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| San Diego Grantmakers Update | |
"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world...."
--Anne Frank |
October 2009 | |
| Welcome New Member
The James Hervey Johnson Charitable Trust
Welcome to SDG! We're especially pleased because Kevin Munnelly, trustee, was one of the original founders of San Diego Grantmakers in 1976. | |
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Don't Miss These SDG Programs
The Annual Conference is next week, and we've got even more great programs for grantmakers in November and December! Click on program names for details.
2009 SDG Annual Conference The Future of Philanthropy: Creating Silver LiningsOctober 29, 2009, 8:45am-5:30pm
Joe and Vi Jacobs Center, 404 Euclid Ave, San Diego 92114
If you haven't already, you can still register now for the conference!
November 12, 2009, 8:30-10:30am SDG, 5060 Shoreham Place, Suite 350, San Diego 92122
The call for volunteer service is the hot topic of the day! Earlier this year, we hosted a session for our corporate members to share ideas, examine challenges and learn best practices in managing corporate volunteer programs. The attendees asked to have a chance for more dialogue, so we are teaming up once again with Volunteer San Diego to provide a forum for learning. Effectively deploying employee volunteers has become particularly critical to strategy as financial resources for the community decline and employee morale is suffering in the midst of widespread business challenges.
November 18, 2009, 10:00-11:00am
 Feeding the Hungry in San Diego
A Report from the Jewish Community Foundation: Gaps and Solutions
November 19, 2009, 12:00-2:00pm
North University Community Branch Library, 8820 Judicial Drive, San Diego 92122
Charlene Seidle, VP of Philanthropy, Jewish Community Foundation
John Lucero Criswell, Executive Director, San Diego Hunger Coalition
Dale R. Fleming, Director, Strategic Planning and Operational Support, County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency
Colin Mathewson, Community Advocate, Price Charities
Shaina Hazan, Leadership Development Associate, Jewish Family Services Hand Up Food Pantry
The recession has caused many local families to become first-time seekers of food assistance-the formerly middle class, seniors living on fixed incomes, single-parent headed households, even the military. The Jewish Community Foundation recently commissioned a study to understand how philanthropy can better address food insecurity - to create a snapshot of current need in order to facilitate a coordinated effort to meet the need and to point the way for future action to eliminate hunger and food insecurity.
 SDG Open House and End-of-Year Reception
December 2, 2009, 4:00-6:00pm
SDG, 5060 Shoreham Place, Ste 350, San Diego 92122
Come celebrate the year with your SDG colleagues, and see the new SDG office space!
Click here for a complete list of SDG programs and working group meetings. To RSVP, please call (858) 875-3333 or email programs@sdgrantmakers.org (include your full name and organizational affiliation with your response, please).
Reminder: SDG programs are open only to member grantmakers and nonmember grantmakers as invited. |
Member & Community Partner News
YOUR ORGANIZATION COULD BE FEATURED HERE! Don't forget to let SDG know what's new with you, from grantmaking to awards, events, and more. We want to share the good news about all of our members. To submit an item for the newsletter, email nancy@sdgrantmakers.org.
SDG would like to announce that three people will be joining the SDG board of directors in January: Mary Herron ( The Parker Foundation), Murray Galinson (The Galinson Family Foundation), and Christy Wilson ( Rancho Santa Fe Foundation). Additionally, Connie Matsui Beckman ( The San Diego Foundation) is serving as interim board member. Many thanks to outgoing board members Joanne Pastula and Kelly Prasser for their board service!
Opportunity to showcase your grantees: the 1st Annual Classy Awards will recognize charities, individuals, and businesses who are doing exemplary philanthropic work in our community.
The Life Technologies Foundation has awarded approximately $1.7 million in new grants that include the creation of an online biology textbook, and building a museum exhibit about the human cell. Click here for more info.
Ronald Simon Family Foundation recently held a gala event to announce and spotlight their scholarship award winners, Oceanside Unified School District Class of 2011.
The San Diego Women's Foundation is currently accepting proposals in the field of Environment. All grant applications must be submitted electronically no later than 5:00 pm, Wednesday, December 2, 2009. |
National Philanthropy Day
Along with many of our members, SDG is a sponsor of National Philanthropy Day. Congratulations to member Jack in the Box for being named San Diego's Outstanding Philanthropic Corporation this year. The awards will be given at a luncheon on November 3--maybe we will see you there! |
On September 30, SDG hosted an event called "Ensuring a Fair and Accurate 2010 Census Count: Strategies for Funders." We learned how funders can play a critical role in promoting and supporting a fair and accurate count, and why it really matters. The data gathered from the 2010 Census will be used to distribute nearly $41.9 billion in federal funding to California each year over the next decade. For each person not counted, nearly $12,000 per person in federal funding is lost to our region--and San Diego is one of top 50 most "hard to count" counties in the nation. To learn more:
- Click here for the presentation.
