Moments in Philanthropy :: February  2009

In This Issue


David Reinecke - Letter to the Editor
Gary Wolter to Head Office of Recovery and Reinvestment
Environmental Funds Come Alive in 2008
A Fund For Women Exceeds Goal
Workforce Development Support
Arts Enterprise Symposium – Helping Create Jobs
Kresge Grant for Madison Children’s Museum
Did You Know?


David Reinecke - Letter to the Editor


David Reinecke - Letter to the Editor
Wisconsin State Journal
January 19, 2009

Thank you to community members for the positive feedback staff have received on the decision of the Madison Community Foundation Board of Governors to redirect 2009 grants to food, shelter, and energy for our neighbors in need. In the 67 years Madison Community Foundation has been encouraging, facilitating and managing long-term philanthropy, there has not been a time when the urgency to devote resources to basic needs has been more evident.

The Greater Madison area is well known for being a community of caring individuals with a deeply rooted culture of philanthropic giving. But philanthropy goes beyond giving. By uniting and planning strategically to make the most efficient use of talent and financial resources, we make a much larger and more lasting impact than the sum of our individual acts.

We challenge everyone to recognize that you also have a part to play during these difficult times.  Regardless of the type or size of your contribution, by uniting to make smart philanthropic choices, you contribute towards the lasting impact on our community.

Sometimes the greatest impact can be made when it is the hardest to give.  This is one of those times.

David W. Reinecke, Chair of the Board of Governors

 

Gary Wolter to Head Wisconsin Office of Recovery and Reinvestment


Governor Jim Doyle has named Gary Wolter, the Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Madison Gas & Electric and a member of the MCF Board of Governors, to the unpaid position of head of the state's new Office of Recovery and Reinvestment. Gary will have the responsibility for directing the spending of stimulus money in Wisconsin, with over-site by Governor Doyle and the Legislature. Wolter's role will be instrumental in allocation of funds.


Environmental Funds Come Alive in 2008



In 2008, the Madison Community Foundation opened a record number of new funds involving the environment. MCF now manages 23 endowments whose disbursements directly impact environmental concerns.

Environmental funds opened or expanded in 2008 include:

  • The Baraboo Range Preservation Association started the BRPA Easement Fund, designed with help from the Madison Community Foundation, to meet the costs of defending easement challenges to land under their stewardship.
  • The Aldo Leopold Nature Center started an endowment fund with help from MCF and is committed to raising a total of $3 million to support their mission of teaching people about the environment through hands-on, guided experiences.
  • The City of Madison and Village of Oregon established endowment funds to help ensure that their park systems have the funding to maintain and develop these unique natural resources.
  • Clean Wisconsin, a non-profit environmental advocacy group now has a full agency endowment fund.
  • Other environmental non-profits with endowment funds at  MCF are Gathering Waters, Midwest Environmental Advocates, Biodiversity Project, and Friends of the Pheasant Branch Conservancy.

 A Fund For Women Exceeds Goal


Jan Gietzel, Executive Director of A Fund For Women recently announced that JoAnn Six Plesko's challenge to AFFW to raise $50,000 between October 15 and December 31 was not only met but exceeded by over 60%.  A total of $84,000 was raised by 175 donors who contributed between $10 and $11,000 and with JoAnn's $50,000 match, AFFW raised a total of $134,000 to help improve the lives of girls and women in our community.

For more information on A Fund For Women, visit the website: www.affw.org/

 

Workforce Development Support


Over the past few years, the Madison Community Foundation has invested over $230,000 in grant funds for five workforce development projects. Project goals include helping strengthen families and communities through needed job training, increasing job retention rates, providing entrée to higher-paying jobs, and enabling economically vulnerable populations to achieve success and independence through sustainable employment. Training is designed to increase individual capability, build skill levels, and enable self-sufficiency.
 
