Around Town: July 21-22

Posted on July 20, 2012 by Julia Cain

Have a great weekend, Greater Washington! Plus we have plenty of places to spend it, such as …

Accokeek Foundation (3400 Bryan Point Road, Accokeek, MD)

Green Thumbs volunteers look into the history of heirloom vegetables and the practices behind organic gardening, from planting and harvesting to managing weeds and pests, on Saturday from 9:00 AM to noon. Learn more right here!

Alexandria Seaport Foundation (Duke Street Boat Shop, 2 Duke Street, Alexandria, VA)

Join in ASF’s 30th anniversary celebration and dory boat christening this Saturday at 10:00 AM, food and refreshment included. Check it out right here.

Volunteer Fairfax (Rock Bottom Ballston, 4238 Wilson Boulevard Suite 1256, Arlington, VA)

At VolunTrivia on Saturday at 1:00 PM, teams of up to 6 players will compete for a chance to win the $200 1st place prize as well as over $300 in other prizes. Register your team online this way.

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Impact Investing

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Marie LeBlanc

By Marie LeBlanc, Community Partnerships Coordinator

This week, the Nonprofit Quarterly published an article about the Council on Foundations’ new CEO, Vikki Spruill, and her official introduction to the organization. NPQ’s Rick Cohen discusses a few key points of Spruill’s statement, including her “upbeat perspective on the societal significance of philanthropic innovation” and the need for philanthropy to assess its own value in the large society. However, Cohen also points out that “she and her colleagues have to remember that the vehicle for the delivery of philanthropy’s collective value is the nonprofit sector.”

How do the philanthropy and nonprofit sectors work collaboratively to achieve the goals mentioned by Spruill, and act as “investors, innovators, leaders, and partners” in society? As a bridge between these communities, the Catalogue for Philanthropy aims to increase the connections between (primarily) individual philanthropists in the Washington area and the regional nonprofits that most need their support. We use the moniker Catalogue for Philanthropy, but our main ‘clients’ are nonprofits. We recognize that small nonprofits in the area often do the most innovative, important, and thankless work, and yet also have a difficult time connecting with individuals who share their vision.

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Teaming Up: Black Benefactors & the Catalogue (Part II)

Posted on July 18, 2012 by Spur Local

By Tracey Webb, Founder, The Black Benefactors

In January, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation published the report, “Cultures of Giving: Energizing and Expanding Philanthropy by and for Communities of Color,” which confirmed something that I already knew: African Americans are more inclined to give than other races. I know this because philanthropy and charitable giving have been mainstays of the African American community for centuries.

In my previous GoodWorks post, I shared how my giving circle, The Black Benefactors, used the Catalogue to identify a grantee for our Black History Month grant awards. In doing so, I learned that we were in the minority. Although many of the nonprofits featured in the Catalogue serve low-income and under-represented communities — often which include African Americans — the majority of donors who use the Catalogue to identify nonprofits to support in the DC region are white. With the help of The Black Benefactors, I hope this will change.

Now that we know African Americans are more likely to give, there are two issues that are essential: ensuring that our giving is strategic to achieve maximum impact, and making sure that we’re represented as volunteers and board members with nonprofits that serve communities of color. It’s important that the clientele served by nonprofits see staff, volunteers, and board members who look like them. The Catalogue is an ideal vehicle to address these issues.

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New Ownership

Posted on July 17, 2012 by Julia Cain

Last week, we linked to several lessons on philanthropic work offered up by Katie Couric of ABC News and Ann Friedman of the SEED Foundation (among other women leaders) in The Atlantic. This week, MSNBC reports that “Women exert new influence on philanthropy:”

“Women are taking ownership,” said Andrea Pactor, associate director of the Women’s Philanthropy Institute at Indiana University, which has found that female-headed households are more likely to give to charity than male-headed households; and that in nearly all income groups women give more than men.

