The Giving Thread (by NCGives)

NC’s “barefoot benefactor” pounds the pavement

2010-07-27T19:44:46+00:00

Matt Jenkins (of Boone, NC) is running across the state, barefoot...and all for a good cause.

Matt, a marathoner, decided he wanted to raise money and awareness for nonprofits like the Western Youth Network (where he works at an after school program). So, he decided to run from NC's coast to the Tennessee border -- with no shoes! Watch the news coverage as Matt passed through the Triad yesterday.

You can also follow Matt's day-to-day progress on Twitter (@BarefootNCRun)...send him an encouraging word!

More on “Foundation Giving”

2010-07-26T14:29:53+00:00

The Philanthropy Journal just published a good summary of our freshly released report, Foundation Giving In North Carolina.

Read the PJ article

See NCGives' original report

She gives her time, talent to help others build treasure

2010-07-21T13:55:55+00:00

How one post-retirement woman helped hundreds of Goodwill employees get closer to financial stability.

"Volunteer honored by Goodwill Industries International" (the Philanthropy Journal)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Five hundred employees of Goodwill Industries of the Southern Piedmont have completed training in financial literacy through a partnership with Charlotte Saves.

Forty-one Goodwill employees have participated in an emergency-loan program Central Carolina Federal Credit Union created in partnership with Goodwill.

And 150 Goodwill employees, many of whom never had a checking account, have opened credit-union accounts.

All that activity grew out of a Goodwill initiative spearheaded by volunteer Cheryl Keller, a retired Bank of America executive who recently was named volunteer leader of the year by Goodwill Industries International. Keller, a Charlotte native who retired in 2007 after a 27-year career with Bank of America, says her impulse to volunteer was rooted in her experience at church as a child, and from the corporate culture at Bank of America.

“Our philosophy was, it’s not just about our customers but our community, and it’s all related, customers are part of the community,” says Keller, whose roles at Bank of America included marketing, risk management, middle-market business lending, public-utility finance and information technology.

Read the full article

“Foundation Giving in NC” encourages nonprofits to seek diverse revenue streams

2010-07-20T17:46:51+00:00

Though foundations continue to play an important role in North Carolina's philanthropic landscape, NCGives' newly released Foundation Giving in North Carolina report shows that the economic recession has indeed left its mark, with the most recent IRS data available revealing a 23% drop in North Carolina foundations' cumulative assets in 2008.

Anita Gunn Shirley (who compiles the report for NCGives annually) concludes this year's update by urging the state's nonprofit sector to remember that the majority of charitable dollars comes from individuals -- an especially timely reminder, while conventional grantmaking programs continue to recover from the recession.

Additional data on grants awarded, distribution of foundations and areas of giving are available in the full report, Foundation Giving in North Carolina: An Analysis of Trends for Fiscal Year 2008.

Download the Report

For further information about the report and its findings, please contact:

Donna Chavis - donna.chavis@ncgives.org
Executive Director, NCGives

Anita Gunn Shirley - anita.shirley@duke.edu
Report author; Assistant Director of Foundation Relations, Duke University Medical Center

First HBCU fraternity nears a century of giving back

2010-07-19T20:20:32+00:00

Our state is strong in collective giving, or the idea that there is power in numbers when it comes to giving back. North Carolina's fraternities and sororities are a great example -- like the members of this black fraternity, who can be found giving back to their communities all over North Carolina.

"Omega men entering 100th year of volunteerism and service" (News & Observer)

In 1961, LeMonte Mitchell was a student at Johnson C. Smith University looking for a fraternity experience that would last long after his days on campus. He found it in Omega Psi Phi.

Mitchell, now 71 and recently retired as choir director at Raleigh's Davie Street Presbyterian Church, is as active and committed a fraternity brother as ever. He swears by the organization's core principles of volunteerism and community service. His voice bears no trace of hyperbole when he declares: "It's God, family and Omega. That's the way I look at it."

If you're in downtown Raleigh later this week, you might get a better idea of what Mitchell is talking about. Omega Psi Phi, the first black fraternity founded at a historically black university, is bringing its biennial Grand Conclave to the Raleigh Convention Center starting Thursday. The national convention is expected to draw as many as 5,000 people for a series of meetings and activities stretching for a week.

