SUCCESS STORIES
The North Valley Community Foundation helps connect people with good hearts to good causes. We also remove barriers to help people with dreams for social good become reality.
Scroll down to see some of our success stories.
Aaron Rodgers NorCal Recovery Fund
Aaron was born and raised in Chico before becoming a Super Bowl-winning quarterback and four-time NFL Most Valuable Player.
The Aaron Rodgers NorCal Fire Recovery Fund was established in 2018 with $1 million from the Aaron Rodgers Foundation. The fund has been bolstered by thousands of additional donations, including contributions after Aaron hosted “Jeopardy” as well as proceeds from a celebrity golf event.
Grants from the Aaron Rodgers NorCal Fire Recovery Fund have totaled $1.7 million. The fund continues to issue grants for recovery from several Northern California wildfires, including $50,000 for relief efforts after both the Thompson Fire and Park Fire in Butte County in 2024
Disaster Relief Funds
The NVCF has for years opened disaster relief funds for local, national and international events, such as a mass shooting in Rancho Tehama, the Oroville spillway evacuation, Hurricane Harvey in Texas and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. We open disaster relief funds because local people want to help but don’t know which organizations to give money to. We then vet the local organizations at the site of the tragedy and send the donations to them, knowing they will get the disaster relief funds in the right hand.
The tables turned in a different direction on Nov. 8, 2018, when the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history hit Paradise, Magalia, Concow and other unincorporated parts of Butte County. That same day, we opened the Camp Fire Relief Fund so that people locally and nationwide could contribute to the relief and recovery efforts. We have raised millions of dollars and issued more than $57 million in grants to organizations working with survivors.
Chico Art Center
The Chico Art Center has been a cornerstone for celebrating visual arts in the North Valley since 1955. In 2009, the center established a fund at NVCF, like dozens of other nonprofit organizations in the region, to support its long-term sustainability.
Originally founded as the Northern California Creative Arts Center, the organization is a welcoming space for local and regional artists and art patrons. People of all ages connect with art through classes, gallery shows and special events that bring the community and its artists together. Its commitment to instilling an appreciation of art in the community is thanks to a dedicated team of board members and volunteers.
Walk, Woof, Wag
Bryce Velasco, then a junior high student, spearheaded Walk Woof Wag in 2014 as part of his eighth-grade leadership project. He wanted to start a fundraiser to honor his rescue dog, Jasmine, that he adopted from Chico Animal Shelter.
After bringing his idea to Sarah Richardson, event organizer and founder of The Canine Connection, a local dog training academy, they opened the fund at NVCF. Every October since, the event has continued as a fun and engaging community gathering in Bidwell Park with games, costume contests, and opportunities to give and to connect with other pups and pet owners.
Walk Woof Wag has grown into an anticipated annual affair. The first event had roughly 100 participants. This year, over 200 registered to walk and many more donated.
Caper Acres Birthday Ring 2, Robin Hood
The Caper Acres Renovation Fund has existed at NVCF for several years. The Chico city government, which operates the iconic children’s playground, started the fund with NVCF so citizens and businesses could name tax-deductible donations to renovate the historic park, which opened in 1970. The city can create separate subfunds under the Caper Acres Renovation Fund so people can give to specific projects. That’s how the Birthday Ring 2 Fund, called the Robin Hood renovation, was opened this year.
The city parks department needed $50,000 for the renovation. A generous donation from Terry and Sue Toussaint put the fundraising goal over the top. They made the donation in honor of their parents, Eunice and Howard Toussaint. Eunice and Barbara Hicks were members of the Chico Junior Women’s Art Club, one of the organizations that dreamed up the idea of Caper Acres. Eunice continued supporting Caper Acres until her death in 2022.
The Almanor Foundation
The Almanor Foundation opened a Nonprofit Incubator Fund with NVCF in 2021 and received its 501(c)(3) status less than 11 months later. Nonprofit Incubator Fund status allows organizations that are in the process of establishing a 501(c)(3) to access professional guidance and begin raising charitable donations through NVCF. Organizations can use that time to build a donor base and educate the community about the mission of the new nonprofit, as well as raise money to cover filing and attorney fees.
Since graduating from the Incubator Fund, The Almanor Foundation is now heavily involved in Dixie Fire recovery and spearheading community improvement projects in Plumas County.
Chico Posse Foundation
The Chico Posse Foundation formed in 2016 with a mission to help people in need. The members became so good at that, and so good at marshaling donations, that they needed help managing the finances. The Chico Posse Foundation became a fund at NVCF, which allowed people to make tax-deductible donations to the group.
The Chico Posse Foundation, a group of eight women, had an outsized role in Camp Fire relief, connecting fire survivors to help that poured in from across the country. Four years after the fire, the Chico Posse Foundation decided to disband, its volunteer work in this chapter finished.
Purses for Primates
Allison Boyer was in the seventh grade when she became heartbroken over the plight of orangutans. Many orangutans are displaced from their habitats due to deforestation caused by the rapid growth of the palm oil plantation industry. She wanted to help.
She approached NVCF with her idea to start a nonprofit called Purses for Primates. She collected new and slightly used purses to sell at events. Before the fund closed in 2021, she raised more than $27,000 for her favorite orangutan organization, Orangutan Outreach. Orangutan Outreach used the funds she donated to transport orangutans from rescue centers into protected forests once they are ready to live in the wild.
Bridging the Gap for Breast Cancer
Bridging the Gap for Breast Cancer has been a fund at NVCF since 2009. The fund hosts the annual Pink Ribbon Tournament at Canyon Oaks Country Club in Chico. Fran Wedow, the fund founder and a cancer survivor herself, has helped raise more than 500,000 since 1997 to support those impacted by breast cancer.
Ethan McCoy Memorial Scholarship Fund
In October 2020, 10 year-old Ethan McCoy passed away from pediatric brain cancer. His parents had a calling to keep his memory alive while also supporting aspiring nurses in honor of those that supported Ethan on his journey.
Just two months later, they partnered with NVCF to establish the Ethan McCoy Memorial Scholarship Fund. Since its creation in December 2020, they’ve raised over $130,000 to provide scholarships to high school graduates pursuing nursing school.
