Editor’s note: First in an occasional series of guest columns for VPPNews. Our thanks to See Forever Foundation Executive Director David Domenici for sharing lessons he and his colleagues have learned at See Forever. This column is adapted from a speech David gave to public charter school leaders on fundraising and development.

In the District of Columbia, folks estimate that less than 25% of the adult population have students in public schools. And few of that group would be considered as “those of means.” In our efforts, we’ve learned that we must re-engage the public in public education if we hope to improve it. Building a broad constituency of supporters for schools and public education is critical to our students' success in school and beyond.

Since 1997, co-founder James Forman, Jr. and I have spent a considerable amount of our time raising funds in support of See Forever and the Maya Angelou Public Charter School. Fortunately, we learned to have fun and to engage our students and staff in authentic ways while doing it.

Here are ten lessons (in no particular order) we’ve learned about raising money, until recently without a development shop.

• Have an event, make it student-driven, and then make it a tradition. It's good for students and good for your supporters. People have enough chances to eat rubber chicken and listen to corporate executives and nonprofit directors, so give them something different and unique—student performances and speeches, artwork, and even food and entertainment. Our annual fundraiser brings about 400 people to the school each year. Students make the food, give tours, host art and debate workshops, read poetry, and give speeches. It's the students' time to shine and take ownership of the building. Yes, it raises money and awareness, but it also builds school pride as students have a chance to present themselves and their school to the public. Our annual event is now one of the highlights of the school year—for students, families, staff, and supporters. It's our chance to build up and support our constituency or village.

• Think and act both big and small. We are a small program serving a fairly small segment of the education market in DC, but our goal is for everyone who works here and who supports us to see her/himself as a part of something larger. We are about change and opportunity and hope. The system is broken, and we're trying to fix it. Give folks who want to support you two things at once: the individualized chance to meet a student, hear a poem, or provide a scholarship to a summer program, AND a vision and mission to be a part of.

• Don't be afraid to ask for support, but once you get it, remain humble enough to always say thanks. At first, we were afraid to ask folks to support us. Not now. We ask for help, and let everyone know that we need their help to provide our students with the programming they need and deserve. That said, we say thanks, honestly, quickly, and humbly. Every $10 contribution counts, every hour of tutoring helps. The card from a student to a tutor shows that our students understand this isn't all about them. And a genuine hug at graduation means a lot more than a fancy plaque. Don’t stay in touch to raise money, stay in touch because you want to build relationships that will last and be meaningful and real—you’re building that village. So, say thanks often, in person, and in writing. It matters.

• Be confident, both in what you write and what you say. It's your program. If you're not confident in it, funders won't be. They'll pick up on your confidence (or lack of it) right away. This doesn't mean you can't admit where you need to improve. You can and should (and in fact that's what you can ask for support for). It does mean you need to be 100% behind your program.
• Speak the truth with passion. Foundations and corporations receive thousands of requests for funding. The guidelines, the RFP formats can convince you that all you are permitted to do is fill in charts with “action items”, “responsible persons”, and “timelines”. You don’t have to limit your proposals to that. In fact, you can’t afford to. Make good charts, yes, but don't be afraid to write from the heart; we're not. And funders have told us it has made a big difference.

• Proofread. If you're writing to the X Foundation, don't happen to mention that you hope the Y Foundation will support you! They don't like that.

• Know your facts and figures. People want to invest in people and organizations that understand the details of both programs and finance. Don't get too far removed that you can't answer questions about both well and accurately. You're asking for someone's money; you should be able to tell them why they should give it to you and what you're going to do with it.

• Give people positive things to hang onto. The media reports plenty of bad news about urban education. Give them some good news…in your enewsletter, on your website, in your annual appeals. Start an enewsletter and get it out three or four times a year, no matter what. Punctuate with photos, quotes, and not too much writing (remember what they say about a picture being worth a lotta words).

• Treat every volunteer or visitor or guest well. Every person who walks into the school, or who provides an internship, or who tutors a student might be a possible supporter in the future of your school or of education more generally. And work with all students to help them understand this! This must become a part of school culture.

• Run a high-quality program and then support it with fundraising. Not vice versa. Every visitor should walk away from a site visit wanting to fund you because the program, your description of it, and the people they meet (including, in our case, the students) compel them to support your efforts. A well-run student tour goes a lot further than a slick brochure. Seven years out and we don't really have a brochure. Because we don't need one.

The school, the students, and the vision—that's what folks support. Not a rubber chicken dinner.

- David Domenici, Executive Director, See Forever Foundation

Back to top  

News from BGCGW, CentroNía, CFNC, Heads Up, LAYC, and Mary's Center

Verizon Volunteers Help BGCGW Students with Computer Technology

Thanks to Walter Woods, Development Director, for this update.

