The Daily Tell

Challenge Has Already Raised $1.1 million from More Than 50K Donations in Three Weeks; Runs through November 6

WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 30, 2009) – America’s Giving Challenge, a 30-day, national online competition that encourages people to leverage their social networks to recruit supporters and win cash awards for nonprofit organizations, today announced that it has received a $75,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation of Battle Creek, Michigan to help mobilize participation in the last week of the Challenge.

The grant increases the total amount of award dollars in the Challenge to $245,000 for nonprofit causes that net the highest number of donations. America’s Giving Challenge, presented by the Case Foundation, Causes and PARADE Publications, launched on October 7, 2009. To date more than 50,000 donations have raised $1.1 million for nonprofit causes.

“America’s Giving Challenge offers a tremendous opportunity to raise funds and awareness for nonprofit organizations at a time when the communities we care about, including children and families, have never been in greater need of their services,” said Anne Mosle, vice president for programs at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. “We hope that collaborating with our colleagues in these efforts will not only encourage more innovation by all the participants in their fundraising efforts, but ultimately spark a larger movement of nonprofits leveraging technology to reach new audiences and inspire civic action.”

The $75,000 contribution from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation will enable the creation of five additional overall awards, including one $25,000 and four $10,000 prizes for the causes that garner the most unique daily donations over the 30 days of the Challenge. In addition, a $1,500 daily prize will be added for the last seven days of the Challenge beginning at 3 p.m. ET today. With the additional contribution, America’s Giving Challenge now offers 12 overall awards: one $50,000 prize, two $25,000 prizes and nine $10,000 prizes, and three daily awards of $1,500, $1,000 and $500.

Individuals and nonprofits can still get involved in America’s Giving Challenge. From now until November 6 at 3 p.m. ET, participants can compete for daily and overall awards – ranging from $500 to $50,000 – based on the number of donations to their cause using the Causes application on Facebook. Those who wish to participate in the Challenge can get involved in one of two ways:
* Champion a cause – Individuals can become “cause champions,” who are passionate about a specific cause and will compete to obtain the most donations for their cause through the Causes application on
Facebook.
* Promote, donate or join a cause – all individuals are encouraged to take part in America’s Giving Challenge by joining, promoting and donating to the causes they care about. Facebook membership is not required to donate to a Giving Challenge cause.

Participants can register to compete in the Giving Challenge, view details and donate to a cause they care about at www.americasgivingchallenge.com.

Contacts:
Allyson Burns, The Case Foundation, (202) 467-2059
Mike VanBuren, W.K. Kellogg Foundation (269) 969-2148

Health plan and care provider Kaiser Permanente gave $5.2 million to the UCLA School of Public Health to endow the UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equality.

The Center for Health Equality is dedicated to improving the health of underserved populations through research, community collaboration and leadership development. The money will support partnerships with community-based organizations to conduct research and develop programs and strategies to eliminate health disparities.

"This generous funding from Kaiser Permanente will enable the center to expand its ability to bring critical resources and attention to communities with the greatest needs," said UCLA School of Public Health dean Linda Rosenstock.

Funds will also go toward expanding the center’s training and technical assistance services, including the development and dissemination of multilingual, culturally appropriate materials, distance learning programs and training tools. The center will place heavy emphasis on attracting and training new talent determined to eliminate disparities.

Center representatives say that stable financial support will allow community leaders and academics to devote sustained efforts toward raising awareness about health disparities, setting priorities and formulating short-and long-range solutions to urgent health issues.

"Our investment in the UCLA Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Equity is designed to foster greater collaboration between academia, healthcare providers and the community to help ensure that health equity becomes the norm for everyone in our state and across the nation," said Kaiser senior vice president Raymond J. Baxter.

Kaiser Permanente is a healthcare provider and not-for-profit health plan founded in 1945 and based in Oakland, California. The UCLA School of Public Health is a graduate school of public health affiliated with the University of California, Los Angeles and established in 1961. Linda Rosenstock, the school’s dean, is the former director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Vacationers aboard the new Oasis of the Seas cruise ship from Royal Caribbean will now be able to give back while getting a tan, as Royal Caribbean has announced that it will donate proceeds of certain room bookings to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Southern Florida.

The cruise line has donated 1,000 staterooms during the Oasis of the Seas inaugural cruise on November 30 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a nonprofit organization that grants the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses.

With 100 percent of the proceeds of those 1,000 staterooms going to the foundation, and with the staterooms starting at $750 each, this represents significant fundraising power.

