Premium Episode: A Roundtable Conversation with Four Community Foundation Leaders on Similarities, Differences, Challenges and Outlooks for the Future.

Kerry Wood: [00:00:00] And also we're partnering with the County of Sacramento launching. You've received a grant to launch a capacity building program starting in January. And you know, it's really exciting to see some of these partnerships form through. Either people are paying attention to crises, right? They pay attention when there's, you know, emergent issues.

And so it's been actually a silver lining to some of the issues I think, where government. At least locally and uh, business that are coming together to support the nonprofit sector.

Jeff Holden: Welcome to the nonprofit Podcast Network here. Our purpose and passion are simple to highlight the incredible nonprofits that make our communities stronger. Each episode is a chance for these organizations to tell their story. In their words, [00:01:00] sharing not just what they do, but why it matters to the people they serve, to their supporters, and to all of us who believe in the power of community.

Through podcasting, we hope to amplify their voices, inspire connection, and give them one more tool to reach the hearts of donors, partners, and neighbors alike. This work is made possible through the generous support of our founding partners. CAPTRUST offering fiduciary advice for endowments and foundations serving Sacramento, Roseville, and Folsom and online@captrust.com and Western Health Advantage, a local not-for-profit health plan that believes healthcare is more than coverage.

It's about caring From supporting the American Heart Association to making arts and wellness accessible for all. Western Health Advantage truly delivers healthcare with heart. Learn more@westernhealth.com. I'm proud to welcome our newest partner, core executive leadership and comprehensive [00:02:00] support services working in it so you can work on it.

Visit cx OR e.com when basic needs get squeezed, when uncertainty rises, and when the demand for help keeps climbing. The people on the front lines feel it. First. Families, seniors, working households, and the nonprofits trying to keep up. This is a premium content episode. I've brought together four community foundation leaders representing four counties for one shared conversation about what they're seeing on the ground, what they're hearing from nonprofits and donors, and how philanthropy is adapting in real time.

I will be speaking with Carrie Wood, CEO of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation. Jessica Hubbard, executive Director of the Yolo Community Foundation, Veronica Blake, CEO of the Placer Community Foundation, and Amy Pooley, executive Director of the El Dorado Community Foundation. This is one of those conversations where you [00:03:00] realize quickly, community foundations aren't just writing checks.

They're building bridges between donors and needs, between nonprofits and each other, and between today's crisis response and tomorrow's long-term solutions. Because across our region the pressure is real. Needs are rising, resources are tighter, and the questions nonprofit leaders are asking about sustainability, collaboration and what's coming next are getting more urgent by the month.

We talk about the issues showing up everywhere, the ripple effects you may not be hearing about yet, and the strategies that could genuinely change how nonprofits survive and serve. Heading into 2026, Carrie Wood, Veronica Blake, Amy Pulley, and Jessica Hubbard. Welcome to the Nonprofit Podcast Network.

Thank you. Thank 

Group: you. Thanks for having us. 

Jeff Holden: To say this has been quite a year for our nonprofits, would really be an understatement. I'd like to get your feedback [00:04:00] on what the most pressing challenges you are experiencing in your respective communities. Jessica, let's start with you in Yolo County.

Jessica Hubbard: Absolutely. I think that food insecurity has been a challenge in Yolo County for a long time. Which is, can be ironic given the fact that it's a food producing region. And so the impact of first, the federal cuts to food distribution nonprofits earlier this year, followed by the snap impacts of the shutdown, have been pretty devastating for a local billable community and therefore for local nonprofits.

Jeff Holden: Kerry, how about Sacramento? What do you see here? 

Kerry Wood: You know, I echo what Jessica said, you know, around food. We have a lot of housing issues here in Sacramento. The cost of living just continues to increase and increase the demand for nonprofit services increases. While there are limited resources, of course, for, for nonprofits, especially in light of the funding cuts that, uh, many nonprofits have experienced.

And, and we have so many wonderful nonprofits in [00:05:00] town, but limited resources to really meet all of their needs. So I think in a nutshell, there are multiple issues going on for our residents. With limited resources to to provide that support that they need. 

