Around Town: August 10-12

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Julia Cain

A few great nonprofit destinations for your weekend …

Dance Place (3500 12th Street NE)

A 12-week public art celebration offering free cultural events and promoting creative expression, Artland Temporium features exhibits, dance, concerts, poetry readings, and games and free to the public. Check out the full schedule for this weekend right here.

HomeAid Northern Virginia (at Pfitzner Stadium, 7 County Complex Court Woodbridge, VA)

Help HomeAid send 200 kids and parents to watch the Potomac Nationals vs. the Winston-Salem Dash on Friday at 7:00 PM; for many of these children, this is the first baseball game that they’ll attend. Learn more right here.

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Measuring Economic Achievement

Posted on August 9, 2012 by Marie LeBlanc

By Marie LeBlanc, Community Partnerships Coordinator

Within the nonprofit community, there’s a movement towards data-driven, quantitative measurement and analysis of impact. These conversations lead to the bigger question of how “impact” and nonprofit “success” are measured, particularly for those providing services that might not lend themselves to a numerical calculation. This week, that conversation reached a broader level, in terms of the way that we measure our economic success on a national scale. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke remarked that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) — a fairly straight-forward measure of income and expenses — might not be the best and only way to measure economic well-being, suggesting that there are “better and more direct measures” to gauge how economic policies impact individuals.

Several alternative measures to GDP-based economic analysis have been offered in the past, such as the Genuine Progress Indicator, and more recently, the OECD and the Gross National Happiness index, pioneered by Bhutan. As Nonprofit Quarterly mentions, “the suggestion that there might be a better way to measure a nation’s wellbeing is nothing new to many in the nonprofit sector whose work and worth is often not measured in dollars and cents.”

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In The News …

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Julia Cain

DC police measure up-and-coming neighborhoods (Washington Post): “As residential and retail development pushes more people and businesses into new areas, economic development data can be as important in shaping police staffing decisions as armed-robbery statistics. Discussing “up and coming” hubs, such as the Waterfront and H Street NE, Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier says that “my primary goal, as these areas roll out, is that not only are they safe, but that they feel safe.” As neighborhoods change, “there is also friction between law enforcement and community leaders who say police are not moving quickly enough or deploying officers smartly enough in some areas.” What is your experience?

Poverty and Schools: Finally, Some Lights Go On (Huffington Post): Peter Meyer of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute discusses the “seemingly interminable battle between those who believe that you have to cure the poor before you can educate them and those who believe that educating the poor will help cure poverty.” His opinion? “The pendulum might be swinging, ever-so-slightly, toward the believers (in school).” He cites several projects that he hopes “will motivate more school leaders to believe that they can and must face poverty squarely, in the classroom.” Do you agree with the findings, and are they replicable?

Language instruction for immigrants in the DC region (WMAU: Community Minute): Profiled at the beginning of this month, Catalogue nonprofit “Language ETC (LETC) offers English and literacy training to low-income adult immigrants in the greater Washington area using volunteer teachers and tutors educates more immigrants annually than any other non-governmental organization in the area — and no willing student is turned away.” Most recently listed in the 2009/2010 Catalogue, LETC also provides a Multimedia Language Lab, conversation classes, book clubs, and individual job counseling to Washington area students.

What the Coffee Means

Posted on August 7, 2012 by Spur Local

By Matt Bright, Earth Sangha’s Tree Bank Coordinator

Earth Sangha Tree Bank / Hispaniola is a partnership with a group of small-holder farmers who live along a section of the Dominican Republic-Haiti border. Our goal is to create a system in which tropical small-holder farming is more compatible with native forest. Such a system, we hope, could one day benefit small-holders in the many parts of the rural tropics. This guest post is an excerpt from First Hand, a series of essays and videos intended to show you what it’s like to do small-scale “green development” in a rural, developing-country context.

Our Rising Forests Coffee is, to our friends in the DC area, the most visible and tangible achievement from our work in the Dominican Republic. Drinking our coffee is not just a delicious way to start your morning (now available in dark roast: order here!); it’s also an important way to support our conservation efforts. Our coffee supports our Tree Bank, provides much-needed income to our farmers, and encourages conservation.

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An Olympic Effort

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Julia Cain

In this past Friday’s Washington Post, A Wider Circle founder Mark Bergel writes:

Like competitions of the past, the London Olympics are not only the result of hard work on the part of the athletes but also of remarkable community support and financial investments. I can only imagine that if the District, instead of London, had been selected 10 years ago as the site of the 2012 Games, our city would have made a similar commitment [...]

So here’s my question: If we were prepared as a community to mobilize the region’s resources and fund the premier athletic event in the world, why can’t we make the same commitment to house our homeless neighbors, feed hungry families and clothe young and old in our community?

He points out that, for example, London constructed 40,000 apartments and will serve 14 million meals over 60 days this summer. Certainly, similar resources could provide for “thousands and thousands of children and adults” in need across the region year-round (London’s population is twelve times that of DC).

What do you think? What would be necessary to catalyze an effort of this size, scope, and importance?

Learn more about A Wider Circle here.

Around Town: August 2-5

Posted on August 3, 2012 by Julia Cain

Some great nonprofit destinations for the coming days:

Dance Place (3500 12th Street NE)

District of Columbia Arts Center (2438 18th Street NW, Washington, DC)

Topher and Joe, purveyors of fine improv comedy, join with special guests Sistine Robot and Season Six this coming Friday at 10:00 PM. Tickets available right here.

