The Foraker Group

It is with the greatest sadness that we learned about the passing of Bernie Washington. As many of you know, Bernie has been with Foraker since the very beginning. He was a board member at the United Way of Anchorage when the idea emerged of “shared services for nonprofits,” which became the seed that grew into The Foraker Group. Bernie did not leave our side since that brilliant idea. He was a champion for us and for nonprofits at every turn. When he had to leave our board because of term limits after the first nine years, he stayed on the finance committee and on the board of our fiscal sponsorship program, Sultana. When we asked him to return to the board, he never hesitated in saying yes.

Bernie was not just a champion of Foraker, he held a deep commitment for Bean’s Café where he served on the board for more than 25 years. He was also a current board member of Cyrano’s Theater, and he was the founder and consistent board member of Shiloh Community Housing. After retiring the first time, Bernie went on to serve Alaska Public Media as their CFO. He was also a teacher for blooming accountants at Alaska Charter College, and he never hesitated to help and guide so many around him. He surely experienced no dull moments in his very busy and meaningful life.

To me Bernie was a gifted teacher, a thoughtful colleague, a wise advisor, and a trusted friend. He made me laugh and think and trust myself because he trusted me. These priceless gifts I will always treasure. I truly can’t imagine a Foraker day without him, but I know his lessons will stick with us all as we continue our service to nonprofits. He will be deeply missed.

We send our condolences to all of Bernie’s family, with special thoughts to his daughter, Tricia, who was also part of the Foraker family, working with us as a valued consultant.

You will find Bernie’s obituary here. And we also share this photo that was provided by his family.

Laurie