Steve Saalfeld joined Thompson & Associates in 2024. He comes to the organization with nearly 30 years of experience working in nonprofit organizations including higher education (University of Puget Sound), private K-12 education (Charles Wright Academy) and health care (MultiCare Good Samaritan Foundation and Mary Bridge Children’s Foundation). Steve currently serves as Philanthropy Advisor at Greater Tacoma Community Foundation helping individuals, families and nonprofits develop strategies to most effectively leverage their philanthropy. 

Steve became familiar with Thompson & Associates during his time at MultiCare Foundations where he referred supporters regularly to work with their Thompson associate. He marveled at how consistently supporters would rave about both the quality of the process and perhaps more importantly, the quality of the people as they relayed the integrity and professionalism that seem to be in the genetic code of every Thompson & Associates representative he’s encountered since. When he and his wife eventually completed the Thompson process, he quickly came to understand the hype and found himself signing on to join the team at Thompson. 

Steve is a board member for the South Sound chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals and an active member in the South Sound Planned Giving Council. His role at Greater Tacoma Community Foundation affords him the opportunity to think each and every day about the role philanthropy can play in improving his community and relishes the opportunity to share that knowledge with others. 

Steve lives in Tacoma, Washington with his wife Jennifer and is a father of four kids, Hayden, Kendall, Luke and Carly. He enjoys exploring the incomparable natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest hiking and biking whenever he can. Steve is a very amateur carpenter who occasionally will build a chair, table, bed or desk to meet a family need. And when the opportunity to work from home presents itself, you might find he and his laptop up in the treehouse he built “for the kids” in his family’s backyard.