Our donors are justifiably pleased with the East Bay Community Foundation’s well-known philanthropic expertise in finding and partnering with non-profit organizations that have a track record of demonstrable results.

And so we are proud that the Student Conservation Association, which we have supported through grants from one of our endowed funds, the Meyers Fund for Environmental Grantmaking, was honored at the White House recently.

President Barack Obama presented Association Founder Elizabeth Cushman with the 2010 Presidential Citizens Medal for “performing exemplary deeds of service for her country and fellow citizens.” Cushman is the first conservationist to receive the Citizens Medal, the nation’s second-highest civilian award.

Founded in 1957, The Student Conservation Association provides college and high-school-aged individuals with hands-on conservation service opportunities in many fields, from tracking grizzly bears through the Teton Mountains to restoring desert ecosystems to teaching environmental education courses.

Its activities include community programs that engage diverse high school students in the San Francisco Bay Area who may lack access to the natural environment and to green-job opportunities.

Hunting and supporting effective non-profit organizations like the Student Conservation Association is one of the most important ways in which the East Bay Community Foundation deepens the power of our own grantmaking -- and the grantmaking of those who hold charitable funds with us.