Published January 2002

Bank starts new year
with giving fund

By Kimberly Hilden
Herald Business Journal Assistant Editor

Beginning this month, Coastal Community Bank employees will donate a portion of their paycheck to a newly created charitable fund that gives them a say in where their money goes.

Called the Coastal Community Bank Employee Giving Fund, the program includes an advisory group of a half dozen Coastal employees who will meet quarterly to decide — after receiving input from their co-workers — which charities will receive grants ranging from $200 to $1,000.

All of Coastal’s employees, about 30 altogether, have volunteered to donate through payroll deductions, said Lee Pintar, President and CEO of the Everett-based bank. Of those, more than half are Leadership Givers, those who have pledged to give a certain percentage of their pay.

“Our employees are really excited about the fact that they’re going to be able to meet and evaluate various charities and direct monies to them and become directly involved,” Pintar said.

And while employees will be busy evaluating charities, another community organization — the Greater Everett Community Foundation — will be busy administering the fund.

“Coastal is really kind of on the leading edge of what’s happening in 21st-century (charitable) funding, particularly in the business community,” said Peter Newland, President of the foundation’s board. “They chose not to create their own foundation but to ally themselves with the Community Foundation, kind of strengthening both.”

Formerly the Everett Parks Foundation, the organization changed its name and broadened its focus last summer to provide a way for people to fulfill their charitable interests by providing low-cost administration services.

Until now, the foundation has worked solely with individual donors and donor families. Coastal is its first corporate giving program, Executive Director Robyn Johnson said.

“I think corporate giving programs — as part of our portfolio — we’re going to develop it here and really flesh it out before we attempt another one,” Newland said. “We’re a startup, and in some ways, Coastal Community Bank is new, too. So this is a growth thing for both of us.”

Over time, Pintar said he believes the fund will involve employees “more intimately in the community” as they learn about the various charities and decide who will receive grants each quarter.

“Making those hard decisions is a real growth opportunity for them, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see more of our employees get actively involved with some of the charities that make requests of us,” he said.

Grants from Coastal’s Employee Giving Fund will be available beginning in the spring. For more information on the fund or to receive a copy of the fund’s guidelines, contact Johnson by sending e-mail to RJohnson@greatereverettcf.org or sending a request to the Greater Everett Community Foundation, P.O. Box 5549, Everett, WA 98206.

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