The Los Angeles-based Annenberg Foundation will launch its new Annenberg Alchemy program this month. This multi-million dollar "philanthropy school" will offer guidance to small nonprofits in Southern California with a strong history of giving back to the community. Annenberg’s executive director Leonard Aube describes the program as a means of helping each organization realize its full "capacity to raise public and private support" and maximize its benefit to society.
The still-open application process will lead to the selection of 135 organizations with annual budgets of less than $2 million that focus on serving underprivileged and minority populations. Training, which will take place in January, will require the attendance of executive directors and board members of each group, who will return for a follow-up session a few months later. Like Annenberg’s previous Leadership Seminars, says Aube, these sessions will help each agency determine the best practices to "reorganize and raise funds more effectively."
The program has received more than 300 applications, which will be narrowed down through a blind lottery. According to Aube, applicants "run the full gamut, including "arts groups, community groups, environmental groups, boys and girls clubs," and more.
The Annenberg foundation, established in 1982 by billionaire media mogul Walter Annenberg, is well-known in Los Angeles for having established the USC Annenberg School for Communication, the Wallis Annenberg Building for Science Learning and Innovation, and the Wallis Annenberg health center on Melrose Avenue. Most recently, the foundation opened the Annenberg Space for Photography in Century City last year and the Annenberg Community Beach House, a public seaside space in a historic location.
"During this tough time," says Aube, the school "provides a focus on resiliency." The foundation hopes that nonprofits in Southern California will "feel stronger and more empowered to tackle their own goals."
