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The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, the permanent endowment and largest grantmaker to nonprofit organizations serving the Greater New Haven region, has awarded $2,522,265 in one-year and multi-year Responsive grants to 48 nonprofits serving its twenty-town region. These grants are the culmination of The Community Foundation’s largest, annual competitive grants process, which began in March. The competitive process is only one element of The Community Foundation’s yearly grantmaking, which is estimated to reach $23.9 million in total competitive and non-competitive grants by the end of 2015. 

“As is true each year, The Community Foundation’s 2015 grantmaking decisions reflect both our understanding of the key challenges and opportunities facing our community and our commitment to carry out the intent of generations of donors who have built the community’s endowment. The Community Foundation is privileged to support many great organizations doing great work in our community,” said William W. Ginsberg, President & CEO of The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. 

The Foundation’s Responsive grants come as a welcomed relief to some nonprofits impacted by recent budget rescissions in state funding. The rescissions are expected to curtail the services nonprofits are currently providing and thereby directly impact the region’s most vulnerable residents in the near future. In the first round of rescissions, human services took a disproportionately large hit. 

“Many of the 2015 grant applicants working in the social service and health sectors cited poor economic conditions affecting their organizations as well as the clients they serve. While the economy might appear to be improving, the nonprofit sector in our region and those served by the sector are not feeling the benefits of an improving economy. Most report high demand for services and inadequate sources of funding,” says Christina Ciociola, Senior Vice President of Grantmaking & Strategy.

As one example of The Community Foundation’s new grants, the Connecticut Food Bank received $80,000 toward the construction of a new food distribution center and headquarters.

“Over the past 10 years, the Connecticut Food Bank has experienced an 80% increase in the demand for emergency food assistance, and now nearly 500,000 Connecticut residents are food insecure,” says Paul O’Leary, Chief Operating Officer of the Connecticut Food Bank. “The need for support is especially acute within New Haven County, which has the highest food insecurity rate (14.4%) out of the state's eight counties.”

Another grant recipient, Liberty Community Services, was awarded $40,000 to support a joint strategic planning process with EMERGE CT to provide affordable housing for formerly incarcerated individuals also involved in a transitional employment program. The grant aligns with The Community Foundation’s reentry strategy aimed at creating a region where formerly-incarcerated individuals are empowered with opportunities so that they can successfully reintegrate, making them less likely to reoffend, and reducing the ripple effect on their children, family and the community as a whole.

“This grant will enable us to have a more holistic housing and employment program for individuals returning to this community from incarceration,” says John Bradley, Executive Director of Liberty Services. “It will also assist us in identifying best practices in this field of work so that returning citizens can become contributing members to the community.”

Women’s Health Research at Yale received a $150,000 multi-year grant to support its heart and cancer research. Funding for this grant was made possible by two Community Foundation funds: the John A. & Edna M. DeLeon Fund for cancer and heart disease research and the Nellie Ward and & Edith P. Rausch Fund for cancer research.

“Women remain underrepresented in clinical studies of cardiovascular disease and cancer,” says Dr. Carolyn M. Mazure, Director of Women’s Health Research at Yale. "Yet these disorders are the greatest cause of mortality in women. This grant will strengthen our infrastructure, allowing us to generate new research that advances treatments and provides new information on these disorders for the benefit of the community.”

As in years past, the responsive grant process was carried out collaboratively with The Community Foundation’s partner in philanthropy, the Valley Community Foundation, which serves the towns of Ansonia, Derby, Oxford, Seymour and Shelton. The Community Foundation and Valley Community awarded three grants in partnership to BHcare, Healthy Eyes Alliance and Rape Crisis Center of Milford.

BHcare will use its funding to begin the planning and development of a Family Justice Center in New Haven that will serve as a safe location where survivors of domestic violence can receive the services they need in one setting.

“Such a facility has the power to be transformative to our region’s domestic violence survivors, who are often in need of multiple services at one time. Coordinating and collaborating on services such as shelter, advocacy, medical and legal under one roof minimizes the need for survivors to repeat their story, which can further traumatize,” says Roberta J. Cook, President/CEO of BHcare. 

A complete list of grant recipients is available at www.cfgnh.org.