...Omega is one of the nation's largest black fraternities, with more than 100,000 members. Its alumni rolls have star power, including athletes Michael Jordan and Shaquille O'Neal, actor Bill Cosby and political activist Rev. Jesse Jackson. But it has also produced plenty of leaders in politics, civil rights and higher education. Carter G. Woodson, considered the founder of Black History Month, was an Omega. So is Vernon Jordan, a close adviser to former President Bill Clinton and former head of the National Urban League.

But Omegas, while proud of those members, tend to think less about individual achievement and more about total impact, said Warren G. Lee, the fraternity's national president. "That's what gives us legs," said Lee, whose organization and its 619 chapters donate more than $1 million a year to charities. "It's not the individual members but what we do collectively as a group."

The brothers of Omega Psi Phi are a proud group. They call themselves "Omega Men" and extol virtues such as manhood and scholarship. The organization is national, but it preaches local action, urging members to lift up the communities that produced them.

Mitchell is still clearly entranced, 49 years after he joined in college. Since graduation, Mitchell has been active with the graduate chapter in Raleigh, where he helps raise money for scholarships to support the Red Cross, the local Boys Club and other charities. For a dozen years, he organized a Raleigh talent show that sent winners to regional showcases....

Read the full article

Your voice: Are you a part of a group that comes together to give back to your community? Leave your comment below.

Youth are givers, too—let’s help them reach their potential

2010-07-15T19:46:29+00:00

Even though just five years old, the North Carolina Youth Giving Network has seen some amazing accomplishments, with over $300K granted out to communities by more than 800 youth. Established in 2005 by NCGives, the Network continues to grow - something that wouldn't be possible without the adult advisors who rally their youth together to support their communities. These advisors recently gathered at Greensboro's International Civil Rights Museum to learn more about engaging youth in giving back.

"Teaching social justice to youth philanthropists" (Philanthropy Journal)

The same grounds that sparked a civil rights movement marked the convening of a powerful cadre of adult advisors committed to engaging young people in social change through philanthropic giving.

On June 29, youth-philanthropy program advisors from Onslow, Pitt, Northampton, Nash, Edgecombe, Wake, Davidson, Guilford, Forsyth, Wilkes, Catawba, Burke, Rutherford, Cleveland, Mecklenburg and Jackson counties gathered at the International Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro for the 2010 Advisors Training Institute, hosted by the North Carolina Youth Giving Network and co-sponsored by American Express.

The Institute provided these adult advisors with additional planning tools to engage the over 400 young people that are actively involved in philanthropy through the North Carolina Youth Giving Network.

There are currently 20 sites for youth giving throughout the state, each with its own adult advisor that works directly with these young philanthropists to assess community needs and facilitate a youth-driven grantmaking process. Since 2005, a total of more than $300,000 has been granted by over 800 young people throughout the state.

A key component of this year's Institute was the expansion of tools to integrate a social-justice focus to youth philanthropic giving -- from a community needs assessment module that identifies economic injustices, to a self-reflective inventory based upon the work of Leading To Change and the Anti-Defamation League.

Advisors were also given the opportunity to experience the catalytic voices of the civil rights movement through a powerful tour of the International Civil Rights Museum and the continued exploration of how to integrate the practice of equity and social justice into their work with young people.

Read the full article

Your voice: What do you see the youth in your area doing to give back to the community?

Why “wrist-deep in rice and gravy” equals a giving heart

2010-07-08T15:28:39+00:00

Did you know that the word philanthropist, broken down, literally means "love of humankind?" Here's one North Carolina giver who takes this definition to heart, from helping lead a local women's giving group to cooking for a summer kids' camp.

"Cape Fear Profile: Alisa Debnam steps up to help others" (The Fayetteville Observer)

Alisa Debnam is a health professional, career woman and leader in charitable causes. But right now, she's wrist-deep in rice and gravy. In the kitchen of First Baptist Church on Moore Street, an apron-clad Debnam is dishing out lunch for a roomful of noisy children at a summer camp.

It's hard work, but Debnam won't complain. "I love to cook anyway," she said, "so this is right up my alley."

That attitude, say friends and family, is typical Alisa Debnam. From her work as supervisor for health education in Cumberland County schools to her role with the Women's Giving Circle charitable group, Debnam rarely shies away from a challenge - no matter whether that challenge is as big as a $50,000 grant or as small as a scoop of rice and gravy.

