Sonoma County Economic Development Board Foundation

“The board treasurer reviews the form 990 with the accountant who prepared it. The board is informed of the filing of the tax return and provided with access to the returns.”

“The governing documents, tax returns and financial information are kept in the organization's office. Copies of these documents are available upon request. In addition, the organization's tax return is available on the guidestar website.”

“OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 4: Innovative Council: Planned as a one-year celebration of entrepreneurship in Sonoma County, Year of the Entrepreneur (YOTE) activities ended during the first half of Fiscal Year 2016-17. The effort, which garnered the support of over 20 local organizations that work in business development and entrepreneurship, included an Entrepreneurial Storytelling event featuring Neal Gottlieb of Three Twins, Youth Maker Camps (with the Sonoma County Office of Education and the Boys & Girls Club), a youth Shark Tank, a radio show that highlighted interviews with local entrepreneurs and supported the activities of several local organizations that work with entrepreneurs, and more. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 5: Research InitiativesThe Foundation provided funding for the development of a website Launch|Sonoma that can help guide entrepreneurs with local businesses/resources, and assist them with the three core stages of a business: Concept, Startup and Growth. These three stages each have various needs and challenges that an entrepreneur could be facing with their business; e.g. Financing, Business Planning, Legal Assistance, etc. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 6: ECONOMIC CONFERENCE - Dr. Steve Cochrane of Moodys Analytics provided an economic outlook for California and Sonoma County on April 28, 2017 to a breakfast group of over 400 for the 2017 Spring Economic Forecast. Well attended by various financial, construction, education and energy-related businesses, the event included a panel moderated by Keith Woods, Chief Executive Officer of the North Bay Builders Exchange, which focused on high school programs that contribute towards our construction and technology workforce needs. The panel consisted of Doug Hamilton, president of Oak Grove Construction and volunteer with Construction Corps, Pat Harper, Vice President and General Manager at Keysight Technologies, and Letitia Hanke, CEO of ARS Roofing, Gutters and Waterproofing and founder of the LIME Foundation. The Sonoma County Office of Education (SCOE), Santa Rosa Junior College (SRJC) and Sonoma State University (SSU) had exhibits of Career Technical Education (CTE) programs they each offer students. A tiny house constructed by students of Rancho Cotate High School was also on display. The event also had an introduction provided by Supervisor Shirlee Zane and Ben Stone from the EDB. OTHER PROGRAM SERVICES 7: Creative Sonoma, a program of the Economic Dev't Board (EDB), produced a full slate of professional trainings and workshops (13), town hall meetings across the county (17) a day-and-a-half music industry conference, grants, and a special arts education initiative. These activities were fully or partially funded through grants received by the EDB Foundation. Focus was on the business aspects of art including workshops on fundraising, forming creative business contracts, social media and more. Five $2,500 grants were awarded to Sonoma musicians and bands; and five emerging visual artists were awarded $2,000 stipends and a professional curated exhibition of their work. Finally, Creative Sonoma spearheaded an assessment of the state of arts education in K-12 schools in Sonoma County, follow up work will be in FYE 2017-18.”

“This entity is audited every two years. Next audit will be fall 2017”