Elizabeth Martineau, executive director of the Los Alamos Community Foundation. Photo Courtesy Kiwanis Club
BY BROOKE DAVIS
Kiwanis Club of Los Alamos
At their January 7 meeting, the Kiwanis Club of Los Alamos heard a presentation from
Elizabeth Martineau, the Executive Director of the Los Alamos Community Foundation (LACF).
She started off by asking the audience to remember where, when and from whom did they learn about giving and why do they give today.
Her own story includes coming from a military family with a dedication to service and a desire to always be part of a community. She was taught that if you want a great community, then you
have to put your time, effort and money into it. In believing that youth are our legacy, we need to support them and leave the world a better place for the future.
LACF’s goal is to “connect our community through enduring philanthropy” and their mission is the care and feeding of nonprofits. They accomplish this through support of local nonprofits, enhancing local philanthropy, and connecting nonprofits with donors and volunteers. Their support is in the form of individual meetings with nonprofits to connect and help with problem solving, group training sessions, roundtable sessions with the Executive Directors of the organizations, and assistance with grants, advocacy, sharing resources, community collaboration, and volunteer appreciation. Some larger nonprofits have staff dedicated to marketing and fundraising, but for smaller organizations these collaborative efforts are very important.
The LACF initiatives include Volunteer Los Alamos, a central location to connect nonprofits with volunteers; Health and Wellness Initiative which is now working on identifying the community’s needs and gaps, and Endowment Funds to find ways to invest money and providefunding for the future.
There are over 150 nonprofits in Los Alamos. Martineau said that donating is one of the best
ways to help all our nonprofits is through the collaborative efforts of LACF. She encouraged
participating, volunteering, and connecting.