Small gifts add up… Social Innovation Fund feedback wanted… and Happy Holidays! [News, 12.21.09]

- Dec. 31 Is a Big Day for Online Charity (NYTimes, 12/18) – 22.5 times more money than the average day.
- Small charitable gifts add up for nonprofits (WBJ, 12/18) by Chuck Bean
- Metropolitan D.C. Charities Receive $2.7 Million from ExxonMobil Employee Giving Program (wire, 12/21)
- The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region announces $645,000 in grants to help people hurt by the recession. (WaPo, 12/18 – scroll down | more)

PUBLIC-PRIVATE
- CNCS seeking public feedback on Social Innovation Fund (12/18)
- Philanthropists, Government Partner For Good (WSJ, 12/21)

HIV/AIDS
- CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield has donated more than $250,000 to the Inova Juniper Program’s Arlington clinic, to fund additional services for HIV/AIDS patients. (SunGazette, 12/20)
- District gives HUD accountability plan for AIDS funding (WaPo, 12/20)

HUNGER/NUTRITION | “Share Our Strength “has enrolled more than 288,000 children in nutrition-education classes. In Washington, D.C., a partner organization, the Capital Area Food Bank, organizes and staffs the class with registered dietitians.” (NPR, 12/21)

BULLETIN BOARD | Shared office opportunity – Moriah Fund has excess office space.

This will probably be the last WG Daily entry until 2010. Happy holidays! Be safe, happy, and joyous. We’ll see you next year.

Charities struggle, though some more than others [News, 12.17.09]

RECESSION GIVING
- Charities struggle, though some more than others (Examiner, 12/17) – “people are more inclined toward the ‘tried and true.’”
- “Right now, fundraising is extraordinarily difficult for charities” (Center on Philanthropy, 12/16)

SERVICE | House Jobs Bill Provides $200-Million to AmeriCorps (Chronicle, 12/17)

SCHOOLS | Deep cuts in school budget for Prince George’s County, Md. (WaPo, 12/17)

ENVIRONMENT | Chesapeake Bay Foundation is urged to gird for battle (WaPo, 12/17) – “less polite, more political.”

Casey Foundation: COUNT KIDS! … Cafritz Foundation development moves forward [News, 12.16.09]

CENSUS | “Children under age 5, undercounted in the country’s once-a-decade census more than any other age group, could be missed at an even higher rate in 2010, according to a report released Tuesday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.” (BalSun, 12/16) – Why? “…because of the increased number of children living in unusual housing situations and the growing number of racial and ethnic minorities, historically more difficult to count.”

DEVELOPMENT | D.C. zoning panel approves Fort Totten development (WaPo, 12/16) – Cafritz Foundation project “will include housing, a grocery store, a children’s museum, a senior center, and cultural and arts space”

SERVICE | Opinion: “Instead of slowly ramping up to 250,000 national service opportunities over five years, the President and Congress should at least double that number now.” (HuffPo, 12/14)

TRANSIT
- Senate earmarks $3 million for Md.’s Purple Line (WaPo, 12/15)
- DC inching ahead with streetcar project (WaPo, 12/16)
- Metro close to getting $150 million in federal funds (WaPo, 12/16)

COF 2010 CONFERENCE | …in Denver, April 25-27.

DC’s “Healthy Schools Act” … Venture Philanthropy Partners [News, 12.15.09]

HEALTH | DC’s “Healthy Schools Act” aims to boost nutrition, exercise schools (WaPo, 12/15) – “would be required to serve students fresh produce from local growers and to dramatically expand physical education programs”

PEOPLE | Power Philanthropy: Jack Davies, board member of Venture Philanthropy Partners (WashingtonLife, 12/12): “Nonprofits working to transform the system need help building up infrastructure to survive for the long-term.”

DONATED SPACE | …breathes life into nonprofit organizations (Times-Dispatch, 12/15)

LISTS | The Barron’s magazine list of the 25 “best” philanthropists continues to roil the nonprofit world. (Chronicle, 12/14) – Time to let it go.

TWEET! | 7 Extraordinary Nonprofits on Twitter (HuffPo, 12/14)

BREAKING: CEOs make good money … CityBridge Foundation’s education work … “The Art of Giving” [News, 12.14.09]

COMPENSATION | Charity work has lucrative side (TampaTribune, 12/13) – Nonprofit CEOs, who make a sliver of what their for-profit counterparts make, are still making far too much, apparently. (This article is Pallotta bait.)

