The Daily Tell

As America approaches the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the Foundation Center has released a report detailing the philanthropic activity associated with the Gulf Coast hurricanes, finding that total giving has reached nearly $1.3 billion since 2005.

Of the philanthropic support given between 2005 and July 31, 2009 in the form of grants, program-related investments, and corporate in-kind gifts from foundations, corporations, and other institutional donors, the majority was donated in the 16 months following the disaster, the study found.

However, private and community foundations continued to award approximately $133 million for ongoing recovery and rebuilding efforts between 2007 and 2009, including $125 million in cash gifts alone.

While the support continued, the focus of the support shifted away from immediate humanitarian needs and toward rebuilding and developing the community.

The report found that in the immediate aftermath of the hurricanes, the largest share of donation dollars – 40 percent – went to human services efforts. However, the focus of philanthropic activity between 2007 and 2009 shifted to economic and community development, with 24 percent of foundation support dollars and 18 percent of grants going to this cause.

The most active foundation in the Gulf Coast hurricane relief effort was found to be the Ford Foundation, which has donated almost $28 million between 2007 and 2009 across 78 grants. Oxfam America received the largest share of financial support, at $7.2 million.

The report also found that the largest share of long-term relief and recovery support went to the economically disadvantaged, who received 48 percent of total donation dollars.

The sustained interest in community development and economic recovery has made an impact in the New Orleans region, according to the Wall Street Journal, which recently named the city a flourishing hub of entrepreneurial activity.

Though the field of journalism may be going through a tough time, a recent show of philanthropy from a foundation will make sure it will continue to have opportunities for advancement in the future.

The Missouri School of Journalism’s Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute (RJI) recently received a five-year, $15 million charitable donation from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation. The money represents the third-highest amount the university has ever received, with the largest gift being the $31 million donated by the foundation to establish the institute about five years ago.

"This gift from the Reynolds Foundation makes it possible for us to pursue our dream of an institute that supports democracies around the world by developing and testing 21st century models and technologies of journalism to serve civil society," Brady Deaton, chancellor of the University of Missouri, said.

The RJI also works with corporations like Apple, Adobe and AT&T in order to create new products. It also conducts research in the field of journalism and works with business start-ups. For example, work and seed money from the RJI helped establish a Silicon-Valley start-up called CircLabs.

CircLabs’ first product, Circulate, is slated to go forward in 2010. Circulate incorporates social networking, news, and a content sales and management service which gives people a way to get news that is focused on their particular concerns.

In September of 2008, the institute dedicated its headquarters, which is housed in a 50,000-square-foot building located on the campus of the University of Missouri. The new facility allows the institute to test new technologies, examine new methods of transmitting news to the public and conduct seminars and conferences virtually.

Recently, grants totaling more than $1.98 million were announced that will help fund efforts to enforce criminal intellectual property laws.

The grants given by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs will go toward funding a number of aspects of criminal intellectual property enforcement, including investigations, prosecutions, prevention and training.

"This funding is important in identifying and stopping criminal activity associated with intellectual property piracy," Laurie Robinson, acting assistant attorney general for the OJP, said. "These criminal activities are a threat to our national well being and insult those who create and develop products, goods and services for the benefit of the general public."

The funding provided by the grants will help further cooperation between different levels of law enforcement from the federal to the local level. That cooperation will allow further information sharing regarding investigations, prosecutions and analysis.

There are a number of categories involved in the grants. One category is law enforcement support, where grant money can be used to reimburse costs involving the investigation of intellectual property law violations. Grants in this realm can also be used to establish task forces and to acquire needed equipment. Some grant recipients in this category include the city of New York and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

Another category for grants involves training and technical assistance, which can go to developing a curriculum and classes across the country. Some of the methods include electronically-based training, roll call training, and academy-based training for all levels of law enforcement members. Funds for this category also can help identify new trends in intellectual property crimes. Both the National Association of Attorneys General and the National White Collar Crime Center received money through this category.

