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Charitable Giving

Our region has a long history of reaching out and helping others. The beneficiaries have been many and varied, and our assistance has been in the form of direct contributions as well as the time and efforts of our members. It has been a great way to bring our members together, build camaraderie and engage with our communities.

Our goal is to have meaningful and consistent on those we choose to serve. We have refined our primary focus to support organizations that are automobile related in education. We also support those in financial need with food, shelter, healthcare and more. We align our interests and substantially all our contributions with approximately four to five organizations as our primary emphasis. The PNWR Board of Directors and the Charity Committee select the charities that we assist.

We occasionally run online fundraising campaigns for various charities and members can contribute through their club membership account.

Join us in making a difference. If you are interested in helping put together a PNWR club event that will benefit a charity, please login to see the contact info for the Charity Chair or go to Contact Us and use the form near the bottom of the page. Please help in any way you can, your support is greatly appreciated.

Current PNWR Club Charities

Vehicle Research Institute (VRI) - Western Washington University

The VRI is a research organization at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington that is focused on vehicle design, prototype construction and testing with consulting for government and private industry. It fields a team of students in a competition cross-functional competition known as Formula SAE.

The student volunteers design work together as a business team and build their vehicles using available but scarce resources. They invest countless hours of time, effort, and inspiration. Funding from organizations like our club is central to their success.

Detroit’s Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) set the goals and establishes the rules; the young people involved make dreams reality. The SAE goals require the students to incorporate state-of-the art materials and design. Practicality requires them to use common components like rubber tires, gasoline, and brake pads.

Student volunteers come from all disciplines of the university and share their common the love of automobiles. Students are required to prepare a business case, finance their plan, and keep accurate records, and compete in a judged event for an imaginary production run of 1000 vehicles. Their vehicle competes in performance and endurance track tests and the team presents their business case to automotive executives.

VRI students work with limited funding and demonstrate outstanding commitment to produce world-class results. Our contributions, beginning in 2007 and totaling well over $200,000 have made a real difference in the options they can embrace and has allowed them to compete more effectively. We have been their top supporter for fifteen years and have helped them rise from obscurity to top results. Graduates have gone on to work in industry at companies such as Space X. Monitor the PNWR calendar for opportunities to meet the team and witness what they accomplish at an unveiling of their year’s new vehicle or present at a monthly Board meeting. You will also see them testing at our Autocross events.

For more information, visit their website at TBDWWURacing.com.

Shoreline Community College Automotive Program

A four-year university degree may not be possible or be the right option for some individuals. Community colleges and vocational schools are a robust alternative and are instrumental in developing the talented technicians that service the vehicles we drive.

Shoreline Community College’s Automotive Program combines classroom training with internships to produce industry ready graduates with almost a 100% placement rate. Industry partnerships include Toyota, Honda, GM, Mopar and Tesla. The cost of the program and cost of living are a major challenge for many students.

PNWR scholarships provide critical financial support to students. We provide even more value with coaching and mentoring of students and by making key introductions. We began in mid 2022 and have awarded eleven scholarships in the first calendar year!

Recipients of these scholarships make presentations at the Board meeting introducing themselves, sharing their personal stories and describing how the scholarship helps them succeed.

PNWR previously supported Lake Washington Institute of Technology’s Automotive Program from 2015 to 2019 and awarded thirty scholarships.

Northwest Harvest

Food insecurity is a very real problem for many among us. Northwest Harvest supports a statewide network of food banks, meal programs and high need schools. We have made it fun to donate with our annual food drive.

Members gather and compete against other local car clubs, such as the Mini Club or BMW CCA, to see how much food and money we can deliver. Since 2010 we have bought together as many as eighty cars and their proud owners and have donated over forty thousand pounds of food and over $50,000.

Northwest Toy Run

A toy brings great joy to a child in need.

The NW Toy Run is the largest charity event for Washington’s motorsport community each holiday season. All vehicles, and car forums are welcome.

Enthusiasts from around the Northwest gather at Pacific Raceways for the annual NW Toy Run benefiting the Toys for Tots Marine Corps Foundation. Toys for Tots helps less fortunate children throughout the United States experience the joy of the holidays by collecting new, unwrapped toys.

Additional Charities

The Covid 19 Pandemic brought huge challenges and members came together to support these charities, to name a few.

Mary’s Place
The Salvation Army
Northwest Harvest
Various food banks

We reach out and support a variety of organizations in other ways as well.

Camp Goodtimes, which helps children with cancer, is yet another example of how members touch the lives of a many of those in the Puget Sound area.

A small cadre of members roll up their sleeves twice each year for highway clean-up near a local racetrack.

Camaraderie among members makes a dull but meaningful task a pleasure and shows the public another way that Porsche owners care, are generous with their time and are “real people”.

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Contact Us
Pacific NW Region
Porsche Club of America
P.O. Box 24241
Seattle, WA 98124