Our Priorities

First Fed Foundation’s mission is to improve the quality of life in the communities in which First Fed – the Foundation’s founder and sole donor – maintains full-service branches.

Committed to creating broad impact that benefits low- to moderate-income, disadvantaged and/or marginalized individuals and families, we fund efforts that bring housing, help, and hope to communities across Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap, and/or Whatcom Counties, in Washington State, and focus on four funding priorities:

 

Community Support

Grants of $5,000 to $25,000 are awarded to projects that address basic needs and/or improve the quality of life in Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap, and/or Whatcom Counties. Priority is given to efforts that build capacity to better serve the community and benefit low- to moderate-income, disadvantaged, and/or marginalized persons or families.

Pictured: Field Arts & Events Hall received a $7,500 grant to provide K-12 students in Port Angeles and Sequim with free access to professional performances, artist-led workshops, classroom arts experiences, and afterschool programs.

 

Housing & Homelessness
Grants of $25,000 to $50,000 fund efforts to build workforce and permanently affordable housing; increase home ownership opportunities for low- to moderate-income first-time homebuyers; avoid homelessness and shelter the unhoused; and/or provide support for the chronically homeless.

Pictured: Road2Home was awarded a $25,000 grant to expand care to 150 additional highly vulnerable, chronically unsheltered individuals in Bellingham, providing consistent, personalized case management, and access to healing, stability, and permanent housing resources.

 

Economic Development
Grants of $25,000 to $50,000 support initiatives that create brighter futures and family-sustaining careers through mentorships and apprenticeships, life-skills and job-skills programs, post-secondary, technical, and vocational programs; and expand economic opportunities for low- and moderate-income, disadvantaged, and/or marginalized persons.

Pictured: The Coffee Oasis was awarded a $30,000 grant to increase the number of Kitsap County’s low-income, homeless youth, ages 16 to 25, participating in employment readiness and job preparation classes and paid internships, equipping them for employment and long-term self-sufficiency.

 

Community Development
Grants of $25,000 to $50,000 that support capital projects and programs that provide valuable, life-enhancing benefits to broad segments of the communities we serve.

Pictured: First Fed Foundation’s $25,000 grant helped purchase equipment needed to expand the services delivered by North Olympic Healthcare Network’s mobile clinic, pictured here, to include school-based, on-site preventative dental and vision services for Clallam County youth.

 

Click the links below to learn about the Foundation’s grantmaking:

• Organizations Funded to Date
• Our First Ten Years of Grantmaking
• Applying for a Grant
• Grant Guidelines & FAQs

 

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Header Image: Max Higbee Center supports and empowers teens and adults with developmental disabilities in Whatcom County to build community, life skills, and health through recreation. The Center received a $50,000 grant toward the remodel of their new primary location, expanding services and the number of people served.