Thanks to the generosity of three generations of donors, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven awarded over $22 million in grants and distributions in 2014 from an endowment of more than $460 million and composed of hundreds of individually named funds. In addition to its grantmaking, The Community Foundation helps build a stronger community by taking measures to improve student achievement, create healthy families in New Haven, promote local philanthropy through www.giveGreater.org® and encourage better understanding of the region. The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven’s 20 town service area includes: Ansonia, Bethany, Branford, Cheshire, Derby, East Haven, Guilford, Hamden, Madison, Milford, New Haven, North Branford, North Haven, Orange, Oxford, Seymour, Shelton, Wallingford, West Haven, Woodbridge. For more information about The Community Foundation, visit www.cfgnh.org, find us on Facebook at www.facebook.org/cfgnh or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cfgnh.  

The Connecticut Veterans Legal Center (CVLC) supports veterans in recovery by helping them overcome legal barriers to housing and income. CVLC and VA Connecticut’s Errera Community Care Center created the country’s first VA medical-legal partnership to integrate legal help into VA mental health, housing and addiction services. CVLC staff helps veterans resolve their legal issues through advice, representation and referral to a large number of volunteer attorneys. Since 2009, CVLC’s high quality legal services have helped over 1300 veterans rebuild the fulfilling lives they deserve.

Each year, the Department of Defense erroneously denies service members an “honorable” discharge, often because of behaviors symptomatic of PTSD. These “bad paper discharges” make veterans ineligible for VA educational, medical, or disability benefits and make it harder for them to get civilian jobs. These veterans, many of whom served in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, are three times more likely to commit suicide than other veterans. This means we fail to care for and educate some of our country’s most wounded warriors when they need it most.

The Department of Defense (DoD) creates this problem by misusing the separation process to eliminate rather than counsel struggling soldiers, and the problem is growing with military budget cuts. According to the Colorado Gazette, Army “bad paper” discharges for “misconduct” were up 25% from 2009 to 2013. More disturbingly, the greatest increases are in the eight Army posts that house most of the services’ combat units, where misconduct discharges are up almost 70%.

CVLC seeks applicants to direct its military records corrections or “discharge upgrade” program. This position requires a range of skills including: representing individual veterans before DoD administrative boards and APA review of those decisions in federal court; training and assisting volunteer attorneys representing veterans in these venues; and implementing process improvements to CVLC’s discharge upgrade practice to improve outcomes.

This position offers the opportunity for an ambitious attorney to define this burgeoning social justice field by establishing best practices and achievement metrics for legal aid offices adopting discharge upgrade practices. CVLC envisions this attorney presenting progress and outcomes at national conferences to inspire, identify and recruit legal aid offices and attorneys interested in developing a discharge upgrade practice and collaborating with partner organizations on projects to reform the statutes and regulations governing discharge upgrades. This position is currently funded for one year, with funding for future years likely.

Familiarity with Department of Defense administrative law or an eagerness to learn it, admission and good standing to any bar, a willingness to take the CT bar, a valid drivers’ license and access to a vehicle in order to meet with clients across CT, are all required. 

The office environment is client-centered, hard-working, creative, democratic, outcome-oriented and collegial.  The ideal candidate is open, organized, collaborative, self-directed and comfortable working independently. Experience with landlord-tenant, consumer, foreclosure, criminal, benefits and/or other areas of poverty law, experience working with veterans, the homeless and/or the mentally ill, and/or experience with the military and/or military law would be beneficial. If you loathe the idea of addressing your own envelopes, faxing your own documents or folding chairs after an event, this is not the job for you; we all do windows here.

As physical space is tight and office amenities are sparse, someone with an easy-going, adventurous attitude towards work would be the best fit.  This job is for someone who enjoys learning and helping people, seeks meaningful work that involves widely different skills and is interested in taking on considerable responsibility at a young organization with an important mission. Salary is based on experience and is commensurate with other public interest law jobs. Benefits include health insurance, generous paid vacation and sick leave and a family friendly workplace.

To apply, please submit a cover letter, resume, three references, a legal writing sample and a professional letter sample to the CVLC’s Executive Director Margaret Middleton at applicants@ctveteranslegal.org. Please do not hesitate to email with questions. The position is open until filled. We anticipate that it will be filled quickly, so please send your materials as soon as possible.

