Donations in 2016: How We Changed our Giving

Two years ago we decided to make a change to how we approached philanthropy to increase our impact in our community

the group at Niner presenting a check for 11,400 to gleanslo

We Need Your Help in 2017!

Please click here to suggest any charities that service San Luis Obispo County you think would benefit from our support. If you have any questions about our giving policies do not hesitate to reach out!

Before 2014 we were taking a passive approach and responding to the many of requests we would get for 1-2 bottle wine donations. There was nothing necessarily wrong, as we were donating a lot of different organizations all of which seemed to do good work, but we questioned whether we could invest the same amount of donation dollars to increase our impact. As a result we decided to experiment with an active approach: give more money to less organizations (3 in total each year). Our goal was to pick organizations in our community that were making an impact and give them a substantial donation (>$10k).   Since making the change we’ve given a total of $50k to 3 different groups all of which we are very proud to be involved. 

Below is a summary of our 2016 donations.   For those of you looking to make year-end donations we’d strongly encourage you to consider one of them. 

Andy Niner
aniner@ninerwine.com

GLEAN SLO – $11,400

Gleen SLO was started in 2010 by a group of community members who saw the opportunity to harvest excess produce in the county and use it to feed those in need.   Like all good ideas it began as a casual meeting of like minds and grew into something much bigger.   In 2016 Gleen SLO harvested their millionth pound of produce!   In 2016 we were able to support them in building a new tool shed which will hopefully help in their quest to improve logistics and continue to increase the size and impact of their Gleens // www.gleanslo.org

Must Charities | $10,650 

Must Charities is a non-profit organization that takes a “private sector” approach to philanthropy.  Specifically, they select projects based on a combination of community need and impact and then work with the selected non-profit to develop a detailed and measurable plan.   Must then rolls up their sleeves and makes sure the plan is met and problems in execution are solved.   The majority of Must’s investments to date have been focused on improving the lives of kids in San Luis Obispo North County with active projects including expanding the reach of Big Brother’s and Big Sisters of North San Luis Obispo County, the Food Bank Coalition’s Children’s Farmers Markets and the Boys and Girls Club of North San Luis Obispo County.   An added benefit of getting involved with Must was exposure to the Big Brother/Big Sister program of which we are proud to have two active employees // www.mustcharities.org