Are you looking for a job, or looking to hire? Look no further!

Looking to hire? Spread the word with WRAG’s job board!

WRAG’s job board is consistently one of the most visited pages on our website. Positions are listed for 60 days on the WRAG website, are featured in WRAG’s blog and newsletter, and enter the Simply Hired database to appear on LinkedIn, Myspace, and others. And hey, you can even work for WRAG, if you are interested in membership and development!

The latest postings include:

• Manager, Membership and Development - Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers (D.C.)
• Director, Grants Management - AARP (D.C.)
• Grants and Scholarships Manager - Community Foundation for Northern Virginia (NoVA)
• Program and Marketing Manager - Humanities Council of Washington, DC (D.C.)

Click here to post/view all jobs. (WRAG members post for free.)

New Frame, Solid Foundation, Lasting Value!

At WRAG’s 2011 annual meeting, we had some help in unveiling our new strategic plan. By the end of the song below, you’ll remember what the next three years at WRAG will be about: New Frame, Lasting Value, Solid Foundation.

Click to play song:

To download a copy, right-click this link and select “save target as” or “save as.” Please note: downloaded copies are for private use only, and may not be further distributed or used for public performance. Thank you!

New numbers reveal increased youth poverty across the Greater Washington region; District among worst in the country [News, 11.30.11]

POVERTY | Here are some numbers that should make you angry. New Census data show that the poverty rate for youth (ages 5 to 17) has risen significantly in our region over the course of the recession.

• In Montgomery County, the rate has almost doubled, from 5.4% in 2007 to 9% in 2010.
• Manassas rose from 11.6% to 15.8%.
• And the District rose from an already ridiculous 24.5% to a whopping 30.5%.

That puts the District in the rare and sour company of just 73 jurisdictions in the country with a youth poverty rate above 30%. The Examiner has a chart with numbers from each jurisdiction – and they are all higher than they were four years ago. (Examiner, 11/30)

HIV/AIDS | A new report from the CDC finds that only 28 percent of Americans living with HIV are getting optimal care. (WaPo, 11/30)

In the District, the Washington AIDS Partnership is ahead of the curve. Its Positive Pathways initiative is working to get people living with HIV/AIDS into care and measuring viral load to assess success.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING | The developers of the Hubbard Place affordable housing complex in Columbia Heights were expecting a line of people to sign up for 100 spots on the apartments’ waiting list. They were not, however, expecting people to wait overnight in a line that extended for blocks. (WaPo, 11/30) And that was just to get on the waiting list.

EDUCATION | The Freddie Mac Foundation has awarded $250,000 to Prince George’s County schools for the “principal pipeline” initiative which is designed to improve principal recruitment, training, and evaluation. (Patch, 11/29)

JUVENILE JUSTICE | The New York Times has identified five nonprofits that are making big strides with only a little money. One is the District’s Youth Court which allows first-time, non-violent teenage offenders the chance to be reviewed by a group of peers and given alternatives to formally entering the juvenile justice system. (NY Times, 11/30)

Related: Be sure to check the Daily tomorrow for a new funder-commissioned report on major reform success in the District’s juvenile justice system in recent years.

WORKFORCE | Tamara found this hilarious re-imagining of Abbott and Costello’s “Who’s on First?” routine. Written by Academy Award winning director Barry Levinson, it mocks the twisting of unemployment numbers to trick the public. (HuffPo, 11/28)

TUNES | The D.C. Public Library announced that cardholders can now download and keep more than 2 million songs for free (at a rate of 3 per week) from the library’s website. That works out to about a free album per month!

TRANSIT | The District has installed 9 new speed cameras. Fortunately, WAMU mapped them out so you can avoid them. (WAMU, 11/30)

FACTOID | Today’s Philanthropy Factoid Wednesday mixes history, law, academia, and manufacturing to give you…the origins of corporate philanthropy! (WG Daily, 11/30)

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There are lots of problems to face in today’s news. But to end on a positive note, here’s a really neat list of ten futuristic engineering projects (both real and hypothetical) that could help save the environment and boost the global economy. My favorite is an elevator to space.

Philanthropy Factoid Wednesday – The origins of corporate philanthropy

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Today’s corporate philanthropy has its roots in the great Depression. The Revenue Act of 1935 allowed corporate charitable contributions of up to five percent of net income to be tax exempt. Subsequently most states gradually changed their corporate charters to allow these kinds of contributions. However, as Olivier Zunz describes in Philanthropy in America: A History, this often created tension between management and stockholders, as the latter generally did not believe that management had the right to distribute profits.