Jeff Holden: Veronica, how about Placer County? 

Veronica Blake: Yeah, we're seeing the same as my colleagues.

Certainly the demand for affordable housing has been in place in our community for about 30 years, and that's been sort of a signature line of work that the community foundation's been working on. But also in food insecurity. Our food banks and pantries are seeing a 40% increase in demand, and that was before the federal shutdown.

We have about 80,000 families, or 19% of our population is on Medicaid, and that means these families are making less than $2,000 a month. I'd also add that we have an aging population in Placer, many of which are seniors are living in isolation and they themselves are really vulnerable to becoming unhoused.

Jeff Holden: And Amy, that leaves El Dorado County. What's happening there? 

Amy Pooley: Yeah, same [00:06:00] echoing a lot of sentiments of my colleagues here. A lot of similar statewide concerns. I think that all of us can convene around and understand that we're all feeling a lot of the same stressors in our communities. Housing, certainly at the forefront of El Dorado County needs that transportation in our rural community here for some of our more for.

Outlying areas in South County and the divide up and into the basin a little bit is continuing an issue. How are our families getting and accessing services? Student security is on the top of all of our minds considering, especially these last few weeks. We similarly to some of our peers here. I have about one in five in Alberto County that rec, that recognized as food insecure.

So that is concerning to us as well. And then overall, the continued mental health taxation on all of these rising economic stressors, right? So we know when the economy gets stressful, when there's lack of housing, food insecurity that is taxing on our mental health, but is taxing on our [00:07:00] families. So we are very keenly watching all of our agencies, our youth service agencies, our family agencies, and how they're responding.

I think what Carrie said about the increase in demand on our nonprofits is significantly greater while resources are continuing to be a little bit limited. 

Jeff Holden: Yeah, just an understatement. As I mentioned in the beginning, we hear it from so many different spaces with the food insecurity. Are you seeing any particular demography.

More prevalent than another. 

Amy Pooley: I, I'm happy to speak to that in El Dorado County for some of our Spanish speaking families. I think getting an access to services and, and food is a little bit overwhelming. It's very concerning sometimes to go and get resources from some of our agencies that. Have relationships and funding from larger government entities, right?

So our Spanish speaking population, certainly feeling a little ostracized there perhaps, but we do actually have a nonprofit that has come forward in the last [00:08:00] two years to move into that space and is doing fantastic work with the limited resources that they do have at an offsite rogue food distribution.

Specifically for our farm workers, our Spanish speaking families, that is not publicly disclosed intentionally. 

Group: Here in Yo 

Jessica Hubbard: county, the yellow food bank released a food access report survey report. Last year it was really, you know, full of information, but one of the most striking findings of their research was that food insecurity among farm workers is very, very high.

Mm-hmm. One of the most highest need. Groups within Yolo County, obviously is tragic to think a farm worker spending their days, their weeks, their lives, creating food for the rest of us, and then not having access to that food themselves. So I know the Yale Food Bank and a lot of our local organizations have been really focused on that, but it remains an ongoing need 

Kerry Wood: and we've been really proud at the Sacramento Region Community Foundation to partner with, uh, Jessica and her team at Yellow Community Foundation on seeing what we can do to address.

Some, some of the issues around food insecurity and Yolo [00:09:00] County, especially with Yolo County being obviously the, one of the highest counties in terms of poverty level. It, it's incredible to think right in our backyard, right? And Jessica, you know, where you live and, and work, you know, that, that, that kind of of challenge exists.

One thing I'll add is that caring a lot about senior citizens and our, you know, elderly population are really having some struggles too. So. Working Families list goes on and I, I think it's not a one size fits all kind of answer. 

Jeff Holden: Veronica, 

Veronica Blake: yeah. 29,000 people are on Snap and ER and 7,000 of which are going to get kicked off in January.

So we're working with our local partners in, in collaboration to try to figure out how are we gonna help those 7,000 people that are completely kicked off food assistance. You have to remember that now with rents being as high as they are, you know, a renter in Placer needs to make $39 an hour in order to afford the basic rent here.

