TwispWorks Foundation

Campus operations: in 2022, our campus acted as a placemaker for more than 30 businesses, nonprofits, artists and craftspeople. Campus partners included an interpretive center for native american and natural history, manufacturing and professional services companies, the methow valley school district's welding and automotive tech programs providing youth real-life skills in the trades, an innovative-choice high school, art studios, and gallery spaces. The campus is also an outdoor community gathering space with pavilion for performances, a splash pad, public art, a signature native plant garden, and a natural dye garden. We sponsor events, celebrations, and programs engaging residents and visitors.

Twispworks has a long history of completing projects and coordinating programs that support a healthy economy in the methow valley. By providing resources, education, technical assistance, and access to financing, Twispworks helps foster a dynamic and accessible entrepreneurial ecosystem. Recent highlights include the coordination of the methow investment network, a peer-to-peer lending model that connects community members with financial resources to business owners and entrepreneurs seeking funding to start or grow a business. In the last five years, this program has circulated over $1.7 million in the local economy. Other business support programs include educational workshops, social engagement events, and assistance with grants, including our own small business emergency grant program, which has distributed $24,000 in financial assistance to business affected by wildfires and the covid-19 pandemic. As the economy of the methow valley continues to grow and expand, Twispworks is helping to guide the conversation and support the businesses ensuring a robust and healthy economy.

Methow made and methow valley goods (mvg): in 2022, the methow made program helped over 67 local producers market and sell their goods in 10 retail locations. Mvg provided essential storefront retail space with regular business hours convenient for visitors and locals alike to over 90 artists and makers in the methow and okanogan county, many of whom are sole proprietors with no retail space of their own. Mvg is also the flagship of the methow made brand. By increasing awareness of all things methow made, mvg helped increase market demand for locally made products.