See all eight finalists and our awards celebration where we announced the winner.

This year marked the seventh annual Connecting with Community Awards where eight West Michigan non-profit organizations were selected as finalist groups. The Connecting with Community Awards aim to highlight and recognize the collaborative community partnerships that are making positive impacts within the Grand Rapids community.

The winner of the awards is chosen by the six Connecting with Community partners including Huntington Bank, Metro Health Hospital, Art Van, Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids Community Foundation and Amway. The winner is awarded a 30 second public service announcement from our sponsors, that will air on WOOD TV 8 for a whole year.

Here are the eight Connecting with Community Awards finalists you will get to know in the special:

The Shack

When Mark Ordway noticed his classmates wearing the same clothes to school every day, he started a program that would provide free clothing to hundreds of children, families, and adults within the Delton Community.

Legacy Trust Award Collection

Breaking barriers for artists with disabilities, LTAC helps these artists enter their artwork into ArtPrize and help them they get the recognition that they deserve.

Lifequest Ministries

Bible studies, crisis intervention, mentoring, and a basketball program are just a few of the services offered at Lifequest Ministries, which focuses on African-American Males, ages 16-25 and aims reach their needs and better their lives.

Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative

ELNC provides a free pre-school program to low income, minority families with children who do not have access to a quality pre-school. Brooks Correctional Facility, donates stuffed animals to organizations throughout the community and is just one of the community programs that Warden Mary Berghuis supports within her prison that contributes to the efforts to successfully reintegrate prisoners back into society.

Out Side In Stables

These stables use rescued thoroughbred horses as a form of psychotherapy for anyone suffering emotionally or mentally from trauma, abuse, and violence.

Don’t forget to tune into WOOD TV8 Thursday night at 7:30pm when we air the Connecting with Community Awards special to see all these great finalists all in one space.

Follow the conversation on twitter for live tweets about special at #CWCAwards

OTTAWA, May 27, 2015 /CNW/ – The National Gallery of Canada Foundation announced today the naming of an important contemporary exhibition space at the National Gallery of Canada in honour of Michael Audain and his wife Yoshiko Karasawa of Vancouver, British Columbia.

The Chair of the National Gallery of Canada Foundation, Thomas d’Aquino, said, “It is a privilege to count Michael Audain and Yoshiko Karasawa among the first of the Gallery’s generous donors to have a public space named after them at this leading institution.

Ten years of support to the National Gallery
Michael Audain and Yoshiko Karasawa donated a $2 million bequest to establish The Audain Endowment for Contemporary Canadian Art (2006) in support of Canadian acquisitions from, in particular, British Columbia.

Michael Audain also provided personal leadership as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Gallery of Canada (2009-13) and as a Director at the Gallery’s Foundation (2009-2014).

About the National Gallery of Canada Foundation
The National Gallery of Canada Foundation is dedicated to supporting the National Gallery of Canada in fulfilling its mandate.

About the National Gallery of Canada
The National Gallery of Canada is home to the most important collections of historical and contemporary Canadian art, including the extensive collection of the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography.

.o .o .o ,o ,. “V8o” ’88oo88″ “V8V” “8o'”8o “8o “8o “8oo8 “8o –>Charleston County among 20 jurisdictions awarded $150,000 MacArthur grants – Post and Courier Charleston County was one of 20 jurisdictions selected to receive a $150,000 grant aimed at improving local justice systems, the Sheriff’s Office announced Wednesday.