Along with the grants, the government also has a special center that deals with intellectual property rights. The National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center combines the efforts of a number of agencies in dealing with intellectual property crimes.

Grants from two different foundations will help to continue funding for an online biodiversity encyclopedia.

In all, the Encyclopedia of Life received $12.5 million from both the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Both foundations were founding donors for the 10-year encyclopedia project, which is celebrating its second anniversary.

The MacArthur Foundation donated $10 million to the project, which matches its original contribution that helped found the Encyclopedia of Life. The Sloan Foundation donated $2.5 million in order to help build the reference sites.

The encyclopedia represents a partnership between both scientists and lay people in an attempt to build the online reference site, which will eventually have a web page for every species on the planet. Currently, there are 115,000 expert-appraised pages as the encyclopedia project heads toward its goal of 1.8 million pages.

"Creating a single portal to access a web page for each of the 1.8 million known species will provide a powerful tool to assist researchers and policymakers in better understanding biodiversity and discerning patterns of plant and animal behavior," Arthur Sussman, MacArthur vice president, said.

Thus far, over 30,000 images and videos have been uploaded to the encyclopedia, as well as the changing biodiversity of local areas. Additions made by the public are highlighted in yellow until professional scientists can verify them.

Students from four universities are also taking part in the project by creating species pages under the observation of their professors. Partner universities include: Harvard; Oregon State, the University of California, Berkeley; and the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse.

Regionalized pages are also being constructed, which will feature local species pages in the area’s native languages. Accounts on the encyclopedia’s website, www.eol.org, are free and allow the public to add comments and observations.

June 17, 2009, New York – The Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (AIPR) today launched its first fundraising campaign in its mission to stop genocide before it happens. Donors can visit http://www.auschwitzinstitute.org/congo.html to contribute.

The campaign seeks to raise funds to send two officials from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to Auschwitz, Poland, in October for a UN-approved seminar on genocide prevention. The seminar, organized by the AIPR’s Raphael Lemkin Center and the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, will bring together government officials from nine countries and two NGOs to learn the latest strategies for identifying and preventing genocide and other forms of violent conflict.

The AIPR’s customized week-long seminars feature world-renowned scholars and policy makers who not only analyze genocide from the institutional, political, human rights, legal, military, economic, diplomatic, psychological, public relations, and judicial perspectives, but also foster a community of policy practitioners to support action for dealing with crisis situations when they arise.

Genocide is a crime that has claimed more human lives than all the international wars of the 20th century combined. Holding the Lemkin Center training sessions in Auschwitz serves as a reminder to participants of the horrors that have taken place when the international community has failed to rise to the challenge of preventing genocide.

The Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the prevention of genocide and violent conflict. Our mission is to create a community of individuals and institutions to resist genocide before it occurs. Founded in 2004, the AIPR presents its programs in partnership with the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland.

Contact Information:

The Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation
www.auschwitzinstitute.org

Alex Zucker
212 794 9760
pr@auschwitzinstitute.org

Tibi Galis 212 794 9760
tibi.galis@auschwitzinstitute.org

In Tough Economy, 3banana Contest Leverages Social Internet to Raise Money and Exposure for Health, Environment and Education Focused Non-Profit Causes

San Francisco, Calif. — August 18, 2009 — 3banana Inc., a leading innovator of mobile information capture solutions, today launched “Share to Win”, a contest designed to push the boundaries of the social Internet while helping health, environment and education focused non-profit organizations raise money and exposure for their respective causes.

According to a new study by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, fundraising confidence is at 10-year low and “more than 93 percent of fundraisers said the economy is having a negative impact on fundraising.” The 3banana Share to Win campaign gives causes a way to reach out to supporters and share their mission. Causes that generate the most votes can win one of five prizes totaling $10,000 in donations.

