Hazel Miller Foundation: Grants for Washington
/OVERVIEW: This funder supports the city of Edmonds, Washington, and South Snohomish County in the areas of education and youth, poverty, hunger, civic and community services, the environment, and arts and culture.
IP TAKE: Youth and arts organizations, and local parks, have been doing very well with this locally focused foundation lately.
PROFILE: The Hazel Miller Foundation is based in Edmonds, Washington, and focuses on the local community here. The geographic targets of grants include the city of Edmonds and elsewhere in South Snohomish County. Miller was a long-time Edmonds resident who grew up in Williston, North Dakota, without wealth. Her husband, Morris, inherited the Seattle Quilt Company from his father and earned his fortune through this business. Hazel Miller passed away at the age of 93 in 2009, and the foundation was created in 2010.
Grantmaking areas are education and youth, poverty, hunger, civic and community services, the environment, and arts and culture. Diversity is a priority for this funder. The boundaries of the funder’s giving area are defined in agreement with the Edmonds School District.
The foundation has supported the redevelopment of Civic Park in downtown Edmonds; this was a $1.5 million grant that was much larger than the funder’s typical commitment. In fact, the foundation usually only gives out around $500,000 total per year. In one year, the foundation had over $14 million in total net assets.
The Hazel Miller Foundation has made grants to the Westgate Elementary Parent Student Organization for a school sound system and St. Vincent de Paul for its Beds for Children program. Other grantees include the Edmonds School District’s Middle School Soccer program, Cascade Symphony Orchestra, the Edmond Driftwood Players, and the Olympic Ballet Theater. It typically makes between eight and 12 grants in each cycle. Grants dating back to the foundation’s first days in 2010 can be viewed here.
To apply for a Hazel Miller grant, download a grant application from the website and submit it by email (preferred) or mail. Unsolicited applications are welcome and encouraged. Most grants here go toward program support, but limited capital support is provided, too. There are no application deadlines. Submissions are reviewed quarterly in January, April, July, and October.
Applicants can expect to receive notification about the board’s decision within about 90 days of submission. There is no restriction on repeat grants here, and grant seekers can even submit requests for multiple projects for the same grant cycle. There are around seven members on the foundation board of directors. In addition to grants, Hazel Miller Memorial Scholarships and Hazel and Morris Miller Memorial Scholarships are administered for the Edmonds School District.
General questions can be directed to the foundation at 206-667-0300 or info@hazelmillerfoundation.org. The address is 10016 Edmonds Way, #C257, Edmonds, Washington 98020.
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