The Rasmuson Foundation, one of Alaska’s largest philanthropic organizations, announced the appointment of Gretchen Guess as the nonprofit’s new president and CEO.
Guess, a former Alaska legislator and health care executive, will assume her role as the head of the Rasmuson Foundaton in early February, following the resignation of current CEO Diane Kaplan. Guess becomes only the third CEO for the foundation which was created under a declaration of trust in May of 1955 by Jenny Rasmuson to honor her late husband, “E.A.” Rasmuson, founder of National Bank of Alaska. Kaplan, Rasmuson’s current president and CEO, is leaving at the end of the year after two decades in that role.
The Rasmuson Foundation recently released the Fall 2022 grant award recipients and the Boys & Girls Club of the Kenai Peninsula, the Tsalteshi Trails and other Kenai Peninsula projects are among 30 organizations and projects that will share more than $16 million in grants from the Rasmuson Foundation. The Boys and Girls Club of the Kenai Peninsula will receive $500,000 in an outright grant and a $500,000 challenge grant; the Tsalteshi Trails receives a $185,380 grant to construct a maintenance building and storage yard.
The Rasmuson Foundation focuses its funding projects on the arts, health, social services and housing. In 2021, it awarded $36 million in grants to artists and nonprofits.
