Our Latest News
Congratulations, Grads!
The Gorge Community Foundation is delighted to announce the recipients of its 2022 scholarships. Congratulations to this group of outstanding students! We wish them every success in the years ahead. We are also delighted that 2022 was the first year of two new...
GCF Supports Families in the Park
The Gorge Community Foundation is one of the title sponsors of Hood River’s popular summer concert series, Families in the Park. The series, running for four Thursdays in August, is back for 2022.
GCF Supports Sense of Place
The Gorge Community Foundation is one of the title sponsors of the 2021-22 Sense of Place lecture series, hosted by Mt. Adams Institute. The series, connecting people through place and storytelling, features presenters with a unique knowledge of the Columbia River...
Sohler Trade Scholarship
The new Sohler Scholarship Fund, created by the family of the late George “Larry” Sohler, a beloved community leader who passed away in March, 2021, provides scholarships for seniors at Hood River Valley High School to pursue skilled vocational training. Larry Sohler...
2021 Community Grants
This year, the Community Grants program combined the Joan Burchell Fund and the Riddell and Athalie Lage Fund into a single program to increase the amount of funding available. Information about the visionary donors whose legacies comprise these funds can be found...
Congratulations, Grads!
The Gorge Community Foundation is delighted to announce the recipients of its 2021 scholarships. Thank you to all who applied, and congratulations to this group of outstanding students. We wish you every success in the years ahead. Scholarship Awards: Hood River...
Bartholomew Fund supports Columbia HS students seeking education in the trades
The new Bartholomew Family Scholarship Fund was created to provide scholarships for seniors at Columbia High School in White Salmon to pursue highly skilled vocational training after high school. Says donor advisor Basil Bartholomew, “These jobs are key to our future...
National Scenic Area fund supports environmental programs and education
The Columbia River Gorge Commission is one of GCF’s newest designated fundholders. The Commission’s mission is to establish policies and programs that protect and enhance the scenic, natural, recreational and cultural resources of the Columbia River Gorge, and to...
Literacy and Library Programs Enhance Life in Gorge Communities
As COVID-19 kept schoolchildren home and reduced their access to books and local libraries, a number of literacy programs throughout the Gorge have jumped in to help, supported in part by generous grants from Gorge Community Foundation donor advisors. Through...
Annual Fundholder Meeting
The Gorge Community Foundation held its annual “state of the foundation” meeting via Zoom on Thursday, Nov. 8 with over 30 donor advisors and representatives of designated fundholder organizations in attendance. Participants received an update on the Foundation’s...
Congratulations, scholarship recipients from the class of 2020
This year saw another outstanding group of high school students. We wish them every success in the years ahead. Scholarship Awards: Hood River Valley High School • Laura Douglas Schaefer Memorial Music Scholarship: Chloe Jessica Thorp and Mateo Martin Campos-Davis...
Burchell grants target food insecurity in Gorge communities
The Gorge Community Foundation Board of Directors has announced the following nine grant recipients from the Joan Burchell Fund. This year’s grants are dedicated to addressing food insecurity throughout the counties that comprise the Gorge, exacerbated by the...
Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) at GCF
On April 22, the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, GCF’s financial advisors at Ferguson Wellman commented on trends in socially responsible investing and new business practices resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. If you are interested in GCF’s socially responsible...
Burchell Update
The Gorge Community Foundation Board of Directors has announced that 2020 grants from the Joan Burchell Fund will be dedicated to addressing issues of food insecurity throughout the Columbia River Gorge exacerbated by the necessary response to the coronavirus...
Meet our new investment managers
After a year-long review process led by the Foundation’s investment committee, the Gorge Community Foundation is delighted to announce that the Portland firm of Ferguson Wellman has been selected as its new investment manager. The process was initiated by the...
Full house at our annual fundholder breakfast
The Foundation held its annual “state of the foundation” breakfast at the Hood River Inn on Nov. 14 and the Riverview Room was filled with donor advisors and representatives of designated fundholder organizations to meet new investment manager Jim Coats and hear ...
2019 Burchell Grants
Thank you to all the hardworking and deserving organizations that applied this year and congratulations to these recipients: The Next Door Raices Program: Gardening supplies for the Raices community garden CultureSeed: Bending the Bars program for trauma-informed yoga...
Congratulations
to our 2019 scholarship recipients. We wish these outstanding students every success in the years ahead. Hood River Valley High School • Laura Douglas Schaefer Memorial Music Scholarship: Atari Gauthier • Gorham Babson Family Scholarships:...
Challenge Grant Results
We are thrilled to report that the Challenge Grant for the Hood River County Library has raised $66,000 for the Friends of the Hood River Library Pat Hazlehurst Endowment of the Gorge Community Foundation to provide ongoing operating support for library programs. The...
Exciting challenge grant for Hood River County Library supporters
A private charitable foundation has made a $250,000 challenge grant to supporters of the Hood River County Library for donations to the Pat Hazlehurst Fund of the Gorge Community Foundation for all contributions made until June 30, 2019 up to $250,000. This challenge...
Welcome to our new board member Brad Schrick.
GCF is delighted to welcome our newest board member, Brad Schrick, who works as a patent agent at Insitu and brings a passion for community service through his work with organizations including the Gorge Tech Alliance and CASA.
Congratulations to United Way of the Columbia Gorge
On their recent campaign to raise funds for their endowment. They met their goal, raising over $50,000 from friends and supporters throughout the Gorge. UW executive director Jarrod Holmes says "Our endowment at the Gorge Community Foundation provides critical...
2018 Granting Making Tops $87,000
The Gorge Community Foundation is proud to announce that grants totaling over $87,000 have been made to regional non-profit organizations since January 2018. This is a record high for GCF grantmaking and demonstrates recent growth in the Foundation’s assets and the...