[00:10:00] So while some families weren't traditionally relying on the food bank, they have to now because their money needs to go to rent, it needs to go to their car payment, it needs to go to providing their children with clothing so they can go to school. So we're seeing a real shift and a real reliance on the food safety net that we haven't seen before.

Jessica Hubbard: I think that will also grow in January if anticipated. Changes to health insurance coverage mm-hmm. Happen. People are paying drastically more of a health insurance that leaves even less for rent and for food. 

Jeff Holden: That's gonna parlay nicely into the next question with shifting donor priorities. What are you seeing with regard to the near term distribution of funds?

And secondly, how has your grant making or funding strategy changed over the last year as we're anticipating 26? 

Kerry Wood: I know we activated, uh, you know, uh, emergency fund that we, uh, have here at the foundation for addressing. The issues that we all know very well, uh, around the SNAP benefits and the funding cuts and, [00:11:00] and the impact there.

But one of the things that's been shifting at, at our foundation has been, yes, we wanna deploy funds for immediate needs, but also long-term needs. What are, what are ways, and maybe even preventative in some way, how are we maybe helping to be part of a solution to improve systems and, you know, work together with partners to.

To see how we can strengthen some, uh, of, of the work, both elevating philanthropy for those immediate needs, but also thinking about how we can look at, we call it upstream, and create some investments that might be able to help with the prevention of, of poverty and food insecurity that results. 

Jeff Holden: Anybody else on that one?

Jessica Hubbard: I took a look at our, uh, most recent distributions grants coming out of our donor advised funds and other funds just before this call, and I did see a significant focus on food insecurity organizations, but also I was pretty pleasantly surprised to see the amount of resources going to. Year end appeal type granting to [00:12:00] sort of, you know, pillar of the community type organizations.

I am concerned, like, on the one hand it's so critical that we all provide organizations that do poverty alleviation, address basic needs with the resources that they need to meet to support people and tremendous need right now. On the other hand, this isn't a short term problem, and so I'm concerned about like the sustainability and the viability of the rest of our nonprofit sector.

And so I was pleased to see that the first few grants going out around Year End Appeal do seem to be heavily focused on food and basic needs, but also addressing other important local organizations. 

Veronica Blake: Just to add to that, that we're starting to work with a lot of faith-based partners. We're seeing more churches stepping up and being involved in providing some of that social fabric and the services to people.

It's been delightful to see the mission alignment there, and I actually heard from a donor last week who said, you know, Veronica, as much as I love supporting the work through nonprofits, I also wanna see. Working with churches because they're in the neighborhoods and they could provide additional assistance in those [00:13:00] neighborhoods in a way that's very unique to our communities and very unique to their neighborhoods.

Jessica Hubbard: I also like that because religious organizations represent a wider range of demographic groups, and so often, sort of traditional philanthropists are, are not heavily diverse, and so working with churches allows you to reach a much wider range of, of volunteers and donors. 

Amy Pooley: For El Dodo County. I just wanted to note that for our community, we have a really rich history of taking care of one another because we're a, we're a small community, we're rural.

Right? And I think what I'd love to see over this past year, the community foundation holds two crisis funds that support basic human needs in times of an individual crisis. We work with our nonprofit partners to sponsor those. Those requests. And we had a donor come forward in the last year and open a third fund that has offered substantial assistance for these basic human needs, filling those gaps, making sure that we are continuing to honor the traditions of taking care of one another.

Right. So we added that third fund and then I think. [00:14:00] For all of us as community foundations, every education is everything. I think we all can agree with that as partners and peers, that educating our donors on the needs, educating on ways to help is certainly our role in what our El Dodo Community Foundation has taken on and allowing our donors to engage and give more directly.

Based upon that education of needs. Right? So, and I know I've seen Placer, I've seen SEC regions do the same. So really commending our community foundations from that education piece for our donors. 

Veronica Blake: I'll just piggyback on what Amy just said. The, what's interesting is we, um, did a social media post on food security recently where we featured four of our strongest partners throughout the county to, um, give directly to those organizations or alternatively to give to the community foundation's community needs fund.

