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April 2014 Newsletter
FROM THE DIRECTOR

 

As a community foundation, one of our greatest contributions to the region is our ability to convene like-minded organizations to engage in discussions and problem solving. These gatherings often stimulate new insights while encouraging diverse perspectives.

 

This month, we invited representatives from community farms to the Foundation to promote collaboration and learn how we can best help them advance their organization. Staff from eight different farms convened with excitement around the potential of working together.

Each farm is doing wonderful work in our community; promoting local agriculture and food access, offering educational programs, and using practices that are socially, ecologically, and economically sustainable. The convening resulted in ideas around collaboration, and the feeling of support from one another and their efforts throughout the region.

 

As the summer is upon us, I encourage you to contact your community farm to learn more about the educational opportunities they offer and the resources they provide to your city or town. You can also watch a video about how one of our local community farms has made a big impact in someone's life.

 

Click here for a list of our other upcoming convenings.

 

 

Warm regards,

 

Judy Salerno

Executive Director

 

GIVE
MetroWest Fund for Environment

 

 

 

We are fortunate to live in an area where we can enjoy spending time in our backyard, at the park, or visiting a local farm with our family and friends. Yet in MetroWest, many of our towns are dealing with issues such as preservation of open space, invasive species, water quality, and suburban sprawl.

 

Your donation to the MetroWest Fund for Environment directly supports programs that protect and preserve all aspects of our environment including land, air, water, wildlife, and more. Donate now to help make a difference in your own backyard.

 

INITIATIVES & IMPACT
Summer Institute for Youth Leadership
  
Since it began more than 15 years ago, our Youth in Philanthropy program has graduated over 900 students and awarded nearly $700,000 in grants. We are currently running one of the largest youth philanthropy programs in the country and are excited to be expanding our programming by launching the new Summer Institute for Youth Leadership.
 
The Summer Institute for Youth Leadership is a two-day summer program for high school students. Throughout the program, students will learn the importance of becoming actively involved in their local community, discover a keen awareness of their own potential, and develop the skills necessary to be a successful leader in their community. Students will learn how to evaluate nonprofit organizations, read budgets, and award grantmaking dollars to local nonprofits.
  
If you are interested in learning more about the program, email Development Officer, Cori Kaufman, or call 508.647.2260.  
  
Agency Endowment Helps Lexington Nonprofit Expand Programming

 

 

"I first heard about the Foundation through their agency endowment funds," said Nancy Fuller, executive director at the Community Therapeutic Day School. "Our organization qualified for a matching gift from the Foundation for MetroWest, and we thought the Foundation was a great place to establish a permanent endowment for our organization."

 

Community Therapeutic Day School (CTDS), located in Lexington, provides a consistent and supportive environment for young children ages 3-12 with neurological and emotional disabilities. Through the establishment of their agency endowment, a Foundation for MetroWest fundholder learned about Sibling Groups, a program of CTDS that helps an exceptional and often overlooked population of children - siblings of children with special needs. 

 

The fundholder was inspired by the program and has since supported it through their Donor Advised Fund at the Foundation. Their support has helped Sibling Groups offer two different programs for children ages 5-8 and 9-12. During the group gatherings, participants develop skills to better understand their relationship with themselves and with their brother or sister. Through the Expressive Arts and discussion, they explore the dynamics inherent in the experience of being a sibling to a child with special needs. 

 

For more information on CTDS, click here.

  

STRENGTHENING & CONNECTING METROWEST
Center for Philanthropy Education

 

Our relationship with nonprofit organizations does not begin or end with a grant decision. We offer services and resources through our Center for Philanthropy Education to help nonprofit staff, board and volunteers think strategically, govern effectively and operate efficiently - through seminars, convening, executive leadership development, and capacity-building programs.

 

Email Marketing: Simple Strategies for Success

 

Presenter: Suzan Czajkowski of Constant Contact

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Constant Contact Office, Waltham

  

Email is the most cost-effective, targeted, trackable, and efficient way to build and maintain relationships in all types of business and organizations. Many organizations find themselves seeking the right strategies, tools and tactics to make their marketing efforts as effective as possible This session will teach you how to master email marketing communications with a comprehensive look at best practices and winning strategies that lead to increased profits, revenue and engagement.

 

Register Here

 

 

 Get that Grant through a Sublime

Budget Proposal

 

Presenter: Carla Cataldo

Friday, June 13, 2014

9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Middlesex Savings Bank, 120 Flanders Road, Westborough

 

If your proposal isn't excellent, kiss that grant goodbye. If your current proposal does not sing with clarity, or looks like it was written on Fantasy Island, come to this workshop and learn to create a winning grant proposal budget! Bring a copy of your organization's grant proposal budget(s) to compare, ask questions, and obtain feedback from your peers. After learning about how to get your budget in its best form, from presenter Carla Cataldo, stay to hear about the Foundation's announcement of the 2014 Request for Proposals. Brief instructions will be given about the competitive grant process, eligibility requirements and the application. General questions will be allowed in the group setting.

 

Register Here

 

 

Please Note: We are happy to offer these seminars free of charge to MetroWest nonprofit organizations. Please help us continue to offer our programs for free. If your plans change after you register, and you cannot attend, please notify us at least 48 hours before the event. If you register and do not attend, there will be a $25 no-show fee. 

COMMUNITY EVENTS
deCordova: Art for April Vacation
Wednesday, April 23 - Sunday, April 27, 2014
  
Concord Museum: "Revolutionary Women" Gallery Talk
Saturday, April 26, 2014
11:00 a.m.
Concord, MA
  
The Concord Conservatory of Music: Summer Programs
Registration is now open for summer group
class programs. Learn more>

 
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