When the A.P. Smith Manufacturing Company attempted to donate $1,500 to Princeton University in 1951 and were blocked by stockholders, the case ended up before the New Jersey Supreme Court. The court favored management, noting that “the appellants, as individual stockholders whose private interests rest entirely upon the well-being of the plaintiff corporation, ought not be permitted to close their eyes to present-day realities and thwart the long-visioned corporate action in recognizing and voluntarily discharging its high obligations as a constituent of our modern social structure.”

Rockville school fuses career and college prep…Billionaire philanthropists influence policy…’Slacktivists’ not so slacktive! [News, 11.29.11]

EDUCATION | A high school in Rockville, Maryland, is testing out a new model that “some educators are calling a cutting-edge fusion of college and career preparation.” (WaPo, 11/29)

POLICY | The New York Times takes a look at how the advocacy and lobbying efforts of billionaire philanthropists are beginning to have a serious impact on policy. (NYTimes, 11/26)

Is this good, bad, or both? The government has trouble doing things well, but there have always been concerns about lobbyists influencing policy. Share your thoughts in the comment section.

SOCIAL MEDIA | Georgetown University has released the final report from its Dynamics of Cause Engagement study. This one looks at “slacktivists” – people who have the reputation of passively supporting causes through social media. As it turns out, the nickname is a misnomer:

Americans who support causes most often by utilizing promotional social media (e.g., joining a cause group on Facebook, posting an icon on a social profile, blogging
about a cause) participate in more than twice as many supportive activities (both online and offline) when compared to their non-social media promoter peers.

ARTS | Michael Kaiser: Every Arts Organization has a Deficit (HuffPo, 11/29) “When an organization accepts deficits, they are placing themselves in a precarious situation.”

LOCAL | The National Zoo has a new giant octopus and they are asking the public to help name it. (WAMU, 11/29) Any ideas? How about something formal like Lord Octo Squidington VIII?

Related: Some zebras escaped an animal park in Leesburg today and the police quickly caught them. It was a black and white case. (Loudoun Times, 11/29)

HO HO HO | The Children’s Law Center needs more Santas! There are lots of ways to help make the holidays happy for the District’s low-income children.

TRANSIT | Metro hikes and taxi fare hikes are on the horizon. (Examiner/WTOP, 11/29) That’s it. I’m buying a horse.  DDOT, please install horse lanes. Thank you.

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Bob Dylan’s Gotta Serve Somebody – great song, great message.

Do’s and Don’ts for nonprofits…Wal-Mart announces jobs-training, $21 million in funding in District…DC Chartered Health Plan joins Positive Pathways initiative [News, 11.28.11]

NONPROFITS | The Wall Street Journal asked philanthropists to help come up with a list of do’s and don’ts for nonprofits soliciting funding. Arabella Advisor’s Eric Kessler, a new member of WRAG’s Board, says (WSJ, 11/28):

An organization that teaches a donor about an issue has a much higher chance of success than one that just “pitches” a donor about the organization’s cause…”A site visit can be a life-changing experience.”

HIV/AIDS | DC Chartered Health Plan is the first managed care organization to participate in the Washington AIDS Partnership’s Positive Pathways initiative, which assists out-of-care HIV-positive African Americans living in Wards 5-8 in accessing HIV medical care. The Partnership’s Channing Wickham says (Informer, 11/26):

We are so pleased that Chartered has joined this groundbreaking effort to ensure that people living with HIV/AIDS in the District receive the medical care they need through what research is showing is a highly effective strategy.”

GIVING | Here’s a recap of National Capital Philanthropy Day, where a number of WRAG members were honored for their local giving, including Deloitte, the Agua Fund, and David Whitehead of the AARP Foundation.  (WaPo, 11/28)

DISTRICT | As it gets ready to open a number of stores in the District, Wal-Mart has announced plans to provide a job-training program, open hiring centers, and make $21 million in local grants. The funding will support hunger relief, health programs, education, and job-training. Mayor Gray says, “Wal-Mart is showing what it means to be a good corporate neighbor, and I encourage other firms interested in doing business in the District of Columbia to show a similar level of commitment to our residents.” Well put. (WaPo, 11/24)

ARTS/HUMANITIES | In art, Anacostia hopes to see a new vision (WaPo, 11/28)

SPACE/WORKFORCE | Virginia’s Gov. Bob McDonnell is pushing legislation to grow the state’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, which has been named the best commercial spaceport in the country and supports 28,000 jobs. (WTOP, 11/28) Awesome!

