Vermont Community Foundation announces new innovations and collaborations grant program Details about the Innovations and Collaborations grant program were announced by the Foundation today; full details about the other programs will be announced later this spring.

The Innovations and Collaborations grant program will celebrate the power of organizations to create change by supporting how nonprofits work together across issues, sectors, or regions. Through this program, we hope to show our support for their innovative work and build capacity for collaboration throughout Vermont.

The Innovations and Collaborations grant program will fund projects that are collaborations between organizations across issues, sectors, or regions; and have a focus on understanding and evaluating impact.

Applications will be considered from nonprofit organizations, schools, and municipal entities for projects that address the above purposes.

Freeport Community Foundation names interim executive director - Freeport, IL - The Journal-Standard Dan Schmitt, a recent member of the Freeport Community Foundation board of directors, was recently named Freeport Community Foundation interim executive director.
Schmitt replaced outgoing interim director Anne Cox, who served in the position for 14 months.
Dan Schmitt, a recent member of the Freeport Community Foundation board of directors, was recently named Freeport Community Foundation interim executive director.
Schmitt replaced outgoing interim director Anne Cox, who served in the position for 14 months.

Finally, they have to make grants that are primarily Jewish in nature and in order to do so, the 16-, 17-, and 18-year old participants must grapple with the question, What is Jewish philanthropy?

The answer or answers determine the impact of the groups grantmaking, but the process of answering the question provides a unique opportunity to explore the intersections of Jewish and personal values, community need and communal responsibility, thousand-year-old teachings and contemporary issues.

By giving teens the freedom to define Jewish philanthropy for themselves, on their own terms, we seek to send the message that there are no right or wrong answers and that discussing and deeply understanding the question is more important than arriving at any one particular answer. Judaism gives us so many directions about where, how and to whom we give, that we can see our Jewish responsibility to repair the world everywhere we see need.

That our youngest philanthropists, a generation already marked by their commitment to service and social justice, would view any giving they do, any service they engage in and we know its a lot as Jewish philanthropy, means that Judaism is infusing their lives in a profound and all-encompassing way. But there are always others who answer, Funding programs to connect people to Judaism will help ensure there are always people who, like us, feel a responsibility to care for those who have the greatest needs.

From the teen members of Rose Youth Foundation, I have learned not just that the universal and the particular are both essential components of Jewish philanthropy, I have also learned that considering them in opposition to one another as two separate choices creates a false dichotomy.

They are two sides of the Jewish philanthropy coin, or two points on a continuous feedback loop.

Supporting the explicitly Jewish cause of creating compelling pathways to Jewish life leads to more people serving as Jewish champions of universal needs and as advocates for Jewish engagement too. At the same time, funding to address universal needs through a lens of Jewish values and tradition can serve as a powerful, illuminating and reinforcing expression of ones Judaism.

Sarah Indyk is the Jewish Life Initiatives Manager at Rose Community Foundation in Denver, Colorado where she oversees three initiatives to help connect the next generations of Jewish people to Jewish life: Rose Youth Foundation, Roots & Branches Foundation and MazelTot.

Categories Select Category 28 Days, 28 Ideas American Philanthropy Asian Jewish Life Best of the Blogs Best Practice Building and Weaving Chanukah, O Chanukah Cool People Crossing Borders Education European Jewish Innovation Events Fellowship and RFP Opportunities Foundation-Grantee Partnerships Global Day of Jewish Learning Growing Jewish Education in Challenging Times Heard Around Jerusalem Herzliya Conference In Case You Missed In Depth In the Media Innovation Innovation Roundtable Innovation: The New Jewish Landscape Jerusalem Report Jewish Culture Jewish Humor Jewish Philanthropy Jewish South Africa Today Latin American Jewry Life in the FSU Countries lnside Israel Made in Israel Management Tools Managing Your Nonprofit Marketing Media Release / Official Publication Most Read Content NewGen Opinion Peoplehood: A Sense of Belonging Philanthropy / NP Management Blogs Philanthropy in Israel PresenTense Digital Issue PresenTense Environment Issue PresenTense Jewish Heroes Issue PresenTense Magazine PresenTense Philanthropy Issue PresenTense Social Action Issue Professional Development Public-Private Philanthropy Recession Watch Resource Library Shma: a Journal of Jewish Ideas Site Design Tools Slingshot Fund Snapshots: The New Jewish Landscape Social Philanthropy Summer of Innovation The American Jewish Scene The Blog The Limmud Experience The Mobile Web The World Tikkun Olam Transforming Philanthropy in Israel Uncategorized Using Technology Wisely Web 2.0 Womens Philanthropy Select Month March 2012 (9) February 2012 (144) January 2012 (125) December 2011 (135) November 2011 (122) October 2011 (114) September 2011 (109) August 2011 (116) July 2011 (111) June 2011 (141) May 2011 (120) April 2011 (126) March 2011 (165) February 2011 (117) January 2011 (131) December 2010 (143) November 2010 (150) October 2010 (128) September 2010 (116) August 2010 (136) July 2010 (143) June 2010 (125) May 2010 (118) April 2010 (109) March 2010 (133) February 2010 (130) January 2010 (117) December 2009 (99) November 2009 (108) October 2009 (103) September 2009 (97) August 2009 (68) July 2009 (97) June 2009 (114) May 2009 (88) April 2009 (90) March 2009 (107) February 2009 (94) January 2009 (90) December 2008 (106) November 2008 (74) October 2008 (68) September 2008 (49) August 2008 (43) July 2008 (65) June 2008 (73) May 2008 (90) April 2008 (60) March 2008 (51) February 2008 (43) January 2008 (42) December 2007 (18) November 2007 (13) What We Do

March 1, 2012, 12:30 pm

By Heather Joslyn

Archives Select Month March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 Categories Select Category Audio Blogs Facebook Foursquare Fund Raising Google+ Hardware Jumo LinkedIn Mobile Networks NexGen Pinterest Social Media Surveys Technology Twitter Videos Web Development Web Strategy Webcasting RSS

Follow Social Philanthropy through your favorite RSS reader.