And then we would direct the money and we put that post up. It had 200 shares. 

Group: Yeah. 

Veronica Blake: So from my perspective. The donors are just as hungry, if you will, to be supportive and [00:15:00] to be engaged and to have a pathway to give as much as the people who are needing the assistance. And so it's sort of a really unique opportunity for community foundations to be a bridge between the donors and those communities.

Jeff Holden: Mm-hmm. And certainly basic needs are the highest priority because that's food and housing with. Money redirected or directed towards them. It may siphon off a little bit from some of the other requirements for other organizations, and a lot of our nonprofits are under a lot of pressure right now as they look at what's happening with funding and looking into 2026, what stories might you be hearing with regard to innovative or collaborative approaches emerging that we might have never even been thinking about a year ago?

Kerry Wood: One of the things I, I'll just kick this off, is, uh, shared services. We're seeing a lot of, at least discussions, and I have not worked with these collaboratives directly, but nonprofits are looking for ways to be [00:16:00] more efficient, whether they're merging together, collaborating more, but sharing services that normally are very costly, like legal guidance, uh, hr, right, financial, whether it's, you know, from bookkeeping all the way to, you know, CFO kinds of levels of work that they, some of them can't afford.

To, to handle on their, on their own. So they're coming together, collaborating and sharing services. So that's been an interesting thing I've noted. Mm-hmm. 

Amy Pooley: Yeah. Similar to what Veronica talked about with plaster. We've recently, just last week, had one of our partners bridging divides come together with our interface community, so our faith community coming together very similar to Plaster, saying how can we help?

We have different. It's diversity in clientele. We have different diversity and views, but we all recognize the need to do something. And then I think additionally, our strategic plan and our board are really pushing on how can the foundation potentially lead on those back, back of the house services, hr, [00:17:00] legal, accounting services to support our nonprofits, potentially the future as well as their funding resources are limited and the demand increases.

So yeah, very similar to some of our partners as well on that. We 

Jessica Hubbard: launched a program this year called Yola Neon. It's Nonprofit Excellence and Operations Navigator that is around helping nonprofits build out. Policies and procedures around back office services, so county of finance, hr, it, and legal, and which is essentially like a supported DIY program.

Um, but what we are learning from that program is that there's a tremendous need for non DIY services in those areas. We, we've seen a real appetite for shared services and collaboration, but I think a real challenge is that collaboration takes time and in the non-profit sector and anywhere, time takes money.

And so this is work that still has to be funded, even though it will save money and resources in the long term. 

Veronica Blake: Yeah, I agree. I agree with everything my colleagues are saying. I'll just say that at Placer we've been doing capacity building in some way, shape, or form for the past 20 years. And to that extent, it still does have a [00:18:00] lot of opportunities for improvement.

We see a number of organizations that are smaller in our community now that are, have the ability to bill like Medi-Cal for services and our Placer collaborative network, which is a network of health and human service agencies. That includes local government, have been working for the past several years on trying to get more people in, more organizations into the ability to be able to build for their work so that they can be more sustainable.

And I think there'll probably be some more opportunities in that space that will come together for collaboration. 

Kerry Wood: Mm-hmm. 

And you sparked something when you, uh, with what you said, Veronica, collaboration's been interesting to see how many corporate funders, in fact, we've got a. Several corporate funders that are providing support for capacity building specific work at community foundations at ours and others from what I've heard.

And also we're partnering with the County of Sacramento launching. We received a grant to launch a capacity building [00:19:00] program starting in January. And you know, it's really exciting to see some of these partnerships form through either. People are paying attention to crises, right? They pay attention when there's, you know, emergent issues.

And so it's been actually a silver lining to some of the issues, I think, where government, at least locally and, uh, business coming together to support the nonprofit sector. 

Jeff Holden: And I'm pleased to hear that because each one of you had something respective to your individual counties for those who are listening who may not have known or weren't aware.

They now know there are opportunities and places to go if they hadn't already been going down that path. That may, in some cases, even save an organization because they don't have the ability to fund some of those backend services, whatever they may be. 

