[News 12/21] The date is a palindrome.

It’s been a great year folks. The Daily will return (with its creator back at the helm) in January. Happy Holidays, and see you in 2008!

- Christian

EDUCATION
The Public Education Working Group met with State Superintendent of Education Deborah Gist earlier this week. Read about it here.

[D.C.] Just a little multi-million dollar confusion. (WaPo 12/21)

[D.C.] Oh, and some more multi-million dollar confusion. This time with consequences. (Examiner 12/20)

CAPACITY BUILDING
[N.Y.C.] It might not be our region, but the NY Times ran an interesting article about how The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation is well on track to raise $120 million dollars for a fund specifically dedicated to building the capacity of nonprofits. (NY Times 12/21)

REGION
[Md.] Critical self-reflection is an important (though frequently forgotten) task of any good democracy. The Montgomery County Council has a fun way of looking at its own work. (WaPo 12/20)

HOLIDAYS
Here’s a personal favorite of mine.  Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, I hope you will appreciate this demonstration of the power of (musical) collaboration.  Happy Holidays everyone!

Working Group meets with State Superintendent of Education

Carmen James Lane (l), Deborah Gist (c), and Juanita Wade (r) listen to a question from the Moriah Fund’s Mary Ann Stein.

Deborah Gist’s philosophy might be best described as a permutation of the famous adage, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” To a room full of Public Education Working Group members, she passionately proclaimed that, “education has the power to help anyone change their life circumstances.”

Gist heads the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE), and she began her presentation to funders by admitting to a history of confusion in the school systems – specifically, a confusion around authority. Running down a long list of obsolete acronyms, she explained that prior to her office’s creation in June 2007, the authority now vested there had been spread across four different agencies. The consolidation occurred as a major piece of Mayor Fenty’s education reforms.

OSSE’s responsibilities compliment those of the Chancellor. The office is in charge of funds allocations, setting policies, and standards development and implementation. The Chancellor’s work is more precise “groundwork” – enforcing the standards and policies through school staffing decisions, for example. The two leaders meet weekly with Mayor Fenty, Deputy Mayor Reinoso, and facilities manager Allen Lew to ensure that all parties are coordinated with each other.

Matching her optimism about the power of education, Gist assured funders that the District school system has the resources and funding that it needs to get the job done. The task at hand is erasing years of poor management and aligning resources properly to make the school system the best it can be.

She endorsed her confidence with a commitment to the Working Group: Funders will no longer need to help “plug holes” in the school system. The government will do what it is supposed to be doing and will deliver the quality education that has been lacking for years.

But, Gist still needs help from funders. She asked for their feedback as keen observers and issue experts. She asked for critical witnesses as she implements OSSE’s four policy priorities: early childhood; educator quality for teachers and school leaders; post-secondary and vocational preparation; and, early literacy. And, she promised to keep an open door until the next time she meets with the Working Group.

[News 12/19] The exception to the rule.

Yesterday’s article Thinking More Globally, Giving Less Locally (WaPo 12/18) might give Post readers the idea that philanthropy is moving out of the region. Au contraire!

In our annual giving report, we identified trends exactly opposite of AOL’s example. Specifically:

• National foundations have more than tripled their investments in our region with $1.5 billion today compared to $407 million in 1992;
• Local foundations are investing 63% of their philanthropic dollars in this region – a significant rise from only 46% fifteen years before; and,
• The assets of the region’s community foundations have grown from $31.5 million to $412.5 million.

EDUCATION
[D.C.] Here’s a great incentive for high achieving schools. But, then again, there is that big budget gap… (WaPo 12/19)

[D.C.] “Today is a momentous day in D.C. public schools,” Rhee said. (WaPo 12/19)

[D.C.] Remember the reform school that uses shock therapy on District special needs students? Apparently the school feels that it is the “victim of ‘a disturbing lack of understanding.”’ The underlying question - why will it take 90 days to get those students out of there? (Examiner 12/19)

JUVENILE JUSTICE
Missed this one over the weekend. Colbert King’s article this week uses the words “Farce,” “bamboozled,” and “sycophantic,” to describe, in this order: DYRS, the mayor, and the city council. (WaPo 12/15)

- Christian

[News 12/18] A briefing - in the literal sense.

