New Haven, CT (December 17, 2014) - The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, the region’s charitable endowment and largest grantmaker, announces that Carlton L. Highsmith of Middlebury, CT and Dr. Khalilah L. Brown-Dean of New Haven, Associate Professor of Political Science at Quinnpiac University in Hamden, have been appointed to the Board of Directors. Both will begin seven-year terms on January 1, 2015, taking the seats of David I. Newton and Rolan Young Smith, whose terms expire at the end of 2014.

”Khalilah Brown-Dean is a nationally known and well-respected voice on issues of great importance to our community who is also a committed and accomplished community leader, and Carlton Highsmith’s record of business leadership, community leadership and philanthropic leadership over many years is second to none in Greater New Haven,” says William Ginsberg, president and CEO of The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. “They will both make outstanding board members for The Community Foundation, and we are thrilled that they will be joining us in 2015.”

Mr. Highsmith was founder of Specialized Packaging Group, 

recognized as the largest minority-owned firm in the State of Connecticut prior to its merger with PaperWorks Industries. He served as vice chair of the Board at SPG PaperWorks Inc. until his 

retirement in 2010.

Mr. Highsmith is founding Chairman of the Board of the Connecticut Center for Arts & Technology (ConnCAT), a New Haven nonprofit organization providing market relevant and career-focused technical skills training and job placement services to underemployed and unemployed adults in the New Haven area. He also serves on the Boards of First Niagara Bank, Quinnipiac University and the Yale-New Haven Health System.

Mr. Highsmith has received many honors for his long-time community leadership. In 2014, he was the recipient of both the Greater New Haven Torch of Liberty Award from the Anti-Defamation League and the John H. Filer Award from the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy. In 2011 Gov. Dannel Malloy appointed Mr. Highsmith to the Connecticut Employment & Training Commission (CETC), where he currently chairs its Career Advancement Committee. Mr. Highsmith earned a BA in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He holds Honorary Doctorate degrees from Quinnipiac University and Albertus Magnus College.

Dr. Brown-Dean’s current research focuses on the political dynamics surrounding the American criminal justice system. Her book Once Convicted, Forever Doomed: Race, Punishment, and Governance explores how mass incarceration impairs both the strength and function of American governance. Her research on the criminal justice system and voting rights policy have garnered international attention, and she was recently appointed as a Director of the Prison Policy Initiative, a national nonprofit organization working to understand the impact of mass incarceration on local communities across America.

Dr. Brown-Dean is a frequent contributor to the Washington Post, CNN, Ebony.com, Fox News Radio, WNPR, AURN, CTV, and other outlets regarding issues such as American politics, mass political behavior, crime and punishment and political psychology. In 2014, Connecticut Magazinenamed Dr. Brown-Dean one of its “Forty Under Forty,” citing her as one of the best and brightest among Connecticut’s Generation Next. Dr. Brown-Dean attended the University of Virginia, where she received a BA in Political Science. She has a Masters Degree and a PhD from The Ohio State University, where she was the recipient of the Henry R. Spencer Award for Distinguished Teaching and the Graduate Associate Teaching Award.

Thanks to the generosity of three generations of donors, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven awarded $21 million in grants and distributions in 2013 from an endowment of approximately $430 million and comprising hundreds of individually named funds. In addition to its grant-making, The Community Foundation helps build a stronger community by taking measures to improve student achievement, reduce New Haven’s infant mortality rate, promote local philanthropy through www.giveGreater.org® and encourage community awareness atwww.cfgnh.org/learn. 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. Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.org/cfgnh or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cfgnh. 

Today's Wall Street Journal article on corporate branding as a source of revenue for children's musuems introduces some great nonprofit board policy questions. Making policy to inform day-to-day decisions is part of a nonprofit board's fiduciary duty of care. Policy also reduces the need for a nonprofit's management to need board action on every single decision.

According to the article, corporate branding can play a significant role in the sustainability of a nonprofit. Children's museums offer particularly unique opportunities for corporations to "plant their seed" as you would for both the child and parent. But there are policy questions a board should consider ahead of taking advantage of these opportunitites.

The most simple question: is there any "tainted" money source a board would not accept? Usually tainted is derived from having a moral or political basis and may indeed counter the core values and mission of a nonprofit. I imaging that a board's clearness about its values should serve as a fine reference for deciding whether to accept money from some sources.

As sustainability is the root for accepting branding money, a board might establish a policy about just how dependent the organization should be on branding. Businesses tend to be fickle in their relationships; their bottom line income influences how long they may remain committed; and, sometimes they make decisions that result in not having an interest or desire in the relationship - like moving the factory to another state or country. I'm not saying that all businesses are unreliable but history might suggest...

Then there is the question of mission. Is the "what" a corporation want to brand compatible with the nonprofit's mission and program goals? The New Balance example in the article appears to be an example of consistency for the museum but I can imagine where such examples are otherwise.

So, a nonprofit board's policy work is complicated but can certainly make a difference for the nonprofit's future.

What happens when all the lines of governance and ownership and family and program and action and, well just about everything, get entangled with "issues"? The following story about a Charter School and its "arm".

MARTHA WOODALL, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

When Imhotep Institute Charter High School opened its new building in East Germantown five years ago, officials dubbed the $10 million facility "the Miracle on 21st Street."

Now, as the school with an African-centered curriculum fights to keep its charter, the building at 6201 N. 21st St. is at the center of a tug-of-war.

Sankofa Network Inc., a related nonprofit that owns Imhotep's campus, filed a Common Pleas Court lawsuit last week alleging the charter owes $1.2 million in rent, interest, and fees.

The court action comes after the school, which opened in 1998, was rocked by months of turmoil, including the ouster in late June of M. Christine Wiggins, Imhotep's founding chief executive.