Amy Pooley: Can I just add one other point before we move on? I think even just all of us being together on this podcast to hear and take the [00:20:00] time out of our daily.

Schedules right, that we're so busy with to hear what our peers are doing. And our League of California Community Foundations is great about doing this as well. But as community foundations also being leaders in space for our local nonprofits to come together to, to create space, to exhale a little bit to, to find the strength and candor of coming together, whether it's around capacity building or whether it's just sitting in the same room and really continuing to allow them to.

To vent in a really insecure space right now, as well as find, strengthen one another and have kind of a purposeful renewal around. I am not the only one feeling this way. It's a natural collaboration that we are seeing in El Dorado County and that we're really encouraging because, you know, it, it does take time.

I think that as community foundations, the more we can create space for our nonprofits to, to exhale and be safe and know that they're all in it together, the better as well too. 

Jessica Hubbard: I [00:21:00] really agree with that. I find like, I like to think that our trainings are wonderful, but it's really clear that no matter how, how good the training is, no matter what an expert the trainer is, the number one value of nearly every training we offer is that the nonprofits connect with each other.

They learn, they're not alone. They release the shame of feeling like they're uniquely screwing this up. Mm-hmm. And they, you know, connect and support one another. Yeah. So, absolutely the learning matters, but the connection matters as well. 

Veronica Blake: Mm-hmm. Absolute. I agree with everything my colleagues are saying.

I would just also add to that that I think donors expectations are that we work together. And so I think that when, when to the extent that we come together, we can create the space, we can figure out better strategies to serve our friends and neighbors, the more delight we will get from our donors and the larger the investment we will get from them.

Jeff Holden: We'll be back with more of this wonderful conversation from our community foundation leaders right after we hear from those making this program possible. 

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Scott Thomas: Hello, this is Scott Thomas with CAPTRUST in our Sacramento office. I specialize in [00:23:00] working with local nonprofits and associations annually. We survey private and public nonprofit organizations across the country to better understand challenges they see in today's environment.

In our more recent survey, we hear concerns about proper board governance, mission aligned investment, and how to implement alternative investments. If you would like a copy of the survey or do discuss your organization, look me up, scottThomas@captrust.com. At Western Health 

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Group: Yeah. 

Jeff Holden: One of the things that we see as people come through for the nonprofit podcast program itself, the nonprofits that we speak with, the majority are familiar that you exist in their respective counties. Not everybody takes advantage of the services and some feel that, well, I'm, I'm too small, or, I just don't think there's something there for me.

How do your individual foundations ensure that nonprofits of all sizes and service continue to have a voice and funding opportunities? 

Kerry Wood: I know we have several programs. The Big Day of Giving, [00:25:00] which I, I know everybody's familiar with, but we accept just about every size of nonprofit. Trainings involved, you know, support for, uh, nonprofits of every size.

And so we really work hard to, you know, be as inclusive as possible so that the smaller organizations don't feel dwarfed by some of the larger nonprofits. And then we have a program called Cultivate and Cultivate, starting and inspired by, it was inspired by Big Dave giving when we noticed that, uh, smaller nonprofits.

Especially those led by people of color were disproportionately represented when it came to the dollars raised and the attention, frankly, they were getting from, uh, from donors in the community. So, I could go on, but I'll stop there just, and, and conclude and say that we, we definitely have seen that to be an issue for the smaller organizations and, you know, we're working to, to make sure that they, you know, really feel a part of and [00:26:00] getting support in a number of ways.

Veronica Blake: I love what you just said, Carrie, and I'll just add to that, that recently in Placer we, we've been doing the, some of the same work in the sense that we've been introducing our donor pipeline to our smaller nonprofits so that they can get to know each other. And recently that amounted to a hundred thousand dollars unrestricted grant to one of our community based organizations.

And so I think that the community foundations do play a significant role in helping others understand how to cultivate those donor relationships. Another thing we do at Placer is we take donors out on site visits and we accompany them with our program officers so that we can help explain and create bridging language between what the organization is doing and what the donor's interests are.

And we find that those site visits always amount in greater philanthropy to those organizations. 

Group: That's awesome. 

