The Renton History Museum and the Renton School District were the primary beneficiaries when grants totaling $113,500 were approved recently by the Renton Community Foundation (RCF).
The Renton History Museum will receive $60,000 from the Charles L. Custer Historical Society Fund to help support annual operations.
Another $50,000 will go to the Renton School District from the Friends of Renton Schools Fund to support student achievement. A second grant of $2,500 from the Friends of Renton Schools Fund will be directed to the Music Matters program within the school district.
And a final grant of $1,000 from the Shannon Parker Memorial Fund will be directed to support students in the Appliance Repair Program at Renton Technical College (RTC).
“Having the Custer Fund available to support museum operations enables us to continue to fulfill our mission, even in challenging economic times,” said Museum Director Liz Stewart. “And having that money pooled with the foundation helps it to grow.”
Lynn Bohart, the foundation’s executive director, said the museum and RTC grants were made from donor-advised funds within the foundation. This means that although the foundation board has ultimate authority over the fund, the donor who initially established the fund may recommend disbursements.
Harry Blencoe, retired president of First Savings Bank, established the Charles F. Custer Fund to support the Historical Society in 2001 after Custer died and left a large amount of money in trust. A second fund in Custer’s name was created to support the city’s Parks Division. Blencoe continues to serve as adviser to both funds.
King Parker established the Shannon Parker Fund in honor of his son in 2004 and uses the money to provide scholarships and support programs at RTC.
The Friends of Renton Schools Fund is what the community foundation considers a fiscal sponsorship fund.
“This means the group operates under the Renton Community Foundation’s 501C3 because they do not hold their own tax exempt status,” said Bohart.
The Renton Community Foundation will occasionally extend its tax umbrella to fledgling charitable organizations so that the group’s volunteers can focus on helping the community, according to Bohart. She said the foundation was instrumental in helping establish the Friends of Renton Schools Fund in 2009, accepting legal responsibility for their fundraising activities so that their board could get started immediately.
“The goal is to have them spin off and become their own 501C3 when they feel they’re ready,” she said.
The community foundations exists, she said, to encourage philanthropy for the good of the entire community. That encouragement can come in the form of helping individual donors to establish new funds, encouraging people to donate to existing funds, or helping new nonprofit organizations get started, she said.
A second fiscal sponsorship fund managed by the foundation is the RUFF Fund (Renton’s Unleashed Furry Friends), which built and maintains Renton’s first off-leash dog park.