The Imhotep board voted not to renew Wiggins' contract after the School District's charter office said in April that it would recommend not renewing the school's charter on several grounds, including poor academic performance.

Supporters of Wiggins, who have created an online petition at MoveOn.org to "Save Imhotep Institute Charter High School," have said her removal was the work of a "rogue board."

Wiggins, who is known as "Mama Chris," could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

George Gossett, Imhotep's lawyer, called the suit "frivolous." He said the building's future is not in jeopardy and the charter's finances were sound.

"It is not a correct lawsuit," Gossett said. "They are saying that the rent had not been paid. That is not correct. The rent is paid directly to the bank that has the mortgage on the property."

He said members of Sankofa's board are relatives of or have close ties to Wiggins.

"We believe that some of the actions are retaliatory in nature because [Wiggins'] contract was not renewed," Gossett said.

Tameka Thomas-Bowman, the president of Sankofa's board who signed off on the suit, is a daughter of Wiggins and a former Imhotep employee.

Sharon Wilson, a lawyer who represents Sankofa Network, said the nonprofit acted after it was told by the bank that as of Oct. 1 it was delinquent nearly $900,000 in repaying a construction loan and a line of credit.

The complaint, Wilson said, is an attempt to sort out the finances amid changing board members and administrative turnover at Imhotep.

As is often the case with charters in Pennsylvania, Imhotep created a nonprofit that obtained the mortgage and owns the building the school leases. It is often easier for a related nonprofit to obtain long-term financing than a charter, which is subject to renewal every five years.

Wilson said the complaint Sankofa filed last week, technically a "confession of judgment," was the best and fastest way to obtain an exact accounting of what the school has paid and when.

She said in the past that Imhotep and Sankofa "had less formality than was probably good for either of them."

Concerns about academic performance at Imhotep prompted the district's charter office to express reservations about renewing the school's charter.

Although Imhotep, which has 525 students in grades nine through 12, has been praised for sending a high percentage of its graduates to college, the school's records show that in 2013, only 9 percent of Imhotep students scored proficient on the state's Keystone exams in Algebra 1 and 5 percent in Biology 1. In literature, 37 percent were proficient.

The school is known as a local football powerhouse that also has strong basketball programs.

District spokesman Fernando Gallard said that in addition to academic concerns, the district has been awaiting results of investigations by the state Department of Education and Imhotep itself on irregularities on state PSSA tests.

"The [charter] renewal has been delayed, pending the outcome of the investigation of test irregularities," he said.

Imhotep was among several charter and district schools where examiners flagged erasure patterns and changed answers on standardized tests as part of a statewide cheating investigation.

Gallard said the district wanted to be able to review Imhotep's scores from 2012-13 and 2013-14 because its scores dropped "significantly" after the state instituted strict new testing procedures in 2012.

"As we do with every charter renewal, we are also going to be looking at the audit of the financials of the school, which goes directly to the question in regards to the current dispute between the school and the foundation," Gallard said.

He said that the School Reform Commission is expected to vote on Imhotep's renewal this academic year.

The New York Times recently published a “Room for Debate” column featuring four different perspectives on the topic “Wages for Housework.” The premise of the debate: that housework – including child care – is generally unpaid labor, except when others are hired to perform it. A professional child care provider is remunerated for child care work, while a mother isn’t. Countries in vastly different parts of the world have considered proposals to pay housewives (as well as househusbands) a salary for their work, with advocates arguing that the wages would give millions of people financial autonomy and demonstrate that taking care of children, cleaning, and cooking meals are difficult tasks that are critical for national well-being.

All Our Kin’s work with family child care providers has made us passionate about increasing the status of child care in the eyes of the public. NPR recently featured a graph showing the ten most popular jobs in each income bracket illustrating how different jobs are remunerated; sadly, the bracket including child care workers falls dead last. Furthermore, a recent report from the Center for the Study of Child Care Employment highlighted the challenges of building a skilled workforce of early educators in a nation where “much of the public is averse to the idea that pre-kindergarten teachers require levels of knowledge and skill as rigorous as those of their counterparts who teach older children.” We must find a way to pay child care providers the wages that they deserve for educating our youngest, most vulnerable children.

To keep reading, click here: http://bit.ly/1prJ5GE

“This work is my seed that I can plant in the world. I know that seed will grow, and it will be fruitful. We already see progress. But we also still have so much work to do. We can always do more.” -Nilda Aponte, All Our Kin's Bridgeport Network Director

On October 28, 2014, The Community Fund for Women & Girls presented Nilda with the first annual Susan M. Lewin Women’s Leadership Award. The awards ceremony was part of an event called “Feminism’s Frankensteins” featuring feminist speaker Courtney Martin, held at the New Haven Lawn Club. To read more about Nilda and the event, click here: http://bit.ly/1ogzj9F

The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, the permanent endowment and largest grantmaker to nonprofit organizations serving the Greater New Haven region, announces that it has awarded $2,405,044 in one-year and multi-year grants to 43 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 with 123 applicants requesting $9.2 Million in total funding. This competitive process is only one element of The Foundation’s overall grantmaking, which is expected to exceed $20 million in total competitive and non-competitive grants in 2014.

“Each year The Community Foundation’s competitive grantmaking process highlights all the great work being done by nonprofits in our community and poses very difficult decisions for us in choosing which grants to support. As always, in making these decisions we have sought to find a balance among our community’s many opportunities and needs,” said William W. Ginsberg, President & CEO of The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. 