EDUCATION
- Katherine Bradley, CityBridge Foundation (Washington Life, 12/13): “Our K-12 portfolio of education work, which we are calling Breakthrough Schools, will also include local advocacy, funder collaboration, and broadbased engagement – from grass-roots leaders to local corporations. One idea we have is to expand our existing CityBridge Foundation model of corporate civic engagement. We hope to connect local companies to schools at the vanguard of exciting change…”
- Performance pay funding for teachers may increase (WaPo, 12/13) – Obama intent on expanding Bush program
- The federal “Gear Up” program makes possibility of college seem real for children of immigrants. (WaPo, 12/13)
- Math gains in DC, but achievement gap remains between African American and white students (WaPo, 12/13)

GIVING
- Site Diverts Shopping Money to Charities (NYTimes, 12/12) – http://www.whatididnotbuy.org/
- Marketplace talks to authors of The Art of Giving who say “we all should think like a foundation when deciding where and how to donate.” (NPR, 12/11)

HIV/AIDS | HIV funds bypassing areas in need (WaPo, 12/13) – Services are scarce in D.C. Wards 7, 8

PEOPLE
- Celebrating Civic Spirit (Bisnow, 12/14) – Scroll down for pics from the Community Foundation event.
- Corvington nomination approved by committee, “presumably paving the way for his confirmation after the holidays.”

CHILD WELFARE | Opinion: DC’s youth safety net is too darn big/unwieldy/bureaucratic. (WaPo, 12/13) The author has no solutions for unwieldy/bureaucratic part (“the situation is complicated”), but thinks that “shrinking the system” (i.e. employing fewer people) is sure to help the “overworked professionals” within…which seems questionable.

HUNGER | “Child hunger…is an increasingly complex problem” (WaPo, 12/12) – “unlikely to be solved simply by spending more money for food programs”

HEALTH | Free clinic sponsor objects to District fee (WaPo, 12/12) – Unity Health Care CEO say perhaps no big loss: “a hoopla event that really doesn’t solve the more systemic problem”

Cafritz Foundation honored… Global Giving advises President on Nobel winnings… Nonprofit bloggin’ [News, 12.11.09]

WHITE HOUSE | GlobalGiving to President Obama: When you donate your Nobel winnings, creating a matching campaign to encourage others to give. (HuffPo, 12/11)

HONORS
- Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation receives Community Foundation’s Civic Spirit Award (wire, 12/10) – Freeman: “Their presence is felt everywhere, from our region’s great cultural institutions and world-class healthcare to community-based services and a cleaner environment.“
- Four Washington-Area unsung heroes receive Community Foundation’s Linowes Leadership Awards (wire, 12/10)

HUNGER/NUTRITION
- Opinion: “the District should do a better job in fully utilizing… federal nutrition programs” (WAWF, 12/11) – by Alexandra Ashbrook, director of D.C. Hunger Solutions.
- Maryland “is failing to provide food stamps and other public benefits as promptly as federal and state law requires.” (WaPo, 12/11)

BLOGGING | Curation’ Is the Cure for Nonprofit Blogging (About.com, 12/9 – via) – I think this is a useful way of looking at it, and works for foundations, too.

TECH | Exec helps nonprofits do more with technology (WBJ, 12/11)

A PLACE TO CALL HOME | Darcy Cunningham (Moran Family Foundation) points us to this high school football story, which “really goes to show the effects/impact on our kids when they don’t have a permanent place to live and the need for affordable housing and opportunities.”

MADOFF | Has it really been a year already?

New board officers at WG… More Pr. George’s partnerships… $12M to Unity Health Care [News, 12.10.09]

PEOPLE | Washington Grantmakers announces board officers for 2010-2011 (12/10)

- Chair: Rose Ann Cleveland, Executive Director, The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation
- Vice Chair: Terri Lee Freeman, President, Community Foundation for the National Capital Region,
- Secretary: Patricia Mathews, Executive Director, Northern Virginia Health Foundation
- Treasurer: Rick Moyers, Director of Programs, The Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer Foundation

Joining the board of Washington Grantmakers this year are Diane Bernstein, president of the Diane and Norman Bernstein Foundation, and Margaret O’Bryon, president and CEO of the Consumer Health Foundation.

