Jim Daly resigns from Community Foundation post

Jim Daly, executive director of the Grays Harbor Community Foundation for the past 10 years, has resigned, the foundation announced.

Daley served “with the sincere desire to provide much needed stepping stones of educational scholarships and grants, and the need to create long-lasting funding for the improvement of life in Grays Harbor,” a foundation press release states.

The Community Foundation was established in 1994 as a way for benefactors to leave endowments that could be used for a wide array of charitable causes.The endowments are invested jointly through the foundation, sometimes pooled with other endowments and sometimes administered separately by the foundation.

Daly is leaving the foundation on solid financial footing, the news release says, and has helped establish guidelines for the distribution of funds for the betterment of the community. “He has educated the community about the ability to establish funds in specific areas of interest, and he has worked with our local schools to identify the highest priority student needs,” the release states.

The search for his replacement will begin immediately. During the transition, foundation board member Wes Peterson has been named interim director. Peterson is a former director of the City of Aberdeen Parks and Recreation Department, YMCA of Grays Harbor, and the Grays Harbor College Foundation. He will be assisted by Maryann Welch, former Director of the County’s Public Health Department currently serving as chairwoman of the Public Hospital District No. 2 board of commissioners.

“It is with gratitude and sincere good wishes that the Board of the Grays Harbor Community Foundation says goodbye to Jim Daly,” the foundation’s release says.

To find out more about the Grays Harbor Community Foundation check its website: www.gh-cf.org.