Grants broken down by category are as follows: protecting the environment (1 grant for $20,000), supporting arts and culture (3 grants for $120,500), promoting civic vitality (4 grants for $183,000), boosting economic success (4 grants for $170,000), nurturing children and youth (6 grants for $278,000), meeting basic needs (7 grants for $355,000) and providing quality education (9 grants for $350,000).  Because The Community Foundation has a sizable number of preference funds that support health services, the largest number of grants was made in the category of ensuring health and wellness (9 grants for $882,544), as in years past. 

In seeing greater evidence that there is a transition occurring in the manner in which homeless shelter services are funded and delivered,  The Community Foundation awarded several grants to nonprofits serving the homeless population in the region to ensure individuals and families at risk of being homeless or who are chronically homeless do not experience an interruption in services. These grant recipients include: Christian Community Action, Columbus House, Community Soup Kitchen, Connecticut Veterans Legal Center, Corporation for Supportive Housing, Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen, New Reach and Youth Continuum.

In alignment with emerging strategies identified by The Foundation’s Board of Directors, two grants were awarded to address issues of 1) incarceration and community reentry and 2) immigration integration. The Connecticut Women’s Consortium received $160,000 to support trauma-informed, gender responsive training and technical assistance to four agencies that provide services to formerly incarcerated individuals reentering the Greater New Haven community. That grant follows a decision by the Board earlier in the year to award $50,000 to The Transitions Clinic Network to serve the reentry population. To support immigration integration, JUNTA, which ensures that the rights of immigrants are respected and protected and that the Latino population is better represented in all segments of the community, received $50,000 for its general operations. 

“The Community Foundation is committed to making New Haven and the region a welcoming community to all including the most vulnerable among us. This means ensuring that nonprofit organizations are prepared to serve the most vulnerable populations like undocumented immigrants and those returning to the region after incarceration. We want to ensure that these individuals have access to well-coordinated and quality services and that they have the tools they need to become civically engaged citizens. The Community Foundation has a long history working in these two areas and is committed to making more strategic investments that will lead to positive outcomes for individuals and the community,” says Christina Ciociola, Senior Vice President for Grantmaking & Strategy. 

Illustrating how preference funds are used to support requests that align with donor intent, distributions from the Konopacke and Phelps Funds were used to support a local animal shelter and services for the aging, respectively.

Thanks to the Lillian and Henry Konopacke Fund, a grant was awarded to Animal Haven Inc., a private, nonprofit no-kill shelter for homeless cats and dogs located in North Haven. The Konopacke Fund was created in 2013 by bequest of New Haven native Henry Konopacke, who worked as a machinist at the Winchester Repeating Arms Factory. The fund states a preference to assist nonprofit animal shelters in the Greater New Haven area. The grant will be used to train staff and upgrade Animal Haven’s facility to prevent disease, ensure animal health and wellbeing and serve as a model for other shelters in Connecticut.  

The John P. & Cora E. Phelps fund was established in 1962 as a preference fund by bequest of Emma P. Pelton, in honor of her grandfather and mother. A grant to the Town of Hamden was made possible from the fund for the Hamden Phelps Community Project, which provides short-term or emergency support to needy senior residents.

“Honoring donor intent is central to The Community Foundation’s grantmaking,” says Angela Powers, Senior Vice President for Development, Stewardship and Donor Services at The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. “We are very pleased to have identified grants that will make our community stronger in ways envisioned by Mr. Konopacke and Ms. Pelton.”

This year, as in the past, the responsive grant process for the Lower Naugatuck Valley was carried out collaboratively with The Community Foundation’s affiliate, the Valley Community Foundation. In addition to The Community Foundation’s $2.4 Million, 12 Valley grants totaling $420,304 were awarded by the Valley Community Foundation, including one joint grant by the two foundations to Literacy Volunteers of Greater New Haven to help reestablish its literacy program in the Valley.

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

The Community Foundation will hold its Annual Meeting on November 5 at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven from 5:00 – 7:00 pm. Anyone interested in attending is asked to RSVP to Kat Spadacenta at 203-777-7066 or events@cfgnh.org.

Thanks to the generosity of three generations of donors, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven awarded $21 million in grants and distributions in 2013 and has an endowment of over $430 million comprising more than 830 individually named funds. In addition to its grantmaking, The Community Foundation helps build a stronger community by taking measures to improve student achievement, reduce New Haven’s infant mortality rate, promote local philanthropy through www.giveGreater.org and encourage community awareness at www.cfgnh.org/learn. For more information, visit our website at www.cfgnh.org, find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cfgnh or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cfgnh.

The Community Foundation is pleased to share the following information to help strengthen your organization and our local nonprofit sector. Please note the survey is to be completed by nonprofit executives and Board members:

Third Sector New England is launching a new study on the state of nonprofit leadership.

The survey is designed for executive directors and board members to:
• help investigate your current challenges
• discover where your organization is headed
• document what your organization needs to move forward

The executive director survey will take approximately 40 minutes and the board survey will take about 30 minutes. Both surveys are divided into sections that focus on you, the organization, leadership support needs, the board and the staff.

Your participation is critical so that the needs and opportunities of our local nonprofit community are understood. Results and recommendations from the survey will be discussed at a local forum in 2015.

CLICK THE LINK BELOW TO TAKE THE SURVEY:
http://j.mp/1yveHer

The magic is back!   New Haven's magicians bring magic to the Elm City for the 8th year.

