Renewed accreditation renews the Keweenaw Community Foundation’s dedication to the Copper Country

The Keweenaw Community Foundation works within Copper County and with its residents to solve community challenges. In January, the foundation became an independent foundation, which led its leadership to want to re-certify its accreditation status with the Community Foundation National Standards.

So for us, it’s exciting that we were able to go back through that process, which is not a, it’s not an easy or quick process by any means, but worth it because it helps you learn and grow in opportunities that make sure that we’re doing things as we should. So it gives more confidence to those who want to help or partner with us or give us resources. It just is kind of like a stamp knowing that we’re doing what we should be doing. – Robin Meneguzzo, Executive Director, Keweenaw Community Foundation

Executive Director Robin Meneguzzo says the foundation’s new accreditation status reminds donors of KCF’s dedication to the Copper Country.

I think we had people reach out to us after they saw our press release about the accreditation, that they were excited, that they were really glad to see that KCF was ensuring that they were following best practices. I think, again, there was confidence and also just that they know that that’s something that we think is important. I think they, you know, especially if you’re going to have us hold an endowment that’s sizable or of any size. You want to make sure that they know what they’re doing and that they’re following those best practices. – Robin Meneguzzo, Executive Director, Keweenaw Community Foundation

Meneguzzo adds that for the public, there is not much difference. But for the foundation’s employees, the new accreditation offers more resources.

Community foundations don’t have to participate. It’s voluntary, and so there can be really wide ranges of ways that people think about giving grants or how they steward those funds. And I think that it’s important to ensure that we’re doing that consistently as is considered best practice. So I think for us, it’s going to help us make sure that we’re staying current with like, things that are changing. Because actually in our field things do change quite a bit, especially with things like donor-advised funds and things like that. So we need to make sure that we’re always staying current with that. – Robin Meneguzzo, Executive Director, Keweenaw Community Foundation

 The Keweenaw Community Foundation celebrated 30 years of working with the communities of Copper Country. The celebration renewed the foundation’s goals and allowed Meneguzzo to share how KCF plans to move forward into 2025.

Something really neat as we were leading up to that and thinking about how you celebrate and honor 30 years of existence, we looked back and over 200 people had either been board members, had worked at this organization, or had been youth advisors. And so I think that what was cool for us to see is just how many people had hands in building something like this and the fact that it’s almost like an organic living thing that kind of keeps growing and changing over time. So certainly the focuses have changed over the years, but I think what’s important for a community foundation is that it puts the community at the center and a community that’s vibrant and alive is going to keep changing and adapting and having different needs. And so our organization needs to do that as well over time. – Robin Meneguzzo, Executive Director, Keweenaw Community Foundation

The Keweenaw Community Foundation plans to continue working within the Keweenaw Peninsula to highlight its people and projects impacting the region. Those interested in learning more about the Keweenaw Community Foundation and its work throughout the Copper Country can find more information here.