SANDPOINT — The words charity and philanthropy are often used interchangeably, however there is a difference between the two.

“Generosity is the genesis of both,” said Aaron McMurray, Innovia Foundation’s chief strategy officer. “But it gets lived out in different ways, and it has a different impact depending on how the generous person lives into their generosity.”

McMurray represented the Innovia Foundation at last week’s D.A. Davidson Economic Forum, where the theme was “Impact Philanthropy: Investing in Sandpoint’s Non-Profit Sector.” The Innovia Foundation is a community foundation that partners with nonprofits across North Idaho and Eastern Washington to connect donor generosity to the region’s most pressing causes. Representing the nonprofit sector and a growing partnership with Innovia Foundation was Jim Zuberbuhler, president of the nonprofit Kaniksu Land Trust, as well as associate vice president and financial advisor with D.A. Davidson.

“We are so excited when we think about the partnership that has been growing between Innovia Foundation and Kaniksu Land Trust, and many of the incredible nonprofit organizations in your community,” McMurray said. “... And it’s because we believe in the power of this kind of generosity — impact generosity.”

Philanthropists are not just giving to a nonprofit, McMurray said. They are giving through the nonprofit or a collective of nonprofits to address a larger systemic, societal or environmental issue in their community or around the world.

There are several different terms for philanthropy, including impact philanthropy, enterprise philanthropy, social entrepreneurship, and the most recent one McMurray had heard, “philanthropreneur.” McMurray said his favorite, however, is catalytic philanthropy. A catalytic event in the world of chemistry, McMurray said, is when you want to have a chemical reaction and you bring in a third agent to act as a catalyst, causing the reaction that takes place to be greater than the sum of its parts. It is the same idea in catalytic philanthropy, to target generosity toward ultimately solving the bigger issues in a “meaningful and lasting way.”

“We are beginning to see the real impact of this in the larger world of philanthropy,” McMurray said. “One of the reasons I work for the Innovia Foundation is because this is an organization that believes in this kind of philanthropy; we don’t believe in charity. We believe in partnership and investment alongside incredible leaders who want to change their communities. And when you do it that way, it’s so much more fun.”

There are six principals of philanthropy that have “true, deep and lasting impact,” he said, though it was the last point, “learn to create change,” that segued into Zuberbuhler’s talk about Kaniksu Land Trust.

“What we have done at Kaniksu Land Trust over the last eight or nine years is about creating change, and not just in our organization,” Zuberbuhler said.

KLT has gone from being an organization that put private land under easement to protect land, to being a “very different” organization, he said. Since 2002, the organization has completed 26 conservation projects covering 3,600 acres across Bonner, Boundary and Sanders counties, he said. Most recently, through donations from major foundations and donors, as well as more than $250,000 in individual and small foundation gifts, KLT raised the $2.1 million needed to purchase and improve the 160-acre Pine Street Woods.

Over the past couple years, Zuberbuhler said, KLT board members and staff decided they wanted to connect people with the outdoors. The organization now offers education in schools, reaching an average of 250 students each week in the Lake Pend Oreille School District. KLT also offers an after school “WildCrafting” program, as well as Camp Kaniksu in the summer and Winter Camp at Schweitzer Mountain Resort.

Among its many partnerships, KLT partners with local health care providers in the Park Rx program, where patients are given prescriptions to walk and spend time in nature to help with chronic illness and mental health issues.

“We led over 225 walks in 2017 with patients who were written prescriptions by their doctors to get outside and exercise,” Zuberbuhler said. “... Again, it requires thinking differently and constantly changing as an organization.”

In an illustration of impact philanthropy, Zuberbuhler said the Innovia Foundation began supporting KLT in 2009. Two years later, when Eric Grace was hired as executive director of KLT, the Land Trust Alliance began to support KLT through grants that were used primarily for planning purposes. KLT has received more than $250,000 from the two foundations over the past nine years. While none of the individual grants were large, he said, typically about $25,000, it allowed KLT to be strategic on how to build out the organization.

“These strategic investments have happened over a relatively long period of time over this nine years, and we think that there has been a causal impact of these investments in our organization,” he said.

Mary Malone can be reached by email at mmalone@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow her on twitter @MaryDailyBee.