$20,000 for an Innovative Nonprofit

I'm proud to announce Tom's of Maine “50 States for Good” program, which will celebrate and reward non-profits whose efforts are focused on lasting, positive change. Tom’s of Maine will award $100,000 to five nonprofits from a community fund that will ultimately be directed by a public vote. To launch the “50 States for Good” initiative, Tom’s of Maine has created a virtual hub at www.50statesforgood.com, where applications for participation are available from June 1 through August 30 to all qualifying 501 (c)(3) organizations. After the submission phase, online voting by the public will determine which five projects will receive $20,000 each.

Tom's asked nonprofit bloggers to develop videos advertising the program, you can see my video above. I've managed to squeeze my husband, son, and daughter in the video (hey, if Aaron Spelling can do it, so can I), see if you can find them.

Director of American Indian Studies Position

Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri is seeking nominations for the position of Director of the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies in the George Warren Brown School of Social Work. The School seeks a director who will coordinate the Center's curriculum and program development and will work to recruit and support students. The director will act as a liaison to and develop productive relationships with American Indian communities and constituencies, both local and national. In addition, the successful candidate will pursue philanthropic opportunities to expand the Center’s resources and scope of impact. This exciting opportunity is a senior staff position with the possibility of a non-tenure-track faculty appointment. The School seeks candidates with strong interest and experience in working with American Indian communities and issues.

I'm not a workaholic, I'm just a jerk

I have always prided myself on having a semblance of work-life balance but last week was a prime example of why I do not have it all figured out. As our fiscal year is ending, I realized that I will lose some vacation time because I haven't taken any real time off since I started my job at Headwaters. As I looked at my calendar to figure out when would be a good time for vacation, I realized that I have scheduled commitments throughout the summer and last week was my best chance at some time away. During this time we are also looking a a variety of new funding opportunities, that are especially important now (because of the little global economic meltdown and its impact on our endowment and our nonprofits). So during this relaxing vacation:

• I went into the office to meet with a board committee, participate in a conversation with a consultant about an application we are submitting, and to pick up a pile of files for another grant application,
• Participated in  variety of conference calls,
• Checked email every few hours and responded to about 100 emails,
• Went to a school conference,
• Checked my Twitter-feed endlessly and forwarded interesting links to my staff

This isn't a "woe is me" post, this is a "woe is my staff" post. It has taken me till the sixth day of workaholic craziness to realize that I am being a terrible example to my staff and to my family. For the staff, I am saying that vacation time doesn't really mean time "off" from work, it means an expectation of being connected from another location. I may not mean that, but its what I show by example. It also looks like I don't trust them to make decisions in my absence, which is also not the intention but it sure looks like that. For my family, it means that when I say that I am hanging out with them, I am actually thinking about work and often doing work. There is nothing more exciting to a five year old than watching Mommy check her Twitter feed.

The only good thing about noticing a character flaw is that you have to notice it before you can fix it. Here's to making not working work next time.

Do your grants last longer than a McDonald's hamburger?

Working in the field of childhood obesity, I've recently been learning a lot about the slow food movement and talking to advocates addressing hunger and access to healthy foods.  One such advocate recently sent me a link to a blog posting where the author saved a McDonald's hamburger for 12 years and it looked pretty much the same from day one.   During the same time of reconsidering whether I will ever eat another McDonald's hamburger, my foundation (like many others) is being confronted with reductions to both our administrative and our grant making budgets.  My team just completed re-prioritizing our current and future grant making plans which included looking a lot more closely at sustainability.  How long will a program last after our immediate grant ends?  I've also been reflecting on the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy report "Criteria for Philanthropy at its Best".  It had been on my reading list for a couple of months now and I finally got around to at least reading select chapters.  One that particularly caught my attention was the "Effectiveness" criterion.  I have been a proponent for operational grants for quite some time because, when done right, they can lead to strengthening the sustainability of an organization.  I also support multi-year grants but with the stipulation that the funder and organization work together to ensure that, if the program is effective, it can continue operating after the grant ends.  I was a little disappointed that the report didn't touch upon sustainability as part of grant making effectiveness.  To me, the two should go hand-in-hand; if a foundation is willing to make the commitment to a 3-4 year grant, then the grantee should have a sustainability plan ready for when that grant ends.  And I'm not just talking financial but also sustainable impact on the community being served, such as through grant making for policy change.

So, does your grant leave the grantee ready to continue its good work when your funding ends or is the organization scrambling for more funding a year before the grant's over?  Will the impact of the funded activity last beyond the foundation's financial commitment?  Do your grants last longer than a McDonald's hamburger?

PS: Click here if you're curious about the 12-year old hamburger.  I haven't eaten one since...