Students and staff at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington gathered on Saturday, December 4, to thank Verizon volunteers who helped them learn to use various computer programs, design websites, and surf the Internet for research and homework assignments. Fifteen students from the first class received awards. Ten volunteers from Verizon’s Information Technology group donated about six hours per week helping students and staff sharpen their computer skills. This five-week pilot program was offered to students, ages 12 and under, at the Eastern Branch club house, and plans to roll out the program to other BGCGW club houses are in development.

“During after-school hours in America, approximately 15 million children are at home with no adult care or supervision,” said Pat Shannon, BGCGW’s President and CEO. “Support from businesses like Verizon is critical to ensuring that every child we serve has a safe place to go after school—offering educational opportunities, caring adults, and character-building experiences.”

According to a press release, Verizon Senior Vice President Eric B. Fremont said, “Verizon firmly believes in investing in our communities through strategic partnerships that support literacy and technology education. Our volunteers are providing the additional training and tools that uplift and motivate school children to excel in the classroom and become future leaders in the work force.”

CentroNía's Winter Camp

Development Associate Isabel Barranzuela reports on December activities.

Christmas is almost here, and CentroNía is already celebrating. The School Age/Youth Development Program at CentroNía will have its yearly Winter Camp during the last week of December. The School Age/Youth Development Program provides before- and after-school and summer services that promote the healthy growth and development for school-aged children and youth, ages 5 to 18. The programs are designed to provide a comprehensive, holistic support to the children, youth, and their families by offering age-appropriate activities in technology, recreation, multidisciplinary arts, and homework assistance. The little ones, always engaged in learning activities, are working on a play about how the moon and the sun got to the sky.


CFNC Opens New Site in the West End and Celebrates the Season

Thanks to Development Director Carolyn Beckett for this report.

On December 8, The Child and Family Network Centers (CFNC) and the Freddie Mac Foundation announced the grand opening of the newest CFNC site in the West End of Alexandria, VA, to provide full-day, nationally accredited preschool education and a range of social services. Students at the center performed a rhyme with movement for an audience of 60, including dignitaries such as Congressman Jim Moran, Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille, State Senator Patsy Ticer, and school board and city council members. Toya, a single mother whose daughter, Troi, is a CFNC student, also shared her appreciation that CFNC is available to her at no cost and has allowed her daughter to develop confidence. Toya, comfortable that Troi is safe and happy at CFNC, has returned to school to study forensics/administration of justice to make a better life for the two of them.

Maxine Baker, President and CEO of the Freddie Mac Foundation, provided her own holiday surprise at the event, when she tore up the original $350,000 grant check to replace it with one for $450,000, allowing CFNC to serve 32 more children than they had hoped, for a total of 64.

“The [Freddie Mac] Foundation's belief in us has made our work possible, and we are honored to call them our partner,” said Barbara Mason, CFNC Executive Director. “With the Foundation’s investment, more children will start kindergarten ready to learn and more parents will have access to services that prepare them to succeed in parenting, employment, and life.” The event was featured in a front-page story in the Metro section of The Washington Post.

Also, during this holiday season, CFNC has been the grateful recipient of generous gifts of time and money from many caring individuals and organizations. For the fifth year, CFNC's 172 student families and 32 families of adult ESL students enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner, compliments of the Alexandria Westminster Presbyterian Church congregation.

The families also benefited from the giving nature of members of numerous Northern Virginia churches and synagogues who contributed quality children and adult clothing items to CFNC's annual clothing drive. CFNC family members shopped men's, women's, and children's departments set up at the Birchmere site and left with wardrobe items that will provide warmth for the winter and style for potential job interviews.

The kindness of volunteers has been evident in the CFNC's school sites and activities as well. The employees of SalesForce.com donated hours and muscle to the task of re-mulching the playground at the Elbert preschool site to enhance the appearance, cleanliness, and safety of the play area for the children. On December 3, through the generous financial gift of mother of a CFNC staff member and the volunteer time of several college interns, CFNC children enjoyed a field trip to the Washington Aquarium. This opportunity gave students valuable experience in bus riding and field trip behavior and expectations. And they enjoyed the colorful fish, too!

Church members, Capital One employees, Kiwanis members, and the Coats for Kids Foundation are helping allay parents’ stress often associated with children’s holiday expectations. Several congregations will adopt CFNC families for the holidays. With a family "wish list" in hand, generous Santas will deliver a sack of appropriate holiday gifts to each family. Capital One employees are hosting a holiday party at their corporate headquarters with each child receiving a new winter coat. And to ensure that every family member keeps warm this winter, the Coats for Kids Foundation is collecting warm winter jackets for CFNC brothers, sisters, and parents. Kiwanis Club members add the final touch of magic with stockings filled with small treasures for each child.

