As we celebrate the Sacramento Region Community Foundation’s 40th year of philanthropic service in the capital area, we are thrilled to announce that we distributed $24 million in grants and scholarships in 2023, bringing the total awarded since the Foundation’s inception by local volunteer leaders to $250 million.
“This is a milestone moment for local giving,” said Kerry Wood, our Chief Executive Officer. “Forty years since our inaugural grant — a $50,000 gift to the Crocker Art Museum — we’ve disbursed a quarter of a billion dollars to meaningful causes. This extraordinary figure provides a testament to the power of community-driven philanthropy as a positive force in the region.”
A giving circle’s grant supported Woodland-based nonprofit NorCal Trykers
Kerry emphasized that most of the grants awarded in 2023, and in preceding years, were directed by local individuals, families, and businesses through charitable funds established at the Foundation. “Most of these grants come from local people stepping up, day after day, to back causes that matter,” she said.
That is the case for Nancy Fisher, who directed generous grants to nonprofits that serve seniors in 2023. She gives in memory of her late husband, Frank, who was also her business partner; together, they built one of the area’s first senior living communities. “Now, it is my priority to support organizations that make the lives of our region’s seniors more comfortable, healthy, and safe,” she said.
The grantmaking total also encompasses awards associated with our initiatives and our flagship program, Big Day of Giving. (The day-long fundraising event, which rallies the capital region to support local nonprofits, is set for Thursday, May 2.) Additionally, the total reflects awards from our scholarships, which was nearly $1 million last year.
In all, nonprofits received over 3,530 grants in 2023, spanning a range of sectors, including education, health, arts and culture, and human services. The majority benefited El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, and Yolo counties — those directly served by the Foundation.
Initially a project of the Junior League of Sacramento to inspire charitable giving locally, the Foundation started in May of 1983. “What a great privilege to champion that vision and make the Foundation the consequential and impactful organization it is today,” said Merrily Wong, one of our founding board members.
Now, four decades and a quarter of a billion dollars later, we are preparing to launch our next leadership priorities, shaped by input from hundreds of local philanthropists and area residents over the past year.