THE "B" FOUNDATION

Now accepting grant applications from Internal Revenue

Service qualified 501 (C) (3) organizations which seek

assistance consistent with the goals of the "B" Foundation

to help feed, care, or educate society.  The grants will

range from $1,000 to $10,000 and will be awarded by the

end of the calendar year.

Please submit your written requests only by

November 29, 2015 to:

The "B" Foundation

P.O. Box 5073

Attn: Elad

Woodbridge, CT 06525

~~Cheers To All~~

We are moving into the time of year where we all count our blessings and are very grateful for many, many things. I would to point out another walk -

 The Walk for PKD

For

2016

PKD is Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) — one of the most common, life-threatening genetic diseases — strikes both adults and children. It often leads to the need for dialysis and a kidney transplant. It affects thousands in America and millions worldwide, who are in urgent need of treatments and a cure.

(Taken from the website)

PKD Foundation is striving for make their goal for this year...but there is a walk each year and if so inclined all the information is on their website. It is really a disease which needs all the help it can get to find some kind of a cure. And any type of help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thank you for your time in this matter and Happy Thanksgiving To All. 

All the best,

Patricia Illingworth

Grove Street Cemetery

In a little town south of Atlantic City there sits a six-story elephant Lucy is a National Historic Site (built in 1881) and she is in a bit of disrepair needing attention. But wait! PETA will help. PETA (the anti-cruelty-to-animals folks) has offered to throw-in some cash if they can also highlight, using Lucy, the plight of circus animals.

The Board of the organization that owns and is committed to the preservation of Lucy has however rejected PETA's offer saying that anything that might make the Lucy experience less than a happy experience is not acceptable. While the PETA money would certainly help the board address its duty of care needs, the board's perceived duty of obedience (to remain faithful to and pursue the goals of the organization and in particular, honor donor requests) would be violated.

This is a great lesson for nonprofit boards. There are those times when challenges may appear too great to handle while at the same time, not every resolutions is acceptable. Of course these situations may be as much about perception as reality. It's is Lucy's board that perceives PETA's offer "tainted" while we must recognize that PETA saw their offer as an opportunity to pursue their own mission. Of course the same might be said of the many institutions that accepted Coca-Cola money to do nutritional research and education. What is perceived as tainted and outside the box of "obedience" may not actually be.

Here's the NJ.com article.

By Don E. Woods | For NJ.com
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on October 12, 2015 at 1:47 PM, updated October 12, 2015 at 3:04 PM

MARGATE — Jersey Shore landmark Lucy the Elephant may have painted toenails but she won't be getting a tattoo anytime soon.

The tattoo was one of the conditions set by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to donate money for Lucy the Elephant restoration efforts. The conditions were too depressing to consider, according to Lucy officials.

PETA requested that Lucy be fitted with a foam shackle, a teardrop tattoo and a banner promoting awareness of circus elephant abuse, according to an announcement by the Lucy Board of Trustees.

"Lucy is a happy place," said Richard Helfant, CEO of the Lucy the Elephant Team, in the annoucement. "We must always insure that children who visit Lucy have a happy experience and leave with smiles on their faces. Anything that could sadden a child is not acceptable here at Lucy."

PETA offered a $2,000 donation for restoration efforts last week.

"Cruelty to animals is abhorrent, but given the divisive nature of some of PETA's campaigns, Lucy is much better off seeking 'no strings attached' donations," said Robert McGuigan, board member on the Save Lucy Committee, in the announcement.

Lucy is a 65-foot-tall wooden elephant in Margate. She was built in 1881 to attract people to Absecon Island to buy real estate. She was named a National Historic Landmark in 1976.

The Save Lucy Committee is raising money to fix railings on the top riding carriage, fix rust on her hide and repaint the elephant.

Restoration is estimated to cost $58,000.

Need funding for your environmental project or environmental organization?

The Greater New Haven Green Fund -- a small foundation that funds environmentally beneficial projects in the municipalities of New Haven, East Haven, Hamden, and Woodbridge -- solicits small and large grant applications once a year. Funding up to $10,000 is available. This year, grant applications are due on Tuesday, December 1, 2015 at 6:00 PM. An electronic version of the Cover Letter, Application, Budget, and Attachments should be sent to grants@gnhgreenfund.org. Grant awards will be announced around February 2016.

