Windermere Real Estate, the largest brokerage in the Pacific Northwest, kicked off its 50th anniversary year this week with a virtual event attended by more than 4,000 people.

In 1972, the company was founded by John Jacobi with seven agents in a single office in Seattle. Today, the operation remains family-owned and has grown to more than 300 offices in 10 states with 6,500 agents.

“My dad’s goal was to build a real estate office where the agents were respected on the same level as other business professionals, so he made it a priority to hire people who were, above all else, professional,” said OB Jacobi, part of the second generation of leadership at the company. “It was because of the quality of the people who joined Windermere that the company began to grow and thrive.”

In 1989, John Jacobi launched the Windermere Foundation to help low-income and homeless families. Agents could sign up to make a small donation to the foundation from each commission in order to give back to the community. The foundation has raised $46 million since its inception, and the company announced during the virtual event it aims to reach the $50 million mark by the end of 2022.

Last year, Windermere closed on more than 90,000 transactions and did more than $43 billion in volume.