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The Time Has Come

Posted on July 16, 2012 by Julia Cain

… This disease will be the end of many of us, but not nearly all and the dead will be commemorated and will struggle on with the living, and we are not going away. We won’t die secret deaths anymore. The world only spins forward. We will be citizens. The time has come.
Bye now.
You are fabulous creatures, each and every one.
And I bless you: More life.
The Great Work Begin.

Angels in America: Perestroika by American playwright Tony Kushner,
born today in 1956

Around Town: July 13-17

Posted on July 13, 2012 by Julia Cain

Have a great weekend, friends! And consider visiting a local nonprofit, such as …

Dance Place (3500 12th Street NE)

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

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

Super busy this weekend: The Extermination Machine at 7:30 PM today through Sunday, Nightmerica (presented by Theatre du Jour) on Friday at 10:00 PM and Saturday & Sunday at 5:00 PM, and a Loose Ends Artist Talk on Sunday afternoon. The full schedule is right on the website.

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In The Community Minutes …

Posted on July 12, 2012 by Marie LeBlanc

By Marie LeBlanc, Community Partnerships Coordinator

Each month, WAMU features one or more local nonprofits in a segment called “Community Minute.” This month, two Catalogue for Philanthropy charities are featured on the radio and online: City Kids Wilderness Project and Man Can Stop Rape. While we always enjoy reading about our nonprofits in the Catalogue, hearing directly from staff members on the radio brings their stories to life in a new way.

City Kids Wilderness Project offers experiential learning programs for inner-city youth, utilizing the outdoors and a natural environment as a classroom for academic, recreational and life skills. Development Associate Mike Macrina shares the story of a City Kids alumnus who is now a freshman at West Virginia University, and will be working in Alaska with the National Outdoor Leadership School this summer — and attempting the first all-African American summit of the highest peak in North America.

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In The News …

Posted on July 11, 2012 by Julia Cain

Do Schools Challenge Our Students: What Student Surveys Tell Us About the State of Education in the United States (Center for American Progress): “Consider, for instance, that 37 percent of fourth-graders say that their math work is too easy. More than a third of high-school seniors report that they hardly ever write about what they read in class [... and] 72 percent of eighth-grade science students say they aren’t being taught engineering and technology.” Moreover, “students from disadvantaged background are less likely to have access to more rigorous learning opportunities.” Read the full report right here and check out this interactive state-by-state map of student engagement.

Fairfax considers first charter school (Washington Post: Virginia Schools Insider): “More than 100 parents, teachers and activists turned out Tuesday night for an informational meeting about the Fairfax Leadership Academy, which would be the first charter school in Northern Virginia if it?s approved by the county school board in October [...] Proponents of the Fairfax Leadership Academy say that the charter school model, which allows for more flexibility and experimentation than a traditional public school, will give the county a new way to attack that stubborn gap.” We talked about the approval of the first Montgomery County charter school last July; what do you think about a new charter in Fairfax?

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Single Ray

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Julia Cain

A single ray of light from a distant star falling upon the eye of a tyrant in bygone times may have altered the course of his life, may have changed the destiny of nations, may have transformed the surface of the globe, so intricate, so inconceivably complex are the processes in Nature. (February 1983)

The scientific man does not aim at an immediate result. He does not expect that his advanced ideas will be readily taken up. His work is like that of the planter — for the future. His duty is to lay the foundation for those who are to come, and point the way. He lives and labors and hopes. (July 1934)

– Serbian-American physicist Nikola Tesla, born today in 1856

Lessons Learned

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Julia Cain

From last week’s “Leading women offer lessons for work in philanthropy” in The Atlantic:

Katie Couric, special correspondent for ABC News and cancer advocate: “To really pour yourself into something, you have to be moved by it.”

Laurie Tisch, president of the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund: “The lesson I learned is about patience and about agreed upon measures of success … You’ve got to be flexible with grantees. They also have to be honest with you.”

Ann Friedman, board chair of the SEED Foundation: “I would make a plea, if you are on a board and you have a passion and you want to fund something … please also give unrestricted donations to that non-profit. It’s how they turn the lightbulbs on.”

What do you have to add, both for nonprofits and for those that support them?

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