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Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut awards $5K to United Community & Family Services – News – The Bulletin – Norwich, CT Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut awards $5K to United Community & Family Services Community health center United Community & Family Services has been awarded $5,000 from the Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut. Community health center United Community & Family Services has been awarded $5,000 from the Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut.The funds will provide primary care, dental, behavioral and elder care support for the center’s uninsured and underinsured clients.The center offers services to clients in East Lyme, Groton, Ledyard, Lyme, Montville, New London, North Stonington, Old Lyme, Salem, Stonington and Waterford. ” Comment or view comments

Grants help fund Camp Fire Tumalo Day Camp, Teens in Action | News – Home

Camp Fire Central Oregon was the recent recipient of two grants, one from the Clabough Foundation for $10,000, which will provide scholarship assistance for low-income families attending Tumalo Day Camp this summer, and one from the Oregon Community Foundation for $20,000, which will combine with a $2,000 donation from the Greater Bend Rotary to fund a robust Teens In Action Program in Bend and Prineville.

Teens In Action groups will meet from 9:00 am 12:00 pm in Bend and 11:00 am 2:00 pm in Crook County ever Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, beginning June 23rd and wrapping up August 13th. Lunch will be provided to the youth participating in this program, many of whom will come from low-income families.

Camp Fire’s Teens In Action program, in partnership with the Better Together Initiative’s 8+9 program, supports students’ transition from middle to high school by providing free, fun, & future focused service-learning projects in the summer before and after 8th grade, with a link to a mentor at the start of 9th grade.

According to Kecia Kubota, Camp Fire Central Oregon’s Executive Director and teen leadership advocate, “Teens In Action provides young people with the opportunity to plan service-learning projects they feel passionately about and then see them through to the end. When that happens, it’s rewarding for everyone involved.”

Last year, the young people in Camp Fire’s Teens In Action summer programs organized multiple fundraisers to feed the homeless and provide support to the Humane Society through pet food and cash donations.

Studies have shown that Camp Fire participants are more likely to stay in school, demonstrate social competence, lead a healthy lifestyle, be environmentally conscious, have a sense of purpose, and achieve their full potential. Please contact us to learn more, set up times to observe camps and programs, interview one of our outstanding youth, or find your spark today!

About Camp Fire Central Oregon: We believe that every young person deserves the opportunity to learn, grow, enjoy nature, and thrive, so we offer a variety of programs, camps, events, and service learning projects meant to engage youth and inspire them to be themselves.

And she will continue to do so in perpetuity.

Affectionately known as “Mamie,” Aitken passed away in January 2015 and left a legacy of $6 million to be shared among four organizations.

Money in the Aitken Fund will be invested and each year the income allotted in equal parts to the Valley Community Foundation“>Comox Valley Community Foundation, North Island College, St. Joseph’s Hospital Foundation and the Comox Valley Hospice Society.

“This generous gift is a game changer for the foundation and the Comox Valley,” says CVCF president Dr. The foundation has distributed over $1.5 million to the community since inception, including a record $200,000 this year.

The gift of the Aitken Fund increased the endowment fund holding to more than $11 million.

“The Community Foundation through its grants program can currently address the needs of only one-third of the charitable organizations applying for support.

“Once the Aitken gift begins generating income, we could see both the number of successful applicants and the average size of the grants increase,” Carruthers notes.

Like the other three organizations sharing in the fund, Carruthers said the donation was a complete surprise.

“We know the two sisters (Mamie and Cherry) had a strong interest in the education of young women as this is a key objective of the Soroptimist Club of which they were both very active members,” Carruthers said.

“As the last surviving member of her family, Catherine’s gift is in part a gift from the entire family who were very close-knit and who loved the community that had been home for just over 100 years,” Carruthers added.

He noted Aitken’s father passed away in 1964 and her mother in about 1966 (and her sister in 2007).

Mamie was born July 16, 1922 in Comox. In her early years, she worked at CIBC and then CFB Comox in the Civilian Personnel Department, from where she retired.

During her lifetime, Aitken loved sewing, cooking, golfing, skiing and dancing.

Remarkably, she won first prize 14 years in a row for her jelly roll recipe in the Comox Valley Fall Fair.

Her love of dancing was a highlight of her social activities, along with her membership in the Soroptimist Club with her sister Cherry.

Another testament to her community spirit was that at her celebration of life in February, she requested that in lieu of flowers donations be made to the SPCA.