Heads Up Receives Grant from the Oracle Set Foundation

Thanks to Kim Thornburg, Development Director, for this update.

Heads Up recently received a grant from the Oracle Set Foundation, which has a long tradition of supporting community events related to literacy. This Foundation is an offshoot of the Oracle Set Book Club, founded in 1966 by a group of Howard University students. The book club has been active for many years and boasts members in multiple states.

The Foundation started as a tribute to one of its founding members who passed away in the mid-1990s. From that point forward, the Foundation started a scholarship fund as well as a community grants program.

Heads Up looks forward to working with the Oracle Set Foundation and its members. Their commitment to literacy is a perfect tie to our mission to help provide children and youth from low-income neighborhoods with the academic skills and learning opportunities they need to succeed, and to provide college students with the opportunity to understand and help meet those needs in order to promote their development as leaders motivated to effect social change.

Latin American Youth Center Says Goodbye to 2004 and Rings in 2005

Thanks to Lori Kaplan, Executive Director, for this update.

At the LAYC the holiday season is about family and familia. For many children, youth, and families, the LAYC is their family, or extended family, during the holiday season. It is a time of the year that can be filled with thankfulness and happiness, but also sadness and confusion as people think about family members left behind and the many challenges in their lives. To assist with both aspects of the season, the months of November and December are filled with daily activity at the LAYC. The Center’s Thanksgiving celebration brought together over 400 children, youth, and family members, some celebrating their first Thanksgiving in this country and others having dinner with their LAYC family who are such an important part of their lives.

DeNeen Brown, a staff writer from The Washington Post visited the Latin American Youth Center holiday celebration as participants enjoyed turkey, dressing, rice, beans, sweet potatoes, and salsa. Brown’s front-page Style section article, “Young Immigrants With a Full Plate on Thanksgiving.” highlighted the challenges that many youth and families face, but, how, at the same time, they are thankful for some very significant things. The article recounts the story of Dahianna, a young woman from the Dominican Republic who attends programs at the LAYC. Dahianna celebrated Thanksgiving for the first time in the United States after spending years apart from her parents and siblings. While Dahianna expressed her deep gratitude for being reunited with her family, she also speaks of the challenges in her new home where she struggles to understand the language and culture and, unfortunately, doesn’t see her mother very often, because her mom works at night. Brown writes, “The dinner at the center helps everyone feel included in the holiday, gives them a chance to tell classmates that they, too, are having turkey for Thanksgiving, even if their parents have to work and nobody is cooking at home. Some of the youth look forward to the holiday because their parents, who work two and three jobs, may have the day off”.

After Thanksgiving, December continues full of activity at the LAYC family of organizations and schools. Traditionally, the center-wide party with Santa and friends brings over 500 people together to enjoy the holiday season. Local corporations, organizations, and neighbors provide holiday gifts for children and teens. Also in December, the LAYC Art and Media house celebrates its first student Fall Art Exhibition on Friday, December 17, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at 3035 15th Street, NW. The fall exhibit features student work from the LAYC’s photography, drawing, digital storytelling, and radio production classes. Also, the LAYC AmeriCorps crew is sponsoring a winter clothing drive, with clothing drop boxes located at the LAYC main site. Finally, the LAYC is offering Ben & Jerry’s cakes, catering for parties, and gift certificates for purchase at the LAYC (or PartnerShop locations) as a holiday gift or the perfect stocking stuffer.

As 2004 ends, the LAYC is proud of its many accomplishments which include providing over 1,000 DC public school students with tutoring, academic enrichment, recreation/arts activities, and other services and programs in the schools and at the Center; opening an independent living program for six homeless youth who are aging out of the city’s foster-care system; providing computer and employment skills training to over 500 youth and their parents in the computer technology center; launching the second Ben & Jerry’s PartnerShop which provides 60 youth with supportive job training and employment; opening the Art and Media House; becoming a “core service agency” for the DC Department of Mental Health and enabling us to provide professional mental health services to 200 youth annually; celebrating 50 GED graduates from our out-of-school programs; and providing summer enrichment and youth employment to 750 youth. Of course, the LAYC is also proud of finishing its VPP-funded strategic plan and moving forward into the implementation phase.

2005 promises to be a busy and challenging year. The LAYC will open its doors in Maryland, finalize construction of two residential houses for girls and teen moms, open the LAYC Youthbuild Public Charter School, and, most importantly, ensure that every child, youth, or parent who walks through LAYC’s doors meet their desired goals! On behalf of everyone at the LAYC, happy holidays, best wishes for a peaceful 2005, and Feliz Ano Nuevo.


Mary’s Center's Holiday Celebration and Gift of Cookies

Thanks to David Bender, Vice President, Business Development and Communications for this update.