All shows are free and open to the public

Saturday 10/25/2014 2:00 pm

Cyril the Sorcerer presents "Escape from the Goblins"
Main Branch, New Haven Free Public Library

133 Elm Street 

203-946-8130

Sunday 10/26/2014 3:00 and 4:00 pm

Cyril the Sorcerer presents "Fair Trade Magic"

Ten Thousand Villages

1054 Chapel Street

203-776-0854

Tuesday 10/28/14 5:30 pm

Cyril the Sorcerer presents "Escape from the Goblins"

Wilson Branch, New Haven Free Public Library

303 Washington Avenue

203-946-2228

Wednesday 10/29/2014 4:30 pm

The Amazing Andy

Mitchell Branch, New Haven Free Public Library

37 Harrison Street

203-946-8117

Wednesday 10/29/2014 6:00 pm

The Amazing Andy

Stetson Branch, New Haven Free Public Library

200 Dixwell Avenue

203-946-8119

Thursday 10/30/2014 5:30 pm

Fair Haven Branch, New Haven Free Public Library

"Magic Moments with Bryan Lizotte"

182 Grand Avenue

203-946-8115

Friday 10/31/2014 11:00 am - 2:00 pm

Cyril the Sorcerer will be performing strolling magic

The Hill Farmers' Market

CMHC parking lot, 34 Park Street (corner of Park & South Streets)

203-773-3736

Magic Week New Haven

is in its 8th year!   As part of a new and growing tradition among magicians, New Haven's magicians bring magic shows to the public during the last 7 days of October.   This not only honors the art of magic at a magical time of year, but also honors the life and memory of Harry Houdini.  Houdini passed away on Halloween 1926.  

Magic Week New Haven

is brought to you by the local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, Ring 59.   Those with a sincere interest in the magical arts are welcome to learn more about learning and performing magic!   203-737-0475 / cyril.may@aya.yale.edu /www.ibmring59.com

Magic in New Haven

For more information on magic in the New Haven area visit www.magicnewhaven.com

"Magic, by its ability to capture the imagination, can change the world." 

- Cyril the Sorcerer

For more information contact:

CJ May - Resourcerer

Cyril the Sorcerer

Greening the Planet One Magic Show at a Time

www.betterworldmagic.com

www.cyrilthesorcerer.com

203-737-0475

The annual "Women on Boards" is out and the dissapointing findings about Philadelphia area publicly traded companies and nonprofit boards include learning that:

Nearly four in 10 - 39 percent - of top executive positions at 18 area colleges are held by women. Yet women make up only 14 percent of executive ranks at public companies.

At public companies, females fill 12 percent of the board seats, but they more than double that - at 26 percent - at 17 of the region's health care systems.

All of the nonprofits examined by the forum have women on boards and among the top executives. By contrast, there are 21 public companies among the region's top 100 that have no women in any top spot.

In discussing the findings, the organizer noted:

You wonder what it would take to have organizations wake up to the fact that they need the talent and perspective women bring. Women constitute half the workforce. It continues to be frustrating and a bit shocking."

Schick, who serves on several nonprofit boards, says there's no difference in the skills needed to lead large organizations - profit or nonprofit.

In both cases, she said, "you have to have vision and articulate it, and then you have to organize a team and execute it.

"You look at some nonprofit boards that don't pay attention to the finances of [their organization] and that's a mistake," she said. "And you look at for-profit [firms] that don't pay as close attention to their mission, and that's a mistake as well."

The lesson from this Philly.com article should be clear: there is more to be lost than gained when excluding "difference" on board.  But, difference is not the singular factor that makes an effective board.  A nonprofit has needs and the best board member uses their lens for perspective while honing their skills and experience to ensure that the fiduciary and strategic needs are addressed effectively.

FISH OF GREATER NEW HAVEN, INC.
for immediate release
October 15, 2014

FISH of Greater New Haven, Inc., is currently recruiting new members to serve on its Board of Directors.  Ideal candidates will be self-motivated team-players with a strong sense of civic responsibility and a commitment to serving the community.

FISH of Greater New Haven is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit food pantry, delivering groceries and foodstuffs to low- and no-income households in New Haven, Connecticut.  FISH is the only food pantry in the area that delivers directly to clients’ doors and is staffed almost entirely by volunteers.  Additional information can be found at fishofgreaternewhaven.org.

Responsibilities:

1. Help establish a clear organizational mission and purpose.
2. Oversee the organization’s Executive Director.
3. Approve the organization’s programs and services.
4. Attend monthly Board meetings.
5. Assume a leadership role on behalf of the organization.
6. Participate in standing or ad-hoc committees.
7. Support fundraising efforts.
8. Ensure sound financial management and stability.
9. Assume shared fiduciary and legal responsibilities for organization.
10. Establish standards for organizational performance and hold organization accountable.
11. Serve occasionally as a representative on behalf of the organization and as an ambassador to the community.

Qualifications:

1. A passion for serving those in need.
2. A strong sense of responsibility and community leadership.
3. A desire and willingness to learn and investigate how best to serve the community.
4. An eagerness to implement change when needed.
5. An ability to work as part of team.
6. Flexibility, creativity, energy, and vision.
7. Spare time to commit to and take on the above responsibilities.

Interested?  Please submit a brief cover letter and résumé via email to Steve Werlin (swerlin@fishofgreaternewhaven.org).

FISH of Greater New Haven, Inc., does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, gender, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, or unfavorable discharge from military service.  We especially encourage those from underrepresented groups to apply, as we embrace the notion that diversity of voice is essential to sound governance.

The decision by Susan B. Komen For the Cure to accept a pretty large (by most nonprofit standards) gift from an oil fracking company appears to be creating for other nonprofits a stir akin to drilling teeth. You can read a "bit" about the issues here.

Included among the "issues":

a) tainted money -- when is it tainted and when/if should a nonprofit not accept such resources

b) public perception - when/if should a nonprofit respond to the "noise"

c) board position -- is this not a nonprofit board decision to determine what and when money is tainted

d) the losses or gains to the donor - can they lose from the fall-out

So many questions but interestingly, Komen in particular does not appear to be feeding the frenzy which I am guessing is certainly one answer to b) what to do with public perception. Certainly, no response means that the argument must be carried by those who object which in itself dims the bling of the story.