Accokeek Foundation (15769 Livingston Road, Accokeek, MD)

On Saturday at 10:00 AM, Eileen Watts of Hard Bargain Farm offers a hands-on exploration of basic cheese-making; participants will assemble two recipes: a semi-soft farmer’s cheese and a 30-minute mozzarella. Sign up here!

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (641 D Street NW, Washington, DC)

Following the Saturday 8:00 PM performance of The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs, Woolly presents a one-time-only conversation with Mike Daisey and Apple, Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak. More information right here.

Development Planning Speaker Session

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Marie LeBlanc

By Marie LeBlanc, Community Partnerships Coordinator

Creating a comprehensive development plan is perhaps not the first item of business for a new Executive Director or Development Director when starting out in the nonprofit world. But this month’s BAH Nonprofit Conference on Fundraising Development stressed the importance of having a thought-out, written-down development plan as a priority for successful, supportive and effective development programming. Keynote speaker Barbara Ciconte outlined many of the key steps to creating an “effective” (and perhaps more importantly, realistic) development plan, as well as the bigger picture items to consider from an organizational standpoint. Ultimately, “development” is about more than just raising money — it involves creating authentic connections with others who believe in and commit to your organization’s mission.

Ciconte discussed many important features of a development plan, including these key elements:
- Detailed goals for each development activity
- Specific strategies for achieving those goals
- An action plan, with a timetable for each strategy and benchmarks along the way
- Clear assignments for staff and other involved individuals
- Marketing and communications needs for development strategies
- Budget for fundraising (it’s true; you usually have to spend money to make money!)

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In The News …

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Julia Cain

Boom in autistic students prompts new Montgomery school centers (Washington Examiner): “Montgomery County Public Schools is planning to open autism centers at three high schools in the new school year, as the district grapples with a fivefold increase in the number of students diagnosed with autism over the last decade.” Since the 2000/2001 school year, the number of MCPS students on the autism spectrum has jumped from 266 to 1,642 — which, assumedly, is in part due to improvements in diagnostic procedures. In particular, “special education staff acknowledged they also need to ramp up efforts to reach the diversifying swath of students who have special needs, such as immigrant families who may not speak English.”

Some States Looking to (and Funding) Arts as Economic Driver (Nonprofit Quarterly): “The news service for the Pew Center on the States reports that “there has been a 37 percent drop in funding for state arts agencies since 2001.” However, a creative repackaging of the arts as an economic engine has, in some states, reversed this trend over the last year.” And according to the National Assembly of State Arts Agencies (NASAA), this year’s state arts funding budgets have increased by approximately nine percent. You can check out all of Catalogue’s local arts organizations right here.

Everything I Need To Know About Life I Learned On My Nonprofit Board (Fast Company): “This is a life lesson for people in workplaces, families, classrooms, and any relationship. That peace, happiness, and fulfillment come from creating a mutual understanding of what you?re trying to accomplish and each person?s role in achieving success,” writes Alice Korngold, CSR consultant to global corporations. She also points to the value of clearly-articulated values, discussed with the Board and shared with the public. “It is usually a [...] source of energy and even exhilaration when people finally see how and what they can contribute to achieve success for a cause in which they believe.

From the Field: Thrive DC

Posted on July 31, 2012 by Marie LeBlanc

By Marie LeBlanc, Community Partnerships Coordinator
& Sherika Brooks, Executive Assistant

This Saturday, the Catalogue team in DC (Marie LeBlanc, Community Partnerships Coordinator, and Sherika Brooks, Executive Assistant) spent the afternoon volunteering at Day of Nurture, an event organized by In One Day and supported by Catalogue nonprofit Thrive DC. For the second month in a row, Day of Nurture has provided meals to the homeless in Franklin Square, as well as information about services that Thrive DC offers for individuals experiencing homelessness.

Along with a great crew of volunteers from MeetUp.com and DC Volunteers, Sherika and I pitched in to provide a healthy meal of donated food, drinks, and even popsicles to a group of over 100 individuals who either spend time in the park regularly or were informed about the event during canvassing the week before. Both Sherika and I felt lucky to experience the work of a Catalogue nonprofit first hand, and look forward to spending more time volunteering with Catalogue nonprofits over the coming months.

Thankfully for In One Day, Washington DC is one city that still allows the provision of outdoor public meals for the homeless at a time when many cities are pushing to ban the practice. The Huffington Post recently wrote about the city of Philadelphia’s ban on feeding the homeless outdoors, following the lead of other major cities including Atlanta, San Diego and Los Angeles. Over 50 cities across the country have enacted anti-camping or anti-food-sharing laws. Public officials who support this legislation argue that the laws prevent the spread of illness, direct the homeless to other services, and protect local parks from damage. However, the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty reports that the same cities that have enacted such laws “have recently seen an increase in overall homelessness and family homelessness.” We hope that DC continues to allow direct service and meal provision to individuals experiencing homelessness throughout the city and hope to contribute further to efforts such as Day of Nurture in the future!

For more information about additional Catalogue nonprofits offering services to Greater Washington’s homeless population, check out Catalogue’s Human Services nonprofits here.

Thy Comrade

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Julia Cain

[...] I’ve watched thee every hour;
I know my mighty sway:
I know my magic power
To drive thy griefs away.

Few hearts to mortals given,
On earth so wildly pine;
Yet few would ask a heaven
More like this earth than thine.

Then let my winds caress thee;
Thy comrade let me be:
Since nought beside can bless thee,
Return — and dwell with me.

– English writer Emily Bronte, born today in 1848

Today is a good time to learn more about The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, which nourishes writers of all ages, from youngsters who are just learning to tell their stories, to emerging writers eager to hone their skills.

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