See www.gnhgreenfund.org for more info.

The job opening for the newly-created New Haven Food System Policy Director has been posted.  

A detailed job description is available here. 
Submissions should be emailed to NHJobs@newhavenct.gov with the position title included in the subject line, and should include an application, which can be downloaded from cityofnewhaven.com/HumanResources. 
Submissions must be received by the posted deadline date of Friday, November 20, 2015, 5pm.  
General information on the application/testing process can be reviewed at

~~~Greetings To All~~~

May I thank everyone who visited and supported Grove Street Cemetery

this past season.

The visual selected is from Victorian Trading Co highlighting

this enchanting season.

~~~~~Happy Thanksgiving~~~~~

Patricia B. Illingworth 

Thank you to the 100 plus individuals who braved the cold and wet weather to participate in the 5th Annual Walk Against Domestic Violence held on Saturday October 3 at East Rock Park.  

Why do we walk...Because every 9 seconds a woman in the US is assaulted or beaten. We walk because studies suggest that up to 10 million children witness some form of domestic violence. We walk because Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women. We walk to show our support.

Cheers to One and All,

Well, this is the "season of the witch" as the song goes.....but I am writing to give a brief notation on Ghost Stories from the Victorian Age.

Actually, Charles Dickens, (who visited New Haven several times) was the master of the ghost story. From his own periodical paper "Household Words" taken from Shakespeare's Henry V  "Familiar in his mouth as household words." he developed the interest in ghost stories. As a matter of interest, ghost stories were told at Christmas time, not at Halloween. And this type of story telling had a huge presence in the English home and a very powerful influence and effect upon reading and the interest for reading in Victorian England.

What is interesting to note is women loved to read and write about ghost stores. These various tales brought excitement into their dull lives. The stories were full of detail into another woman's home and her influence upon her family through the tragedy of the tale.

Where we see an explosion of this genre in 1860. One so noted female writer was Mary Elizabeth Braddon and her tale entitled "Eveline's Visitant" published in the Belgravia from 1866 to 1867.  Other famous women writer from this era are: Amelia Edwards, Mrs. Riddel, Rhoda Broughton dating from 1860 through the 1870's to name a few.

And ghost stories have vigorously continued on through the 19th century with great zeal and so continues today with as much, or even more zeal for the macabre for some.

Well, Happy Halloween to All!!!!!!

Al the best,

Patricia Illingworth

Grove Street Cemetery 

On one of the first days of class at Dos Puentes Elementary School in Upper Manhattan last month, a new student named Michelle peered up through pale blue glasses and took a deep breath.

“Can I drink water?” Michelle, 6, said.

“Diga en Español,” her first-grade teacher, Rebeca Madrigal, answered.

Michelle paused.

“Can I drink agua?” she replied.

It was a start...

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/09/nyregion/dual-language-programs-are-on-the-rise-even-for-native-english-speakers.html?_r=1#story-continues-1

The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, the region's largest grantmaker and permanent charitable endowment, is seeking a qualified candidate for an entry level administrative assistant position in the Development, Stewardship, Donor Services and Communications (DSDSC) Department.   

Development Associate

Position Summary:
This position supports several development, donor service and communications processes, as well as other responsibilities as assigned. 

Core Responsibilities:

• The DA will be part of, and support, a team of DSDSC professionals in the execution of department goals

• The DA will provide service to multiple audiences of The Community Foundation and communicate through various methods, including phone, email and written communications

• The DA will support internal and external meetings and events, including scheduling, attending, providing logistics, managing reservations and recording, as required

• The DA will use state of the art technologies, including data entry into The Community Foundation’s relational database, FIMS

• The DA will be called upon for collaboration with all Foundation staff members

• The DA will support the reception area accountabilities, as needed

• The DA will be assigned special projects

• The DA will provide administrative duties, as needed

The Ideal Candidate will have the following qualifications:

• Demonstrated administrative and data entry skills and highly skilled in technology and office software including:  Microsoft Word, Outlook, PowerPoint and Excel

• College degree preferred

• Some experience organizing and operating efficient office processes and procedures

• Demonstrated experience working in a fast-paced environment, with high customer service expectations and with diverse populations

• Individual should be self-directed and a team player

• Attention to detail, ability to track schedules, organize meetings, generate reports and produce presentations

• Demonstrated ability to direct and participate in teams

• A commitment to an inclusive environment

• Excellent written and oral communication skills

• Superior organizational skills and eagerness to multitask

Please submit a letter of interest and résumé to Ms. Ellen Perrotti ateperrotti@cfgnh.org. No phone calls will be accepted.

