Inland Northwest Community Foundation - P.J. Watters

          Party time: Dec. 12 the club celebrates the holidays with its Christmas lunch at the Lincoln Center.  President-elect Chad Haverkamp is coordinating the event.  Spouses, other guests and prospective members are welcome.   Let Chad know who will attend.

 

          Speaker tributes: The club’s board of directors approved, and Holmes coordinator Sandy Fink announced, that guest speakers now will have a book presented to the Holmes School Library or classrooms iin their honor.  Speakers will autograph each book with their own special message.  Because of thrifty use of previous funds from the club, some $500 is available for the book purchases and publishers provide texts to the school at low rates.  The book program replaces the long-time practice of presenting speakers with Rotary pens.

 

          Fashion statement: The annual Men of Rotary Show, a fund-raiser for Spokane Valley Rotary, is Feb. 23 at the Mirabeau Hotel.  Valley Rotarian and designated assistant district governor Mike Payson is recruiting 16 to 18 models for the show, which raises money for student scholarships.  Tickets are $50. Arms being twisted as model candidates for Rotary North included Brad Stark and Chad Haverkamp.

 

          Cruising chances:  Bruce Johnson of Aurora Northwest has $20 raffle tickets for a chance at one of a number of cruise trip possibilities.  Johnson said the annual fund-raising event supports Christmas gifts and a book for students in “50 different families from North Side schools.”  Tickets are $20.

 

          Fund drives, cont.: Robbie Jackson, fund-raising chair for Rotary North, distributed letters to launch the 2017 Dine Out Spokane for Kids drive.  A wide range of corporate sponsors is sought to raise $20,000 or more for needy students at Homes Elementary and for some support programs at Glover Middle School and North Central High School. Businesses operating on a calendar-year budget might have some remaining fiscal-2016 funds to contribute as sponsors. Target categories include Silver ($250), Gold ($500) and Platinum ($1,000).

 

 

          One of the Expo 74-era’s biggest legacies is the Inland Northwest Community Foundation, which solicits and directs philanthropic gifts throughout the region.

 

          The Foundation’s motto nicely summarizes its mission: “Connecting people who care with causes that matter.”

 

          When the scheduled speaker for the Dec. 5 luncheon called in sick, P.J. Watters, the Community Foundation’s director of gift planning, quickly stepped in to pinch hit.  Watters also is a long-time Club 21 Rotarian and serves on that club’s International Service Committee.

 

          The Foundation story is a mixture of milestones and anecdotal successes.  Expo heightened the need to continue to revitalize area communities.  The local Junior League founded the Greater Spokane Community Fund, which replaced the original Spokane Foundation, established in 1915.

 

          Allan Toole, the Junior League’s attorney, drafted the paperwork for the new Foundation and was one of the 23 original founders.  Toole, who died in 2010, and wife, Ainslie, established a Foundation fund to continue charitable work in perpetuity,

 

          Watters, who has directed the agency’s planned giving for 11 years, said “this fall the Foundation reached $100 million” in total assets.

  

          That milestone came due to the $3 million gift from Helen Stowell, who died in 2015 at age 93.  Helen, who attended North Central and WSU, was the last survivor of a pioneer family, based mostly in Hillyard.  She had literally walked into a local brokerage firm with a brown grocery bag full of stock certificates.  A major share of her estate went to the Community Foundation as a bequest.

 

          Watters said the Foundation manages some 470 funds in four major categories: Donor-designated funds, Designated grants, Community grants and Scholarships.

 

          She said as a “steward of the assets” the foundation does all of the due-diligence work so donors and focus on “the fun stuff,” like giving to worthy causes.  Some $59 million has been distributed in the 20-county service area.

 

          Among the many individual donor stories, Watters discussed the gifts of Dick Domey and Diane Gillespie.  Domey, a teacher at Pullman schools and WSU, and Diane, also a WSU professor, bought and upgraded apartment houses, turning a $30,000 initial purchase and other properties into a $300,000 endowment fund for young artists.

 

         Watters said Henry Treede, the late founder of the Bank of Fairfield, donated 1,245 acres of wheat farmland to the Foundation, with the stipulation that the land be farmed for 20 more years.  “We didn’t have any farmers on our staff,” she said,

“but we certainly could find someone to honor that request.”  Treede died in 1984.

 

         Further illustrating the Foundation’s efforts to accommodate donor wishes, Watters talked about Margaret Featherstone Gailbraith.  Margaret was the daughter of Judge Albert Featherstone, who also was a mayor of Wallace, Idaho.  To ensure that

her $12 million endowment served North Idaho projects, the Foundation established a North Idaho Partnership Council.  Her funds support children’s programs, conservation efforts, economic development and parks in the six-county area.

 

         Watters said Galbraith, who died in 2005, was “a private woman,” who added, “when I’m gone, you can talk about me all you want.”

 

         Foundation leaders are Mark Hurtubise, the President and CEO, and Bob Bishopp, board chair. 

 

         Watters distributed  -- “hot off the presses” – the Foundation’s 2017 calendar.  Use a strong nail or hook to hang the impressive calendar, which includes a 20-page listing of programs, funds and donors.  The April page was sponsored by club member Bill Simer and his firm, EideBailly.