EDUCATION
[D.C] Laws allowing the Chancellor to close 23 schools and fire some nonunion employees are likely to be passed today…but not without resistance. (WaPo 12/18)

AFFORDABLE HOUSING
[D.C.] Former public housing residents return as proud new homeowners, thanks to a program of the D.C. Housing Authority. (WaPo 12/18)

REGION
[Va.] It is going to be a squeeze, but Gov. Kaine has announced a two-year budget that increases spending on education, health care, and environmental protection. (WaPo 12/18)

[Md.] Try not to have an emergency when 911 isn’t working. (WaPo 12/18)

- Christian

[News 12/17] The Weight of a Life

CDSC Steering Committee Co-Chair and Sustainable Communities Working Group member David Bowers wrote a thought-provoking article for the Post about homicide trends and responses in D.C.

“I would argue that the city needs a plan to end murder that includes input from those not usually included in the conversation, including mental health professionals, victims’ survivors, youth, ex-offenders, and representatives of business, organized labor, the arts and education.” (WaPo 12/17)

EDUCATION
“In a society where people think you won’t succeed, here come these guys who say, ‘You are going to make it.’” A little philanthropy and a lot of encouragement go a long way. (WaPo 12/16)

[D.C.] Appleseed Report spurs immediate action: “Board of Education Approves Health Education Standards That Include HIV/AIDS Information” (Kaiser Daily 12/17)

[D.C.] There is just no good way to close a budget gap. Including this way. (WaPo 12/16)

HEALTH
[D.C] Bad software + denied Medicare claims = A $30 million dollar problem for the Department of Mental Health. (Examiner 12.15)

REGION
The general morale of the region was elevated twofold this weekend with a hard earned victory by the Redskins and an embarrassing loss for the Cowboys.

-Christian

Last Two Meetings of 2007

Members - help us end the year with a bang! We only have two Working Group meetings left this year, and we’d love to see you there.

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Sustainable Communities Working Group
Quarterly Meeting

The Sustainable Communities Working Group will hold its final quarterly meeting on December 18th. A small committee of Working Group members recently met to discuss next steps around Green Building legislation, and has developed a set of recommendations to present to the larger group. We will also discuss a 2008 Green Office program, a 2008 learning agenda, and other updates on current trends and new projects.

Click here for more info and to register.

 

Health Working Group
Year End Retreat

the Health Working Group will hold its year-end retreat next Wednesday, December 19th. At the meeting, the group will review its accomplishments in 2007 and plan for 2008. If you are interested in becoming active (or more active) in the Working Group, this would be a great meeting to attend! Lunch will be provided.

Click here for more info and to register.

[News 12/14] News and such.

Thank goodness…it’s Friday!

EDUCATION
- [D.C.] Good: twice as many AP and IB tests are being taken in high school compared to last year. (WaPo 12/13) Terrible: special education students electrically shocked as part of a prank. (Examiner 12/14)

HEALTH
- [Va.] “Kaine to Overhaul Mental Health System” (WaPo 12/14)

AFFORDABLE HOUSING
- [D.C.] An unexpected tax surplus? Good news. The surplus being used to fund affordable housing? Great news. How to specifically allocate the money? Well, it seems that’s the $47 million dollar question. (WaPo 12/14)

OUR REGION
WMATA is really confusing. On the one hand, Metro is about to enact the largest fare hike in its history (WaPo 12/14). On the other, a member of Metro’s Board of Directors wants free rides for customers affected by delays (Examiner 12/14). I vote for the second option.