Application deadline is October 23, 2015.  

The Community Foundation’s mission is to create positive and sustainable change in Greater New Haven by increasing the amount of and enhancing the impact of community philanthropy. 

The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven is an equal opportunity employer.

New Haven, CT –Join us as a Walker or Volunteers on  October 3, 2015 for the 5^th Annual Walk Against Domestic Violence held at the East Rock Park Pavilion, New Haven,  CT.

Family Centered Services of CT will be hosting the 5^th Annual Walk Against Domestic Violence in East Rock Park in New Haven, CT.  Join over 200 people as we walk to support victims of Domestic Violence.  Volunteers are needed for all areas of the walk from registration to route marshal.  Registration begins at 9:00 a.m. and opening ceremonies begin at 10:00 a.m. To volunteer contact: Family Centered Services of CT at 203-624-2600 or email info@familyct.org.

Family CT is committed to fostering hope and help to survivors of domestic abuse and empowering these individuals to heal and thrive.  Through the Walk, Family CT aims to raise awareness about domestic violence and to celebrate survivors.

For more information contact:  Susan D’Orvilliers at 203-624-2600 ext. 118.

As a generation of nonprofit leaders approaches retirement and the economic climate continues to stress financial resources, organizations in the social sector should shift their approaches to planning, governance and investment, according to a new report presented Tuesday, September 15. 

The findings of the report, Leadership New England, Essential Shifts for a Thriving Nonprofit Sector, were presented to about 100 directors, Board members, and staff representing a wide range of organizations that deliver basic needs, youth, health, education, arts, and other social programs in the New Haven region. 

“You are the heart of Greater New Haven. Consider this to be a report from your cardiologist,” said William W. Ginsberg, President and CEO of The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, which funded the report along with Hartford Foundation for Public Giving, The Boston Foundation, Barr Foundation, and other foundations and charitable organizations in New England.

While nonprofits have proven to be resilient in the face of an economic downturn, many rely on operating models that are not sustainable, according to the report, based on surveys taken from 1200 nonprofit leaders and Board members throughout New England. 

The survey results show: leaders are overworked and stressed about cash flow; staff is underpaid and not given adequate professional development; and directors and Boards do not share an understanding of their roles and responsibilities.

A lack of planning for a new generation of leadership is one of the biggest issues facing the nonprofit sector, according to the report. Overall, more than half of the nonprofit leaders responding to the survey (53%) are 55 or older. In the New Haven region, 63% of the leaders are over 55.

Hez Norton, co-author of the report who presented its findings, said that executive directors don’t discuss succession planning because they are afraid of giving their Boards the false impression they want to leave. Likewise, Boards don’t raise the issue out of a fear of upsetting their directors.

“It’s a third rail conversation,” Norton said.

Norton proposed shifting the framework for the discussion away from succession planning, which focuses on an individual, and toward creating a sustainability plan that examines the vulnerabilities of the organization and its choices for the future. 

Other findings included shifting the vision of Board governance beyond short-term fundraising and investing in leadership development and high-quality staff. 

Shaye Roscoe, Executive Director of the Boys and Girls Club of the Lower Naugatuck Valley, said the findings resonated with her experience during a panel discussion following the presentation. Shortly after assuming her leadership role in 2013, Roscoe said she identified the need for a strategic plan and staff training and secured private funding to support the efforts. 

“That was a game changer for us,” Roscoe said. 

Andrew Eder, a philanthropist who has sat on many nonprofit Boards, said that better training is needed for Board members.

“Most Board members don’t know what their roles are. They don’t see staff as equals, which they are. It requires training,” Eder said.

The panel moderator, Shelly Saczynski, of United Illuminating Holdings and a Board member of The Community Foundation, concluded the event with The Foundation’s longstanding commitment to strengthening nonprofits in Greater New Haven.