Carruthers says the CVCF has received gifts through their estates from a variety of people who wanted to leave a lasting legacy and to strengthen the community far into the future.

“Harold Christie ($200,000), Gwendoline Willing ($99,000) and Bud Colbow ($85,000) come to mind, but nothing of this size of gift before.

“We also have some regular donors who have given and continue to give during their lifetimes, but these are the four biggest estate gifts we have been given to steward for the long term benefit of the community.”

While the will will not be finalized for some time yet, and the annual earnings will depend on investment returns, Carruthers says the legacy of this gift will be felt in many different ways.

“The annual income dedicated to student education at NIC could mean for example that 15-20 students could have their tuition fully paid or 30-40 students have their tuition cut in half,” Carruthers said.

“The details haven’t been worked out yet but this will be a huge help for many students in achieving their educational dreams.”

Expanding on that, NIC development officer Erin Petersen said the donation is huge in that it will allow up to 25 students to attend the college tuition-free every year from now on.

“This is a total game changer. They cover the entire life cycle,” Petersen added.

“The real winners are the many Comox Valley residents who will be better served by these amazing charitable organizations that enrich all of our lives through the work they do,” Carruthers said.

“Strengthening our education, health and community services in the Comox Valley with an on-going gift of this size is fabulous and a wonderful statement of the love Catherine Aitken and her family felt for this community,” Carruthers added.

Lynn Dashkewytch, executive director of St.

Phillips Foundation names new chief operating officer – Greensboro – Triad Business Journal

MacArthur Foundation grants included the Mesa County jail, where local authorities say they plan to use the funds to explore more municipal sentencing options.

“Mesa County criminal justice partners were chosen following a highly competitive selection process that drew applications from nearly 200 jurisdictions from 45 states,” the county sheriff’s office said in a news release.

In 2016, up to 10 of the jurisdictions awarded the grant will receive a second round of funding between $500,000 to $2 million annually to implement their plans over two years, according to the release.

County officials say roughly 70 percent of the inmates at the Mesa County jail are awaiting trial. Jail inmates who have access to quality mental health care following a jail sentence are more likely to remain stable, ultimately reducing recidivism and long-term jail population.”

The Chicago-based foundation has pledged $75 million over five years to help improve the nation’s criminal justice system. Other jails awarded funds by the program range from big cities like Los Angeles and New York City to smaller jurisdictions including Boise, Idaho.

“Despite growing national attention to the large number of Americans confined in state and federal prisons, significantly less attention has been paid to local detention and justice systems, where the criminal justice system primarily operates and functions,” county officials said in the release.

Job: Director, Fundraising and Development Management – The Chronicle of Philanthropy Alumni affairs, Annual fund, Capital campaigns, Corporate and foundation relations, Donor relations, Fundraising administration, Grant seeking, Major gifts, Membership, Other fundraising, Planned giving, Prospect research, Special events Drawing on more than 24 years of experience working exclusively with nonprofit organizations, OAI has helped more than 600 clients raise hundreds of millions of dollars for their causes.

We are seeking a seasoned and energetic professional with background/expertise in fundraising and development management to fill the Director position at OAI. Directors lead our client teams and are focused primarily on creating and implementing efficient, capacity-building and fundraising plans to help our clients meet their development goals. Directors typically manage the day-to-day account operations, drive team work strategies, and serve as the principal liaison with the client. Directors are part of a team assigned to each client there is support for the Director to achieve the client goals, as well as oversight required from the Director.

Devise and implement strategies for our clients in the following areas: various development activities (campaigns, major gifts, board fundraising, corporate giving, foundation grants, planned giving, direct mail, event-based fundraising), marketing, and communications Build and maintain event and campaign fundraising planning and implementation to include leadership development, committee management, major gifts, and corporate sponsorship Demonstrated experience with a broad variety of development efforts including event management, annual fund campaigns, capital campaigns, corporate giving, and foundation giving