NONPROFITS
- [D.C.] That mustache is money! (WaPo 12/14)

YOUR WEEKEND
Looks like we might get some nasty weather (keeping my fingers crossed for snow). With the Golden Globe nominations announced yesterday, it might be a good weekend to catch a great flick. My personal recommendation - the masterpiece No Country for Old Men.

Mele Kalikimaka…

and seasons greetings! I’m off to visit the in-laws for two weeks. They happen to live in Hawaii, so that’s nice. Christian will hold down the fort next week, and we’ll shut down blog operations the week between Christmas and New Years. Happy holidays everyone! -Nick

“Our Region, Our Giving: 15th Anniversary Edition”

Washington Grantmakers, Nov. 2007
[Download Report - 3.4MB]

Our annual giving report generally focuses on change from one year to the next. We analyze the numbers to determine where growth—in terms of giving, assets, and number of foundations—is occurring. This annual data is a helpful report card for our region, and it is always gratifying when we can report that our region’s generosity is still on the rise.

But, now and then, it helps to take a longer view. Some changes will not reveal themselves otherwise. Our 15th anniversary seemed the perfect time to suspend temporarily the year-by-year approach and to look back even further, to see what the local philanthropic landscape looked like in 1992, the year Washington Grantmakers was founded, and compare that to 2005.

Key findings:

• Community foundation giving: Between 1992 and 2005, the assets of community foundations in the region grew from $31.5 million to $412.5 million.
• Local foundations investing in the area: More local philanthropic dollars are now staying within the region—63 percent of total grants made in 2005 as compared to 46 percent in 1992.
• National foundations giving to this region: More philanthropic dollars are coming into the region: $1.5 billion in 2005 compared to $407 million in 1992.

* In the first version of this report, there was a miscategorization of the Cafritz Foundation as a family foundation, when in fact it is an independent foundation. The error has been corrected.

“You can be a philanthropist for $10″ [News 12/13/07]

With broad-appeal initiatives like the Make it Your Own Awards, 2007 Guide to Good Giving, and the Giving Challenge (launching at 3 pm today), WG member The Case Foundation is nurturing citizen-led philanthropy.

• - “Foundation Testing Potential of Philanthropy via Internet” (NYTimes, 12/13) - Starting at 3 p.m. on Thursday, readers of Parade magazine and members of the Causes section of the Facebook Web site can enter a contest to win a total of $500,000 and $250,000, for their favorite charities, provided by Case.
• - “Twin Efforts Aim to Popularize Online Giving” (WaPo, 12/13) - CEO Jean Case: “We think it’s exciting to engage people at the lower ends and say: ‘You can be a philanthropist for $10.’”

EDUCATION
Fenty, Council clash on school closures (Examiner, 12/13)
- Vincent Gray: “We look impotent and uninformed and out of the loop.” 
- Marion Barry: “This [process for] school closings was not the right way to do it…There should be tremendous public debate and a process to follow that keeps us all abreast and involved every step of the way.”
- Jonetta Rose Barras (Examiner columnist): “What’s clear is that Barry and some other politicians are more vested in maintaining their place at the public trough than in the future of the District’s children.” 

[Va.] Teacher pay trailing in Va. (Examiner, 12/13)

ENVIRONMENT
Region is urged to build green (WaPo, 12/13) - MWCOG pushes LEED standards. [Read more from WG's Sustainable Communities Working Group.]

PHILANTHROPY
Let’s hear it for mergers (KCStar, 12/11) - I have a feeling this sector could save a ton of money by seeking out smart mergers.

HEALTH
- [Va.] Kaine vows to insure needy (WaTimes, 12/13)
- Bush vetoes kids health insurance bill again. (AP, 12/13)

NONPROFITS
- “Study Faults Charities for Veterans” (WaPo, 12/13)
- “Smithsonian Challenged to Raise More Private Funds” (WaPo, 12/13)