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Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation established the Queen of Hearts Women’s Fund in 2006. The goal was to raise $1 million in a single year by inviting women and girls to join by donating $1,000 each. The goal was surpassed and an endowed fund currently funds $60,000 in grants a year. Years later, the Fund’s leadership team launched Girls Giving Back (GGB). GGB is a youth philanthropy project that teaches young women ages 12-18 the ins and outs of fundraising and grantmaking. 

In this podcast, Stacy Caldwell, TTCF CEO, sits down with three women who have played major roles in how the Queen of Hearts and GGB. Martha Simon, who originally established the fund as a TTCF staff member; Nancy Gisko, who has been a leader of the fund and who thought of GGB; and Lacey Norris, one of the first GGB members. 

Each of these four women have made philanthropy a central part of her life. In this podcast, we follow  the evolution of TTCF’s female-focused charitable giving including the story of how it all began (call it women’s intuition). We also explore personal motivations, role models, women’s role in philanthropy, and our future in the hands of today’s youth. Please, join us.

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Celebrating its 20th anniversary, TTCF sits down with three of the founding board members responsible for starting it all: Jim Porter, the Truckee lawyer who received a phone call that would become a regional legend; Linda Brown, the teacher who helped start Excellent in Education and has a local award named after her; and Roger Kahn, a successful local entrepreneur who has helped shape our community through participation and leadership. 

You may think you know all the stories, but you’re sure to hear some new ones about how it all began. We don’t just refer to TTCF, but the making of our modern community by people who roll-up their sleeves, learn as they go, and laugh a whole lot while they do it.

Some things that Stacy Caldwell, TTCF CEO, covers include: 

• Where did that extra $1 million come from? 
• The board recruitment process (think: water cooler)
• How TTCF decided what communities it would serve
• Tips and hints for nonprofit board members 
• The special sauce of that first board of directors

Please, join us for this look back on TTCF’s first twenty years.

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We sat down with a grantmaker, a nonprofit grantee, and a grantee turned grant writer turned grantmaker. What happened over the next hour was a look into how grantmaking has changed over the years on a global level and at TTCF, as well as an exploration on all of the different aspects of grantmaking. What it feels like to start a nonprofit in a small community, the experience of grant writing for local grants, how funders respond to a changing world by evolving the way they fund. 

Phyllis McConn joined TTCF’s team in 2001 and has helped steward millions of dollars into our local community through grants. Heidi Allstead is Martis Fund’s E , and was previously the executive director of Project Mana.