Summer 2014 eNewsletter
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 NEW
Application is now online!
All Dunham Fund Grant Applications MUST be completed online.
It is highly recommended that grant applicants read
"Dunham Fund Online Grant Guidelines"
before completing the online application.
Applicants will be able to complete, edit, save and re-save an application until they are satisfied with their final entry. The Dunham Fund annual first and second cycle grant deadlines are February 1 & June 1 respectively.
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Dunham Fund
Mark E. Truemper
Chair
Stewart A. Beach
Wendy Hirsch
Ryan J. Maley
Michael Morcos
Christine Tunney
Robert Vaughan
Robert Vaughan
Executive Director
Vicki Morcos
Partnership Officer
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Dreaming Tree Foundation
Traveling Without Moving . . .
an adventure in filmmaking!
This $125,000 Dunham Fund Grant will support the Dreaming Tree Foundation's production of the 2014 teen film, Traveling Without Moving, through the mentorship of 300 at-risk youth in the Aurora area interested in learning the technical and life skills of film production as a collaborative art. The program includes a one-week filmmaking apprenticeship for the teens, rotating them through every position on the film set, from camera to sound to costumes to film editing and continuity.The science adventure film will center on the 2013 Nobel science prize-winning Higgs boson particle and will be released in theatres and on DVD in May 2015.
Aurora University will provide housing and a college-campus experience to the teens during their apprenticeships. The proximity to Fermilab, the support of hi-tech I-88 corridor companies, and the use of area vendors for housing, meals, locations and supplies will bring a positive economic impact and increased visibility to the Aurora area. The majority of the proceeds from the film's distribution will benefit Boys & Girls Clubs educational programming. The remainder of the proceeds will support additional teen apprenticeships for future Dreaming Tree Foundation productions.
Back to "In This Issue"
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 Dunham Fund supports
SPARK
A Dunham Fund challenge grant of $1 for every $1 raised up to $100,000 will support the continuation and expansion of SPARK (Strong, Prepared And Ready for Kindergarten) and will build much-needed informed and active parent engagement in the program. The Dunham Fund has already provided support for the first two years of a five-year $1,250,000 plan to create this early learning initiative which has increased access to quality early learning services for young, at-risk children in the Aurora area.
This initiative is a collaboration of United Way of the Aurora Area, City of Aurora, local school districts 129, 131, 204 and 308, YWCA Child Care Resource and Referral, local child care providers and other organizations interested in promoting school readiness skills, including socialization, early literacy, math and vocabulary skills. This grant will prepare SPARK to benefit from state investment in early childhood, including Aurora's "Race to the Top" state-wide initiative.
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Small Grants . . . Major Impact!
Dunham Fund grants have been made for as little as $2,000 and are currently limited to $1M annually. The Fund will often award smaller grants to organizations to sponsor one-time events or enhancements to ongoing programs that are of an educational nature that will do much to involve and benefit the community as a whole in addition to enhancing the missions of the organization and the Fund. These events and program enhancements often make a significant impact in the community, educating the citizenry about current social trends and critical needs or providing stimulating artistic and cultural experiences.
Two of these small grants are highlighted below in this edition of the Dunham Fund eNewsletter . . .
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Dunham Fund Invites You to Support  June 14, 2014
With a $5,000 grant, the Dunham Fund will help support Aurora GreenFest 2014, a collaboration of Aurora GreenLights and The Conservation Foundation that will provide a Family Event and Community Trade Show free to the public at Prisco Community Center in Aurora on June 14, 2014. The event features a Children's Eco-Village, Clean Energy Solutions, Green Car Show, Nature Exhibits, Recycling Extravaganza, Local Farmers Market, Art and Music. Started in 2010, Aurora GreenFest brings a team of 100+ volunteers together to present this environmental education and networking event to over 1,500 attendees and 85 exhibitors from the Greater Aurora Area, Fox Valley Region, and Chicagoland. |
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  YWCA Aurora holds its first Leaders of Change Luncheon
The Dunham Fund was a $5,000 Platinum Plus Sponsor for the YWCA Aurora's Leaders of Change Luncheon held on May 15, 2014. Aurora University also supported the event with a Presenting sponsorship and AU's President, Dr. Rebecca Sherrick, introduced the keynote speaker, Sheryl WuDunn (pictured above), Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and co-author of "Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide." While describing a number of initiatives and cottage industries developed out of necessity by women in third-world countries, Ms. WuDunn spoke to the importance of the empowerment of women in all parts of the world through the building of their self-esteem, innate intelligence, and entrepreneurial skills. The proceeds from this event will support the YWCA's anti-bullying program in East and West Aurora elementary schools and the organization's women's empowerment annual workshop series. In her introduction of the keynote speaker, Dr. Sherrick spoke of the YWCA of the U.S.A.'s past university student movement and leadership training camps at Aurora University's George Williams College in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and of the "rebirth" of the Aurora YWCA at Aurora University in the very near future. She announced that the YWCA Aurora will be moving into their new offices in the university's John C. Dunham STEM Partnership School in August 2014. This YWCA and Aurora University collaboration came as a result of the YWCA Aurora's generous support of the STEM school in exchange for the university's offer of a long-term lease arrangement for YWCA office space in the school. Dr. Sherrick expressed her hope that the YWCA and the university can work together in future collaborative efforts.
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We hope you've enjoyed the Summer 2014 edition of our eNewsletter . . .
Join us on the Dunham Fund website to learn more about the grants, scholarships and program related investments awarded by the Dunham Fund.
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Dunham Fund 8 East Galena Boulevard, Suite 202 Aurora, IL 60506 630.844.2774 |
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