saw this as the Foundation's biggest accomplishment.

"I know that is still a touchy subject, but that money funded necessary work whether you are for the sewer or not," wrote Rose in an email.

 "We believe in the sewer but we are not going to take a stance one way or another because it becomes too political," said Williams who also served as president from 2012-2015. "We are here for and trying to help the overall community. It is always about what is best for Seeley Lake."

Beach served until 2017. The SLCF hired Muller in 2018. At the 2018 annual banquet, the Roses announced they were selling the 3,700-square foot Deer Country Quilts building in downtown Seeley Lake to the SLCF for $215,000 with a charitable equity contribution equaling $200,000. The Foundation Building's grand opening took place in June 2019.

"Securing a building and having space for other nonprofits has been an aspiration since day one," Rose wrote. "Now they have their own space [and they] can do things like Farmers Market, mobile COVID testing, etc." 

Building a 20-year legacy

After 20 years, the SLCF's mission now reads, "The Seeley Lake Community Foundation engages philanthropy, provides leadership, enhances the quality of life and economic vitality of the Seeley Lake area." Their purpose is now to strengthen Seeley Lake while keeping it special.

"Our mission and goals have become more clearly defined which is important to maintain the integrity of our donors' funds in identifying opportunities to distribute donor funds throughout Seeley Lake," wrote Wetherell, SLCF president since 2019.

The SLCF currently has about $500,000 in its permanent endowment. The principle remains intact and Wetherell said around $30,000 a year in funding is available for distribution to local schools and nonprofits forever.

"SLCF has a solid base for continuing to build its endowment. It will continue to be successful if it maintains that focus and resists getting pulled in too many different directions," Mehl said.

For Cooney two of SLCF's hallmarks have been their eagerness to take advantage of any opportunity offered by the MCF and remaining in the top three local community Foundations across the state for endowment investment. From 2006 until the program ended in 2013, MCF awarded $35,020 in grant money to SLCF as a match for the money they raised for their endowment. These were unrestricted funds.

"They just jumped on every opportunity to get more resources for the community," said Cooney. "That was a lot of work to raise money for an endowment. They were very good at communicating the importance of that to the community."

For the past 20 years, the SLCF board has always taken pride in being nimble.

Examples include accepting the 80 acres offered in December 2000; purchasing the old Plum Creek building north of Seeley Lake and selling it to the Seeley Lake Fire Department while also providing funding; and taking over the Seeley Lake Farmers' and Crafters' Market in 2019 and continuing it in spite of COVID in 2020.

"Being nimble is being able to accept risk, cover risk and do some things that don't seem outrageous at all, they just seem obvious," said Nicholson. "It is about being useful at just the right time."

"They are not afraid to say yes, even to the really hard things," said Jessica Stewart-Kuntz, MCF Director of Grants and Operations. Stewart-Kuntz's first experience with the SLCF was facilitating the post-Rice Ridge fire conversation at SLE. "That was not the first time that the Community Foundation took the leadership in facilitating hard conversations in the community. They really have embraced the role of the community foundation as the neutral convener."

Another strength Nicholson identified was the diversity on the board.

"I think the unique thing about the Seeley Lake Community Foundation is they have a mix of people and continue to have a mix of people that are approaching philanthropy with a critical lens," said Stewart-Kuntz. "They are thinking about systemic change and root causes."

"There were differences and challenges and the board handled all respectfully and kept our eye on the ball," Rose wrote. "Carolyn Mehl made challenging the board an art form! She was blunt, understood nonprofits better than most of us, offered solutions to what she saw as problems/opportunities and generally kept us challenged to do better and more. And Stan and Dick Seale always encouraged us to think bigger."

"I can't say enough about Stan Nicholson and what he represented to the organization. He truly is our spiritual advisor in that regard," said Williams. "He had the ultimate vision, it was his idea and he knew what it could become."

Nicholson said through fostering relationships, the SLCF brought in new members and new ideas.

Stewart-Kuntz said that community foundations across the state struggle to find board members that are active, engaged and have the capacity to serve.

"The [20-year] longevity is not necessarily out of the ordinary, but the ongoing engagement and work with that kind of consistency is unique," Stewart-Kuntz said.

 "That first 20 years is really tough to build your credibility and to build that foundation of financial resources and they have been able to get over that hurdle," said Cooney. "They are going to build momentum now and it is going to become more self-sustaining."

Like other businesses and nonprofits, Muller said 2020 has been challenging for the SLCF. They canceled their 20-year celebration plans and annual fundraising banquet. Instead, Muller said they focused on helping Seeley Lake "as best and as strategically as we could."

"A community foundation is an important mechanism for donors to create great impact in a place they love, like Seeley Lake," Muller said. "Thank you so much to everyone who has been so generous, especially this year!"

Seeley Lake Community Foundation at a Glance

$1.4 M distributed from 2000-2020 including $130,000 going directly to local schools:

1. SLCF Community Grants - over $300,000 awarded to 37 nonprofits since 2003

2. SLCF Scholarship - Over $14,000 awarded to students 2006-2020

3. SLCF Leadership Projects - almost $715,000 awarded 2003-2020.

4. Change Your Pace Challenge - Almost $380,000 raised for 24 nonprofits 2016-2020

Major projects:

• Eagle’s Nest Playground (2006)

• Woodstove Changeout Program (2013)

• Area recreation map (2015)

• MEDA resource team community assessment (2016)

• Community branding and beautification (2016)

• Created Seeley Lake Community Health and Support Guide and completed a workbook defining their role in disaster management within the community (2017)

• I Ride medical appointment shuttle provided 898 rides from 2017-2020

• Hosted Seeley Lake Sunday Market in the summers of 2019 and 2020

• Helped local businesses receive $100,000 in COVID-19 relief grants (2020)

• Assisted residents in completing the 2020 Census

• Represented Seeley Lake on calls with Missoula County throughout COVID and connected the community to opportunities through the ReImaging Rural virtual sessions and other county and statewide programs.

• COVID mobile testing (2020)

To learn more about the 20-year impact of the SLCF visit https://www.seeleylakecommunityfoundation.org/grantmaking-impact.