LACF Executive Director Steve Laurent and Enterprise Bank & Trust Market President Liddie Martinez meeting Monday at the LACF space provided by the bank in support of the nonprofit. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com
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By CAROL A. CLARK
Los Alamos Daily Post
caclark@ladailpost.com
Los Alamos Community Foundation (LACF) Executive Director Steve Laurent recently celebrated his first year anniversary at the helm of the local nonprofit last month. He assumed the reins of LACF in July 2022, shortly after returning to Los Alamos from six years working in Park City, Utah, where he served with a nonprofit providing affordable housing for the local workforce.
He lived in Los Alamos from 2008 to 2016, during which time he spent his professional life working as an attorney at Los Alamos National Bank, Santa Fe County and LA Mesa Law Firm. He also worked one summer doing preservation work at Bandelier National Monument.
About returning to this community in 2022, Laurent said, “Like many, our family really missed Los Alamos while gone – the beauty, the history, the access to nature and to so many educational and cultural opportunities. It’s a wonderful community and it’s where we raised our kids and established our family. I wanted to come back and help work on all of these things that are the best of our community. LACF was such a great fit. I have a very supportive board, local donors and nonprofit partners. I really couldn’t ask for a better situation.”
Laurent spoke of the strong relationship between LACF and Enterprise Bank, which is one of the more than 50 individuals, families and businesses that comprise LAFC Founding Members.
“Enterprise Bank has directly supported our organization by donating office space and amenities, which has been instrumental in our ability to get started and grow as an organization,” he said. “And the bank also supports our nonprofit community on the whole in many ways, not only through grants and sponsorships but also as a banking and investment partner through discounted services to nonprofit organizations.”
The bank established the Enterprise Bank & Trust Community Endowment by pledging $150,000 if LACF could raise an equal amount in community support, which they did over the past three years. Through this partnership the community now has a significant source of grant funding that will give back to the community in perpetuity.
“It’s a pleasure to work with local bank President Liddie Martinez and her team,” Laurent said. “Liddie is always open to discuss ideas about how we can together make a lasting impact in the community. She and the bank are great partners because we share a common purpose of supporting a sustainable and thriving community.”
Martinez addressed the bank’s longtime support for LACF.
“Enterprise Bank has supported LACF since its inception,” Martinez said. “Collectively we are making great strides positioning the organization to fund our community’s programs in perpetuity. It is a goal that benefits all Los Alamos County citizens and we celebrate their success and commitment to community.”
The focus at LACF is to support local nonprofits doing wonderful and often difficult work in the community. Nonprofits feed, heal, shelter, educate, inspire, enlighten, and nurture people of every age, gender, race and economic status, he said, adding that a healthy nonprofit sector means a healthy community, and LACF wants to make sure area nonprofits excel at what they do and remain sustainable well into the future.
Laurent explained that nonprofits excel by focusing on their missions and doing the work. LACF is like an umbrella over all nonprofits – not doing on-the-ground work but here to support those who do, he said. In addition to funding support, LAFC works on nonprofit training and connecting organizations to share ideas and solve problems.
“We help identify and address issues shared by many organizations that any single organization may not have the financial or staffing capacity to handle on their own,” Laurent said. “One such example is our launch of the new volunteer website – volunteerlosalamos.org – to provide a shared space for organizations to post opportunities and for volunteers to find them. We’re confident this will increase volunteerism in the community and improve the capacity of organizations to do the work. We’re pleased to be able to connect the community in this way – it’s why we’re here.”
To learn more about LACF, visit losalamoscf.org.