Volunteers at Community Action’s Skagit Food Distribution Center.

It is with great pleasure that the Skagit Valley Food Co-op Board of Trustees announces its decision to award $100,000 to Community Action's Skagit Food Distribution Center from our Growing Good Fund for 2026.

The Skagit Food Distribution Center is the main hub for all of our area’s food banks. This donation is intended to restart the Distribution Center’s “Farm-to-Food-Bank” initiative that was grant-funded through 2024. This program will provide infrastructure loans to small, local farms that are meant to be repaid with fresh produce to fill that need for the Distribution Center and our local food banks.

Additionally, the Board of Trustees is pleased to deepen its partnership with Viva Farms, to whom we’ve donated $300,000 through the Growing Good Fund since 2023. For 2026, we elected to provide $25,000 to Viva Farms as a matching donation to boost fundraising efforts for the purchase of a new refrigerated truck.

Founded in 2009, Viva Farms is a local nonprofit farm business training program and incubator farm focused on growing the next generation of farmers by providing bilingual (Spanish-English) training in holistic organic farming practices, as well as access to land, infrastructure, equipment, marketing, capital, and community.

In 2026, the Board’s Community Giving Committee worked to further refine the process for giving through the Growing Good Fund. The process is intended to ensure alignment with the Co-op’s mission of strengthening community giving while maintaining focus on food-related initiatives in Skagit County. The committee evaluated several local community groups based on the criteria established for the Growing Good Fund. Key factors in the committee’s evaluation included an organization’s ability to demonstrate local impact as well as the potential to create positive systemic change in our local food system.

The Co-op has elected to provide $25,000 to Viva Farms as a matching donation to boost fundraising efforts for the purchase of a new refrigerated truck.

During this evaluation process, the Community Giving Committee also designated Community Action’s Skagit Food Distribution Center to remain the recipient of the Co-op’s new Feeding Change register donation program for 2026. The Board approved the committee’s recommendations at the December Board meeting.

We are often asked where the money for the Growing Good Fund comes from.

The Co-op has always been managed in a fiscally conservative manner. We own our buildings, have no debt, and have, over the years, built up a strong reserve earmarked for the mitigation of hard times or for new endeavors driven by a strategic plan. We had previously kept these funds in liquid accounts, usually earning very low interest.

Several years ago, the Board decided to put some of this money to work. We do still maintain an easily accessible cash reserve—at a level slightly higher than industry average.

The remainder is now invested in a diversified portfolio of investments that follow ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) guidelines. The gains from half of this (not the principal) are used for our Growing Good Fund. The gains from the other half are reinvested.

Activity within our investment accounts does not impact the day-to-day operations of the

Co-op. Growing Good Fund grants and investment gains do not affect pricing or operating profit and are certainly not included when computing patronage dividends or staff profit sharing. We are, however, increasing our strategic reserve, while addressing some real needs in our local community—including food security—in accordance with our Ends Policies.

Note of Transparency: Board Member Rob Smith is the Director of Programs and Operations at Viva Farms. While Rob has been involved in strategic Board discussions regarding community investments, he is not a Community Giving Committee member, and when it came time to vote on the selection of Viva Farms as a GGF recipient, he appropriately recused himself.

2026 Growing Good Fund Announcement