Growth Through Giving

Almost a decade ago, Alan Davis and his wife were living in Peru, volunteering at a medical clinic that relied on an outdated records system for patient care. The clinic staff was looking to transfer the system from a paper format to electronic, but they lacked the funds and resources.

Drawing from what little knowledge he had about nonprofit grants and philanthropic aid, Davis applied for a grant through an international Microsoft program.

The clinic was awarded $95,000 to overhaul its records system.

“Seeing that impact, it changed their world in how they do patient care and that piqued my interest,” Davis said. “I have a skillset and I saw the impact … That just got me thinking about nonprofits.”

Now, Davis will help facilitate millions of dollars in grant funds and endowments for dozens of nonprofits in the Flathead Valley as the new executive director and CEO of the Whitefish Community Foundation.

The foundation manages more than $50 million in assets and, since debuting the Great Fish Challenge in 2015, has distributed more than $17 million to benefit local nonprofits directly. In the last two decades, the foundation has raised a total of $56 million and benefited 283 nonprofits.

Davis was hired for the new position following his nearly eight years working at Whitefish Legacy Partners, a local nonprofit that has facilitated the development of The Whitefish Trail, where he wrote grants and developed relationships with donors, eventually becoming the organization’s director of development.

“My job at Legacy Partners has been really rewarding,” Davis said. “Working with donors, partners and volunteers that give so generously – that’s what’s kept me going day in and day out. You’re taking funding from grant sources or donors and you’re investing money into the community where the returns are quality of life, wildlife protections and water quality.”

At the Whitefish Community Foundation, Davis will succeed Linda Engh-Grady, who led the foundation for 14 years and helped grow the organization in stature and recognition, as well as its ability to support the region’s growing roster of nonprofits.

When Engh-Grady started in 2008, she was the only staff member, and the community grant program was the sole source of funding. She soon led development of the endowment aspect of the foundation and helped major donors obtain tax credits.

In 2015, Engh-Grady helped launch the Great Fish Community Challenge, which served 70 local nonprofits in 2022. Engh-Grady said the idea for the Great Fish Community Challenge was inspired by a visit to Jackson Hole, a mountain town frequently held up as an analog to Whitefish, and where community leaders ran a successful campaign to raise money for local Wyoming nonprofits.

“I visited Jackson Hole and their community foundation, and it was an awakening,” Engh-Grady said. “When I started here, people didn’t know what the foundation was. I went to visit Jackson’s community foundation and they all knew what it was – they had been putting on the Old Bill’s Fun Run for 15 years by that time and it put them on the map raising money for all these charities. We started the Great Fish Challenge after that.”

The Great Fish Community Challenge started with 32 nonprofits in its first year, mostly centered in Whitefish, and grew to 70 last year, with some nonprofits in neighboring counties.

The Whitefish Community Foundation is one of 76 foundations in the state, and Engh-Grady says it’s been fast-growing in recent years; they now have five staff members who also help train other foundations.

Davis plans to carry on Engh-Grady’s work and continue growing beyond the Flathead Valley while also growing the Circle of Giving, a group of donors who give annually and fund the annual grant program and matching pool. In 2021, the Circle of Giving raised $1.2 million.

“The Circle is really the fuel that keeps the engine running and my role will be to build relationships with donors,” Davis said.

Engh-Grady says Davis stood out because of his track record with Whitefish Legacy Partners and that he was selected from a pool of 19 applicants because of his knowledge of grassroots-style fundraising and his experience building donor relationships.

“He’s local and he knows the landscape,” Engh-Grady said. “And he’s familiar with the donors and nonprofits.”

Davis is looking forward to helping the Flathead Valley’s needs as the region continues to grow.

“The Flathead Valley is growing at a rate that labor and housing and our land just can’t keep up with,” Davis said. “That gap between the community’s needs and this growth is often where nonprofits live.”