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Intermediary Funding Partnerships

As a community foundation, GTCF can act as an intermediary partner to government agencies. Because of its community foundation structure, GTCF can deliver funding with lower barriers than government reimbursement-only contracts. This can make funding more accessible to the communities identified by government agencies. GTCF’s more flexible funding capacity also ensures Pierce County organizations and community can access government funding.

GTCF holds a strategic framework goal of catalyzing community identification and removal of system barriers rooted in racism around four building blocks of generational wealth: housing, thriving youth and children, access to capital, and civic voice and power. This goal guides the kinds of intermediary partnerships GTCF seeks out and engages.

Washington Department of Commerce Intermediary Partnership

In July 2024, Greater Tacoma Community Foundation (GTCF) contracted with the Washington State Department of Commerce to support delivery of nearly $1.8M in Community Reinvestment Project funds to Pierce County communities through a Local Advisory Team (LAT). The Department of Commerce’s Community Reinvestment Project (CRP) is a community-designed plan to uplift Black, Latine, and Indigenous communities disproportionately harmed by the historical design/enforcement of criminal laws and penalties for drug possession (otherwise known as the war on drugs).

PIERCE COUNTY LOCAL ADVISORY TEAM

Colette August* Tahoma Indian Center	Desiree Wilkins-Finch Rise LWP
Fahren Johnson* Amara	Lorraine Stone AnimalMan Solutions, LLC
Maria Terese Gamez* Fundación Biodiversa	Melissa Meyer Rose Island Farm
Christian Lopez-Moreno VT Radio Universal	Winona Stevens Native American Reentry Services

TIMELINE

October 2024	Each member of the Pierce County Local Advisory Team will direct $100K in CRP grants. Local Advisory Team will engage in an equity-centered design process facilitated by UW-Tacoma Global Innovations & Design Lab. This process will inform a funding plan for the remaining $988K.
January 2025	Publish plan and process for distribution of remaining $988K.
March 2025	Begin distribution of remaining $988K.
June 2025	All funding will be distributed by this time in accordance with GTCF's contract with Department of Commerce.

STATEWIDE COMMUNITY FUNDER CONSORTIUM

As the funding partner for Pierce County, GTCF is collaborating with a community funder consortium that will deliver more than $15 million in CRP funding in six counties across Washington state. Each funder holds a separate contract with Department of Commerce for the Local Advisory Team program, but all share a commitment to: deliver funds according to trust-based philanthropy principles, invest in the priorities communities have already identified, and build momentum for resourcing the next stage of work as identified by communities

Consortium Funder	County
Community Foundation for Southwest Washington<	Clark County Local Advisory Team
Community Foundation of Snohomish County	Snohomish County Local Advisory Team
Empire Health Foundation	Spokane County Local Advisory Team
Greater Tacoma Community Foundation	Pierce County Local Advisory Team
United Way of King County	King County Local Advisory Team
Yakima Valley Community Foundation	Yakima County Local Advisory Team

Consortium funders advocate for:

Equitable access to government contracts

Simple, low barrier application process

Advance funding, rather than reimbursement-only contracts

Flexibility for organizations to pay for overhead as well as program costs

Consortium funders work together to:

Elevate emerging practices and lessons learned from Local Advisory Teams

Offer peer consulting

Explore and deepen actions to further invest in Black, Indigenous, Latine, and additional By/ For communities

Build deeper relationships between and across our consortium
Synthesize gaps, needs, and opportunities across our geographies