"The generosity of sponsors like Royal Caribbean has greatly enhanced our ability to grant life-affirming, world-class wishes and is critical to the mission of the Make-A-Wish Foundation to bring hope, strength and joy into the lives of children with life-threatening medical conditions," said Norm Wedderburn, president and CEO of the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Southern Florida.

Not only will cruise guests be able to make a difference, but they will be able to see the difference they made, as many of the Make-A-Wish children will also be onboard the cruise with their families. Some of the children will even have their wishes granted during the cruise itself.

In addition to the Make-A-Wish ceremonies, the cruise will feature an official christening and naming ceremony for the Oasis of the Seas, which will be considered the largest cruise ship in the world. The ship boasts 16 decks and a 5,400-guest occupancy, and weighs 220,000 gross registered tons.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation has reached more than 174,000 children around the world since its inception in 1980, powered by a volunteer network of 25,000 people.

Nonprofit organizations are increasingly building a presence on social media platforms, but many nonprofits are either unconvinced of the strategy’s effectiveness or are unsure of their ability to successfully manage their campaign, said a recent study.

The survey, released this week by Sage North America, found that 88 percent of U.S. and Canadian nonprofits are using some form of social media, although less than half of this number have been using the channel for more than a year.

Of those who have not adopted a social media campaign, 45 percent indicated that it was because they were unsure of its relevance or advantages, while others said that they were unable to devote the time or resources.

There also seems to be some hesitancy to transition existing new media strategies into the social media sphere – 91 percent of nonprofits said that they raise funds online, yet only 58 percent of these respondents said they use social media for fundraising.

Instead, the primary goals of social media nonprofit campaigns were found to be "sharing our story," building a community, public relations, and donor engagement and retention.

Experts say that social media can be a valuable tool for nonprofits, if used in the right way.

"The most successful nonprofits are capitalizing on social media, not by simply tweeting a link to their donation form, but by using it as part of an integrated campaign," said Krista Endsley, senior vice president and general manager for nonprofit solutions at Sage. "Multiple touches with constituents are what result in donations. Social media is helping nonprofits engage in more ‘touches’ with more donors and, ultimately, raise more funds."

With Facebook recently reaching the 300-million user mark and Twitter adding 8 million new users each month, the potential is great for philanthropic social media activity.

Miracle Recreation Equipment Company pledged to donate more than $250,000 to the nonprofit National Center for Missing and Exploited Children over the next three years, and to cover lodging costs necessary to reunite family members upon the recovery of missing children.

Funds will go toward NCMEC’s mission of finding missing children, preventing child abduction and sexual exploitation and serving child victims and their families. Money will also go to NCMEC’s efforts to provide resources and information for families to help keep children safe, and toward the development of child safety tips for playgrounds and parks.

"It is with the generous support of partners like Miracle that we are able to continue our work and help make children safer and better prepared for the risks that they face in today’s world," said NCMEC president and chief executive Ernie Allen.

The recreation equipment company will fund its donations through sales of its new MiracleTech integrated security product line. This new line includes an infrared security camera called ParkWatch, designed to digitally record events and deter inappropriate activity. It also includes low voltage lighting and sound technology designed to deter vandalism after hours.

"In today’s world, we as a society must all look out for the safety and security of our children," said Mike Sutton, Director of Sales at Miracle and a former police officer.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is a nonprofit organization established by Congress in 1984 and based in Virginia. It works in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Justice’s office of Juvenile and Delinquency Prevention, and has assisted in law enforcement in the recovery of more than 142,100 children. Miracle Recreation Equipment Company is a manufacturer of outdoor playgrounds and recreational equipment based in Monett, Missouri and founded in 1925.

Nonprofits in Berkshire County, Massachusetts have a $1.9-billion impact annually on the local $5 billion economy, and employ more than a third of the county’s workforce, according to a recent report.

The report, released by the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, found that Berkshire County nonprofits spend $1.1 billion per year, and directly or indirectly generate 25,000 jobs. Over 35 percent of the county’s 65,200 jobs are in the nonprofit sector. Health care is the largest nonprofit sector in the region, generating 10,000 jobs and over $977,000,000 per year. Education is the second-largest, with 6,500 jobs and $470,000,000.

Berkshire nonprofits are hoping that this report serves as a springboard for starting their own business council, according to a article in the Berkshire Eagle. Leaders of a number of area nonprofits have already started their own task force to investigate a possible new arm of the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce focused on nonprofit training and collaboration.

