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.

On Thursday, October 16, All Our Kin hosted its annual Kinship in New Haven benefit at Bentara Restaurant. We invited Lottie Brown, a child care provider based in New Haven, to say a few words about her decision to start her own family child care business and her involvement with All Our Kin. The following post is a transcript of her speech.

My name is Lottie Brown, and I am the very proud owner of Krayola Park, which is located here in the city of New Haven. I am fast approaching my second year of business, and I am super, super excited and honored that I am here tonight to see all of your faces.

I want to say that All Our Kin as an organization is one of the greatest organizations in the world. I know some of you may say that that’s an overstatement, but by far, it is true. I have lived a couple of places – even though I was born here in New Haven, I’ve lived in South Carolina and I’ve been up and down the East Coast. I found myself moving back and forth, back and forth. But I couldn’t plant myself anywhere and I couldn’t sell myself. So long story short, there was a decision that had to be made, and that decision was:

You need to stop running.
You need to be still and plant yourself somewhere so that you can grow.

To keep reading Lottie's speech on All Our Kin's blog, click here. 

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

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!

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.

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