Welcome

Welcome to our new internet site!  It's a work in progress, as is the development of our new funding areas.  By way of introduction, a bit of history:

The Laird and Norton families, related to each other from their pioneer origins in Pennsylvania, settled in Winona, Minnesota, in the mid 1850s. There, William Harris Laird and his cousins Matthew George Norton and James Laird Norton formed the Laird Norton Company. This was the first of several family-owned companies engaged in the lumber business, first in the Midwest, later in the Pacific Northwest, and finally all over the West including Alaska.

The family’s collective philanthropy began in 1940 in Winona when descendants of these three men set up the Briarcombe Fund. Since then the foundation has undergone several name changes, different funding areas, and a variety of operating styles.

In 2006, the a family company donated $25 million to the foundation, which increased our endowment to what is now $34 million. As a result of that increase, the foundation, now called the Laird Norton Family Foundation, has been through a process of re-invention. Eighty-five family members (about 25% of the entire family) gathered in fall 2006 to discuss how to focus the foundation’s giving.  After considering 35 different interests proposed by family members, we agreed on four funding areas.

The four funding areas will be: Climate Change, Global Fundamentals, Arts in Education, and Watershed Stewardship.

Please check the web pages of the specific funding area for information about each program.  Each is comprised of family members who serve on the funding committees, supported by staff.  Each differs in its approach and grantmaking process.  What they have in common is a deep commitment to the values of: collaboration, integrity, commitment to diversity, change, growth, intrepid courage, acceptance, visionary, community, stewardship, humor, playfulness, levity, and celebration.

Patrick de Freitas

President, Laird Norton Family Foundation