When our founders established The Lake County Community Foundation in 2003, this visionary group recognized Lake County needed a permanent, charitable entity to pool the financial resources of the community to elevate and address the county’s most urgent needs.

True to our beginning, for nearly 20 years, we have worked to become the center of knowledge of community needs, a strategic resource for the nonprofit sector and a premier partner that donors entrust with their philanthropy.

Our Impact:

• In partnership with our donors, we have invested over $14.1 million into Lake County’s nonprofit sector, placing dollars directly into organizations addressing our neighbors’ most basic needs.
• We have grown from managing one $500,000 operating fund in 2003 to stewarding 36 component funds totaling over $23 million, rising as a trusted local leader in philanthropy.
• We have moved the needle on a variety of community issues, from our decade-long leadership with Live Well Lake County, addressing community health, to funding and fledging critical cross-sector collaborations such as the Alliance for Human Services, Partnership for a Safer Lake County and launching our 3-year initiative to increase access to affordable and nutritious food.
• When our community needed us most during the COVID-19 pandemic, we quickly mobilized and established Lake County’s only permanent Crisis Relief Fund, raising and distributing over $1.6 million to frontline nonprofits.
• And in the past year alone, we launched a Racial Equity, Diversity and Inclusion program and Small Business Growth Initiative, two high priority initiatives as we strive to make Lake County a more equitable place.