I'm guessing also that in taking the gift, the Komen board, not a stranger to controversy, has indeed already set in policy when it believes money is acceptable. Afteral, I could imagine the board recognizing another convert to the cause as a victory.

And, for the donor, the chatter is mostly coming from those who don't approve of them anyway and their shareholders, who already approve of the company's work, can be cheerful about the commitment to attacking breast cancer, in this case.

So, in the end, hasn't everyone just succeeded in pursuing their respective missions? Isn't this basically a win:win:win outcome? The fracking company has contributed to what it believes to be an appropriate cause (I mean really, anti-breast cancer and education in a way few other organizations can copy). The tainted money folks have gotten to use the opportunity to discuss the related risks and anti-environment issues. And Komen gets to pursue its work. Oh, and the media has a gossip story.

Kudos to all the players!

Follow this link to see video and pictures of the launch event of New Haven's My Brother's Keeper initiative by Ficklin Media.

http://tomficklin.blogspot.com/2014/10/ficklin-media-city-of-new-haven-my.html

Many find sports to be a good source for life lessons and so I found the following interview in the Washington Post and by Howard C. Fero, the co-author of “Lead Me Out to the Ballgame: Stories and Strategies to Develop Major League Leadership” and an executive coach and director of graduate leadership programs at Albertus Magnus College in Connecticut quite useful and pertinent for the many folks who serve as the chair of their nonprofit board. Fero spoke with Tom Fox, a guest writer for On Leadership and vice president for leadership and innovation at the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service. Fox also heads up their Center for Government Leadership.

Fero describes his leadership model as follows:

We came up with 10 dimensions (or bases) of leadership after interviewing more than 100 Major League Baseball managers, players and executives. The first base is find your passion. As a leader, you need to show everybody else how excited and enthusiastic you are about whatever it is that you’re trying to accomplish. The second base is leading by example. The next base deals with respect and trust. You have to generate trust and respect from the people on your team and also you have to be able to give it back. The fourth base is know your people, whether it’s the utility player, the person who works in the back office or the star salesperson — and know what it is that drives each one of them. The other bases are cultivating relationships, supporting your people, communication, knowing your game, fostering teamwork and creating a winning culture.

I do like these dimensions with passion and leading by example (numbers one and two) perfectly applicable to nonprofit board chairs. Is it not often that the path to selecting a chair is demonstrated passion and pursuit of that passion? Certainly respect and trust, while I'm not sure they would have been third for me, rank very highly and again, passively or actively, represent criteria I would observe as essential to the board members who choose their chair.

And, while I would like to think that chairs do know their people, (this is akin of course to Jim Collins' getting the right people on the bus), I believe chairs could do a lot more with this area. And with the remaining six "dimensions" absolutely, again, not necessarily in this order, but I believe all six dimensions to be essential to being an effective chair.

Good stuff!

Makayla is a shy, sweet two year old who loves to learn. “She likes to play tea party and read books,” her mother Katina tells me. “She’ll copy anything you say.” A few months ago, Katina and Makayla’s father Jeremy contacted All Our Kin about enrolling her in an Early Head Start (EHS) program. Katina had been staying home with her daughter for the first few years of her life, but now she wanted to go back to school. Were there any open spots for Makayla?

A grandmother’s legacy

Although it was Makayla’s first time enrolling in a child care program and she doesn’t have any older siblings, her parents Katina and Jeremy were already familiar with All Our Kin’s work. Jeremy’s mother Elizabeth Fain had been a beloved family child care provider in All Our Kin’s network until her death in 2013 after a long battle with cancer. Ms. Fain participated in All Our Kin’s associate credential classes and the New Teacher Mentor program, and when our Early Head Start program got off the ground, she was one of the first providers to apply. “Even though she knew that Early Head Start had high standards and required a big commitment, she was determined to give kids the best start possible,” said Paula, All Our Kin’s senior educational consultant. “She worked tirelessly; she always went the extra mile.”

Ms. Fain was a source of wisdom and guidance for many in her community. Other providers looked to her for advice on running their own child care programs, and parents relied on her whenever they had questions about their children’s health and development. “We all admired her completely at All Our Kin,” Paula told me. “She taught the kids in her program to be good listeners, respectful, ready for school. She was a kind, wonderful person.”

To continue reading, click here.

Good Day To All!!!!!

Just a quick reminder - the cemetery in the autumn is just a splendor to view. To take a lovely stroll around and breath in the fresh cool breezes and admiring the array of colors is just wonderful.

Public Tours will still be given until the end of November - if you would like a private tour please call me at 203.389.5303 or email at p.b.i.newhaven@att.net.

All the very best,

Patricia Illingworth

Chief Docent 

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has introduced to the ALS board a challenge: more money that it dreamed of. Now, the board must, in accordance with its fiduciary duty of care, determine by policy or strategy, what it must do with its newfound wealth.

I believe that the Wall Street Journal did a fine job describing the choices unexpected prosperity introduces.

As far as challenges go, too much cash is a good one to have. But small organizations that land big money face a host of pitfalls, say charity watchdogs and management researchers. Those who ramp up hiring too quickly or spend the new funds without a clear strategy can risk their long-term financial health. And a rush of capital brings new stakeholders and higher scrutiny, ratcheting up expectations and putting a premium on communication and transparency. That is especially true when negative news can travel just as fast as ice-bucket challenges.

In August, Facebook FB -0.13% feeds were filled with people dumping buckets of ice water over their heads, and challenging others to do the same, or else donate to an ALS charity. Many people did both. The level of participation in the Ice Bucket Challenge has been staggering to charity watchers, not least the ALS Association itself, which didn't originate the challenge, but was the chief beneficiary of its popularity.