Follow me on Twitter: @philanthropy

more Communities of faith
Last week, Pastor Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan released a statement sharply criticizing the recent New York court decision to ban religious... more Torn between benign message and controversial ideology
My Facebook feed this week has been dominated by the controversy over the Komen Foundations decision first to end support of Planned Parenthood and then... more A victory for civil society
Last weeks landmark Supreme Court decision on religious liberty involves much more than just the freedom of churches to choose their ministers.

Mount Laurel had its origins as the Mount Laurel School, which was founded in the late 1950s to serve children in Bennington and Rutland Counties who needed special education services that were unavailable in their local schools.

Grant applications from the Mount Laurel Foundation, Inc.

Organizations requesting grant applications, may contact: Mount Laurel Foundation, Inc.

Sodexo Foundation and YSA (Youth Service America) have awarded 77 Sodexo Foundation Youth Grants to young people nationwide, including Lomari and Shana, to support youth-led service projects designed to reduce childhood hunger in America.

"Through Sodexo Foundation Youth Grants, Sodexo Foundation and YSA are activating the immense creativity, drive and commitment of young people who are working to address the childhood hunger crisis in America."

Sodexo Foundation increased the number of Youth Grants awarded this year by 55%, funding a total of 127 Sodexo Foundation Youth Grants since the inception of the partnership.

ABOUT YSA (Youth Service America)Celebrating 25 years of youth changing the world, YSA (Youth Service America) improves communities by increasing the number and the diversity of young people, ages 5 to 25, serving in substantive roles.

Laura Bush gives final grants for Gulf libraries - Regional Wire - SunHerald.com -- For the fifth time since Hurricane Katrina, former First Lady Laura Bush visited Chalmette High School on Thursday and announced grants ranging from $20,000 to $60,000 to help school libraries in Louisiana and Mississippi rebuild their collections after Hurricane Katrina.

The Laura Bush Foundation for America's Libraries announced its first round of Gulf library recovery grants at Chalmette High on March 3, 2006.

"I am happy to be back in the state of Louisiana," Bush told the crowd, mainly consisting of Chalmette High students and teachers and librarians from some of the 116 Gulf school libraries that have received $6.3 million from the foundation. She praised the "recovery and renewal we see in the Gulf Coast today" and applauded local officials for the "unprecedented task of rebuilding whole school districts."

She said libraries "provide a sense of normalcy" to a child's life and, quoting one Gulf library official, said they also bring a kind of "bibliotherapy."

The Times-Picayune reports ( http://bit.ly/wdf3nc) that along with the 10 grants to Louisiana, and two to Pass Christian, Miss., school libraries, Bush also announced - to the surprise of the librarians in attendance from many of the schools - that all 116 school libraries that have received grants from the foundation over the past six years will also receive about $1,000 each.

St. Bernard Parish Schools Superintendent Doris Voitier led the grant award ceremony, which ushered Bush to the stage with "The Eyes of Texas," the alma mater of the University of Texas at Austin, where Bush attained her master's degree in Library Science before beginning her carrier as a librarian.

"Thank you for bringing life, literally, back into our library," Voitier told Bush.

In March 2006, Bush brought with her the CEO of Time Inc. The new library now features that collection prominently.

After the ceremony, a member of the foundation's advisory council led a session for librarians on "best practices for digital materials," explaining in part how to use e-books as library references.

Of the Louisiana grants, $60,000 each went to Edward Hynes Charter School in New Orleans and Fisher Middle-High School in Jean Lafitte; $50,000 each was awarded to Arabi Elementary School, Chalmette Elementary School, Kate Middleton Elementary School in Gretna, Lincoln Elementary School for the Arts in Marrero and Morris Jeff Community School in New Orleans; $25,000 was granted to Leo E. Elementary School in Jean Lafitte; and $20,000 goes to LeBlanc Elementary School in Abbeville and William Hart Elementary School in Gretna.

In Mississippi, Pass Christian Elementary and Pass Christian Middle School each will receive $50,000 from the foundation.

Henry Family Foundation, Perkins School for the Blind and Vencorps committed additional grants this year to support specific causes.

Red Sox principal owner Henrys foundation will provide an additional $50,000 of grants to support the startup or startups in the 2012 MassChallenge accelerator with the most compelling social impact potential.

We look forward to a close and collaborative partnership with MassChallenge that will enable tremendous social impact, said foundation director Linda Pizzuti Henry, Henrys wife.

Perkins School for the Blind will offer an additional $25,000 of grants via the Perkins Assistive Technology Prize to encourage participants in MassChallenge to develop new devices that could make a significant impact on the quality of life for people with disabilities.

Joining with MassChallenge is a natural for us, Perkins President Steven Rothstein said in a statement. VenCorps will contribute $25,000 for grants to the startup or startups demonstrating the greatest potential to positively impact the City or State of New York.

MassChallenge is the largest-ever start-up accelerator and competition, and the first to support high-impact, early-stage entrepreneurs with no strings attached to this years total of $1.1 million in cash awards.

Other benefits for start-ups include a 3-month accelerator program, world-class mentorship and training, free office space, access to funding, legal advice, co-founders and media exposure.

In January 2011, President Obama honored MassChallenge as one of the nations best organizations for supporting high-growth entrepreneurs, and it was the youngest inaugural affiliate of the Start-up America Partnership.

The 111 start-ups supported in the 2010 MassChallenge accelerator raised more than $100 million in outside funding and created about 500 new jobs in less than 12 months.