Giving grantees an earlier decision?

By Tamara Lucas Copeland

Here’s a note I just received from Mary Hallisy of WG member Cafritz Charitable Trust:

Is there anything foundations can do to offset the uncertainty facing nonprofits for the next 12-18 months by saying as early as possible if they know they can’t fund their regular core grantees this fall or next spring? Or if it will be less? Or whatever? [A nonprofit president] expressed his anxiety over the uncertainty about how to plan and budget (he’s already got 3 budget versions). I know we can’t all predict next year but some might know more now about fall funding… Just thought the question was worth some thought. Mary H

Thoughts? (From either side of the funding equation?)

Michelle Obama, Jill Biden volunteer at Capital Area Food Bank [News, 4.30.09]

SERVICE
- The Nonprofit Roundtable looks at how the Obamas have connected with the local nonprofit community during the new administration’s first 100 days.
- Michelle Obama, Jill Biden volunteer at Capital Area Food Bank (AP, 4/30)

RECESSION
- Ford Foundation Closes International Offices (NYTimes, 4/30) - “reduced its costs by $22 million but is seeking further reductions.”
- Bay Area charities unite, share aid to survive (SFChronicle, 4/29) 

NONPROFIT LEADERS | Coverage of the Meyer Foundation’s Exponent Award event (WTOP, WAMU, 4/28)

HEALTH | To save millions, D.C. cracking down on health care program for poor (Examiner, 4/29)

WORKFORCE | Unemployment dips to 5.9% in D.C. area (WBJ, 4/29)

GIVING
- [Opinion] A Government Safety Net Is Not Enough – “Charitable giving by companies grows, despite the recession” (WSJ, 4/30) - By the leaders of the National Urban League and National Council of La Raza.
- Today at 3pm: Foundation Center Event: “Workplace Giving: A Strategy for Diversification” - with speakers from America’s Charities and the United Way of the National Capital Region

And finally, a heartwarming story featuring a WG member in a crucial role: “Teen Pianist From Southeast Orchestrates an Unlikely Rise” (WaPo, 4/30) – “Clifton recently won a $10,000 scholarship from the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, which partners with “From the Top” to aid exceptionally promising low-income students.”

Meyer Foundation: Help Us Help You [News, 4.29.09]

SHARING IDEAS | On its website, the Meyer Foundation is asking nonprofit leaders for ideas for creative ways the Foundation might help nonprofits through these tough times.

COMMUNITIES | Barry Farm: A Community With a Powerful Past Battles Poverty, Economic Crisis (WAMU, 4/29)

ENVIRONMENT | Casey Trees gives D.C. B grade (WBJ, 4/28)

EDUCATION
- DC Council reworks mayor’s budget, cutting “84 percent from the budget of deputy mayor for education Victor Reinoso.”
- ‘Nation’s Report Card’ Sees Gains in Elementary, Middle Schools (WaPo, 4/29)

DONATIONS | 21 Regional Nonprofits Withdraw From United Way (WaPo, 4/29)

UNEMPLOYED | Apprenticeships offer jobless a chance (WaTimes, 4/29)

NEWS | A Nonprofit Model for the New York Times? (NewYorker, 4/27)

100 days is a nice, round number of days [News, 4.28.09]

Here, now, the non-swine-flu-related news:

100 DAYS
- Today at 3pm: Teleconference: Arabella Insights: The Impact of Obama’s First 100 Days on Philanthropy
- The Annie E. Casey Foundation Marks First 100 Days, calling for policies that help vulnerable kids, families, and communities. (wire, 4/28)

RECESSION | “How has the mortgage crisis affected your neighborhood?” (WAMU, 4/27 – 5/1) – a special series. Tomorrow: “Barry Farms: How DC’s poorest community deals with the recession”

AGING | For Homebound Seniors, Project’s Legal Help And a Caring Voice Are a Phone Call Away (WaPo, 4/27) – Legal Counsel for the Elderly receives support from a number of Washington Grantmakers members, including: The Meyer Foundation, Philip L. Graham Fund, Agua Fund, Bank of America Foundation, and PEPCO.

HIGHER ED | “National Decision Day” celebrates students’ post-secondary plans (wire, 4/27) – This great idea was conceived by an adviser in the National College Advising Corps, which I am on record as predicting will someday be “huge,” because it’s a more efficient way at getting kids to attend college than handing out scholarships.