COLLABORATIONS | To combat funding drops, nonprofits start collaborations (Gazette, 12/9) – “[Desiree] Griffin-Moore [of the Prince George's Community Foundation] said the foundation’s Partnership for Prince George’s County — which includes 19 donor organizations — has seen more collaborations at the program level, especially involving the local churches and faith-based community. The Partnership encourages these collaborations to avoid duplicating services.” [Background on the Partnership]

HEALTH | President Obama announces Recovery Act awards “to build, renovate community health centers in more than 30 states” (WhiteHouse.gov, 12/9) – Grants include $12M to Unity Health Care Inc. in DC.

EVALUATION | Study Says Few Foundations Use Data to Evaluate Themselves (Chronicle, 12/9) according to  Center for Effective Philanthropy report.

DIGITAL DIVIDE | “DC’s new chief technology officer says he wants to use federal stimulus money to open as many as 70 public computer stations around the city.” (WAMU, 12/10)

DC SCHOOLS | Limits are likely on D.C. school vouchers (WaPo, 12/10)

SOCIAL SECTOR | 10 Things Nonprofits Won’t Tell You (SmartMoney, 12/9) – I normally don’t link things like this, but this seems a bit more meaty and interesting than most.

Gleicher to Nonprofit Montgomery… Corvington nomination… Tiger Woods Foundation [News, 12.9.09]

PEOPLE
- Hope Gleicher named the interim director of Nonprofit Montgomery. Hope was Washington Grantmakers’ founding director from 1991 to 1998 and more recently served as project director for our Beyond Dollars report.
- Senate HELP committee will consider Patrick Corvington’s nomination sometime on Thursday (Senate.gov)

LEADERS WANTED | AARP Foundation seeking nominations for Board of Directors (12/8)

YOUTH | Opinion: Tiger Woods Foundation should put its promised DC learning center in a low-income black community. (WaPo, 12/9)

NEWS NEWS | Google is testing out “Living Story” pages. Here’s one about DC School reform, in partnership with WaPo.

SCHOOLS
- District leaps forward in math over past six years, according to test scores (WaPo, 12/9)
- Budget scenario bleak for Montgomery schools (WaPo, 12/9)

ARTS | New Prize to Honor Artists Under 35 (NYTimes, 12/9)

And this story about Abe Pollin and his barber of four decades brought a tear to my eye.

CDSC “Newsbriefs” – Dec. 2009

Click to read CDSC’s “Newsbriefs” update for the fourth quarter of 2009. Articles include:

- New windows and a new start for 1363 Peabody Cooperative
- Manna, Inc. breaks ground on Cardozo Court Condominiums
- Mi Casa, Inc. breaks ground on Ivy City
- Local cooperatives gain much needed assistance from ULS
- D.C. Habitat hosts United Nations World Habitat Day

The Community Development Support Collaborative, a funding collaborative of Washington Grantmakers, is a consortium of national and metropolitan Washington-based foundations, corporations, and financial institutions. CDSC works to restore Washington, DC’s at-risk neighborhoods to their once thriving communities.

How the 30 largest foundations are using social media [News, 12.8.09]

SOCIAL MEDIA | How the largest 30 foundations are using social media (Mitch Hurst, 12/4) – “Eight of the top 30 foundations are maintaining either institutional blogs or blogs about specific programmatic initiatives.” Hurst notes that “foundations that stay on the sidelines will miss out on the substantive discussions about their issues that are taking place online.”

SCHOOLS
- Area schools have tough cuts ahead (Examiner, 12/8)
- D.C. charter schools to gain new source of practical advice (WaPo, 12/8) “Nonprofit with ties to local board to focus on finances, governance”

ENVIRONMENT
- Study sought on link between river pollutants, human health (Examiner, 12/8) – This is your intersex fish update.
- “The Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation has been actively promoting the Green and Healthy Homes approach across the country.” (BalSun, 12/8)

BEYOND DOLLARS | Grantmakers are pursuing “long-term strategies aimed at achieving true systemic reform” – Tamara’s guest-post on the Community Foundation blog starts a conversation.

HOUSING | Pollin’s generosity lives on in housing (WaPo, 12/8) - a new, mixed-income, nonprofit development, in partnership with Enterprise Homes of Columbia

GIVING | Some employers swapping parties for charity (MSNBC, 12/7)

HEALTH | MinuteClinic enters D.C. (WBJ, 11/24, via DCPCA)