About
We hold a trust born from a closed landfill, add whatever neighbors give, and grant the income to public-benefit work in Elfin Forest and Harmony Grove.
Mission
Fund beneficial projects that enhance rural quality of life.
Vision
Foster a vibrant rural lifestyle.
Values
Elfin Forest and Harmony Grove, as mapped in the Elfin Forest–Harmony Grove portion of the San Dieguito Community Plan (adopted by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors on August 3, 2011). We do not fund work in planned communities built after November 2005 where even one home sits on less than two acres. If you are not sure whether a parcel is in, ask. The old CSA 107 boundary is the practical map most neighbors still use.
After the San Marcos landfill closed, the City transferred $340,087 in tipping fees on the condition that a separate nonprofit would hold them. The principal stays intact. Net income is what we grant. That is the deal that created us, and we have kept it.
Neighbors can give directly to the Foundation. A donor may restrict a gift to project grants or to the matching-grant pool; otherwise it joins the general pool. We do not raise money on behalf of other nonprofits. The board may make small discretionary expenditures when the community good is obvious and waiting for the next cycle would waste the chance.
We are an autonomous California nonprofit public benefit corporation, Document No. 1920711, filed February 3, 1995. The Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity, EIN 33-0672537. A Board of Directors elected from resident landowners of Elfin Forest and Harmony Grove governs the work. Directors are neighbors. They are not staffed by the County and they do not run the Town Council.
Elfin Forest has no HOA and no annual assessment. The Town Council is the open forum where the community debates topics that affect Elfin Forest and Harmony Grove. Elfin Forest Community Trails is a Town Council committee, not a separate 501(c). The Fire Safe Council, Conservancy crews, and a dozen ad hoc groups do the physical work. The Foundation is the independent checkbook created so that work can be funded without turning every project into a passing-the-hat emergency. We do not set the community’s priorities. We are the mechanism those priorities run through.