ARTS | Getty Trust to slash budget and lay off 97 workers (LATimes, 4/27)

WHITMAN-WALKER | Catania says the clinic is poorly managed. Clinic board members say it’s a personal vendetta. (WaPo, 4/28)

SCHOOLS | Poor Neighborhoods, Untested Teachers (WaPo, 4/27) – In D.C. region, “schools that double as teacher training grounds”

HOMELESSNESS | One In 50 Children Homeless In U.S.? (AHN, 4/27) – Sort of. Here’s a fuller scoop.

PEOPLE | Raising Bill Gates (WSJ, 4/25) - An interview with Bill Gates Sr., co-chair of the Gates Foundation, who will be in town this Thursday.

YOUTH | As Summer Jobs Program Grows, Fenty Requests Funding Increase (WaPo, 4/26)

In the news: Whitman-Walker Clinic, Washington Legal Clinic for Homeless [News, 4.24.09]

LEGAL SERVICES | Lawyer Donations Keep Legal Clinic Afloat (WaPo, 4/24) – “when the economy dried up funding for the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless, a small army of prominent partners quietly orchestrated an intense fundraising campaign among the legal community. “ 
- See also: Legal services an underused strategy in reducing poverty (WGDaily, 1/6/09) – By Danielle M. Reyes, Meyer Foundation

HIV/AIDS | Catania, Director Fighting Over AIDS Clinic Mission (WaPo, 4/24) – “The flap centers on Whitman-Walker’s efforts to expand into a full-service health-care provider as it struggles with declining revenues.”

AFFORDABLE HOUSING – D.C. Officials Dedicate Affordable Apartments (WaPo, 4/23) - CDSC’s advocacy efforts were critical here–the Housing Production Trust Fund and the creation of the Local Rent Supplement Program were the critical financing elements for this project.

SOCIAL PROFIT SECTOR
- NYTimes Company Foundation Suspends Gift Program (NYTimes, 4/23) - Reader ER: “the convergence of two crises — philanthropy and news”
- Nonprofits are thinking creatively about cutting costs and raising revenue (WSJ, 4/22) – 5 case studies
- No Profits, But Plenty of Jobs (WSJ, 4/23)

MYSTERY DONORS | $68 million mystery: Who’s behind college gifts? (WaPo, 4/23) – A clue! ”So far, all the colleges are led by women…the odds of a dozen randomly selected institutions all having female leaders are 1 in 50 million.”

TRANSIT | Metro funding back on track (WaPo, 4/24)

SERVICE | 21st Global Youth Service Day (GYSD) on April 24-26, 2009. (wire, 4/23) – Uhhm…isn’t that three days? And we wonder why the children can’t add.

This may be the finest weekend we have all year–enjoy it!
-Nick

Now accepting applications for Neighbors in Need Fund safety-net grants [News, 4.24.09]

The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region is pleased to accept proposals for Neighbors in Need Fund Safety-Net Services Grants. Grants will be awarded to nonprofit direct service organizations in the greater Washington region whose primary purpose is to help low-income and disadvantaged adults and children meet basic needs for food, shelter, clothing, emergency financial assistance (for rent/mortgage and/or basic utilities), and foreclosure prevention. 

Grant Range:  up to $25,000. Submission Deadline: Monday, May 18, 2009 at 4:00pm. Download information and application here, or contact The Community Foundation at 202-955-5890 or grants@cfncr.org.

New shared back office support for region’s nonprofits [News, 4.23.09]

FOR NONPROFITS | The Center for Nonprofit Advancement introduces Back Office in a Box (BOB), “a suite of high-quality administrative services made available at a reasonable cost.” (Grantmakers, tell your grantees.) Supported by WG members World Bank Group and the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region. (4/22)

PHILANTHROPY | Perhaps lost in the criticisms over aspects of NCRP’s “Philanthropy at its Best” report is that the criteria are rooted in an effort to address real social concerns and, as Albert Ruesga put it, a desire “for foundations to be better than they think they are.” Also, reflection is usually worthwhile. With that, here’s the NCRP self-test for foundations, released yesterday. (4/22)

CENSUS 2010 | Census Bureau Local Office Hosts Open House in DC (Informer, 4/23) “Grassroots Partnerships Seek to Eliminate 2010 Undercount”

YOUTH | Crisis Among Latino Teens Demands Action, Leaders Say (WaPo, 4/23) – Montgomery Co.

ENVIRONMENT | Fenty pushing for greener DC (Examiner, 4/23) – a more in-depth article than yesterday’s

HONORS | The Children’s Law Center Receives Mayor’s 2009 Community Service Award (wire, 4/22)

LITERACY | Barbara Bush Foundation makes grants to Mary’s Center and Family Place Washington, DC for literacy projects. (wire, 4/23) The Foundation is housed at The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region.