"I would see it as an ongoing association that supports the general nonprofit mission in the county," Hillcrest Educational Centers chief executive Gerald E. Burke told the newspaper.

If the Berkshire-area nonprofits are successful, they could serve as an example for other nonprofits nationwide. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce currently has no designated nonprofit wing, but such a body could provide a powerful political platform for nonprofits.

But nonprofits are not as strong nationwide as they are in Western Massachusetts. Nonprofits accounted for only 8.1 percent of the salaries paid in the U.S. in 2006, according to the National Center for Charitable Statistics. But as the private sector sheds jobs, the relative size – and political heft – of the nonprofit sector could continue to rise.

The Migration Policy Institute’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy E Pluribus Unum Prizes national awards program provides four $50,000 awards annually to exceptionally successful immigrant integration initiatives. The awards recognize initiatives that have an outstanding record of helping immigrants and their children adapt, thrive, and contribute to the United States or that have successfully brought immigrants and native-born residents together to build stronger, more cohesive communities. The awards are open to individuals, nonprofit and community organizations, businesses, religious groups, and government entities, agencies, or officials operating in the United States.

The deadline to apply is December 10, 2009 at 5 pm EST. Application rules and procedures can be found at www.integrationawards.org and www.migrationinformation.org/integrationawards/index.cfm

The J.M. Kaplan Fund is generously providing support for these awards in order to focus attention on successful integration initiatives, and to inspire and provide program models to others around the United States who might also undertake such efforts.

Questions about the E Pluribus Unum Prizes should be sent to awardsinfo@migrationpolicy.org.

For more information about the National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy, contact:
Monica Arciga
National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy
Migration Policy Institute
1400 16th St., NW, Suite 300
Washington, DC 20036
Office: 202-266-1922
marciga@migrationpolicy.org

The board of directors of the Public Welfare Foundation approved $7.9 million worth of donations to a wide variety of community improvement projects earlier this month, focusing primarily on prison reform, juvenile justice, safe workplaces and "rational reform" of the health care system.

Over a million dollars went to a coalition of non-profits in the American South, including the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy, Tennessee Health Care Campaign, North Carolina Justice Center, Center for Public Policy Priorities, and Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. Those funds will be used to support efforts for state-level reforms of the health care system, as well as implementation of any federal plan that may emerge in the near future.

The Public Welfare Foundation will also donate half a million dollars over two years to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a group that works to counteract ecological damage caused by industry and government. The group will use the grant to build a web database that workers can use to learn the consequences of exposure to toxic chemicals in the workplace. Other disbursements in this area included $250,000 for the Center for Progressive Reform to research public policy and the reform of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

In all, the foundation announced 45 individual grants in amounts ranging from $50,000 to $500,000. Over half of the grants – $4.5 million – went towards the foundation’s workers’ rights program. Analysts say that the country’s labor force has gained needed ground, on issues from labor organization to health care in recent months, although the high unemployment rates still hamper efforts to consolidate political gains.

Peter Greer, President of HOPE International and co-author of the book The Poor Will Be Glad: Joining the Revolution to Lift the World Out of Poverty, has been involved in microfinance for ten years. As president of HOPE International, Peter Greer oversees a Christian-based microfinance network in 14 countries serving hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs. With fellow author Phil Smith (a former oil executive and active philanthropist), Peter Greer is striving to bring the message of microfinance to the Christian community. I talked to Mr. Greer about The Poor Will Be Glad, its implications for Christian charity, and how microfinance can be a sustainable solution for poverty.

DT: Tell me a little about how The Poor Will Be Glad was put together. How did you end up collaborating with Phil Smith, and what countries does your book cover?
Peter Greer: I started writing the book on a helicopter over Afghanistan. While we were there, we saw a consistent theme. Something just wasn’t right as we were paraded around villages…there was a sense of entitlement and dependency on foreign charity. But we wanted a permanent way for people to solve their own problems. There is a real difference between a “hand out” and a “hand up.”
I’ve been a friend with Phil Smith for a long time, and Phil has supported our work. He asked me if there was any books to help the church to better understand microfinance, but I couldn’t point him to anything. So we ended up writing this book to introduce microfinance to the broader Christian audience. The Poor Will Be Glad discusses Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Philippines, among other places. We tried to include a wide geographical variety so people can see microfinance works in many different contexts. We also talk about the exploitation of people who need a bit of money to start a business through loan sharks. Microfinance helps people avoid this exploitation.