Veronica Blake: Mm-hmm. It really is. 

Amy Pooley: I think for El Dodo Community Foundation, we, um. And I think any community foundation, right? [00:27:00] When you said, Jeff, that you talk to a lot of your nonprofits and they're aware of community foundations, there's sometimes a very unwarranted level of intimidation.

Like, well, I don't wanna talk to the community foundation, or maybe I'm not big enough. So I think it's important we create a lot of space around. Just come and talk to us, right? Our doors are always open, making sure we're very accessible. I think we do a survey to our nonprofits also every year at the beginning of the year to say, how can we better serve you?

How are we doing in granting in our programs, in our capacity building training, and what do you need? Because I think historically, our foundation was just kind of telling the founda, the other nonprofits, here's what we think you need. So we've changed that in the last two years to really say, what do you need and how could we help?

And then we do a lot of fiscal sponsorship. We do micro grants that are targeted to ACORN individuals or nonprofits maybe that never have received a grant from our foundation or one of our competitive grant cycles before. Just really intentionally trying to [00:28:00] make room for those, those smaller nonprofits that are doing very, very valuable work because it is, it is boots on the ground and it matters.

Jessica Hubbard: We do a state of the y nonprofit sector report, um, that's based on a survey and interviews. We get about a third of local nonprofits participating in that survey. The purpose is primarily to educate donors and decision makers in the community about the needs of nonprofits and how to help them be more effective, but we absolutely rely on that for our own programming as well.

The other thing we do specifically for competitive grants is we always hold, uh, info session and open office hour sessions so that people can learn about grants. This came out of very early in my tenure at YCF. Someone, we had an open grant, someone I knew outside of work called my cell phone, asked me questions, and I was like, huh.

Other people who don't have my cell phone don't have that opportunity. This isn't rocket science, but it takes that sort of intentional open effort so that, and then we record it, we post it, we try to make that information broadly available. And then finally we also try to identify sort of a [00:29:00] diverse group of community leaders that can help us.

Find all quarters of the community. So we know that our network is not going to reach everyone, but if we can reach through our network, that we can blanket the county. 

Veronica Blake: We code all of our grants. So we're really proud to say that 45% of all of our donor-advised fund grants were led by community foundation staff to that donor.

So these are ideas that we brought to the donor to say, Hey, these are the things that you, uh, you know, have signaled an interest in, and here's a way to invest. And I think that helps us build trust in the nonprofit community because we're, you know, we're bringing them money that in a donor advisement grant, they don't even have to apply for.

And so it makes it really easy for them to access. And then once you build that trust, it gets easier to call the office and say what your needs are. And nonprofits in our community, I think are pretty well trained to call us and tell us what's on their mind because we are able to help connect the dots for them.

That 

Jeff Holden: was the shortest question we've had, but it gave us the most robust answers, [00:30:00] and I think they were wonderful for exposing the opportunities that exist at the community foundations respectively. Each of you. For anybody in those counties and collectively, there's so much opportunity for a nonprofit to take advantage of just by reaching out.

Looking ahead. This may be the most difficult question given the uncertainty as we do look into the future, but it'd be impossible to have this conversation without addressing 2026. What trends or emerging issues are you preparing for that nonprofit leaders should really be paying attention to in your respective communities?

Kerry Wood: There's so many things. Yeah, 

Amy Pooley: we could a 

Kerry Wood: flower just on that. I know, I know. I think I'll, I'll start with with one that's probably an obvious, but ai, right? We know that, uh, AI is changing so much and if we aren't at least doing our best to try and use that tool to the best of our ability as a community foundation, but also.[00:31:00] 

Working with our nonprofit sector as well. You know, we're gonna be missing, missing out on, you know, some key, key opportunities. And I think AI is, um, scary for a lot of people, just the term, you know, but there are a lot of ways that we're all seeing that we can use this tool both in. Engaging donors in a greater way than we could before research, uh, at our fingertips in a greater way than it ever was before.

I, I will stop there, but just, you know, I think that's one thing and I've got five, but I, I'll let others answer. 