“We know that it is a very tough fund-raising environment out there right now,” said Steve Brown, CEO of 3banana. “It’s tough even to ask for donations, knowing that people are really pulling back. With our Share to Win contest, non-profits have a way of spreading their ideas and recruiting supporters without asking them for any money.”

Voting begins at midnight on Sunday, August 23, 2009. Any 501(c)3 health, environment, and education focused non-profit organization can enter the 3banana Share to Win contest by creating a free account at 3banana.com and writing a note that answers the simple question: “Why should people pay attention to our cause?” After saving the note, 3banana will assign it unique private web address that can be easily shared via e-mail or social networking sites like Twitter or Facebook. The nonprofit causes that collect the most comments on their note from unique users will win. Voting will end on Sunday, September 27, 2009 at midnight.

“We’re doing this because we care about health, environmental and educational causes ourselves,” continued Brown, “and because we think that people who care about these causes also might like our product, a way to capture and share more information from the world around you. Rather than spending our marketing money, we figured we could invest it in a few good causes.”

Since launching 3banana in May 2009, users have praised the application for its simplicity and power proclaiming it to be one of the easiest ways to capture notes and ideas online and on the go. From church pastors to travelers, casual users to professionals, 3banana Notes has gained both traction and fanfare. Notes written on 3banana.com are automatically synced between any browser and free apps for the iPhone or Google Android smartphones.

Acclaimed blog LifeHacker says: “If you’re looking for a simple way to take, store, and share notes in the cloud, 3banana makes organizing your notes easy with notes based on in-text hashtags.”

About 3banana

3banana Inc. creates smartphone and web applications that capture and share information effortlessly, wirelessly and securely. 3banana Notes are less work and easier to share than any other smartphone or online note taking application available today. Combining patent-pending innovations in semantics and social media sharing with fast, efficient and secure wireless information capture, 3banana mobile and web applications help people become more productive and more connected. For more information, please visit http://3banana.com. 3banana Notes is currently available as a free download in the Google Android App Market and in the iPhone App Store.

Contact:
Myles Weissleder, for 3banana
mw@mylermedia.com
415-332-3205

In order to continue support for America’s "best idea," the National Park Foundation (NPF) recently announced a new grant program.

The America’s Best Idea Grants established in a partnership between the NPF and the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund. The grants were inspired by the newest documentary by Emmy-Award-winning filmmaker Ken Burns, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.

Neil Mulholland, president of the National Park Foundation, said the point of both Burn’s documentary and the grant program is to strengthen the relationship between the nation’s parks and its citizens.

"Ken Burns has captured the amazing personal stories of men and women from all walks of life who helped form the parks because of their love for the natural and historical treasures they hold." Mulholland said. "We want to be sure to continue capturing those stories and building that legacy among audiences as diverse as the parks themselves."

Through the program, grants totaling $500,000 were awarded to 35 national parks across the country. The purpose of the grants is to encourage a better connection to those who may find themselves underserved by the parks. The grants primarily target attracting people of color to the parks.

In order to do so, a number of programs have been funded. For example, Bandelier National Monument has gotten grant money in order to attract indigenous people through a program using Pueblo Indian interns.

Another park that received a grant was Grand Canyon National Park, which will use the money to give middle school students from Tucson’s Boys and Girls Club have the chance to explore the Grand Canyon and learn about photographing nature.

The Ken Burns documentary about the national parks will debut on September 27 on PBS and will feature 12 hours focusing on their history.

When it comes to philanthropy, "crowdsourcing" has become another model for finding donors in an increasingly difficult financial market.

Now, a California-based company is taking the concept of crowdsourcing in a different direction, which could help nonprofits build a donation base. The company, 3banana, has recently launched its Share to Win campaign, which its owner has touted as an experiment in philanthropy and crowdsourcing.

"It’s not the usual campaign of trying to raise money from a lot of people in small increments over a social network," Steve Brown, CEO of 3banana, wrote recently on his blog. "We are doing it the other way around: We committed to donate $10,000, and we will allocate the money to five charitable organizations serving unmet needs in health, education and the environment."

