Coast Guard Foundation

We partner with the Coast Guard to provide resources to members and families that build resilience and strengthen the entire community.

We envision a world where all Coast Guard members and families are valued and have the support they

Goal One: Double the support provided to the Coast Guard across our core programs of emergency relief, education/employment support, and morale & wellness assistance while creating sustainable revenue streams.

Goal Two: Achieve our full potential by investing in infrastructure by expanding the regional fundraising team, to best work with philanthropists across the country for impact to CG members and families.

Goal Three: Assess Coast Guard member current and future needs and analyze Coast Guard Foundation program impacts and how they meet the identified needs.

The Coast Guard Foundation convenes meetings several times each year with the entire staff and/or full departments to allow mentoring, performance assessments, industry training, and identifying leadership strategies for the future. In a typical year they are at CGF Headquarters, allowing for in-person collaboration and training. During the all team meetings, CGF senior leaders provide coaching and training on best practices, and industry trends and opportunities. Individual staff members also typically attend industry and leadership training at professional conferences or other venues. During the pandemic team meetings were held virtually and attendance at conferences and outside training was paused for safety. As travel and gatherings have opened up, we returned to an in-person all-team meeting in 2021. We are planning to allow staff members to attend needed training again in 2022.

When the pandemic hit, CGF took 2 immediate actions. We reached out to the Coast Guard (CG) to see how we could help. We outfitted 125 quarantine facilities so exposed members did not infect others and impact CG readiness. We rushed morale to 25 large CG ships deployed with no shore leave. We assisted units in remote areas & large bases where CG members were facing challenges. Our 2nd action was to cut operating expenses. We had less funding due to the cancellation of nearly all in-person events, which raise funds for operations. We deferred needed expenses and focused on support for the CG. We usually host 8 fundraising dinners nationwide, all but three were canceled, 2 of those were held virtually. Much of our fundraising also occurs through in-person meetings with our key stakeholders. Our team worked with donors by phone, email, and video. In addition to COVID-specific aid, which included 185 projects around the country, we assessed how the pandemic impacted programs that provide vital assistance to CG families. Example: the country shut down as our scholarship period was ending and many students couldn’t access their transcripts. We worked with students to complete applications and awarded 167 scholarships in 2020, and another 158 scholarships in 2021. We pivoted our summer camp grant program to allow for in-home learning and enrichment activities and offered grants for Chromebook and tablets to aid in distance learning. This summer, as camps re-opened, in-person camps and activities returned, and we continued to offer technology hardware for youth learning from home. We focused on fundraising for workforce development & employment assistance programs. We provided grants for the spouses of junior members to improve their skills, re-train, or obtain new licenses. From a communications perspective, we pivoted to a largely remote workplace and put technology enhancements in place for supportive interaction and collaboration.