Planning For The Future

When it comes to planning for Healdsburg and northern Sonoma County, Carol Beattie has her eyes on tomorrow—and all the tomorrows after that.

As board chair of Healdsburg Forever, a regional affiliate of Community Foundation Sonoma County, Beattie has been a critical part of a team that has granted more than $885,000 to local community organizations in the last three years. Many of these groups are nonprofits that provide services to underserved populations in Healdsburg.

In other words, Beattie and her colleagues have helped keep mission-critical services afloat.

This is an admirable feat for a recent transplant—though she has emerged as one of the most recognizable faces in the community, the bespectacled Beattie has only called Healdsburg home since 2013.

“There’s no place I’d rather be,” she said recently. “This town is a special place.”

Beattie certainly took a circuitous path to our part of Sonoma County. She grew up in Palo Alto, and straight out of high school worked for the Palo Alto Police Department—first as cadet, then as a reserve, and ultimately as a full-fledged officer. From there, Beattie went on to the district attorney’s office as an investigator.

After 10 years in the criminal justice area, she changed gears completely, working more than 10 years in change management and organizational development at Lockheed Martin.

When raising her children, she switched gears again to the nonprofit arena, consulting in change management, board development, and fundraising. She has been working as a fundraiser with nonprofits ever since.

What attracted Beattie to Healdsburg Forever was the organization’s commitment to investing locally. Since the fund was launched in 2003, it has given a total of more than $2.1 million to local nonprofits.

“Locals giving local to make impact in the community—it doesn’t get better than that,” Beattie said. “We’re here for the long haul and exist to make things easier for others. It’s our only mission as an organization, and it’s a mission we take incredibly seriously, no matter what else might be happening in our community overall.”

Beattie will wrap up her time as board chair in 2023, and she will continue to with Healdsburg Forever as an individual volunteer.

She also will continue to work with other local nonprofits—she is a docent at the Oliver Ranch Foundation in Geyserville, an ardent supporter of Farm to Fight Hunger, Farm to Pantry, and Healdsburg Jazz Fest, and an active member of Healdsburg Community Church. “There is much to do and see in Healdsburg and it’s environment but the best way to get engaged and meet new people is to get ‘involved,’ donate one’s time and expertise and of course donate to causes (nonprofits) that support the quality of life of our diverse community.”

When she’s not working toward making the community a better place, Beattie likely will be back at home, enjoying her drought-resistant garden.

Even the busiest among us need to rest.