Jessica Hubbard: I would say, um, just on the AI point, I think one of the biggest risk factors to the nonprofit sector is sustainability and burnout. We have so many organizations trying to do so very much with such small staffs, and it's not, it's not, I mean, it's not appropriate, it's not respectful.

Of our nonprofit workforce. It's also not sustainable, and so it's not strategic. And so, you know, obviously there are lots, lots, lots to work out, but I really am hopeful that it can help [00:32:00] adjust some of the sustainability and burnout issues in local nonprofits. 

Veronica Blake: I would also add to this that there's a transfer of wealth that's occurring.

And in that transfer of wealth, there's a lot of opportunity for larger size philanthropic gifts. So nonprofits should be partnering with their community foundations to bring those planned gifts in. We've been working on a planned giving strategy at Placer for the past 20 years, and it's starting to come to fruition.

We're starting to see significant, the sized gifts that are coming in. These are kind of game changing gifts that can really have an impact in the different missions that our nonprofit organizations are carrying out. So wanna encourage any nonprofit that's out there thinking to also think ahead about planned giving, because the challenges we're facing today are going to be here tomorrow.

Amy Pooley: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. For the El Dorado Community Foundation, and again, I think for all of our, our community foundations as well. Serving as a catalyst around major community issues. Right. So for us, moving into 2026, we have been doing some [00:33:00] significant work around housing listening sessions, having community led strategies with our county.

Again, hearing what our community needs are and bringing those forward. We will all, I have no doubt in 2026, continued to convene, to advocate, to fill gaps over major issues in each of our. Pressing or each of our respective communities. So I see that as a trend for our community as well. And I don't know that this is true for everyone, but we will continue to see a significant trend around fire hardening, wildfire resilience, and the rebuilding of our communities.

Still post calor fire, right? We've still got a, a grizzly watts, but. A significant number of residents are still living in trailers there, so that will continue to trend into 2026 for us as well. I really liked what Jessica said about the nonprofit burnout and potentially utilizing AI there. What I think when our nonprofits are all vying for the same dollars.

There's this genuine, again, like almost fear [00:34:00] sometimes between agencies to collaborate. But what I do think for our nonprofits is we will be looking for collaboration. We will be looking for stronger long-term financial planning and how our investments and grants will continue to foster longer term success like Carrie had said, you know, back in one of the other questions.

So that's kind of the trends that we're looking to on a go forward. Jeff, can I add one more 

Veronica Blake: thing? Absolutely. I'd like to also just add that bringing community voice to the table is pretty important. I mean, we have wonderful community leaders that we're working with in our nonprofit sector, but making sure we get down to the citizen level and the people that is the, that our work and that our funding is actually impacting is going to be an important part of the equation.

So nonprofits, figuring out how to work with us to bring that voice forward is gonna be really important. 

Jeff Holden: Wonderful answers I can see. An episode on each one of the topics, ai, sustainability, mental health and physical wellness, burnout, transfer of wealth, community voices, listening [00:35:00] sessions. Each one of those could be a wonderful episode in themselves for the benefit of our nonprofit constituents.

We're just about outta time, so I thought we'd give each of you an opportunity to maybe highlight the three significant things you expect to be doing differently, just, just, just a high level into the new year. And it could be on the donor side, it could be funding for nonprofits. It could be something that we haven't addressed.

Veronica, you wanna start? 

Veronica Blake: I don't know that anything's gonna be all that different, to be honest. We've been in a culture of collaboration in Placer for, you know, spanning 30 years of my nonprofit career and even longer. And I think we're gonna double down in that we're working with our Health and Human Services agency to actually bring in a consultant that will work with our nonprofit sector and our governmental partners to find the different pathways.

That they wanna work on. And again, to bring the community voice into same time. The Community Foundation uses these opportunities as a way to connect donors to the work [00:36:00] and to fill in gaps. There isn't funding that's available maybe from a governmental or a, a, a private foundation source. So just more, more of the same and more creative and really banking on the relationships that we've established over the last 20 years to lead us into a positive future for the residents of Placer County.

