Hall of Famer and Baltimore native Pam Shriver approaches her annual charity tennis classic in much the same way the U.S. Postal Service goes about delivering mail. Nothing is going to stop it.

"I think there is still a great desire to have that one fun night of tennis in Baltimore, and I'd like to see us reach 25 years," said Shriver, who will host the event for the 24th time Dec. 9 at 1st Mariner Arena. "And if it has to stop, I want a better reason for not having it than that the banks are having an economic downturn. We still have to go out and have our fun."

Shriver is the event's major guarantor this year, a shift from the past 23 years, when one bank or another -- five of them all together -- sponsored it. But this year, PNC Bank declined to renew its sponsorship, and no else has stepped forward to attach its name to the event, which benefits the Baltimore Community Foundation in partnership with children's charities.

There was so much interest in last month’s post of 90 Foundations That Tweet that I wanted to expand on it by sharing a list of funder networks on Twitter.

What is a Funder Network?

According to the Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers:

Funder networks consist of grantmakers organized around a specific funding issue, geographic location, or identity-based community that come together to build their skills, capacity, and impact.

The city has hired a consultant to train local community groups, non-profits and the City Council to help improve leadership and implement some of the ideas generated at the Galesburg Advantage Visioning forums.

Six visioning forums earlier this year were attended by hundreds of local people who came together to discuss ideas to improve Galesburg. The city is now working to take those discussions to the next level by building a structure to develop ideas aired at the meetings.

The visioning process, which began at the Galesburg Advantage forums, has been refined to focus on three areas: Bringing ideas to fruition through partnering local agencies with themes; targeting participation with traditionally under-represented populations; and building capacity in local agencies to support the vision concepts and cultivate leadership.

Later in the fall, Galesburg Advantage will match those themes with local organizations which can begin to tackle them. The two workshops in September will be sponsored by the city in partnership with Galesburg Community Foundation, Carl Sandburg College and University of Illinois Extension.

The visioning sessions finished in April and the city has been working with a number of local groups to see how ideas generated at the forum can be developed.

Bunnie Riedel had the pleasure of meeting Jerry Adams about a year ago and the pleasure of seeing the Human Services Coalition (HSC) of Prince George's County in action at a conference this summer. What the HSC does is fantastic! It leverages its members' capabilities and helps those Nonprofits build capacity.

There cannot be a more important time than now for Nonprofits to come together, share resources and support one another. I am reminded that whatever issues we face in our communities, it is usually Nonprofits at the forefront of solving those issues and providing service.

The Partnership for Prince George’s, a philanthropic effort hosted by the Prince George’s Community Foundation, has funded HSC to develop a public policy initiative concerning the county budget. We also collaborated on hosting three excellent forums on advocacy seeking to get more of our members comfortable with joining the advocacy efforts.

The Willow Springs Community Foundation is pleased to announce that they have met their goal of raising $26,000 as part of the Harry Cooper Supply Company Campaign for the Ozarks. This money will matched dollar-for-dollar through the Cooper Campaign. Representatives from the Community Foundation of the Ozarks will be on hand to present a check for the matching funds on Friday, July 17, 2009. The local match was made possible thanks to the generosity of Steve and Ginny Norman.

The Harry Cooper Supply Company Campaign for the Ozarks is a dollar for dollar challenge grant in partnership with the Community Foundation of the Ozarks that is part of an overall regional effort to enhance community grantmaking endowments, establish administrative/operations endowments, and promote appropriate and best practices by community foundation board of directors.

Some leaders seem born to it; others might grow into it. Still others have leadership capability that needs cultivating and encouraging. That last big bunch became the focus of the many community-organized leadership-development courses that blossomed nationwide during the past three or four decades.

More than 300 achievers and potential achievers have been through Leadership Santa Fe's six-weekend offerings in a 30-year tenure interrupted by, well, less-than-successful leadership - but resumed in recent years.

The group has just taken a couple of seven-league strides: It's now a program of the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce. The chamber's counterparts launched leadership courses in many American cities, so our community's business group can draw on plenty of experience. At the same time, the Santa Fe Community Foundation has agreed to provide leadership training for those interested in serving on boards of our area's many nonprofit organizations.

Cleveland continues to have rich ethnic diversity in addition to a deep-rooted social legacy of philanthropy. Wealth generated from our once booming industries has contributed to our impressive cultural institutions (world class art museum and orchestra, among many others). The Cleveland Foundation is the oldest and second largest community foundation in the nation, and we have a slew of other local foundations that contribute to many non-profits in town.

We have a strong network of excellent non-profits that are committed to the social, environmental and economic sustainability of our city. These non-profits came together to create the government position of Program Director for the City of Cleveland’s Office of Sustainability, Andrew Watterson.

The Chicago Community Trust announced it surpassed a $1-million target to provide funds for shelters and pantries that have been overwhelmed by soaring demand.

In an initiative launched late last year, the community foundation raised $1.3 million for its Unity Challenge fund for local charities.

In addition, it contributed $2 to the fund for every $1 in donations, bringing the total fund to almost $4 million. A $500,000 donation from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation helped the Trust exceed its initial goal to raise $1 million for the fund.

Organizers of the African American Empowerment Fund of Delaware (AAEFD), a new philanthropic initiative of the Delaware Community Foundation, will officially launch the fund in Sussex County at the Sussex County Association of Realtors (SCAOR), 23407 Park Ave., in Georgetown, from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

The effort mirrors the successful Fund For Women, a Delaware Community Foundation fund created to improve the lives of women and girls in Delaware.

It wasn’t a day at the beach that occupied Karen Troop’s hot Saturday, but the Simi Valley Realtor probably had more fun working in the warehouse sorting goods for a new thrift store than if she’d hit the waves.

The Simi Valley store, Treasure Hunters Boutique, will open in mid-September and will serve as a fundraising arm for the Simi Valley Community Foundation, a nonprofit organization raising money to help the city’s needy and address other community needs.