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MISSION + VISION
Mission: Unite diverse resources, shareholders and strategies in order to support and promote sustainable initiatives within the Monteverde region.
Vision: Create quality of life and a more sustainable community through the efforts and collaboration of all Monteverde.
SINCE 2012...
Since 2012, the Monteverde Community Fund supported 16 grassroots projects and organizations, leveraged more than $80,000 in small grants, and connected Monteverde organizations with ample funding sources and relevant expertise.
We also measure our success by the perseverance and ingenuity of the organizations working throughout the Monteverde region:
Monteverde’s first public Spanish-language library
Women’s artisanal soap enterprise
Community fitness program
Youth action group
Municipal-wide water and solid waste treatment
Internationally-recognized climate action commision
OUR STORY
The Monteverde Community Fund began in 2010 when Monteverde residents and the Monteverde Institute came together around a simple idea:
Together, we do more good.
We saw our home community rapidly changing: the former dairy - now tourism - economy had grown to support ~6,000 local residents, and ~200,000 annual visitors attracted by our verdant forests. We sought to equip our community to overcome challenges and seize opportunities associated with change today and far into the future.
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In 2011, the Washington D.C.-based The Center for Responsible Travel and The Monteverde Institute hosted a conference on travelers’ philanthropy, exploring how to capture resources from the influential tourism sector and channel them equitably into community-identified initiatives.
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In 2012, the Monteverde Community Fund was officially chartered to put these conversations into action.
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To date, the Fund has financed projects in economic, social, and environmental sectors, and trained and supported the teams behind them. We are proud to support an array of efforts valued by our neighbors and stakeholders--from municipal wastewater treatment to reforestation projects to movement and exercise programs.
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We also provide fiscal agency to grassroots organizations, so they can focus on their areas of expertise. These organizations pursue high-level impact in areas like climate action, literacy and education, theatre arts, and solid waste.
At the local level, we are a non-profit organization that since 2012 has supported 60 projects and grassroots organizations, leveraging over $154,000 in small grants and connecting Monteverde organizations with sources of funding and relevant expertise.
At the global and national level, the FCM is positioned within organizations and platforms of community foundations such as the Global Fund for Community Foundations and the Network of Community Foundations of CR.
WHAT IS A COMMUNITY FOUNDATION?
A Bit of Background
Community foundations are grantmaking public charities that are dedicated to improving the lives of people in a defined local geographic area. They bring together the financial resources of individuals, families, and businesses to support effective nonprofits in their communities. Monteverde Community Fund is one to two such foundations in Costa Rica (Guanacaste Community Fund).
Source: Council on Foundations