DT: What roles does the Christian religion play in microfinance? What challenges has HOPE run into in areas that are not traditionally Christian?
Peter Greer: I’d like to mention an excellent Financial Times article by Matthew Parris called “As an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God.” Parris explains the impact that faith has on the quality of humanitarian programs. In these countries, you cannot just talk about finances. In many ways, we’ve seen that connecting our faith to our service deepens and broadens the impact. We want to let people know there is more to happiness than just increasing income. Also, we work with anyone regardless of creed.
We don’t go into these countries “undercover”; we explain why we do things, and we use Biblical values in our services. Another advantage of microfinance in a Christian context is that we can partner with local churches, which adds credibility and improves relationships.
We have been invited to work in non-Christian areas, and received an incredibly warm reception. We still give the same service. Working in non-Christian areas also allows us to clarify and demonstrate what our faith is all about.

DT: What kind of businesses do you loan to? How do you determine if these businesses are sustainable?
Peter Greer: If you and I were to go into Rwanda, we would have to decide what kind of business to support. How can we do that? Microfinance is based on “solidarity groups.” The community members of these solidarity groups must cross-guarantee the loan. That’s what called the “social collateral.” You must convince your community members that you have a solid business. We find that these solidarity groups can make far wiser decisions than we can.
We have supported neighborhood shops, restaurants, barber shops, transportation services…anywhere where there is a business opportunity.

DT: What kind of problems have you run into with microfinance?
Peter Greer: I was reading a blog about how immoral it is to ask the poor to repay a loan. There’s this belief that it’s better to give food and water today, rather than helping the poor help themselves through the creation of a business. One of the big misunderstandings of microfinance is that you must be hurting the poor. This unfortunate distrust of business makes people “leave their business hat” at the door, rather than use it for poverty alleviation. The result is temporary and insufficient charity. In many of these countries, we also have to deal with corruption, and the basic challenges of serving in places that don’t even have electricity and running water.

DT: How can someone get their church interested in microfinance?
Peter Greer: The purpose of The Poor Will Be Glad is to reach the demographic of churchgoing Christians. The book has several practical ways to achieve the goal of getting a person’s church involved in microfinance. We created a small group curriculum available on our website (www.thepoorwillbeglad.com). This curriculum includes what the Bible says about finances and the poor, and also has activities to demonstrate some aspects of poverty, such as skipping a few meals or taking a bucket shower. The book also provides resources for churches who want to get directly involved in microfinance, either through partnerships with existing organizations or beginning their own projects. The Poor Will Be Glad is about generating a deeper understanding of microfinance.
Too often, Christians are known for what we’re against, rather than what we’re for. We hope that this book fuels a movement where the church is known for thoughtful compassion and truly following the example of Jesus Christ.

To learn more about HOPE International and its microfinance programs, please visit Hope International. You can also find more information about The Poor Will Be Glad at the book’s official website.

A civic foundation in Milwaukee earlier this month donated to dozens of community groups, including symphonies, children’s health clinics, and anti-hunger programs. The donations, which totaled $5.6 million, bring the Greater Milwaukee Foundation’s total disbursement for 2009 to $15.8 million so far, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

The largest donation – $160,000 – went to the Social Development Commission of Milwaukee county as part of an effort to support free tax preparation for lower-income workers. La Casa de Esperanza, located in Waukesha, also received $100,000 for this purpose. The Journal-Sentinel says that these efforts have resulted in tax credits and refunds totaling $85 million for low-wage earners since 2002. Doug Jansson, the president of the Greater Milwaukee Foundation told the paper that "[f]or low income families, and the community, the earned income tax credit is hugely important. For a family of four, this can amount to 20 percent of their annual income."

Other notable grants included $100,000 for a new children’s dental clinic at the Next Door Foundation, a Milwaukee charity that works to provide opportunities for disadvantaged inner-city kids. The foundation also gave $50,000 to the Fondy Food Center to improve the availability of Women, infants and children’s vouchers for healthy farmer’s market food. Milwaukee’s ballet company and two symphonies each received $25,000 to help cover operating costs.

With disruptive behavior at area schools rapidly becoming a serious problem, the Greater Milwaukee Foundation gave $50,000 to the Foundation for Neighborhood Enterprise, which will use the money in an effort to reduce suspensions, and violent incidents at eight of Milwaukee’s most troubled schools.