Debnam's philosophy of helping others extends beyond the workplace. In the early '90s, she joined the Junior League, eventually becoming president..."I probably owe more to the Junior League than any organization I've been affiliated with," Debnam said. "What most people don't know is it's a developmental organization. It's all about developing the potential of women."

Recently, Debnam's charitable efforts have taken a different turn. A couple of years ago, Mary Holmes, executive director of the Cumberland Community Foundation, approached Debnam about starting a Women's Giving Circle to generate money to benefit women and children. Debnam agreed.

Holmes said Debnam was a natural for the giving circle position. Leadership, she said, is part of Debnam's "hard wiring."

"There's a lot of people who have great ideas, but they don't show up when it's time to show up and roll up their sleeves," Holmes said. "Alisa has great ideas, and she shows up when it's time to get to work."

Read the full article

Your voice: What's the messiest gift you've ever given or received? (Comment below.)

How 259 women are changing Western NC

2010-07-01T20:34:53+00:00

One powerful aspect of giving is that it's something people can do together. Just take a look at this Western North Carolina giving circle (a group of people who pool together their time, talent and/or treasure for a cause they all support).

"Mountain-area women award $235,000 in grants" (The Philanthropy Journal)

ASHEVILLE, N.C. - By working together and pooling their resources, a group of 259 women in Western North Carolina was able to funnel $235,000 to mountain-area nonprofits serving women and girls.

The Women for Women giving circle, a program of the Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, awarded four grants during its sixth annual grant cycle.

"Women for Women is meeting real needs in our communities," Elizabeth Brazas, president of the foundation, said in a statement. "Especially during this period of recovery, we are proud that Women for Women is making these big grants that will have a profound impact on women's lives.

Each member of the Women for Women giving circle, which was created in 2005, agrees to donate $1,100 a year for three years, with $1,000 of that going into a grantmaking pool and $100 covering the foundation's administrative costs.

Since its inception, Women for Women has awarded a total of $1.2 million in grants.

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Food-for-thought: If you and your friends formed a giving circle, what cause would you support? Leave your comments below!

“NFL’s Vonta Leach gives back to Robeson County” (The Fayetteville Observer)

2010-06-24T19:32:48+00:00

The first six months of 2010 have been eventful ones for Vonta Leach. The Robeson County native completed his sixth season as a National Football League player and his third straight as a starter in January. Leach played so well that he was named an alternate at fullback for the NFL's Pro Bowl all-star game.

...Leach is still finding time to give back to the community where he was raised.

This weekend he'll host a benefit celebrity basketball game at his alma mater, South Robeson High School in Rowland. Leach will then conduct his annual football camp at South Robeson from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.

Scheduled to participate in the camp along with Leach are NFL players like Lumberton native and Seattle Seahawks offensive lineman Sean Locklear, Houston teammates Fred Bennett, Jacoby Jones, Chris Henry, Anthony Hill (ex-N.C. State tight end) and others.

This will be the fourth straight year Leach has held the camp.

"Vonta hasn't forgotten where he comes from,'' said Mike Brill, Leach's former coach at South Robeson and now the coach at Lumberton High. "He grew up poor and remembers how it was. So he tries to help people and inspire children, especially ones around there where he grew up.''

Read the full article

Adventures in Nonprofit Communications

2010-06-22T19:13:00+00:00

A lot of wonderful things are going on here at NCGives, and one that I'm particularly excited about is a new partnership with NonprofitMarketingGuide.com's Kivi Leroux Miller.

Over the next several months, Kivi (a nationally recognized nonprofit marketing guru who happens to live right here in North Carolina) is going to be working with me as we refine NCGives' marketing and communications. But here's the really neat part - we decided we want other nonprofits to be able to benefit from our experiences as well, and so we are pleased to bring you Kivi's new blog series, "Behind-the-Scenes at NCGives."

As a smaller-sized organization experiencing opportunities for growth, we will be working on many of those communications challenges that are common to most small nonprofits, and Kivi will chronicle this real-life journey on her blog. NCGives is honored to have this chance to shed some light on what we learn throughout this process, and we hope it will be useful to nonprofits all over North Carolina and beyond!