Strategic Impact Areas
How We Work
We work collaboratively with community partners using a number of approaches that have been proven to result in positive, lasting change.
Grantmaking
Grantmaking is core to all that West Marin Fund does to strengthen our communities and enhance the long-term wellbeing and quality of life for everyone in coastal West Marin. We provide financial support to numerous local nonprofit organizations through a variety of grantmaking programs, by direct invitation and through open calls for proposals.
Capacity Building
Nonprofit organizations provide essential services that connect and strengthen communities in a variety of ways — from health and child care, to social and economic support, and so much more. But nonprofits need support too.
West Marin Fund strengthens the capacity of nonprofit organizations through skill-building workshops, trainings, shared learning, and Organizational Effectiveness grants that enable them to better fulfill their mission.
Research for Action
West Marin Fund supports community-driven research to better understand local needs, identify solutions, and catalyze action. Our research provides insights on challenging issues to inform ways that we can collaboratively move forward with our community partners. Our research efforts include our annual nonprofit sector report released each November and issue-specific studies that examine needs within our focus areas and strategies to address care gaps.
Collaboration for Impact
West Marin Fund often serves as a convener, bringing together diverse partners across the region to work together to address community challenges. We facilitate a number of collaborative networks, such as the West Marin Collaborative which serves as a central hub cross-regional coordination on a number of issues. And we convene the Executive Directors Group, where nonprofit leaders strategize collectively on shared challenges.
Through active participation in a number of workgroups, West Marin Fund helps align resources, avoid duplication of efforts, and ensure community voices remain central to decision-making.
Advocacy & Resource Mobilization
As a local funder, West Marin Fund helps to raise the visibility of our community and bring in more investment from public and private funders who might otherwise miss our region’s specific needs and challenges. Through partnerships with county agencies and by providing important data for decision-making, we help build strong cases for investing in our area.
Photos by Todd Pickering, West Marin Fund.
