As part of its ongoing commitment to support and strengthen nonprofits serving the Greater New Haven region, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven is once again offering a series of workshops and several competitive funding opportunities. Workshop topics, grant deadlines and detailed eligibility criteria for each grant process is available at www.cfgnh.org or by calling 203-777-2386.

Training Workshops and Online Resources for Nonprofits
In 2015, a series of monthly workshops are planned by The Community Foundation covering a range of topics to strengthen the infrastructure of local nonprofits and maximize their effectiveness in delivering important services to the people residing in Greater New Haven. Early workshop topics will cover grant application writing and how to apply for a competitive Responsive grant from The Community Foundation. Additional topics planned for the year include: social media marketing, general marketing and planning, fundraising, donor retention, major gift acquisition and retention, budgeting and financials and planned giving.

Also online at www.cfgnh.org, nonprofit executives and staff can learn about best practices, tips and tools for organizational operations and links to resources on a variety of topics at the Nonprofit Management Resource Center.

For more information about the training workshops, visit www.cfgnh.org or contact Jackie Downing at 203-777-7072.

Grant Opportunities for Nonprofits Serving Greater New Haven
Organizations defined as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) or any applicable statute of the Internal Revenue code and that provide services to one or more of the following towns are eligible to apply for a competitive grant from The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven: Ansonia, Bethany, Branford, Cheshire, Derby, East Haven, North Branford, North Haven, West Haven, Oxford, New Haven, Guilford, Hamden, Madison, Milford, Seymour, Shelton, Wallingford, Orange and Woodbridge.

Grant amounts range from several hundred dollars to thousands of dollars depending on the grant process; funding is available for event sponsorships, general operating support, immediate needs, specific programs and special areas of interest. For greater detail on each competitive grant process and deadline dates to apply online, visit The Community Foundation’s website at www.cfgnh.org/grants.
Scholarships are also available and distributed throughout the year from approximately 100 funds at The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven; scholarship grants are awarded to individual students and paid directly to the student’s school. The majority of Foundation scholarship funds are designated to be awarded to students attending specific schools; applications and deadline dates vary. Scholarship seekers are encouraged to talk to their school Guidance counselors about funding opportunities. Visit www.cfgnh.org/scholarships to access online applications, deadline dates and other helpful resources.

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.

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. 

To All Readers Far and Wide -

The first snowfall at Grove Street Cemetery is a one of a mirific vista - to be enjoyed by all. It is a really nice stroll to view the niveous headstones. It is Arcadian.

However, I am sending to all - have a wonderful holiday with family and friends and enjoy this winter season as well!!!!!!!

All the happiest and merriest,

Patricia Illingworth

Chief Docent

p.b.i.newhaven@att.net

203.389.5403

Why don't CEO's have term limits like boards? Really, why don't they?

And, why am I asking? Because the Wall Street Journal noted today that the Anti-Defamation League has announced a replacement for its longtime national director who is leaving after almost a half century working for the Jewish nonprofit. The New York-based organization on Thursday said Jonathan Greenblatt will take the helm when 74-year-old Abraham Foxman steps down in July 2015.

If I'm doing my math correctly, Abraham Foxman was hired as CEO when he was around 26 or 27. The world has certainly changed in the years Mr. Foxman has been at the helm. And maybe there are some nonprofits where keeping the same director for fifty years makes sense. But would you keep the same board? Or is there not a double standard? That is, regularly turning over a board matters more than regularly turning over the executive? Anyway, I'm thinking ten years would be a good number but maybe 15 would be ok. How many years does it take to leave an imprint, a legacy as you would while creating an institution that can also bend and flow into the future?

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.

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!