Why HBCUs Have to Harvest Philanthropy From Pettiness | Jarrett L. I don’t like its political nature, its disconnection from real issues which impact and could improve our campus, and that so many in the national HBCU community and state legislature laugh and shake their heads at the spectacle our administration has become.

Unlike some of you reading this, I have the benefit of having served in an executive capacity at Morgan to know enough details about why things are the way they are. And my feelings weren’t shaped by bad experiences on campus, or a lack of solid income — I just do not see the difference between leadership at my school and leadership at other HBCUs where a lack of leadership acumen is silently draining the school of its appeal, morale and resources.

I do just enough to count towards the alumni giving rate, and to be able to say I helped beyond a five-dollar gift.

I know better, yet I do my worst. But when you multiply my anxiety times the 20 people I personally know who feel the exact same way or stronger, add it to the hundreds of students who exit Morgan every year with the same attitude, and add that to hundreds of employees and the thousands of alumni nationwide, you get a sense that four to five million could easily be 10 to 12 million annually if people weren’t so upset about a variety of issues.

Morgan State and other HBCUs must learn how to extract philanthropy from the pettiness; to find a way to reach the people who are upset with the university for legitimate and illegitimate reasons, and to find a way to convince them to give and support in spite of their discontent.

Advancement and development teams can spend months and years building relationships with wealthy individuals and families in the hope of a one-time sizable gift, but won’t invest in the resources to cultivate small gifts from hundreds or thousands of people every year. Magazines and emails are not enough — not in 2015, and not when funding disparities from federal and state sources are quickly shutting off support to black colleges.

Presidents and board members will spend time chatting up politicians, business leaders and celebrities for favor which never seems to come, all while forgetting those influential alumni who can, with one Facebook post, five phone calls or an email forwarded to 10 people, deliver a group of donors who has not seen or desired to see the campus in years.

Be they teammates, roommates, frat brothers, sorority sisters, bandmates or classmates — no HBCU graduate ever walks alone.

PAL is taking a multi-pronged approach to improving childhood obesity rates; one approach is to make the school environment more supportive of healthy eating and physical activity.

To support PAL’s school-based work, the Milliken Foundation granted $8,000.

“The partnerships and initiatives to reduce childhood obesity that Partners for Active Living is putting in place in the schools is a good fit with Milliken’s core values,” said Richard Dillard, on behalf of the Milliken Foundation. “Milliken works every day, around the world, producing innovative products that add true value to people’s lives, improve health and safety, and make this world more sustainable.”

“Partners for Active Living is grateful for the tremendous support that we have received from the Milliken Foundation. Milliken Foundation grants $8,000 to Partners for Active LivingMarch 2, 2015 1:10 PM

For the first time in two decades, adult obesity rates in Spartanburg County improved and childhood obesity rates have plateaued, which is the first step to improving.

Partners for Active Living (PAL) is implementing evidenced- based and national best practices in eliminating obesity rates. PAL is taking a multi-pronged approach to improving childhood obesity rates; one approach is to make the school environment more supportive of healthy eating and physical activity.

To support PAL’s school-based work, the Milliken Foundation granted $8,000.

“The partnerships and initiatives to reduce childhood obesity that Partners for Active Living is putting in place in the schools is a good fit with Milliken’s core values,” said Richard Dillard, on behalf of the Milliken Foundation. “Milliken works every day, around the world, producing innovative products that add true value to people’s lives, improve health and safety, and make this world more sustainable.”

“Partners for Active Living is grateful for the tremendous support that we have received from the Milliken Foundation.

Summers to Speak at Next Rotary Club Meeting – WBOC-TV 16, Delmarvas News Leader, FOX 21 – Summers of the Community Foundation of the Eastern Shore will speak at the Rotary Club of Salisbury on Thursday, March 12.

Summers is responsible for asset development efforts as well as management of the Donor Services and Scholarship programs of the Foundation and will present “Connecting people who care with causes that matter” at the meeting.

Summers’ role with the Community Foundation is to provide guidance to individuals, families, businesses and service and social organizations that have a desire to give back to the community through charitable plans personally tailored for them.

Rotary Club President, Dan Williams said “B.J. has provided valuable assistance to both our Club and our Foundation with the various funds that the Community Foundation administers on our behalf.”

The Rotary Club of Salisbury meets every Thursday at 6 p.m.