"It just became craziness. Good craziness, but craziness," said Barbara Newhouse, president and chief executive of the ALS Association since June, of the flood of financing. Revenues last fiscal year for the ALS Association's national office and its 38 affiliated chapters around the country were $64 million, far less than this summer's haul.

Such a large influx of cash can easily overwhelm an organization, said Ken Berger, president and CEO of Charity Navigator, which rates charities on their financial health, accountability and transparency. The jump in wealth often casts a brighter spotlight on the organization and tests the experience of the management, he said.

It can also bring conflicting opinions about how to spend it. Poetry Magazine in 2002 received some $200 million from an heiress to the Eli Lilly pharmaceutical fortune. At the time the literary magazine had an annual budget of less than $500,000. Several years after the gift, the Poetry Foundation, which was set up to help manage the donation, faced board discord over the future of the organization, such as investment in a new website, with several trustees resigning.

Today the foundation has an annual operating budget of more than $9 million and the group's $21.5 million new headquarters opened in Chicago in 2011. Caren Skoulas, its chief financial officer, said that the group's board and staff have been committed to using the gift to bringing poetry to a wide audience, including a website that now reaches 36 million visitors a year.

Management experts recommend taking time to create a strategic plan before rushing into spending or hiring, especially for groups that don't face the urgent time clock of a disaster-relief charity.

The ALS Association's goal is to spend the money carefully, not just quickly. "The possibility of spending $100 million by end of January [the firm's end of fiscal year] is slim to none," said Carrie Munk, the group's chief communications and marketing officer.

Because the annual budget, which includes staffing, requires approval from the group's 23-member board, the ALS Association has relied on a handful of temps and a crew of volunteers from a senior center to help handle call volume and donations. Some of the nonprofit's 54 staffers have been pulling 14-hour days and working on weekends, according to Ms. Munk and Ms. Newhouse, who count themselves among those ranks.

Even before the Ice Bucket Challenge went viral, the association's board had planned to meet in Denver in October to plan for next fiscal year. But given the extra work the group now faces allocating the funds, it set up an extra teleconference on Monday to get a head start formulating a plan. Out of last year's budget, 32% went to education and public policy, 28% to research, 19% to patient services and 21% to fundraising and administration, a breakdown lauded by charity watchdog groups.

Meanwhile, it is important to let donors know what's going on, said Thad Calabrese, assistant professor of public and nonprofit financial management at New York University's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Press releases and direct outreach will help maintain ties with contributors and spur them to keep giving, he said.

Once the ice-bucket effort started picking up steam, the group very quickly created an ice-bucket information site on its main website, with lots of details and press releases. It also deployed its social-media manager to help defuse false information about its operations on Facebook and other sites, since there were various rumors circulating around about the group's operations.

Many donors were outraged after the Sept. 11 attacks, when the American Red Cross received over a billion dollars in donations for immediate disaster relief but diverted some funds for future reserves and other operational needs.

A Red Cross representative said all of the 9/11 funds have been spent, including $700 million in the first year, and provided relief to more than 59,000 families. The group now is rated highly by Charity Navigator on "accountability and transparency."

Lessons to be remembered if your nonprofit board is so challenged.

I frequently hear nonprofit board members express their frustration about their inability to attract new and maybe even different kinds of prospects to become board members. True, they may not actually have a recruitment plan and they don't have a governance committee whose job it might be to think very intentionally about what needs the board has and where individuals might be identified and wooed to joing and they may not even have opportunities for prospective board members to lend their skills and acquire an interest in being a board member (like working on a task force or volunteering) but all of these "lacks" doesn't mean the frustration isn't real.

Businesses apparently have their own challenges in recruiting new and younger talent (and I think "talent" is a good word to describe what nonprofit boards might be looking for) that's. A September 2, 2104 Wall Street Journal article indicated that some businesses are using charitable programs as recruitment tools. With millenials (1980-1995) as the target, the Journal states:

CFOs are finding that giving away money, time and products to charitable causes is a good way to attract young talent. Charitable programs, they say, can help lure job candidates away from high-tech startups with potentially lucrative stock options, and other socially minded entrepreneurs. At the same time, millennial workers and social media are forcing companies to rethink how and what they donate.

The shift in millennial thinking accelerated during the financial crisis. Companies fired thousands of workers and did meager college recruiting, which pushed many graduates to become entrepreneurs. Though the economy has recovered, that trend hasn’t reversed, according to Fiona Murray, associate dean at Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Innovation Initiative.

“It challenges employers. When they recruit they have to have a very different message for our students,” Ms. Murray said.“We now see the world’s problems up close. There is a sense of impatience and a sense that we have a lot of tools at our disposal—not just software, but also hardware and access to funding through crowdfunding. They will build their own organization or work for an operation that is impacting the world.

Philanthropy is important to many nonmillennials too. Carolynne Borders, 43, said her desire to help underserved communities was “a big factor” in her decision almost two years ago to join Henry Schein Inc., a health-care and dental products and services company, which donates $10 million a year in cash, products and services.

The takeaway? Nonprofit boards that truly seek to attract "new and different" individuals to their boards to help ensure mission is accomplished, should first be clear about exactly what its needs are and equally important, utilize the basic marketing principle: know what your prospect wants and needs and offer that to them. Additionally, as this article suggests but does not specify, board service could well be the opportunity where corporate employees can gain experience, make a contribution of their time and energy and knowledge, and link a business closer to that nonprofit: win, win, win.

