Mission and History

Mission

Lakewood Community Foundation Fund’s Mission is to improve the lives of people in the Lakewood Community by encouraging the generosity of donors and by accepting and distributing resources through a permanent endowment.

Vision

Connecting donors with worthy causes to benefit the Lakewood Community.

History

The Lakewood Community Foundation Fund was created in 1993 as a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization by the Lakewood Rotary Club and the Clover Park Rotary Club to address critical needs in Lakewood and to serve Lakewood residents more directly, especially its neediest. Tom Faubion of Clover Park and Tom Sadler of Lakewood Rotary were instrumental in the founding. 

The Foundation’s goal was to establish a $1 million endowment in order to fund projects and scholarships to benefit children, families and charities in Lakewood. In 2019, that original goal was met. And on we go!

In 1999, the Foundation received a remarkable gift from Lakewood resident Marianna Shaw before her death from cancer. Widowed the previous year, one disabled son already deceased and another cared for in perpetuity through a trust, Marianna directed her Executor to divide her remaining estate equally to serve four areas: her church, her late husband’s alma mater, cancer research, and her community.

Neither well-to-do nor well known in Lakewood, Marianna left the surprising sum of $85,000 to the Lakewood Community Foundation Fund. She was confident that this relatively unknown organization would a make good choice about how best to serve her fellow Lakewood residents, especially the neediest.

This structure served the foundation well for many years but with the growth of the endowment the Board, after considerable study, decided to place the funds with Greater Tacoma Community Foundation for fund management and tax compliance. On June 30, 2011 the original corporation was dissolved and the funds were transferred to Greater Tacoma Community Foundation. The Lakewood Community Foundation Fund is a “Donor Advised Fund” of Greater Tacoma Community Foundation. Fund management and tax compliance for the Lakewood Community Foundation funds is now the responsibility of Greater Tacoma Community Foundation. Fundraising and grant making responsibility remain with the Lakewood Community Foundation Board of Directors.

The Foundation Fund is governed by a nine-member board of volunteer directors: three from Lakewood Rotary Club, three from Clover Park Rotary Club and three community representatives.