The South Sound Youth Board named the Hope Fund to honor Hope Moore, founder of the Make the DASH Count Foundation. From the moment they met Hope, these young people were inspired by her passion, courage, dreams and vision.

There are people in this world who talk a lot about making a difference and then there are people who turn their passion into action and actually make a difference in the lives of others. Anyone who's ever met Hope Moore knows that she exemplifies the latter. Hope passionately believes in the idea that each of us has the power to make a difference in someone else’s life.

In 2003, she discovered a way to use her passion and expertise to pass this message to the next generation. She created the Make the DASH Count Foundation to educate her own son in the joys and responsibilities of charitable giving. Then she had an idea: If it was good for her son to learn the fundamentals of philanthropy, wouldn't it be even better for an entire group of young people to learn together how to make these decisions? Through the process of grant-making, she saw not only an opportunity to help community organizations serving at-risk youth, she saw a way to educate young people about the power and promise of philanthropy.

If the fall of 2005, Hope estabished the founding youth board of the Make the DASH Count Foundation. This board was made up of a diverse group of fifteen students from local area high schools and was charged with a number of responsibilities, including establishing the foundation’s grant guidelines, participating in site visits and eventually making the funding decisions to help community groups serving at-risk youth. In their first year the South Sound Youth Board awarded grant monies to more than twenty nonprofit organizations throughout their community. None of this would have been possible if Hope hadn't had the courage to follow her dream.

It is a testament to Hope's creative vision and her faith in our youth that she was able to get these young people together, create an environment that would help them understand the task ahead of them, provide them with the tools to make complex decisions and allow them to learn from their own mistakes.

In their first year of operation, the South Sound Youth Board voted unanimously to name their community fund the Hope Fund. With the naming of this fund, they hope to celebrate Hope's unique youth-focused entrepreneurial approach to philanthropy. The members of this board continue to be inspired and energized by the unique perspective and expertise Hope brings to her every interaction with them.