“The Community Foundation believes in and will continue support capacity building, leadership training, and general operating funding for the important work of our local nonprofit organizations,” Saczynski said.

The following Wall Street Journal article is about a lot of topics in the nonprofit governance world. I thought framing my own thoughts around a nonprofit board's fiduciary duty of care to be one area of focus but beyond this subject is a rarely displayed "what can happen" when there's a new chair "in town" and when there are questions of competency (re paid staff) and transparency (financial and program) and the board's own fulfillment of its duty to provide complete oversight. Certainly I'm not the one to predict how this will all shake out (new exec?; new board members; changes in policy and practices?) but I'm hoping the article's authors will be able to follow-up and let us all know.

At the very minimum, it's heartening to watch so much passion, by board members, in play.
Allegations by the music hall’s chairman, Ronald Perelman, have sparked a boardroom dispute

By
GREGORY ZUCKERMAN and JENNIFER SMITH
Updated Sept. 16, 2015 7:52 p.m. ET

NEW YORK—A simmering clash between leaders of New York’s Carnegie Hall boiled over on Wednesday as financier Ronald O. Perelman, who recently became chairman of the hall’s board of trustees, accused the prestigious music institution’s executive director of improprieties and said the hall has operated with poor oversight.

The allegations include operating the hall with limited transparency and entering into “related-party transactions.” In such transactions, the individuals involved have a relationship prior to the deal.

Mr. Perelman said his criticisms, which he sent in an emailed letter to members of the Carnegie Hall board on Wednesday, were raised earlier in the summer and led to the brief suspension of the director, Clive Gillinson.

The claims have embroiled Carnegie Hall’s board, which includes some of the most powerful players in New York’s financial and cultural worlds.

Through a Carnegie Hall spokeswoman, Mr. Gillinson said: “In serving Carnegie Hall for 10 years, I am very proud of everything we have achieved together. I love the hall and everything it stands for, and will continue to give it my all.”

Mr. Perelman, who built a fortune with corporate acquisitions and investments, is no stranger to high-profile battles. The billionaire has sued investment bank Morgan Stanley, art megadealer Larry Gagosian and a key former business partner, among others.
ENLARGE
Chairman Ronald O. Perelman PHOTO: SHAHAR AZRAN/WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES

Mr. Perelman’s letter, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, serves notice that he may be prepared to bring the bare-knuckle tactics of a corporate raider into the genteel precinct of one of America’s most august cultural institutions. Such disputes generally are handled discreetly and kept out of public view, much as they usually are at orchestras, museums and other art organizations.

In the letter, Mr. Perelman, who succeeded philanthropist and former Citigroup Inc. leader Sanford I. Weill as chairman in February of this year, said he detected in the spring “a troubling lack of transparency and openness in the way Clive Gillinson was interacting with me and the Board.”

Mr. Weill couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Mr. Gillinson, a British cellist who joined the prestigious London Symphony Orchestra and rose up to become its managing director, has served as Carnegie Hall’s executive and artistic director for more than a decade.

“My concerns initially arose because of an inability to obtain a full picture of Carnegie Hall’s financial operations, especially as it related to profits and losses involving performances,” Mr. Perelman wrote. “I was told that such financial information was never shared with the Board or even the Chairman.”

Specifically, he continued, he was concerned about “the manner in which related-party transactions were being identified, vetted and approved.”

In the letter, Mr. Perelman said “issues arose” in Mr. Gillinson’s handling of the Warner Music Prize, something Mr. Perelman describes as a “related-party transaction.”

Established in 2014 to honor a promising young classical musician with a cash award of $100,000, the prize is presented in association with Carnegie Hall.

The prize was created with support from the family foundation of Len Blavatnik, the Warner Music Group owner who serves on hall’s board.

In Mr. Perelman’s letter, he said that “in light of various issues,” Mr. Gillinson was instructed to put the prize on hold. He went ahead and “executed a contract” for the prize, the letter said, “without the approval mandated by New York law.”

“These matters implicate Carnegie Hall’s obligations as a nonprofit organization and as a public trust,” according to Mr. Perelman’s letter.

Such lack of transparency, he said in the letter, fails to meet the standards of the New York State Nonprofit Revitalization Act, which mandates that board members take an active oversight role over staff action and, he wrote, “imposes greater restrictions and approvals in connection with related-party transactions.”

