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What We Are

Today's Legacy: The Sherwood Trust 

In 1991, Donald and Virginia Sherwood founded Sherwood Trust, a non-profit, private foundation.  Our mission is:

To serve the Walla Walla Valley as a catalyst to build the community's capacity and will to achieve in appreciation of Donald and Virginia Sherwood.

In carrying out its mission, Sherwood Trust reflects a distinct concept of philanthropy that mirrors principles that guided the Sherwoods during their lives.  A few of these principles follow:

Private philanthropy should be a strategic activity; it is not charity.  It demands the seriousness of a long-term investment and requires stringent underwriting to insure that the recipient is an effective organization and the proposed grant will achieve measurable results.

Private philanthropy is profoundly different from government.  It is fundamentally different in purpose and manner of operation.  It is free to take risks, create incentives, demand accountability, and explore initiatives in ways which government is restrained from doing.  It should be driven by an entrepreneurial spirit to focus on specific solutions with the expectation of achieving set goals and real results in a timely manner.

Effective giving requires recipients to be as tough-minded and independent as their donors, insisting on strong leadership, competent management, successful innovation, and actual results rather than merely intentions voiced and services rendered.

Effectiveness is the principal criterion of Sherwood Trust in approving grants and favors non-profit organizations with a successful record of accomplishing results.  It also favors nonprofit organizations that focus on discrete, tangible problems and set achievable, measurable goals that lead to solutions rather than try to solve broad, intractable social problems.

Effective nonprofit organizations typically reflect successful business practices and management patterns of the leading and most enduring corporations in the private sector.  The role of Sherwood Trust is to encourage and promote, rather than dictate, nonprofit organizations to adopt the best ideas from the private sector or from other nonprofit organizations with a demonstrated record of success.

In summary, it is the intent, indeed the obligation, of Sherwood Trust to continue to encourage and support nonprofit organizations that best reflect the underlying principles of governance that have proven to be successful over time and emphasize those general areas of interest that were important to Donald and Virginia Sherwood.