Join local and regional funders on July 17th in Boise to discuss foundation and corporate giving trends in Idaho.  Click here to learn more and register.

Breaking update...Bill Somerville, author of Grassroots Philanthropy: Notes of a Maverick Grantmaker, will give the opening keynote.  Click here to find out more about the conference.

A coalition of 10 big California foundations has headed off controversial state legislation to require big grant makers to disclose information about the diversity of their giving, staff members, and boards by pledging to spend millions of dollars to strengthen organizations that serve minority and low-income people. Click here to read more.

Lisa Jaguzny, Deputy Director of People For Puget Sound, will join the Campion Foundation as the Executive Director. Jaguzny brings a long history of nonprofit experience, including the last 11 years as Deputy Director of People for Puget Sound. During this time, she directed the successful strategic growth of the organization through long-range planning, program and budget development, financial management, and fund development. She was also responsible for leading a ten-year partnership with The Nature Conservancy and The Trust for Public Land to acquire, protect, and restore key shorelines of Puget Sound.

Despite a host of troubling economic signals, charitable giving rose slightly last year, according to estimates from the Giving USA Foundation. But there are signs that those trends could give way to a decline this year.  Click here to read more.

Potlatch Fund announced the 25 grantees of its 2008 Community Building Grant Cycle. A total of $51,239 will be awarded to groups in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. Funding for the grants was provided by Meyer Memorial Trust and contributions given at the 2007 Potlatch Fund Gala which in turn have been matched by the WK Kellogg Foundation.  Click here to read more.

For the first time since 1999, Washington state is back among the top ten Healthiest States in the Nation, ranked at #10 in the new Healthiest State Report Card released by the Washington Health Foundation. The Report Card uses 17 health measures and outcomes as benchmarks for progress. Click here to read more.

According to the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), new research reveals that giving by large, multi-national corporations increased by 5.6%, from a median of $24.67 million in 2006 to a median of $26.05 million in 2007. The Committee projects that despite an apparent earnings slowdown in 2008, most companies will likely maintain 2007 levels of giving in 2008, with some expected to increase or restructure their budgets to reach community partners most strongly impacted by the economy. Click here to read more.

The Idaho Community Foundation (ICF) celebrated 20 years in existence with the establishment of a $50,000 fund to commemorate the 65 people and 25 organizations that started the foundation in 1988.  ICF is one of the largest foundations in Idaho and is important to organizations throughout the state, including those in some of Idaho's smallest communities.  Click here to read more.

Foundation for the People of Burma
CARE
Medicines Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders)
Myanmar Red Cross
Save the Children
U.N. World Food Programme
World Vision

To give to relief efforts in Sichuan Province, China:

The Asia Foundation
Red Cross Society of China
MercyCorps
World Vision

The Bridge Fund, a project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors with more than 12 years experience in the region is coordinating the Sichuan Earthquake Compassion Fund, which will address both the immediate relief needs as well as long-term rebuilding in the region.