Jeff Holden: Amy, 

Amy Pooley: I think for us moving. In baby steps, but more towards trust-based philanthropy with some of our grant systems. I think, you know, being previously on the other side of applying for grants, before I was here at the foundation, some of the grant questions I think that we all ask perhaps is community foundations can be a little redundant.

And how are we really working towards a trust-based philanthropic effort so that we are supporting maybe some of those micro nonprofits and the bigger names do right trust that they are doing their jobs without our constant. Oversight or 500 word essays on how they are truly impacting with these [00:37:00] dollars, right?

So moving into the trust-based philanthropy space for us, certainly engaging in the next generation of funders that gen, that generational transfer of wealth. Addressing that, having a plan for that. You know, we've, we've laid the strategies for a lot of that outreach, but I think it also, with the next generation, we're looking at individuals who give differently than a generation previously.

How are we, you know, working. At all community foundation levels to recognize that philanthropy comes in all shapes and sizes. Changing the face of philanthropy, so it's not just our traditional models. Right? So moving into that space a little bit more aggressively, and then certainly, you know, expanding some of our go co-funding models in El Dodo County.

We still have some substantial work to do about bringing those government dollars, the private dollars, and the philanthropic dollars together to make bigger impacts. But we are certainly ready to, you know, continue to tackle that on 

Jeff Holden: Jessica. 

Jessica Hubbard: So, you know, Veronica referenced community voice [00:38:00] earlier, and I think that's a good way to frame something that we're working on to really diversify our network as a foundation by cause, geography, demographics, industry, and so on.

So that we really do are hearing from and speaking with every corner of the county. Second piece, I think is we've, we've grown quite rapidly in the last five or seven years. And so how do we thinking about organizational su sustainability for the foundation itself, how do we continue to grow the pace that the need requires whilst in a way that is both financially responsible and sustainable for our team?

And then thirdly, you know, if you think about what a community foundation is, at its core, it's about engaging the community and committing resources to philanthropy over the long term. And so, in light of this ongoing, I think one of the most significant issues for us right now is. Economic uncertainty, not necessarily economic challenges.

There's lots of that, but there's also this overriding theme of uncertainty. And so the more we can grow our philanthropic funds and see dollars committed to philanthropy, the more we can insulate our community against ongoing uncertainty. [00:39:00] 

Jeff Holden: And Carrie. 

Kerry Wood: I echo my colleagues in so many ways. Amy, from trust-based philanthropy, we are also working, uh, on ways that we can simplify the grant process and make this easier for the partners that we, we trust, like you said, to do their work.

So there's a lot of, lot of efforts in that direction. Collaborations and networking, uh, are going to be continuing and we wanna grow to bring nonprofits and donors together. We do a philanthropy summit now every fall. That's an opportunity to, to open that dialogue up between funders, donors, and nonprofits.

So we really wanna step that up and, and see, you know, how many more people we can get there. Excited to see that growing, but also looking at ways that we can fill what I consider to be quite a gap here in the Sacramento area around support for nonprofits and, you know, how do we step into that even more deeply.

And how do we get more funding for it? Because while we are a grant making [00:40:00] organization, all community foundations need to raise funds too to make some of these things happen. So we really see, you know, stepping further into that work. 

Jeff Holden: I could not be more encouraged by the positivity in each of your voices regarding the community and the community at large.

And what you've all shared really reflects both the urgency and promise across the region. Your foundations aren't just responding, you're actually re-imagining how philanthropy is working in this very challenging environment. So your collaboration reminds us that community foundations aren't just for the grant makers.

They're really problem solvers, conveners, storytellers, and you're doing it for the people and nonprofits you serve. So my thanks to each of you, Veronica, Carrie, Amy, Jessica, for squeezing this conversation into an already jam packed schedule. I know it's the end of the year and it couldn't be. Anymore time demanding.

Back to Jessica's comment on mental health and, and wellbeing. But thank you so much. Your [00:41:00] leadership is more critical than ever going forward, and I wish you the best of holidays ahead and, and cheers to 2026. 

Group: Cheers to 2026, Phil. Yeah, happy holidays everybody. Happy holiday holidays. 

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