ChildSight® Connecticut is a school-based vision screening- eyeglass distribution program, which has been providing services to students within the New Haven schools since 2000.   Since our launch, we have received generous support from a local church through office space.  The church has provided our program with administrative space either as a donation ( free) or at a rate less than market value.  This has allowed our program to direct our resources to eye glasses for students as oppose to rent.  We are a locally supported program through the grants that we receive from community, family and/or corporate foundations.  

Recently, the rental fee for our space at the church as increased dramatically and while it is still less than market value- it is a great deal more than what we have budgeted for in our current grants.  This has led us to seek alternative space to support our ongoing work in the New Haven Schools. 

Please direct any suggestions or leads for office space to nprail@hki.org.

Thank you.

Milton Fisher Scholarship for Innovation and Creativity Awarded to 7 Students for Projects Involving Science, Health, Education, the Arts, and Social Action; 

Honorable Mention to 8

Next Deadline for Applications April 30, 2015

New Haven, CT (September 4, 2014)- The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, the region’s largest grantmaker and charitable endowment, announces the winners of the Milton Fisher Scholarship for Innovation and Creativity.

A total of $84,000 in college scholarships (payable over four years of college) was awarded this year to six high school students and one college freshman who came up with distinctive solutions faced by their schools, their communities and the world. In addition a total of $4,000 was awarded to six high school students and two college freshmen receiving honorable mentions.  

A large number of extraordinary applications were received this year. While each application submitted for consideration highlighted a creative project, scholarships were awarded to the candidates who demonstrated the greatest innovation and whose projects had the greatest potential impact.  

The winners and honorable mentions were recognized for projects involving science, the arts and social action. All completed (or are currently enrolled in) high school in Connecticut or the New York metropolitan area or will be attending (or are currently attending) a college in Connecticut or the New York metropolitan area. 

The Milton Fisher Scholarship for Innovation and Creativity was established in 2003 at The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven by the Reneé B. Fisher Foundation. This scholarship is not a traditional scholarship focused on rewarding academic achievement. Its specific goal is to reward and encourage innovative and creative problem solving. Financial need does not affect the judges’ decision about winning projects, but it does determine the amount of funds the winners of the four-year scholarship receive each year. High school juniors and seniors and college freshmen from Connecticut and the New York metropolitan area are eligible to apply, along with students from elsewhere who plan to attend colleges in the New York metropolitan area or Connecticut. The application deadline for 2015 is April 30th.

Applications and a complete of set of guidelines are available at www.rbffoundation.org. Applicants may apply online, but transcripts and letters of recommendation should be submitted in hard copy.  Further information about applying may be obtained by calling Jermell Knotts, Administrative Associate at The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven at 203-777-7084.

Milton Fisher, born and educated in New York City, was a Connecticut resident from 1960 until his death in 2001. He was an attorney and an investment banker who also taught a unique course for adults called "Applied Creativity" for over 25 years. His deep interest in the roots of creativity, and the many the exercises he developed to help people become more innovative and creative in their lives also led him to write the book Intuition: How to Use it in your Life, which has been translated into several languages. Fisher also served on the boards of several public companies and wrote two books about Wall Street. 

Thanks to the generosity of three generations of donors, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven awarded $21 million in grants and distributions in 2013 from an endowment of approximately $430 million and comprising hundreds of individually named funds. In addition to its grant-making, The Community Foundation helps build a stronger community by taking measures to improve student achievement, reduce New Haven’s infant mortality rate, promote local philanthropy through www.giveGreater.org^® and encourage community awareness at www.cfgnh.org/learn. 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. 

2014 Winners

Paige Alenick (Woodcliff Lake, NJ): Aware of the fact that poor oral health leads to a range of serious medical problems that negatively impact the lives of more people around the world than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined, Paige created an organization to address this problem one toothbrush at a time. “Donate-a-Toothbrush” has collected donations of over 101,000 new toothbrushes from individuals and manufacturers that have been distributed by an NGO to over 60 countries. She is a freshman at New York University, where she plans to major in Cognitive Science.

Devin Gund (Ridgefield, Connecticut): Hurricanes and storms frequently cripple power lines and halt communication in Devin’s hometown, leaving students and their families literally in the dark about emergency measures and scheduling changes. Devin used his passion for programming to create a mobile application for the school system that provides families with a constant link to emergency alerts. The app he designed also provides access to teacher websites, student and sports schedules, grades, attendance, and homework, in addition to providing notifications of alerts and closings for every school. The software company he created is customizing the app for other school systems around the country. He is a recent graduate of Ridgefield High School and plans to study Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University.

Janine Kerr (Danbury, CT): When Zebra Mussels began invading lakes in Connecticut, causing negative environmental and economic consequences, Janine was concerned, since the only method of controlling the infestation involved putting environmentally dangerous chemicals into the water. The independent research she undertook made her aware of a kind of sponge found off the coast of Indonesia on which mollusks didn’t grow, despite the fact that they grew on coral reefs and other sponges all around them. Janine designed a controlled experiment to test whether a chemical derived from the mollusk-free sponge could inhibit mollusk growth in Connecticut waters; she designed another experiment to determine whether the chemical was environmentally safe. Her positive results could serve as the basis for a plan to rid Connecticut lakes of this invasive species. A senior at Danbury High School, she plans to study Environmental Management in college.

Angus MacMullen (New Haven, CT): How do you get ten- to fourteen-year-olds excited about learning electronic circuitry? Angus met this challenge by designing a class at the Eli Whitney Museum around a creative project that captured their imaginations: building a simple modular analog synthesizer whose components could be randomly connected and knobs turned at whim to create some “wonderfully annoying sound effects.” He is a recent graduate of Hopkins School, and plans to study Electrical Engineering at MIT. 