LOS ANGELES, March 2, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — City National Bank today announced that it has awarded 125 Reading is The way up literacy grants totaling more than $115,000 to support literacy-based projects at elementary, middle and high schools in California, Nevada, New York and Georgia. Reading is The way up is the award-winning literacy initiative through which City National has donated more than 300,000 books to elementary school libraries in California, Nevada, New York, Nashville, Nashville, Tennessee, and Atlanta, Georgia, and awarded close to 1,000 teacher grants to enhance literacy totaling nearly $1 million since the program’s inception.

“We are very excited to be awarding a record number of literacy grants this year to so many deserving teachers throughout our footprint,” said Carolyn Rodriguez, vice president and manager of Reading is The way up for City National. Some of this year’s grants funded various literacy programs such as ‘Deciphering The Secrets of the Periodic Table’ at a high school in California, ‘A Reader Grows A Kinder Garden’ at an elementary school in Nevada, ‘Kindergarten Engineering And Coding Literacy’ at an elementary school in a New York City; and ‘Bringing the WORLD to Refugee Students’ in an international school in Georgia.

Received the 2005 President’s Volunteer Service Award, the 2005 Corporate Philanthropy Award from the Los Angeles Public Library, the 2006 Corporate Award from the Getty House Foundation, the Hugh O’Brien Youth Leadership Corporate Citizen Award, and honored as the 2007 Corporate Visionary Partner by the Wonder of Reading.

RAPID CITY | Seventeen nonprofits in South Dakota representing a cross-section of missions have received grants from The Frontier Fund, the all-volunteer, community-driven fundraising initiative that raised $125,000 in a little over three months in celebration of the state’s 125th year of statehood.

The grant recipients were chosen by a group of South Dakotans from across the state many who work at nonprofits or are philanthropists who gathered together in the state’s capital of Pierre in December to review the grant applications and, collectively, determine how the fund would be dispersed.

“The volunteers of The Frontier Fund, and those who were part of the selection committee, prioritized projects that reflected our South Dakotan values of resilience, resourcefulness, innovation and determination,” explained Kelly Gibson of Rapid City, chair of the selection committee and a program director of National Relief Charities, a national nonprofit that serves Native American communities across the country.

“After receiving 79 grant requests, we had wonderfully invigorating, meaningful discussions about the critical need for civic participation to drive change in our communities,” she continued. “The group placed particular emphasis on those proposals that reflected regional thinking and cooperation, demonstrated through both a clear understanding of the community’s needs and a culturally sensitive response to them.”

Gibson also said that she hopes the awarding of these grants will shed more light on the grassroots efforts happening in communities across South Dakota, and will bring more attention to the need to support these good works.

Area recipients of The Frontier Fund are:

* Old Fort Meade Museum, Sturgis ($10,000): The museum displays important records and photographs that describe the history of the area, and is visited by over 4,000 school children annually, as well as veterans who are serviced by the Fort Meade hospital. The grant award will help publish and distribute the book.

“The people of South Dakota are doing incredible things across our great state, and it has been so wonderful to hear more about the community-driven efforts of towns and nonprofits large and small through The Frontier Fund,” said Stephanie Judson, president of the South Dakota Community Foundation, which served as the fiscal agent for the fund. Paul, Minnesota, a foundation that invests in great ideas and the people who power them across Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and 23 Native nations.

Though all funds raised through The Frontier Fund have been distributed, fund organizers and nonprofits involved in the creation of the grassroots effort are continuing discussions on how they can continue to cultivate greater philanthropy in the state in the years ahead.

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C., March 2, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — The Purple Angel Project has officially taken flight in the Lowcountry …

Through The Purple Angel Project, Memory Matters provides on-site employee sensitivity training on dementia-related issues to Beaufort County businesses and their employees which, according to Hoyle, is an important first step in the process of becoming a dementia-friendly community.

“The pervasive public desire not to know not only in Beaufort County, but across the country about dementia-related illness is driven by fear and denial,” Hoyle said.

“With the launch of The Purple Angel program, the Hilton Head/Bluffton community joins the ranks of a powerful global initiative to make the world dementia friendly.” Luke’s Church, Island Improvements, The Bluffton Sun, Beacon Insurance Group of Hilton Head, and All Saint’s Episcopal Church are the first community businesses to fly The Purple Angel Project window sticker.

Created by Norman McNamara from Torbay, England, who was diagnosed with early onset dementia in his 50s, The Purple Angel has been adopted internationally as a symbol of dementia awareness, action and support. We’ve only just begun, but we hope to see Purple Angel kites flying all over Beaufort County very soon!”

