Six Societies Awarded Supportive Grants

Sep11 by Roxanne Lowe

In a one-time departure from the norm, the WSGS Board of Directors awarded Supportive Grants to six of the societies that applied for grants. In the past, only two grants have been awarded. This year, however, the Board agreed with the reviewers that all six society projects deserved funding. The average amount of each grant was $250. Diane Huckabay, WSGS Education Chair, announced the awards at the Annual Meeting on August 30, 2024.

The grants were awarded to:

Black Genealogy Research Group of Seattle – Two registrations to attend the Family Tree Magazine University Courses. The two attendees will share their knowledge at monthly BGRG meetings.

Clallam County Genealogical Society — Defray some of the costs of speakers for their “Speakers’ Series.”

Jefferson County Genealogical Society – Support publicity for the society’s 40th anniversary celebration. It will also support their speaker from Scotland (on Zoom).

Lower Columbia County Genealogical Society – Print and distribute brochures advertising/ promoting the society, so they can be placed around a variety of local establishments, mostly libraries.

Okanogan County Genealogical Society – Fund a web page that documents Okanogan County cemeteries and the individuals buried in those cemeteries.

Sno-Isle County Genealogical Society – Fund the purchase of audio and visual equipment to support hybrid online and in-person meetings.

For more information about the Supportive Grants, click here.

Five Societies Earn Innovative Grants

Jul1 by Roxanne Lowe

In an announcement made at the WSGS Annual Meeting on 26 May 2018 in Vancouver, five local societies were awarded Innovative Grants for special projects and purchases. The grants, up to $100, are designed to support the inventive and creative efforts of WSGS-member societies and organizations. Each society’s proposal was scored and ranked by a review team.

2018 Innovative Grants were awarded to:

Eastside Genealogical Society to help pay for “The Photo Detective” Maureen Taylor workshop to celebrate the society’s 40th birthday. Ms. Taylor will present “Finding Family History in Your Picture Mysteries” on September 15 in Bellevue. Society members will get to attend for free while the public will pay a small fee. For more information about this workshop, click here.
Lower Columbia Genealogical Society to purchase genealogical books to donate to the Longview Public Library for public use. Lower Columbia has generously donated books for a number of years, using money from membership dues and their coffee stops.
Okanogan Genealogical Society to help purchase supplies to repair and preserve books holding the “Tonasket Times” newspaper from 1913 – 1952. Each book uses an entire roll of special archival document repair tape. This grant will buy a few rolls of tape to stop the destruction of the collection.
Stillaguamish Valley Genealogical Society to help publish a book on “Early Stillaguamish Valley Schools” in the Arlington Area. It’s taken years to gather historical documents and photographs for this project from the 1800s to the early 1940s and now they’re ready to publish.
Wenatchee Area Genealogical Society For the 4th consecutive year, WAGS has applied for an Innovative Grant to promote genealogy in their area. This year, they’re focusing on the digital preservation of family records, library holdings and archival documents. They plan to preserve family histories and archival materials of their society, its members and the community.

The Innovative Grant program was started in 2015 to support the inventive and creative efforts of local societies and organizations. When created, Recognition Chair Roxanne Lowe explained, “We know that local societies can do a lot with very little, so we’re hoping the Innovative Grant Program will be what you need to jump-start a project that has been dreamed about for some time.”