Funded projects include:

1. Porchlight Products: Turning local ingredients into high level products for restaurants through an artisan preservation business, Porchlight intentionally employs a diverse workforce including the formerly homeless and people with disabilities. The revenue from the program goes to support the Porchlight homeless shelter and services.

2. Urban League Workforce Development Program: Involves the creation and/or expansion of at least five new strategic employer partnerships resulting in participants’ wages at or above area "living wage" rates.  Partnerships include programs with MATC, MG&E and Tri-North Builders.

3. Skilled Trades Apprenticeship Readiness Training (START) Program: Classes, mentorship and peer networking help participants achieve high-paying jobs with benefits in one of the seventeen construction trade apprenticeships available in the Dane County area.

4. Operation Fresh Start Graduate Services Program: Staff is available to OFS graduates for 24 months after graduation, providing logistical and emotional support, troubleshooting and mediation, advocacy, information, and referrals to sustain their success and achieve high job retention.

5. Employment and Training Association’s Occupational Skills Training: Key program components include working with employers to develop short-term trainings, offer job shadowing, provide tours of employer facilities and build employer/employee relationships both during and after the hiring process. Project objective is to assist Dane County residents in achieving and maintaining financial independence through employment, while offering the employers of Dane County a well trained and qualified workforce.

Arts Enterprise Symposium – Stimulating the Arts Economy



The first-ever Madison, Wisconsin Arts Enterprise Symposium, sponsored in part by Madison Community Foundation, was held on the UW-Madison campus January 30-31, 2009. Local and nationally known speakers addressed the state of entrepreneurship in the arts, offered job related tools to use immediately, and shared inspirational success stories.  The 170+ attendees included not only would-be artists but also people long committed to full time or part-time involvement in the arts, many of whom were negotiating career changes.

In a workshop on the economic impact of arts in the Wisconsin community, Anne Katz, Executive Director of Arts Wisconsin, and George Tzougros, Executive Director of the Wisconsin Arts Board, discussed the issues concerning arts jobs in our state. There are over 9,000 businesses and over 45,000 jobs in the arts in Wisconsin. The nonprofit arts sector alone has a $418 million annual economic impact in the state of Wisconsin.

Stephanie Jutt, Professor of Flute, UW–Madison School of Music, and Artistic Co-Director, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society, and Samantha Crownover, Executive Director, Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society, are both founders of and partners in the Arts Enterprise Initiative, and creators of the Symposium. They hope to make the Symposium a regular event.

For more information on the Arts Enterprise Initiative, visit the website: www.artsenterprise.wisc.edu/
 

Kresge Grant for Madison Children’s Museum


The Madison Children’s Museum recently announced that they are the recipient of a $750,000 challenge grant from the Kresge Foundation. This prestigious national grant is an all-or-nothing challenge grant, which means the Children’s Museum must raise a total of 9.25M by opening day in 2010 in order to receive the additional Kresge funds.

“We have raised $6.9M to date,” says Ruth Shelley, Executive Director of the Museum. “We hope this vote of confidence by the prestigious Kresge Foundation will inspire our generous community to help us complete our project.”

Madison Community Foundation and fundholders have long been supporters to Madison Children’s Museum. MCF also administers two permanent endowments that support Madison Children’s Museum – the Madison Children’s Museum Fund and Pleasant Rowland Great Performance Fund for the Benefit of Madison Children’s Museum.

For more information on the Madison Children’s Museum, visit the website: www.madisonchildrensmuseum.org/


Did You Know?


People with no will die at the average age of 69 in the U.K.

People with a will die at the average age of 79 in the U.K.

People who leave a gift to charity in their will die at the average age of 82.

Moral of the story: Give to charity - you’ll live longer.

Above is from research done in England.
Quoted from Community Foundation of Tampa Bay literature, January, 2009.


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Madison Community Foundation exists to encourage, facilitate and manage long-term philanthropy. More information about programs and opportunities to become part of this philanthropic family are on the foundation’s Web site at www.madisoncommunityfoundation.org.