Fenty establishes ‘Green Agenda’ for DC [News, 4.22.09]

ENVIRONMENT | Fenty Establishes ‘Green Agenda’ for City (WaPo, 4/22 – scroll down), which includes more tree cover and “expansion of the SmartBike DC rental program to 100 stations, with 1,000 bicycles.” Learn more from DC.gov. And by the way… Happy Earth Day!

DC SCHOOLS | “A Cooperative Approach to Teacher Talks” (WaPo, 4/21) – WTU President Randi Weingarten: “[W]hile the Post suggested that Ms. Rhee can fund higher teacher salaries through “increased savings” after private foundation money runs out, the editorial failed to mention that these savings can be achieved only by hiring lower-paid, less-experienced teachers.”

LOCAL BUDGETS | Fairfax budget manages to salvage some priorities, but freezes school funding and “guts a program for affordable housing.” (WaPo, 4/21)

PEOPLE | Ximena Hartsock is DC’s new interim parks and recreation director (WaPo, 4/21)

FUNDRAISING | Though popular, Facebook ’Causes’ is ineffective for fundraising… (WaPo, 4/22)

DC VOTING RIGHTS | A somewhat depressing overview (DCist, 4/22)

VOLUNTEERISM | President Obama signs the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act into law at DC’s SEED School (WaPo, 4/22),  vastly expanding national service corps (McClatchy, 4/21).

PHILANTHROPY | Family Charities Shift Assets to Donor Funds (WSJ, 4/22) – Every few weeks, some paper runs an “Intro to Donor Funds” article. Today, that paper is the Wall Street Journal.

Planting gardens on H Street…on the roofs [News, 4.20]

ENVIRONMENT
- “D.C. Greenworks…received a $150,000 grant from the city to plant vegetation on 11 commercial rooftops along H Street, starting this spring.” (WBJ, 4/17)
- The New Polluters of the Potomac (WaPo, 4/19) -  In the river are “endocrine disruptors,” which turn boy fish into girl fish, and do God-knows-what to the Washington area humans who get their drinking water from it. (See also.)
- Thousands Turn Out for Anacostia Cleanup Effort (News8, 4/18)

PHILANTHROPY
- 63% of foundations “predict reductions in the number and/or size of their grants in 2009.” “[F]oundation assets dropped an estimated 21.9″ (Foundation Center, 4/20).  As WG pointed out in our March report, “when assets decline drastically, a foundation can increase its payout rate substantially and still decrease its overall giving.”
- NYTimes article on continuing education in philanthropy/ nonprofits (4/14) - “There’s a lot to learn…This isn’t selling Girl Scout cookies.”

ARTS | A Swan Song for an Area Treasure (WaPo, 4/19) – Marc Fisher says goodbye to the Master Chorale of Washington.

MEMBERS | The Annie E. Casey Foundation is launching the 100Days/100Voices campaign to hear about what has been done to support kids and families in the first 100 days of the Obama Administration.

EDUCATION? | D.C. Schools Gearing Up for Standardized Tests (WaPo, 4/18)

Read this Friday news round-up and then go outside for a bit [News, 4.17.09]

You’ll be really glad you did.

HIGHER EDUCATION | Mystery donors give over $45M to 9 universities (AP, 4/16) – I love a good mystery. (A tangentially related mystery: why isn’t this program huge yet?)

PEOPLE | Stacey Stewart shifts focus from Fannie Mae to United Way (WBJ, 4/17)

ARTS/EDUCATION | Arts and Academics Make Strong Combination in D.C. School – students at Duke Ellington “have a common mission–the arts.”

FORECLOSURES | Washington-area foreclosure filings drop in March (Examiner, 4/16) – - A turnaround? “Many local jurisdictions and nonprofit organizations have established programs to prevent foreclosures and get them off the market as the housing crisis has deepened.”

GRANTMAKING | Tightening Their Belts (Chronicle - subscription, 4/16) “Many grant makers expect to decrease their giving in 2009… [but] a small but significant number of grant makers said they are doing more to help charities and Americans hit hard by the recession.”

CHANGE | White House Appoints Head of Social Innovation Office (Chronicle, 4/16) – Sonal Shah is the former head of global development at Google.org. Office exists “to help innovative nonprofit groups and social entrepreneurs expand successful approaches to tackling pressing social problems.”