Giving Fund
10 YEARS OF PHILANTHROPY
2015 saw the Tahoe Donner Giving Fund award its first scholarship. In the decade since then, the Giving Fund has awarded scholarships to a total of 84 local students and made grants to 37 nonprofit organizations.
2025 is seeing extensive funding cuts for the nonprofit organizations that support social services and education, both nationally and locally. Essential programs that serve our seniors, families, and community are struggling to provide help and hope, and some programs are having to close their doors.
But we know we can help. Together with you, our Tahoe Donner neighbors, we can raise funds, make grants, award scholarships, and continue to make our community the great place we love to live, work and play.
Today, the need is greater than ever, but so is our ability to make a difference. Join us in making the final months of our 10th anniversary year the most generous in our history!
LOOKING BACK WITH PRIDE
❤️ Our mission is to inspire generosity and charitable giving among Tahoe Donner members in order to support deserving programs and youth in the greater Truckee community. Step back a decade to the very first scholarship awarded by the Tahoe Donner Giving Fund:
Meet Michaela Ness, a Truckee High Distinguished Scholar, who received the first Giving Fund scholarship in 2015. She attended the University of Nevada, Reno, as an English major with an interest in teaching, and graduated in 2019. At the time, Michaela told us that her love of literature blossomed in her freshman year of high school. “It cemented my career choice as being a high school English teacher. I want to be able to give back to the area I call home and the community I love.”
Michaela is pictured here being presented with the first-ever Giving Fund scholarship by the Tahoe Donner Giving Fund Committee’s founding co-chair, Merle Fajans.
TEN YEARS, TEN MILESTONES
❤️ Reflect the past ten years of member support for the mission of the Tahoe Donner Giving Fund:
- 8 ways to give – it’s easy to give, in any amount: Click here.
- 10 years of philanthropy – from 2015 to 2024, we’re still going strong and doing good.
- 20 award cycles – scholarship and nonprofit grant cycles occur annually.
- 37 nonprofit grant recipients — strengthening local programs and vital services.
- 74 scholarship recipients — helping local students achieve their dreams.
- 1,000+ donors — a community of neighbors fueling real change.
- 6,000+ volunteer hours — dedicated time and energy from passionate volunteers.
- $250,000 traditional scholarships awarded — investing directly in students’ futures.
- $400,000 nonprofit grants awarded — helping local organizations grow and serve.
- $1,240,000 IMPACT scholarships awarded — empowering first-generation and underrepresented students.
That’s $1,890,000 in scholarships and grants supporting our community, thanks to every Tahoe Donner member who contributed to the Giving Fund during the past decade.
LOOKING FORWARD, WITH YOUR SUPPORT
With your help we can keep this momentum going for future scholarship recipients and nonprofit grants. Your gift today can make a difference to our community now and in the future.
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- ❤️ Give a one-time gift of $10 — for the 10th year of the Giving Fund.
- ❤️ Give a one-time gift of $100 — $10 for 10 years of the Giving Fund.
- ❤️ Give a one-time gift in any amount to support the Giving Fund.
- ❤️ Give a monthly gift, automatically, by joining the Giving Circle.
Thank you!
The Tahoe Donner Giving Fund Committee volunteers: Marcia Argyris, Melissa Welch Barker, Lisa Boyd, Carla Brown, Diane Campbell, Mary Fahey, Fred Hertlein, Nan Meek, Toni Moore, Betsy Noonen, Natalie Shea, and Karen Stine
The Tahoe Donner Giving Fund Committee is chartered by the Tahoe Donner Board of Directors to carry out the mission of the Tahoe Donner Giving Fund: to inspire generosity and charitable giving among Tahoe Donner members in order to support deserving programs and youth in the greater Truckee Community.
The Tahoe Donner Giving Fund is administered as an affiliate fund of the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, EIN 68-0416404. All contributions are voluntary, irrevocable, and are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Tahoe Donner Giving Fund grants and scholarships are made through the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation’s annual review process.
We are very grateful to Jaime Waltman Legare of Elements Mountain Co. for her support from the inception of the Giving Fund. As our Founding Partner, Elements donates $1 for each of their snow removal clients, totaling over $4,000 annually, to cover all our operating expenses thus making 100% of your contributions available for grants and scholarships.
The Tahoe Donner Giving Fund Committee also thanks the anonymous Tahoe Donner member who has generously funded the IMPACT Scholarships each year since 2019. ❤️