If you’re a Beaufort County business owner, call Memory Matters to learn more about the Purple Angel Kite Project.

Foundation Supports The Resource Foundation to Bring New Life to Historic Mexican Park Press Releases on CSRwire.com 02 /CSRwire/ – The Resource Foundation (TRF) is pleased to announce a $1 million grant from The Tiffany & Co. Foundation in support of the rehabilitation of Mexico City’s Chapultepec Forest Park. The project is expected to benefit over 4.5 million park visitors annually through strategic actions geared toward preserving and enhancing the park, celebrating Mexico’s rich culture and history, and improving access to the park’s natural wealth.

Foundation’s contribution will enable TRF local partner Fideicomiso Probosque de Chapultepec (Chapultepec Forest Trust) to continue its ongoing work since 2004 to restore the city’s urban park. Foundation grant supports the restoration of two integral components of the park’s second section: the Xochipilli Fountain, a city landmark and symbol of Mexico’s pre-Columbian heritage, and the Composer’s Passage, the section’s main pedestrian thoroughfare.

Foundation’s philanthropic goal of supporting efforts to safeguard and enhance natural resources, including urban parks. Foundation is pleased to work with TRF on our first Urban Parks grant in Latin America and we are honored to play a role in preserving such an important cultural and historic treasure as Chapultepec Forest Park,” said Anisa Kamadoli Costa, The Tiffany & Co.

Hillcrest group seeking to hand out community improvement grants

The Rotary Club of Hillcrest Sunrise Foundation is continuing a Community Improvement Grants Program for 2015-16. Applications can be forwarded to: Rotary Club of Hillcrest, c/o Ryan Knotts, 4112 Dartford Road, South Euclid, OH 44121; or jayhawkrk@gmail.com.
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“I am confident that Gulf Coast will continue to transform our region, while providing the service that our donors count on us for, throughout this transition and as we move forward.”

Hansen, CEO and president of Gulf Coast since 2002, plans to stay on through the end of the foundation’s current fiscal year and “work closely with the board during the leadership transition.”

“I have been offered a unique opportunity to help a family whom I admire deeply create their legacy,” Hansen said in a statement about her plans to join the Barancik Foundation. “Chuck and Margie Barancik are committed to this community, and they would like to partner with Gulf Coast on future initiatives.

“By working with the Baranciks to grow their significant philanthropic investments while Gulf Coast continues to lead our region forward, I believe I can help make our community stronger than ever,” Hansen said.

Hansen is leaving as CEO of the Gulf Coast Community Foundation to head up the operations of the Charles and Margery Barancik Foundation, a Sarasota-based private family foundation.

The change occurs on June 30, and the Gulf Coast Community Foundation board of directors will begin a search for Hansen’s successor.

“One of Teri’s most important accomplishments has been to ensure that a strong Board, professional staff, and sound policies are in place at Gulf Coast,” board chairman Ben Hanan said in a statement. “I am confident that Gulf Coast will continue to transform our region, while providing the service that our donors count on us for, throughout this transition and as we move forward.”

Hansen, CEO and president of Gulf Coast since 2002, plans to stay on through the end of the foundation’s current fiscal year and “work closely with the board during the leadership transition.”

“I have been offered a unique opportunity to help a family whom I admire deeply create their legacy,” Hansen said in a statement about her plans to join the Barancik Foundation. “Chuck and Margie Barancik are committed to this community, and they would like to partner with Gulf Coast on future initiatives.

“By working with the Baranciks to grow their significant philanthropic investments while Gulf Coast continues to lead our region forward, I believe I can help make our community stronger than ever,” Hansen said.

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The North Country Council of Social Agencies is offering a scholarship for for students pursuing a career in the human or social services field.

The group created a scholarship endowment at the Northern New York Community Foundation.

The foundation approved a matching grant of $2,500 toward the newly established scholarship. The scholarship was established in commemoration of the North Country Council of Social Agencies’ 70th anniversary.

“The ability to work with the Northern New York Community Foundation allows us better leverage in reaching our scholarship endowment goal of $5,000,” said Holly Armstrong, Council of Social Agencies co-president.

“Our primary goal is to generate enough funds to allow for a scholarship in perpetuity and the foundation’s matching grant will help us achieve our goal,” Armstrong said.

To be eligible, students must live in Jefferson or Lewis counties, can be studying either part-time or full-time, are at minimum in their third year of study or junior year of college, and must have a career goal of working in the human or social services field.