Mary’s Center will distribute more than 500 gifts for children and youth and more than 9,000 homemade cookies next week.

On December 13, every employee of Mary’s Center will bring six dozen homemade cookies to continue one of their sweetest and most deeply rooted traditions. During this holiday season, friends who have supported the Center in a generous way during the year receive a gift of cookies. More than 9,000 cookies will come from the 130 Center staff members.

“The requirement is that the cookies are made at home; we don’t want cookies bought at the store because the real value of them is the enthusiasm that every one of us has put into this tradition,” says Planning Committee member Sonia Umanzor.

During the week of December 13, Mary’s Center’s kitchen becomes a real bakery, with cookies of many flavors, sizes, colors, and nationalities. Starting very early in the morning, different groups of volunteers from the staff make, wrap, and distribute the trays to more than 350 organizations and friends of the Center as a symbol of gratitude for the support received throughout the year.

This coming weekend will be busy for pediatricians, Family Support Workers, midwives, and all of the staff at Mary’s Center who will be figuring out the best recipe for their cookies.

With the purpose of providing happy holidays for its patients, Mary’s Center will hold its traditional Client Holiday Party on December 16, at the Sacred Heart Church between 3:30 and 5:30p.m.

The Holiday Party is one of the most anticipated events for the clients because of the happiness it brings to hundreds of families from our community. “We will distribute between 500 and 600 gifts to patients from 0 to 21 years old; we will have snacks and refreshments, and Santa will come to get pictures taken with the children”, says Beth Perry, chair of the Holiday Party committee.

For weeks, the planning committee has been collecting toys, sorting them by the children’s age and gender, and taking care of every detail to make this a happy party and an occasion full of hope, since this is the only holiday celebration for many patients at Mary’s Center.

“Because of the difficult circumstances many of our clients are in, some of them can’t afford to buy gifts for their children during this holiday season; that is why it is so important to Mary’s Center to share with our patients the happiness of a gift and an afternoon of celebration,” says Maria Gomez, President and CEO of Mary's Center.

Back to top

Only 29 companies from 114 nominees were selected by a panel of leading technology experts appointed by the Forum. As a Technology Pioneer, a company must be innovative, have a potential long-term impact on business and society, show the signs of a long-term market leader, have proven technology, and have visionary leadership. Once selected, Technology Pioneers are fully integrated into Forum activities and can meet with scientists, academics, NGOs, and Forum members and partners to discuss and debate the impact of technology innovation on society and business.

Apax Partners hosted a webcast on Thursday, December 2, to present the 2005 Technology Pioneers, including ObjectVideo, represented by Raul.

Back to top

An extensive and highly targeted distribution of the report included outreach to more than 7,000 contacts, including thought leaders across philanthropy, nonprofits, and public policy; high-net worth individuals and wealth management advisors; foundations; membership organizations; academic and research centers; and the media. The distribution framework may be of interest to other organizations having similar publications to publicize.

The integrated dissemination and marketing campaign included the following elements:

• Hard copy mailing to more than 3,000 key contacts, with customized letters to 23 different “channel” segments;
• Email distribution to 4,000 contacts via personalized email mass distribution;
• E-postcard mailing to more than 950 VPPNews subscribers (some of whom were included in the earlier mailings); and
• Customized viral marketing campaign to approximately 300 groups.

Five articles about, or adapted from, the report were published in publications targeting key audiences in the philanthropic and business communities, including a Chronicle of Philanthropy piece by Ben Gose, “guest” columns in the VC-targeted publications Always On and Northern Virginia Tech Council’s the Voice, an article in the Alliance for Children & Families Magazine, and a commentary piece by Daniel Rabuzzi of the Drucker Foundation that was published in Changing Our World’s On Philanthropy newsletter.

As a result of the integrated marketing campaign, 70 organizations, including universities, think tanks, membership organizations, and major foundations have linked to the report or featured it in a newsletter, blog, citation, or resource listing. In addition to requests to link to the report online and those reached via viral distribution, VPP received requests for 650 additional reports to be distributed to key target audiences.

Mario Morino and Bill Shore and their colleagues at Community Wealth Ventures and Venture Philanthropy Partners are indebted to the organizations that participated and were featured in the six dialogues, to the advisors that contributed to the report, and to the internal teams at Community Wealth Ventures and Venture Philanthropy Partners for the production and systematic dissemination of the report.

Back to top

The research for this study, which ran from 1999 to 2004, was supported by The Atlantic Philanthropies, the Ford Foundation, the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation.

Back to top

Warm Holiday Wishes from All of Us at VPP!

If you have questions or comments about VPP News, please direct them to Cheryl Collins.
Privacy Policy