It wasn’t clear in the letter exactly what the related-party issue was.

On Aug. 18, Mr. Perelman and Edward Forst, the hall’s treasurer, suspended Mr. Gillinson, according to the letter, and called a meeting of Carnegie Hall’s executive committee. During the meeting, held the next day, Mr. Gillinson was reinstated by the executive committee, the letter said.

Emanuel Ax, a pianist who performs at Carnegie Hall and serves on its board, but not the executive committee, said the letter from Mr. Perelman was the first he had heard of the dispute.

“My contact with Clive has always been fantastic,” he said. “He’s a great guy. As far as I could tell, he was running everything wonderfully.”

Founded by Andrew Carnegie, the hall opened in 1891 and has since become a destination for top musicians and ensembles. Artists who have appeared there include Maria Callas, Jascha Heifetz and Gustav Mahler, as well as major orchestras and jazz musicians such asBillie Holiday and Miles Davis.

The hall was put up for sale in the mid-1950s and was saved from demolition when it was purchased by New York City in 1960 at the behest of the Committee to Save Carnegie Hall, led by violinist Isaac Stern, who later served as the venue’s president. Over the next few decades, its physical condition deteriorated to the point that “the bathrooms were leaking into the boxes,” Mr. Weill said earlier this year.

Mr. Perelman took the reins from Mr. Weill, who held the role of chairman of the hall since 1991. During Mr. Weill’s tenure, the famed music venue underwent a series of renovations and grew its endowment from $4 million in 1991 to $320 million. The hall also expanded its educational program and in 2003 opened Zankel Hall, a third auditorium that was previously used as a cinema.

The hall has embarked on a $125 million campaign to support its educational and performance offerings and develop digital initiatives.

—Pia Catton and Jennifer Maloney contributed to this article.

In one of those "render under Caesar" (check your New Testament for greater understanding) and what appears to be a NIMBY challenge, the Tampa officials are basically on-attack of a homeless shelter that by many standards, appears to be doing its job--providing shelter to the homeless of Tampa. But it's clear from the Tampa Tribune article, that not everyone is pleased with the job the Shelter is doing and for the moment, using the courts and law enforcement to solve their perception of the problem.

My takeaway from the article: what is the board's position on all this? I am of course presuming there is a board and that it plays some role like having at some point agreed to pursue a lawsuit. So if there is a board, how are they involved in supporting the work of the shelter? Have they established the policies that inform shelter related decisions (like standards for the physical space and the roles of volunteers)? Are they actively advocating/communicating with publicly elected officials over the issues? Are they communicating with the neighborhood folks who appear to be affected by the shelter activities. Re they offering or getting financial support?

There's a number of activities the board could be doing to address the shelter's challenges. These challenges should certainly not be on the lone shoulder of the founder/director.
Homeless charity to close by Tuesday

By Elizabeth Behrman | Tribune Staff
Published: September 3, 2015 | Updated: September 3, 2015 at 10:18 PM

TAMPA — A well-known homeless charity that filed a lawsuit resulting in the partial overturning of the city’s panhandling ban will be shut down by Tuesday, the charity’s founder and code enforcement officials said.

Code enforcement officials told Adolphus Parker, who founded Homeless Helping Homeless about seven years ago, that he has five days to clear out the homeless men and women from a makeshift shelter behind the non-profit’s headquarters at 106 E. Floribraska Ave.

“We’ve got to move everybody out of here, the office and everything has got to be shut down,” Parker said. “I don’t know how to pull this one off.”

Parker founded Homeless Helping Homeless in 2009. The non-profit organization offers beds to homeless people in multiple locations throughout the city and supplies showers, hygiene kits and about 3,000 meals each month. The charity’s homeless clients fill key staff positions.

Parker said code enforcement officials were called out to the Floribraska property while Tampa police were executing a search warrant there Wednesday morning.

According to the probable cause affidavit for the search warrant, investigators were looking for evidence that Parker and two of his employees were violating Florida statutes regarding towing and storing vehicles, scheming to defraud, failure to return leased vehicles and unlawful subleasing of motor vehicles.

While police were there, code enforcement officials determined the property is in violation of several zoning laws and that the makeshift homeless shelter behind the main building is “unfit for human habitation,” said city spokeswoman Christina Barker.

