Community Foundation for Northern Virginia - Community Investment Grants

The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia is pleased to announce the award of $221,815 in Community Investment Grants to 35 nonprofits meeting critical community needs in Northern Virginia.  The grants were awarded in four categories:

• Poverty Relief
• Child and Youth Development
• Health, Mental Health, and Aging
• Education

Go to "Read More" below for the entire list.

Update on the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund at the Community Foundation

In just four business days, the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia has raised $70,145 for our Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund.

Since the fall of 2005 when I first became President of the Community Foundation, we have never engaged in efforts to fundraise for a cause outside of Northern Virginia. Before we took this step, the thought certainly occurred to us that we were spending our precious donor relationship capital on a need unrelated to our service area. There was no asset development or financial gain in this for either the citizens of our region or for the Community Foundation, as we are donating every dollar we collect through the Fund to the American Red Cross for emergency relief efforts in Haiti.

So why did we do it?  I think there are several good reasons:

• Because we are a center of philanthropy in Northern Virginia and are widely perceived as such.
• Because some donors are clearly moved to fund this need, now.
• Because when we asked some community leaders and faithful donors should we do this, they unanimously said yes.
• Because it just feels like the right thing to do, no matter what else is on our plate at the moment.

Just this once, for this special cause, we have vastly expanded the definition of “community” in “Community Foundation for Northern Virginia” to include the Haitian people who are suffering some of the worst deprivations and sorrows this human life can inflict.

As a community foundation leader, watching this unfold is inspiring and affirming.  We feel so grateful for the response to the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund, so appreciative of the chance to help, and so eager to learn whatever lessons this effort will teach us about our role in Northern Virginia.

Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund at the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia

The Community Foundation for Northern Virginia announced yesterday the creation of a Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund. To my knowledge, this is the first time in our organization’s 31 year history that we have actively engaged in fundraising for a cause that was not squarely centered on our region.

Like the rest of the world, we are horrified by the devastation in Haiti from the January 12 earthquake. Images pouring out of the region on Wednesday the 13th were heartbreaking and impossible to ignore. Those images raised some questions for us last week. As leaders of a local community foundation, what role could and should we play here? Should we attempt to fundraise for relief efforts? And if so, were there other leaders from the broader community who would want to help?

By close of business Thursday, January 14, staff had sent out targeted emails to Board members and certain donor advisors we believed might be open to providing a matching grant for victims of the earthquake. By noon on Friday, we had raised $12,000 in matching grant commitments. With these funds in hand, we then reached out to the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, the Northern Virginia Technology Council, the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce, the Loudoun CEO Cabinet and others, asking if they would be willing to distribute notifications to their membership base advising them of the Fund and requesting contributions.

As I write this blog post, we have built the donation page for the new Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund on our website. All contributions, including the original $12,000 in seed matching grant funds, will be donated to the American Red Cross. Our donation page for the Fund went live Monday morning, January 18, at which point the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce, the Northern Virginia Technology Council, and hopefully others distributed the email, Facebook and Twitter announcements of the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund’s creation at the Community Foundation.

Haiti Earthquake Relief - How You Can Help

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake has devastated Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince.  As of 8:30 pm on January 13, 2010, CNN is reporting a death toll in excess of 100,000.  Please consider making a donation to one of these organizations to help them provide disaster relief and follow up medical and basic needs assistance to the victims of the earthquake.

American Red Cross 

You can text “Haiti” to 90999 and donate $10 to the American Red Cross. This organization is the nation's premier emergency response organization. They offer neutral humanitarian care to the victims of devastating natural disasters.  As of Wednesday evening, January 13, their website is reporting this: “The Red Cross is contributing an initial $1 million from the International Response Fund to support the relief operation, and has opened its warehouse in Panama to provide tarps, mosquito nets and cooking sets for approximately 5,000 families. In addition to Red Cross staff already in Haiti, six disaster management specialists are being deployed to the disaster zone to help coordinate relief efforts. At this time, the American Red Cross is only deploying volunteers specially trained to manage international emergency operations.”

Oxfam America

Oxfam America is an international relief and development organization.  It has long experience in Haiti.  According to their website on the evening of January 13, Oxfam has 200 staff on-the-ground responding with public health, water, and sanitation services to prevent the spread of disease in the affected areas.  Your support will help provide clean water, shelter, sanitation, and the longer term recovery.

Partners in Health
Partners in Health uses modern medical science to help alleviate the crushing economic and social burdens of poverty that exacerbate disease.  It’s website reports as of 4:00 pm on January 13 the following: “At the moment, PIH’s Chief Medical Officer is on her way to Haiti, where she will meet with Zanmi Lasante leadership and head physicians, who are already working to ensure PIH’s coordinated relief efforts leveraging the skills of more than 120 doctors and nearly 500 nurses and nursing assistants who work at Zanmi Lasante’s sites.” You support will help procure emergency medical supplies, basic needs assistance, transportation and logistics for the victims of the quake who will be seeking aid at PIH’s mobile field hospitals in Port-au-Prince.

