ICF Programs
Together we can create lasting change in Idaho using community-driven solutions to address local issues.
Forever Idaho
Forever Idaho supports Idaho’s greatest needs as identified by people who live in local communities. These flexible funds are rooted in collective giving and community-driven philanthropy.
Forever Idaho is both a way to give to the Idaho Community Foundation and a way for community organizations to receive grants. Donations to Forever Idaho Funds are pooled, so donors have a greater impact than by giving alone. Grants from the Forever Idaho Regional Grant Program are unrestricted, flexible and meet the greatest needs of community organizations.
You can make a gift of any size to the Forever Idaho Fund in your region or learn more about creating a named Forever Idaho charitable giving fund, that will become a permanent source of revenue for community organizations where you live.
Community organizations can apply for grants from the Forever Idaho Regional Grant Program.
History of Forever Idaho
The Idaho Community Foundation began as a big idea in the mid-1980s. A group of visionary leaders, spearheaded by John Fery, believed that a broad source of charitable capital was needed to ensure that Idaho’s greatest needs were met as the state continued to grow.
Fery and others recognized from the beginning that establishing a statewide organization would be challenging because of the cultural and geographic differences in Idaho.
To overcome the idea that this was a “Boise foundation,” the founders established regions and committed to dividing unrestricted resources, now called Forever Idaho, equally among them. In 1991, the Idaho Community Foundation made its first-ever grant awards – 31 grants totaling $164,000.
Today, the Idaho Community Foundation remains Idaho’s only statewide organization focused on building resources to forever support Idaho’s communities. And, thanks to the support of thousands of individuals who believed in Fery’s big idea, collective philanthropy is thriving.
Project Neighborly
Project Neighborly is an effort to foster inclusion and inspire neighborliness in local communities. Inspired by our friends at the Whatcom Community Foundation, Project Neighborly is a grant program that encourages all of us to become better neighbors and create welcoming communities. You come up with the ideas, and a Project Neighborly grant will help bring those ideas to life. Learn more.
Community Conversations
We hosted eight Community Conversations throughout the state in 2018 to learn about needs in Idaho communities, the challenges facing them, and the existing resources and community-driven solutions that are helping address the most pressing issues.
The results helped us develop our Areas of Impact: family homelessness, mental and physical health, educational opportunities, and access to services.
Follow-up Community Conversations will be conducted in 2022.
COVID-19 Response
The COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund for Idaho was created in March 2020 by the Idaho Community Foundation, the United Ways in Idaho and the Idaho Nonprofit Center.
The effects of the pandemic on Idahoans amplified needs throughout the state, including childcare/early education, community resiliency, domestic abuse/housing services, food and basic needs, and mental and physical health.