The city housing manager will work with the nonprofit to arrange assistance for the displaced occupants, she said. Including those in the main house, makeshift shelter and annex, 16 people will be without housing, Parker said.

Earlier this summer, the organization filed a federal lawsuit against the city arguing that its panhandling bans violate free speech rights and shut off a major source of revenue for the charity, which relies heavily on the private donations collected mostly through roadside solicitations. In June, the City Council voted to repeal part of the ordinance that banned solicitation on public roads.

The lawsuit is still pending.

Parker said he spoke with lawyers Thursday about filing a motion to suppress some of the evidence seized during the raid Wednesday because it relates to the ongoing lawsuit.

More than a dozen police cars were outside the charity’s headquarters Wednesday morning as investigators seized all electronics and tax and financial documents.

According to the search warrant, investigators were looking for evidence that Parker and two others were violating Florida statutes regarding towing, storing and leasing vehicles.

Parker said the only connection his title business and charity has to Cheap Towing is that the woman running the company is also one of his “heavily involved” volunteers.

“You can’t put that link together because there’s no connection other than she’s a volunteer,” he said.

The code enforcement violations just compounded his problems, Parker said.

The city said the storage units he had on the property were illegal, and he was also cited for operating a possible rooming house in a residential area.

Several months ago, zoning violations shut down the charity’s Bargain Center Thrift Store on Florida Avenue, which helped fund the emergency women’s shelter and transitional shelter, he said. He was forced to relocate beds to the Floribraska property, which he put in a temporary, covered structure behind the main building. He even built it on wheels to avoid further code violations, he said.

But that structure was deemed “unfit for human habitation,” the city said, prompting the order to vacate.

Jim McPike has been sleeping on one of the makeshift shelter’s 10 cots for a little more than two weeks.

“This place has helped me a lot; I feel bad about it being shut down,” said McPike, who is disabled. “I wasn’t really prepared for this.”

Staff Reporter Mark Wolfenbarger contributed to this report.

For a growing nonprofit with a small board, those interested summer students are a crucial revenue stream. And getting the Academy’s studios ready by the first day of the program was imperative.

“We don’t have board members donating $100,000,” said board chair Andre Tchelistcheff, an architect who led the renovation. “The school is financially viable.”

These three sentences in a Wall Street Journal article on the Gelsey Kirlkland Academy's new space and future highlights that having a well-healed board need not be the end-all for a nonprofit. It certainly helps however that the nonprofit's director has her own connections (from what I can glean) and that what the nonprofit offers, "prestigious dance instruction" attracts a paying student.

But with the departure of the director and a board that is not that well-healed. Should not more work be put into developing a board, say from the student's parents, that can be equally passionate and raise money?

Nonprofit sustainability planning is not for the faint of heart nor for the immediate. What might work well now might not work well in the future. There are variables to be considered. One of those variables is what board composition will help ensure a future.

Of course future is a goal that needs be established by the current board. But maybe it really doesn't matter that there might not be a future? Capable qualified and talented students who love what they do may be enough

Cheers to All!!!

The Fall will soon be upon us. Now what about a great tour to add to the brilliance of the autumnal sparkle of the trees in New Haven.

My recommendation is Mat Duman and his wonderful tour on the Gargoyles of Yale. He is an expert to the meaning and carving of this wonderful creatures adorning the University.

So, without further ado:

An Education in the Grotesque: The Gargoyles of Yale University
by Mathew Duman
info@yalegargoyles.com
www.yalegargoyles.com  

This tour is really wonderful - not to be missed!

All the best,

Patricia Illingworth, Curator

203.389.5403

p.b.i.Newhaven@att.net

Are you interested in serving a year with AmeriCorps as an AmeriCorps VISTA? Click here to apply to serve as an AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America) Member with PAVE New Haven. Partnering to Advance Visions in Education (PAVE) is an AmeriCorps VISTA Project that aims to reduce the youth achievement gap in New Haven, CT. VISTA Members serve in 7 different non-profits, community organizations and the Mayor's Office to improve children's literacy outcomes, increase access to college-readiness programs and to strengthen wrap-around services available to our city's youth and their families. 

To learn more about AmeriCorps or PAVE, email awildes@aoascc.org