HEALTH | Opinion: A grim diagnosis for our ailing health care system (WaPo, 11/28)

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I hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving. I spent Thursday morning laughing so hard that my eyes were gushing tears after seeing the 610 Stompers on the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Ordinary men. Extraordinary moves. And, easily the most hilarious thing that has ever been featured in the parade. This is the best quality video that I can find.

Also, did anyone see The Muppets? It was fantastic.

Super committee failure to wipe out local growth…Wal-Mart Foundation uses Facebook to influence giving…HIV/AIDS testing at DMV is very successful [News, 11.22.11]

ECONOMY | It’s official – the “super committee” has failed the American people. It has also specifically failed our region. With no plan coming from the committee, automatic spending cuts will be triggered to take effect in 2013. According to George Mason University’s Stephen Fuller, these automatic cuts will wipe out our region’s projected economic growth in 2013 (WBJ, 11/22). He says:

“It won’t crash us into a recession, but it would take growth to zero…Places like Fairfax, D.C. and Arlington, where [defense spending] is more important, would feel it more than places that are more diversified.”

Here’s the list of super committee members just in case you want to demand accountability from them.

SOCIAL MEDIA/GIVING | The Wal-Mart Foundation will make $19 million in grants to nonprofits during the holidays, and it is taking nominations for where a portion of that money should go through its Facebook page. (Chronicle, 11/22)

HIV/AIDS | After the first year of a pilot program, more than 5,000 District residents have been tested for HIV/AIDS at the Department of Motor Vehicles. As an incentive, people who get tested there receive a $7 discount on DMV services. Those who test positive are offered rides to clinics. The program has been so successful that it will expand to social services offices. (DCist, 11/22)

EDUCATION | New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman reflects on education reform in America and makes a great – and hopefully obvious – point (NY Times, 11/20):

To be sure, there is no substitute for a good teacher. There is nothing more valuable than great classroom instruction. But let’s stop putting the whole burden on teachers. We also need better parents. Better parents can make every teacher more effective.

TRANSIT
- Maryland’s InterCounty Connector opened today, and commuters can get from Gaithersburg in Montgomery County to Laurel in Prince George’s in only twenty minutes. (WTOP, 11/22) That’s half the time it takes me to commute from Capitol Hill to Dupont Circle! Man, I wish I had a transporter like the ones from Star Trek.

- The Rockefeller Foundation has granted Montgomery County $260,000 to help plan its proposed 150-mile bus rapid transit system. (WaPo, 11/21)

HOUSING | Vienna Housing Market Named 5th Best in Nation (Connection, 11/22)

A REGION UNITED: ACT II | Check out pictures from WRAG’s Annual Meeting on our Facebook page. Feel free to tag yourself or others!

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The Daily will be quiet until Monday. I hope you all have a safe and very happy Thanksgiving.

By the way, who is familiar with the term “Rickrolling“? It’s an annoying Internet fad where somebody tricks readers by posting a link that seems to be for one thing, but is actually a link to a Rick Astley music video. So I would say, “Check out this link to Barack Obama’s secret plan for re-election in 2012!”  You click, get the music video, and you’ve been Rickrolled. Dumb.

Back on point, Rickrolling jumped from the Internet to real life at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade in 2008 on a children’s float. Irritating and hilarious at the same time. Also, this is the last time you will hear about Rickrolling on The Daily.

- Christian

Patty Alper, Jeffrey Slavin, Debbie Marriott Harrison and others discuss their giving [News, 11.21.11]

The Washington Post’s On Giving section published interviews with eleven funders, including a number of WRAG members. Here are some snippets:

Patty Alper on her inspirations for giving: “I studied a 12th-century theologian, Maimonides, who created a hierarchy of giving. He declared that to teach one self-sufficiency and to live independently is the highest order of philanthropy.”

Jeffrey Slavin on the separation of politics and giving: “Politics is about power. That’s not what philanthropy is about. It’s about empowering.”

Debbie Marriott Harrison on Marriott International’s employees: “I’m especially proud of the contributions and volunteer efforts of our employees, which totals another $10 million.”

Be sure to check out the other interviews as well, including ones with Jaylee Mead and Cal Ripken.

