Marin foundation opens $10M housing push - San Francisco Business Times:

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Marin Community Foundation is embarking on a five-year, $10 million initiative to increase affordable housing offerings in Marin County.

Building new affordable housing in Marin County has never been easy, and some of this $10 million will go toward encouraging zoning changes, developing new rental units, building new housing and buying foreclosed homes.

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THE RHODE ISLAND FOUNDATIONS NET ASSETS shrank from $575 million to $428 million during 2008, according to the nonprofits annual report.

PROVIDENCE The value of The Rhode Island Foundations investments fell 27 percent in 2008, the 93-year-old nonprofit has disclosed in its annual report.

The fair value of its investments slid to $409.16 million in 2008 from $561.07 million the year before.

The report also said the foundations 10-year average investment return was 5.8 percent at the end of last year, nearly double the national community foundation average.

The report also emphasized that 2008 was not a uniformly bleak year for The Rhode Island Foundation.

The foundation also said it received more than $44 million in new charitable gifts last year, the second-highest amount in its history. The Black Philanthropy Initiative had raised $250,000 toward a $1 million goal by the end of last year, while a $1 million campaign to fund Equity Action, which promotes gay rights, is on track to be completed by the end of March 2011, the report said.

The California Community Foundation has just awarded $900,000 to 19 Southern California nonprofit organizations. The grants are the first step in a three-phased Immigrant Integration Initiative to help immigrants integrate more fully into the civic and economic life of Los Angeles County. A total of $3.75 million has been allocated for additional programs in the Foundation’s five-year initiative effort.

Awards range from $25,000 to $200,000 for programs designed to ease tensions between immigrants and long-time residents, advocate for better community food resources and work with developers to influence local housing and commercial design projects. Other grantees will provide immigrants with increased access to job services and English language instruction in the workplace.

The Council on Foundations, a national professional association in Washington, D.C., awarded the Topeka Community Foundation its top honor.

Steve Gunderson, president and chief executive officer of the Council on Foundations, said the designation is similar to the Good Housekeeping Seal for community foundations. The council said the Topeka Community Foundation met its highest philanthropic standards for operational quality, integrity and accountability.

The foundations are required to document their policies for donor services, investments, grant making and administration through the National Standards for U.S. Community Foundations Program, which aims to provide quality assurance to donors.

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The Clark County Community Foundation is asking for help to getting up to $17,000 in matching grants.
The Ross Foundation recently challenged the Clark County Community Foundation to raise $8,000, which would fund CCCFs operating endowment, by June 30.
Some programs the CCCF have funded include Humane Society Clark County, Equine Rescue, Sheriffs Youth Ranch, Group Living, Inc., Arkadelphia Human Development Center, rural fire departments, police departments and several of the county schools for reading and literacy programs.
The CCCF has almost $1 million in endowed funds for specific programs. As these endowments grow and are created, Sommer said, the CCCF will be able to increase grant funding back to the community.
Sommer recently send a campus-wide e-mail to staff and faculty at Henderson State to ask for donations, and said the foundation has received several very generous offers.

Community Foundation Sonoma County has named Tania Amochaev, Harriet Derwingson, Herb Castillo and Whitney Hall to its board of directors. David Voss is the new board chair, Pete Golis is chair-elect and Linda Kachiu is treasurer, while outgoing chair Barbara Graves is secretary.

Recently installed CFSC President and CEO Barbara Hughes said that she is “thrilled” with the caliber of the new board members and the broad representation throughout the county.

Philanthropists and artists invited by the Community Foundation for Monterey County have convened to discuss the necessity of funding for local arts, and how the arts benefit our community.

I am surrounded by gifted musicians, CEOs of grand arts organizations and leaders from the Peninsula communities, who are all familiar with the fancy cheeses on the elegantly staged table. I'm wearing shoes from The Western Stage's costume shop because I had none better of my own, and the unfamiliarity of my current environment feels intimidating.

But I am on a mission: To tell these affluent supporters of the arts my own story of how The Western Stage at Hartnell College has changed my life. I was shocked that every kid I knew wasn't already enrolled.

"Immediately I signed up for the next summer program, and worked 9 to 5, five days a week. It instilled meaning and confidence into the shy child I once was, and I never felt happier.

"I continued on for years, until eventually I came to a point in my life where I had to focus on my schoolwork.

"Finally, years later, I ran over to The Western Stage and said I needed to be a part of the company in some way. It was a success, and I hope by sharing some of the good roles The Western Stage has played in my life, they saw how much good the company can do in our community as a whole.

While financial support from these wonderful people is extremely important, nothing outweighs the support from our community. John of The Western Stage in Salinas.

The Cumberland County Community Development Office is seeking single women living alone or with roommates in the Portland area to participate in a study of their housing needs and preferences.

Data will be collected through an online survey and in-depth interviews, said Elizabeth Trice, the county’s grants and special projects coordinator.

Some of the interviewees will be invited to participate in a focus group further discussing some viable options for housing catered towards the needs of women living alone or with others.

This research is primarily funded by a grant from the Maine Community Foundation.

Match Day giving blunts drop in Community Foundation for Muskegon County assets by Dave Alexander | The Muskegon Chronicle Thursday June 25, 2009, 8:21 AM

The current Community Foundation for Muskegon County theme of "give ... thanks" was appropriate for the Match Day announcement at the foundation's annual luncheon.

Contributors, local nonprofit organizations and foundation leaders all were "giving thanks" for the final report on last month's Match Day fundraiser and for the approximately $525,000 in checks handed out to 58 participating agencies, amid a year when foundation assets were down significantly.

Match Day was an event in which the foundation and more than 15 of its donor-advised funds that put up a $75,000 match. Some 94 foundation-associated nonprofits had the ability to raise funds and be matched 50 cents on every dollar raised May 28.

Total match: $75,000

Total gifts raised: $449,594

Nonprofits receiving donations: 78

Nonprofits sharing in the match: 58

Most funds raised: Child Abuse Council

Most match money received: First Congregational Church

Highest average gift: Ravenna Public Schools endowment

Most number of gifts: Love Inc.
Source: Community Foundation for Muskegon County

"Muskegon again has risen to the occasion as it has done so many times," foundation President Chris McGuigan in reporting on Match Day final results. "We met and surpassed our greatest expectations."

Match Day was launched this year because of the downturn in the economy and the stock markets which have hurt local nonprofit organizations at a time when community needs are increasing.

The economic recession could be seen in the foundation's 2008 annual report presented to the annual luncheon at the Holiday Inn Muskegon Harbor.

The foundation's investments were down 30 percent in 2008, while the foundation brought in $5.6 million in new gifts and 46 new funds were created.

The Effingham County Community Foundation and Mattoon Area Community Foundation have forged an alliance that will extend philanthropic opportunities for southeastern Illinois.

The resulting organization, Southeastern Illinois Community Foundation, will provide administrative and technical assistance to its local member community foundations (initially Effingham County Community Foundation and Mattoon Area Community Foundation).

Joedy Hightower, president/CEO of the foundation, said, “Across the country, these community foundation partnerships have proven to be an effective way for communities to support local charities without taking on the cost and administrative burden of managing an endowment. The member foundations retain their own identities, but have access to the professional staff, fund management and investment expertise of the umbrella foundation. This results in reduced administrative expenses for the local foundations.”