- Click here for FAQs about partnering to ensure an accurate census count.
- Click here and here for forms to partner with the census.
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Also, see California Counts! A Funder's Guide to the 2010 Census: this guide from The California Immigrant Integration Initiative of Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR) provides an overview of the 2010 census, summarizes the challenges to achieving an accurate count, and describes funding strategies for reaching populations that have historically been undercounted, such as people of color, immigrants, limited-English speakers, renters, low-income groups, among others.
Additionally, The Foundation for Change is planning to award grants of up to $7,500 to community-based organizations wishing to advocate for participation in the 2010 census. |
Economic Benefits of Health-Related Giving
The Philanthropy Collaborative (TPC) released a study on the economic benefits of health-related grantmaking: Click here (pdf) for the study and see below for related resources:
- FAQs (pdf) about heath grantmaking
- TPC's Fast Facts (pdf) about how philanthropy benefits the economy.
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Intuition in Grantmaking
From our colleagues at Southeastern Council of Foundations: In a field where measurement, data and hard numbers are increasingly important, some are revisiting the role of intuition in grantmaking.
In a blog post on Good.is, Gabriel Kasper discusses the value of recognizing patterns in good grantees and being able to spot "one type of team or approach that is likely to succeed." He proposes that though you may excel at recognizing one type of pattern, you can miss other potential successes. He suggests organizing a network of experts that are skilled at seeing patterns other than your own "to create a more systematic way of using intuition."
At the Clinton Global Initiative conference, Judith Rodin, president of the Rockefeller Foundation, illustrated the value of funding innovative ventures with an anecdote about John D. Rockefeller, Jr. The philanthropist, when presented with a $500 request from Albert Einstein, replied "Why don't we give him $1,000? I think he's on to something." Rodin reminded grantmakers that "measurement should not oppose experimentation and risk taking." Click here for the full article. |
Philanthropic Headlines
Chronicle: Community Foundations Saw a 27% Drop in Asset ValueCommunity foundations suffered steep investment losses last year, ending a five-year streak of positive returns and damaging their purchasing power, according to a new report from the Council on Foundations, an organization that represents grant makers.
Philanthropy Journal: IRS Clarifies Grant RestrictionsSome public charities, including community foundations and women's funds, can make general support grants to nonprofits that lobby without running afoul of federal restrictions, as long as the grants are not earmarked for lobbying.
Kathleen Enright and Jonathan Spack argue that "Too many nonprofit groups, however, is not the problem. Rather, the endemic undercapitalization of even the strongest nonprofit groups is the more pressing problem grant makers should try to solve."
Tactical Philanthropy: The 2010 Crisis in Philanthropy In this provocative post, Sean Stannard-Stockton claims that "Foundation giving is going to fall off a cliff in 2010" and argues that forward-thinking foundations should "step up to the plate and find creative ways to get their knowledge into the hands of major donors" by extending due-diligence information.
Tactical Philanthropy: Philanthropy 2.0Lots of people have used the terms "Philanthropy 2.0", "New Donors" or other phrases that suggest that something has fundamentally changed about the field of philanthropy. What's different about 2.0?
Chronicle Conference Notebook: How to Be an Effective DonorWhile philanthropy is a difficult endeavor to speak broadly about, there are several ways that donors can be highly effective in their giving, Thomas J. Tierney, a nonprofit consultant, told members of the Philanthropy Roundtable during its annual meeting last week. |
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Resources
FutureLab Online Forum Independent Sector recently launched FutureLab: An Online Challenge for the Nonprofit Community to Chart a Vibrant 2020, which is designed to help the sector build a brighter future by providing a forum to share big ideas and identify common goals that will strengthen our organizations and expand our individual and combined impact.
Report on Systems Change Foundation Strategy for Social Impact: A System Change Perspective (pdf), a new report by the Center on Philanthropy and Public Policy at the University of Southern California, examines how foundations can help solve systemic social problems and create long-term change. According to the report, affecting "system change" requires a focus on public policy, but also on establishing professionalism and proven business practices in the field. Foundations must be "willing to consider longer-term commitments, fund riskier projects, and join their peers" in collaboration.
Public-Private Partnerships
The latest issue of Making the Link from Grantmakers for Children, Youth & Families examines the advantages of partnering with the public sector and provides foundations with guidance on how to create such partnerships. The brief also highlights 3 successful foundation-government partnerships.
Giving Tools for Youth
Inspired Legacies offers a series of tools around youth giving circles (for youth ages 13-18). | |
| This online SDGrantmakers Update is published by San Diego Grantmakers to help SDG members meet the challenges of philanthropy today. Our mission is to connect, educate, develop, and inspire a diverse group of foundations and corporations to stimulate effective philanthropy in the San Diego region. Copies of past editions are archived here.
Contact Nancy Jamison, 858/875.3333 or nancy@sdgrantmakers.org to suggest article ideas or submit news items. | |
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