Call for Nominations
Washington Post business columnist Steve Pearlstein is once again planning his year-end holiday column celebrating extraordinary efforts by local companies on behalf of local nonprofits. If one or more of your business partners stepped in to save the day in 2010, or went above and beyond in their financial or volunteer support, Steve would love to include it in his column. To nominate a company, send an email with the salient details to pearlstein@washpost.com, subject line "Holiday Column." Include the name and phone number of someone to contact for more information. No phone calls, please. Deadline for sumbissions is December 13. The column will run the following week.
Grantees in the NewsTwo Grantees Recognized
At White House Ceremony Meyer grantees Young Playwrights' Theater and Mentors of Minorities in Education Inc. were among 15 organizations from across the country to receive the 2010 National Arts and Humanities Youth Programs Awards (NAHYP) from the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. The awards, which include a $10,000 grant, were presented by First Lady Michelle Obama at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on October 20. Formerly known as the Coming Up Taller Awards, the NAHYP Awards recognize and support outstanding community arts and humanities programs that celebrate the creativity of young people while cultivating their academic skills, and have a dramatic impact on their communities. Learn more.
Joe's Movement Emporium's Anniversary Gala Featured
In City
Paper and Gazette About 200 people attended Joe's Movement Emporium's
15th anniversary gala, where they saw performances by Balinese dancers,
African drummers, and modern dancers, and sampled food from local
restaurants.
Tenner Profiled in Capital Business Adam Tenner, 2010 Exponent
Award recipient and executive director of Metro TeenAIDS, talks about his early lessons in the value
of volunteering and the obstacles he's had to overcome as leader of Metro TeenAIDS.
Learn more.
Brainfood Helps First Family
At White House Halloween Three Brainfood
students were invited to help the White House pastry kitchen prepare
treat bags for the 3,000 trick-or-treaters that visited the White House
on Halloween. Learn more.
Meyer News
Meyer Board Members Head
Mayoral Transition Committees Meyer board members Maria Gomez, president of Mary's Center, and Barbara Lang, president and CEO of the DC Chamber of Commerce, are each co-chairing committees of DC Mayor-elect Vince Gray's transition team. Ms. Gomez is co-chairing the health and human services
committee and Ms. Lang is co-chairing the economic development committee. Learn more.
Toni Bush Elected to Meyer Board Toni Cook Bush, attorney and partner in charge of the communications group at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, was elected to the Meyer board and attended her first board meeting in October.
A Special Note A grateful farewell to communications director Amy Harbison, who left Meyer in October. Since joining the Foundation in 2006, Amy worked tirelessly to advance all aspects of Meyer's communications work, and we will miss her passion, creativity, and intellect. If you'd like to reach out to Amy, you can e-mail her or visit the website of her new firm.
Upcoming Grant DeadlineThe deadline for submitting a letter of inquiry for the next grants cycle is Thursday, February 3, 2011. Please read the Meyer Foundation's updated open letter to the nonprofit community before writing a letter of inquiry. Please note that the foundation is not currently accepting LOIs in the areas of health and mental health. Read the Q & A about our health funding partnership with Consumer Health Foundation here. View eligibility and application guidelines.
Keep Us Informed!Meyer grantees, keep us informed of your success stories and news coverage. E-mail mscott@meyerfdn.org. | Executive Directors Invited
To Participate in National Study
CompassPoint and the Meyer Foundation are once again working together to conduct a national survey of nonprofit executive directors. The results of this study will be released in 2011, five years after Daring to Lead 2006 highlighted the challenges of leading a nonprofit organization and the factors that contribute to burnout and high rates of turnover among executive directors. Working with partners in 11 cities, Meyer and CompassPoint will use survey responses from more than 2,000 executive directors to lean more about the career paths, tenure, challenges, and professional development needs of executive directors. This year's survey includes new questions on how current economic conditions are affecting executive directors, along with more detailed questions about fundraising and the executive's partnership with the board. The survey, which should take no more than 20 minutes to complete, is confidential and anonymous. The deadline to participate has been extended to Tuesday, November 30. Take the survey.
Catalogue for Philanthropy Launches 2010-2011 Edition
Just in time for the holiday season, the 2010-2011 Catalogue for Philanthropy—spotlighting 70 Washington, DC area nonprofits, including 20 Meyer grantees—arrived in 20,000 households across the region. The Catalogue for Philanthropy is more than an annual publication. Through its innovative website, it provides many tools to help prospective donors learn about and support local nonprofits. Donors can create a gft registry that allows friends to donate on their behalf, or purchase Catalogue gift cards to share with others. Donors can also give by contacting an organization directly or by using response cards included in the publication. In celebration of its eighth year, the Catalogue—in partnership with a class at Georgetown—redesigned its annual kickoff event, which was held on November 8 at the Harmon Center for the Arts in downtown Washington. Leading up to the event, the Catalogue launched the "Power of 8" contest, for which Catalogue nonprofits were invited to submit one-minute videos focused on a word rhyming with 8, such as "celebrate." Finalists were selected by the nonprofits featured in the Catalogue, and the winner received a free five-minute professional video to be produced by 5:00 Films & Media. Four finalists and the winning video, submitted by the Literacy Council of Montgomery County (see link below), were shown at the Catalogue event. 
As follow up, the Catalogue has organized a second round of voting for the "Power of 8" contest on its YouTube channel. During this round, the general public is invited to vote for their favorite videos. Top vote-getters will be featured in the Catalogue's blog. The Catalogue has raised more than $12.5 million for featured nonprofit organizations since its inception in 2003, and is currently raising about $2.5 million a year. Meyer has supported the Catalogue since 2003 as a way to help grantees raise more money from individuals and strengthen philanthropy in the region.
Events and Learning Opportunities
Meyer Co-hosts Session for Board Chairs
As follow up to the successful CEO/Board Chair Summit convened in September by BoardSource and the Nonprofit Roundtable, Meyer and the Roundtable are co-hosting a networking and information sharing session for board chairs at the Foundation on December 1 from 9-11 a.m. Board chairs who attended the September event expressed a strong interest in further opportunities to come together to discuss common challenges. This facilitated conversation will address CEO performance reviews and board engagement in fundraising. Click here to RSVP.
Report Offers Advice for Gala Organizers
The fall season for galas and special events is winding down, but spring is around the corner. Organizations that are planning special events should review The 2010 Charity Event Market Research Report, published by the social networking website CharityHappenings.org. Charity Happenings bills itself as the "online social hub for the country's powerful community of young and influential philanthropists." The site claims 75,000 subscribers, 850 of whom responded to the survey that is the basis for the report. Although Charity Happenings is a national network, the event listings focus heavily on New York—and a few of the findings and recommendations may not feel quite right for events in Greater Washington. But it does contain plenty of practical advice that applies anywhere. Examples include: - E-mail and word of mouth are the most effective ways to reach people with information about events. Printed and mailed invitations may not even be necessary, although the higher your ticket price the more people will expect a printed invitation. Among social media, Facebook is much more effective than Twitter.
- At the event, long speeches by board members and staff are the least effective way to communicate your mission—and the biggest turnoffs for attendees. Short videos and testimonials from people helped by the organization are much more effective.
- Unique experiences, such as lunch with a celebrity, make the best auction items, followed closely by tickets to sporting events and concerts. Memorabilia ranked dead last.
To download the full report visit CharityHappenings.org |