Doctors Without Borders

Doctors Without Borders is an international medical humanitarian organization providing aid in nearly 60 countries to people whose survival is threatened by violence, neglect, or catastrophe, primarily due to armed conflict, epidemics, malnutrition, exclusion from healthcare, or natural disasters.  According to their website this evening, they are reporting this:  "The situation is chaotic," said one senior staff. "I visited five medical centers, including a major hospital, and most of them were not functioning. Your support will provide emergency medical care for victims of the quake.

Philanthropy, 2020 - Post # 3

As foundation leaders, what will be the greatest opportunities and the most daunting challenges in the decade ahead? The January 14, 2010 issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy decides to take an educated guess. This is the last post on the topic.

Increase in Charitable Business

For profit companies and nonprofit organizations currently occupy two ends of the spectrum. What about the middle? This article predicts that by 2020, many more hybrid entities like L3C's (low-income limited liabilty companies) will be the rule and not the exception. The millenials are already questioning the status quo. Will they succeed in driving corporate culture away from the single mindedness of shareholder value towards a lower-profit, more socially conscious model of operation? The authors of this article certainly think so. It is a simple matter of following the current trend lines.

In other words, some charities will become more business like, and some businesses will become more charity like. The lines between the two will blur. And the result for nonprofits? Despite their favorable tax status, they will no longer entirely own the charity space.

Philanthropy, 2020 - Post # 2

As foundation leaders, what will be the greatest opportunities and the most daunting challenges in the decade ahead?  The January 14, 2010 issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy decides to take an educated guess. This is the second of three posts on the topic.

Technology Gets More Interactive

What will be the impact of technology on the nonprofit sector in the next decade? This article in the January 14 issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy tries to envision this.

According to some United Nations research, 6.3 billion people, or a whopping 83% of earth’s population, will own a cell phone by 2014. This ever increasing connectivity and resulting networking and access to information will certainly modify the nonprofit world’s fundraising activities, communications with donors, and program evaluations. It will also enable donors to better understand how their dollars were spent.

Of course, there’s a predicted downside as well. There will be increased competition from other entities who will find it increasingly easy to attract resources to their causes.

I personally enjoy the challenge of staying on top of our technology communications game. But technology is just a tool. Like community foundations everywhere, the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia works hard to more deeply understand the needs of our community and focus philanthropy on them. It is our primary purpose. If we do that job well, then the technology tools we choose to communicate the resulting knowledge is just a question of organizational process.

Philanthropy, 2020

As foundation leaders, what will be the greatest opportunities and the most daunting challenges in the decade ahead? The January 14, 2010 issue of the Chronicle of Philanthropy takes an educated guess at this using known demographic data. This is the first of three posts on the topic.

The Graying of America

Today, 13% of our population is over 65. That percentage will rise to 16% by 2020. The graying of America will continue to present both opportunities and challenges.

First, the opportunities:
1. The over 65 population in the next decade is going to offer quite an impressive cache of skills and experience. The volunteer opportunities alone are significant, let alone the part time employment pool.
2. The “explosion” of philanthropic wealth is staggering. The article says that baby boomers will pass on $41 trillion to their heirs before all is said and done!

Next, the challenges:
1. Funding the increased demand for health care services will certainly be a huge challenge.
2. Growing philanthropy to help address multigenerational issues will also be a trend.

Promising Signs on 2010 Corporate Philanthropy

According to an article in the Huffington Post yesterday, a survey of Chicago based businesses on corporate philanthropy found that a full 65% will maintain or increase their corporate philanthropy in 2010. Only 11% are planning on reducing their charitable donations this year. Most of that philanthropy will be in the areas of social services and education, with fewer dollars going to environmental and cultural causes.

Corporate givers are feeling optimistic! What great news for our sector.

Social Innovation Fund Grant Opportunity: Post # 2

Under "Read More" below you will find a full copy of my comments to the Corporation for National and Community Service's request for comments on the Social Innovation Fund NOFA.  Their NOFA was posted in late December 2009, and comments from the field are due January 15, 2010. 

In addition to providing input on their specific questions around how to define "low income communities," how to evaluate the intermediary foundation grantees, and how to evaluate the nonprofit subgrantees, I also included a request that they drop the minimum grant level from $5 million to $1 million.  Such a drop would enable community foundations like ours to apply as there is a 1- for - 1 dollar matching requirement imposed on community foundation (and other intermediary foundation) grant recipients.

It would be very disappointing if the mere level of potential SIF grants put us out of the running.  I'm sure I'm not the only foundation leader in this boat.  So if there is any chance you may be interested in trying for one of these amazing SIF grants, please send in your comments to the Corporation.  The link to the Social Innovation Fund, above, takes you to a page from which you can submit comments.  From that link, see the "Seeking Feedback on Draft Funding Notice" box to the right.

Fast Company Blog on Nonprofit Volunteers

For foundation leaders, Alice Korngold’s nonprofit related blog posts on Fast Company are worth the read.  On December 28, 2009 she published a post entitled “Why People Who Volunteer Are Value-Add Hires For Your Company.”

She thinks that nonprofit volunteers make excellent hires for a number of reasons, including:

• A work ethic that can’t be beat
• Leadership skills that are honed and developed through nonprofit volunteer experiences
• A tendency to self reflection and thoughtfulness
• Great community based networks of colleagues and friends
• Knowledge of the community

How true, and how useful when we're composing job references for our volunteers to remember this handy list of attributes.