A REGION UNITED: ACT II | Dan Brady at the Forum of Regional Association of Grantmakers published pictures and a blog post (Meet the Cultural Creatives, But Don’t Try to Sell Them Anything) on WRAG’s annual meeting luncheon with Dr. Paul Ray:

Cultural Creatives represent about 35% of the population and, according to Ray’s research, they are growing. It’s important for philanthropy to take note here, because they also happen to be the group that volunteers and donates the most. In addition, they tend to be the opinion leaders in areas of social change. So how do you reach these people? Authenticity is the key.

HOMELESSNESS | Fannie Mae’s walk for the homeless takes its final lap (WaPo, 11/20) This was the last of the traditional walks, but Fannie Mae is promoting smaller, “decentralized” walks aimed at raising money in new ways.

ENVIRONMENT | Va. Bay Cleanup Estimate Now Tops $15B (WAMU, 11/21) Which is another way to say that we’ve done at least $15 billion of damage to the Chesapeake. Terrible.

EDUCATION
- Hispanic population growth fuels enrollment boom (Examiner, 11/21) A look at shifting demographics in Fairfax County and Montgomery County schools.

- Three new middle schools proposed for Northeast D.C.’s Ward 5 (WaPo, 11/21)

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Three thoughts for a Monday morning. First, The Black Keys are a really talented band and you should check out the amusing video of their new single – the guy in the video isn’t a band member. Second, it was a tough loss for the Redskins, but it was also the first game where I’ve been proud of the team in months.

Third (I’m going to get political here), if the rumors are true and the bi-partisan “super committee” just gives up on reaching a debt deal, then the members of that committee should give their seats to people who can actually get the job done. I think we deserve better representation and leadership from both parties.

Awards, awards, awards! [News, 11.18.11]

AWARDS
- Congratulations to Rosie Allen-Herring of Fannie Mae and Nicky Goren of the Washington Area Women’s Foundation, who were among the 25 local leaders to receive the 2011 Women Who Mean Business award from the Washington Business Journal. (WBJ, 11/17)

- Yesterday the Meyer Foundation announced the recipients of its 2011 Exponent Awards, which recognize excellent nonprofit executive directors. The honorees are Manny Hidalgo, of the Latino Economic Development Corporation; Lecester Johnson, of Academy of Hope; and Amy Nakamoto, of DC SCORES. The recipients receive $100,000 to support leadership development in their organizations. Congratulations! (Meyer, 11/17)

- The Community Foundation for Montgomery County recognized Jeffrey Slavin, of the Sanford and Doris Slavin Foundation, as the 2011 Philanthropist of the Year at a ceremony on Tuesday evening. (Chevy Chase Patch, 11/17). You can check out some additional photos of the event via the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region’s Facebook page. Slavin’s philanthropy was also recently profiled in Bethesda Magazine. (November-December 2011)

POVERTY | Fewer D.C. households received food stamps last year (Examiner, 11/18) However, this is more a function of low income families moving out of the District due to the growing cost of living than a decrease in poverty.

DEMOGRAPHICS | Since the economic downturn in 2008, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia have all seen a decline in immigration, particularly from Latin American and Caribbean countries. (Examiner, 11/18)

ENVIRONMENT | This is really cool: an elementary school in Howard County, MD, has received a grant to install solar panels over the landfill next door to the school, which will provide the school with 90 percent of its power in the future. (WAMU, 11/15)

PROFILE | The Post today has a great story about how a local ex-convict is rebuilding his life. A powerful read. (WaPo, 11/18)

MUSIC | If you attended our annual meeting on Wednesday, I’m sure this song is still stuck in your head. Good luck getting it un-stuck. (Daily, 11/17)

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Happy Friday! Here’s a selection of incredible photos that have been submitted for National Geographic’s annual photo contest. This one is my favorite.

-Rebekah

“Grantmaker, Grantmaker, make me a grant!”

Thank you to everyone who participated in our 2011 annual meeting yesterday – especially the WRAG Chorus, pictured above! We’ll have plenty of fun things to share from the meeting over the next few weeks. Before everybody takes a break for Thanksgiving, we want to make sure you have another chance to hear the luncheon song – Grantmaker.

If you’re inclined to sing along, here’s a copy of the lyrics.

Click to play Grantmaker

A Parody for the WRAG’s 2011 Annual Meeting
Lyrics: Ken Rynne, 2011
Music: “Matchmaker” from Fiddler on the Roof (Buck & Harnick, 1964)