Eve McNally (San Mateo, CA): As she walked home from school on a sunny California afternoon, Eve was struck by all the oranges and lemons lying in people’s yards, at the base of the trees from which they had fallen; she knew that much of this surplus fruit—more than the families could consume—would simply rot. She also knew first-hand how scarce fresh produce was at local food pantries. Eve founded “Picking for Hunger” to match people whose trees produced more fruit than they needed with high school students who would pick the fruit before it spoiled and deliver it to local food pantries. The idea took off and is spreading to other schools. A senior at Aragon High School, Eve has not decided yet on what her major in college will be.

Matthew O’Connell (Commack, NY): How does one communicate proper instructions for taking a medication to people who do not speak the language of the prescriber, or who are illiterate, visually-impaired or hearing-impaired? Matthew combined his interests in computer science, health, and medicine to address this problem. He developed an innovative computer program that utilizes translations, audio instruction, and pictograms to better relay medication instructions. The International Pharmaceutical Federation has put a link to it on their website, and hundreds of prescribers around the world have used it. A senior at Commack High School, Matthew plans to major in Software Engineering in college.

Brook Peters (New York, NY): Brook’s second day of kindergarten was in a school located near the Twin Towers on 9/11. Ten years later, he shot, edited and produced a compelling and creative film that conveyed with immediacy and sensitivity what it felt like for his peers and their teachers to bear witness to that awful chapter of history. He also shot, edited and produced a series of sensitive documentaries about veterans. All of his films inspire people to appreciate the resilience of which they are capable. A high school senior, he is undecided about what his college major will be.

Honorable Mentions

Ahmed Abdelqader (Brooklyn, NY):  While in high school, Ahmed recognized that many middle-school children are often scared of math or convinced that they are “bad at it.” To spark children’s interest in math, he and a friend created “MathMatters!”—a program in which high school students design creative lesson plans that introduce middle-school students to Game Theory, Graph Theory, and Combinatorics in simple, enjoyable and easy-to-understand ways. The program has spread to several middle schools in Brooklyn, and Ahmed continues to develop it while studying Electrical Engineering at City College of New York.

Saliyah George (Brooklyn, NY): Do Brooklyn establishments have sufficient accommodations for the disabled? Saliyah set out to find out by conducting a community-based, participatory research project entitled “Barrier Busters,” in which she developed an assessment tool listing some 20 accommodations that establishments should offer people with disabilities and rated over 60 local businesses. Her presentations about what she found have helped raise awareness about health disparities in her community. A recent graduate of Nazareth Regional High School, she plans to major in Public Health at Franklin and Marshall College.

Razieme Iborra (Masillon, Ohio): Razieme wanted to use her passion for filmmaking and editing to help teenagers in foster care deal with the challenges that they face. In consultation with a therapist, she developed “The Action/Cut Project,” a ten-week-long film program exposing teenagers at a local center for teens in foster care to all aspects of filmmaking. The young filmmakers found the opportunity to create films about their lives empowering and therapeutic. A recent graduate of Perry High School, she plans to study film and television at Tisch School for the Arts at NYU. 

Thomas Kazi (Wilton, CT): Recognizing that children with serious physical and mental disabilities in a special needs class in his school had few opportunities to interact with nature, Thomas built a hydroponic therapy center in their classroom. Planting seeds, nurturing them, and watching them sprout and grow turned out to be a good way for these students to reduce their stress. The parents group for a class of children with autism in his school decided to duplicate the “natural cure for stress” that Thomas came up with in their own children’s classroom. A recent graduate of Wilton High School, he plans to major in finance at Roger Williams University.

Jeffrey Marano (Brewster, NY): The tremors that Jeffrey experienced as a result of a vitamin deficiency related to his Celiac Disease were successfully treated by a strict vitamin therapy; but he knew not all tremors could be treated or limited as easily. He developed an innovative brace for everyday use by patients suffering from essential tremors, the most commonly diagnosed neurological movement disorder. The distinctive mechanism of the brace he designed can provide effective and noninvasive relief. A recent graduate of Brewster High School, he plans to study Biomedical Engineering at Boston University.

Stefanos Tai (New York, NY):  Having witnessed the extensive damage caused by Hurricane Sandy and the ways in which it disrupted people’s lives, Stefanos was upset that people around him were not more concerned about the increasingly unpredictable weather New York suffered, and its connection to climate change. Stefanos wrote, shot and directed an imaginative film inspired by his concern about climate change and his desire to help people recognize themselves as the “vulnerable, dependent, and insignificant animals that we are”—a prerequisite in his view, for respecting the earth and ensuring our survival. It debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival. He is studying Filmmaking at Savannah College of Art and Design. 

Suge Zhang (New Haven, CT): Suge creatively combined traditional Chinese storytelling (Pingshu), a representative art form of Chinese street culture, and techniques of modern western theatre to bring a well-known early twentieth-century Chinese play (Thunderstorm by Cao Yu) alive for a contemporary American audience. Her original translation, adaptation and imaginative staging of the play – in which she artfully portrayed five different characters – captivated her audience.  A recent graduate of Wilbur Cross High School and ACES Educational Center for the Arts, she plans to study Social Work and Theatre Studies at NYU.

Rachel Zwick (New Haven, CT): Inspired by the memory of a friend who shared her love of theatre but who died of bone cancer before graduation, Rachel created, directed and produced dramatizations of a series of popular young children’s books for hospitalized children at Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital. The performance gave patients and their families a welcome respite from the strain of dealing with childhood illness. A recent graduate of Co-op High School, she plans to study Theatre at Southern Connecticut State University.

The Renée B. Fisher Foundation congratulates all of these students for their innovative solutions to individual and community problems, and for demonstrating their creativity in a broad range of fields.

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