Through the contest, five nonprofits will end up divvying up the $10,000 reward. The top nonprofit will get $5,000, a runner-up will receive $2,000, and three honorable mention nonprofits will get $1,000 each.

In order to enter the contest, nonprofits can visit the company’s website and sign up for a notebook. Through the notebook, which is free-of-charge, nonprofits need to answer why it is their particular cause is one people should care about.

Once they compose the note, they can share it with other through social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Furthermore, nonprofits can e-mail their notes out in order to drum up support.

The winner of the contest is determined by the note that gets the most comments. One of the advantages of the contest is that it can attract support for a cause without requiring people to donate right off the bat. All they have to do is speak their minds about it.

Being able to develop a new base for nonprofits is important, especially when they consider the fact that the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University recently reported that fundraisers feel the current atmosphere for donations is at its lowest since the center began its studies in 1998. Furthermore, 86 percent of fundraisers said the economy was having a negative impact on their ability to collect money.

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Northwest Health Foundation recently announced they had awarded 10 grants in order to help increase the nurse workforce population.

The $10 million in grants represent the fourth phase of the foundations’ Partners Investing in Nursing’s Future program, which aims at dealing with what they feel is a nation-wide nursing shortage. It does so by supporting the philanthropy efforts of regional and local organizations that encourage the growth of the nursing population.

"Nurses are the cornerstone of health reform and are the nation’s most direct link to patient safety and quality of care," Susan B. Hassmiller, senior adviser for nursing at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, said. "We are committed to helping find the most innovative solutions to the nursing shortage so we can protect patients and reduce costs now and over the long term."

The idea behind the grants is to help local organizations test ideas in their communities, and then to share successful strategies with other organizations across the nation. The grantees represent a variety of programs, including those involving education, technology, and geriatric care.

The grants awarded this year start the involvement of 19 foundations across 12 states in the partnership’s fourth year. In its first three years, the partnership, through the foundations it has granted money to, has helped found 300 local partnerships. The partnerships bring together different nursing organizations in order to try and expand the nursing workforce.

The states where this year’s organizations are located include: Arkansas; Florida; Illinois; Iowa; Massachusetts; Minnesota; Mississippi; Nebraska; New Hampshire; Rhode Island; South Dakota; and West Virginia.

Given statistics made available by the U.S. Census Bureau, efforts such as those put forward by the partnership may be working. Currently, there are 2.4 million nurses in the country, and the census predicts that the nursing profession will experience the largest growth of any occupation between 2002 and 2012.

The Kresge Foundation recently announced second-quarter grants that amount to $26 million going to a variety of nonprofit organizations.

The foundation has six areas of interest when it considers grants, including: Human services; health; arts and culture; education; community development; and the environment. Nonprofits in each of the fields of interest were rewarded grants.

In all, 73 Grants were given to organizations in 23 states, the District of Columbia and Ireland. The goal of the grant money was to address both short-term needs and long-term goals of nonprofits across the country.

"We want to help move the needle and alleviate some small measure of human suffering now by supporting organizations that are working on the frontlines to assist those most affected by the downturn in the economy," Elaine D. Rosen, chair of the board of trustees for the foundation, said.

With regard to human services grants, the bulk of money awarded went to food banks, homeless shelters, legal services and child-support efforts. Included in those was the MUST Ministries, which received $500,000 in grant funds. The organization works to satisfy a variety of housing needs, including temporary housing and more long-term options.

With regard to health, one organization that received grant funds was the Medical Legal Partnership for Children, which was given $500,000. The partnership uses an intervention model created at the Boston Medical Center. With the funds, the partnership will be able to grow its operations, which include 80 partnerships and 160 hospitals and health centers.

The Kresge Foundation, which is a $2.8 billion private foundation, was created in 1924 by Sebastian Spering Kresge. In 2008, the foundation awarded 342 grants, which represent a total of $181 million in giving.