WOMEN TRANSFORMING SONOMA COUNTY THROUGH COLLECTIVE PHILANTHROPY | APRIL 2023 | ISSUE 67 |
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Events:
Community Grants Awards Celebration
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You’re invited!
Please join your fellow members on May 20th at Impact 100 Redwood Circle’s announcement of its six 2023 Community Grant recipients. This celebration is one of Impact 100 Redwood Circle’s annual marquee events and you will not want to miss it!
This year the Liaison Committee has also arranged a special addition to the celebration. A few of Impact 100 Redwood Circle’s previous Community Grant Partners will be in attendance to share about the work of their organizations and of the impact your commitment to collective giving has had. As in the past, we are certain to find inspiration in their remarks and the stories they share.
Community Grants Awards Celebration
May 20, 2023
9:00 - 11:00 a.m.
Iron & Vine Event Center, Bennett Valley Golf Course
Capacity is limited. Advance registration is required. Guests are welcome but they must be registered in advance. Registration opens April 18. Please watch your email for the registration links.
Please note. This is an in-person meeting only. A ZOOM option will not be available. However, a video will be made of the event and a link will be sent out a few days later.
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Grant Making: Philanthropic Trends #2 - Core Mission Support
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Nonprofits are at the heart of civil society, tending to our most pressing needs, caring for the most vulnerable among us. And yet most struggle, year after year, to secure sufficient funding to deliver vital services that make our communities healthier, happier, and safer.
Nonprofits need our support — but they need support that is flexible and not earmarked for discrete items, programs, or projects. The type of funding our nonprofit partners tell us they need most is often called “Core Mission Support,” and it is what Impact 100 Redwood Circle shifted to when our membership adopted the Grant Making Task Force’s recommendations in early February.
When the Task Force researched trends in philanthropy, we learned that the most widely endorsed grant making approach is Core Mission Support or, as it is also called, general operating support.
One of our giving circle’s core values is Compassion, which includes our intent to give grants where they are needed most. Core Mission Support acknowledges that our nonprofit partners know best where grant dollars are most needed within their own organizations.
Why is Core Mission Support so vital for nonprofits? Here’s one example: Say you send a check to a food pantry. You might assume that the pantry will use your donation to pay for food. After all, your donation was prompted by your desire to help feed people who are struggling. But if no one supported the food pantry’s staffing, rent, electricity, and outreach — in addition to the food for its shelves and coolers — there would be no food pantry. There would be a bag of groceries on a street corner.
We now are informing our nonprofit nominees that our grants may be used for any purpose that will help strengthen their ability to deliver services and fulfill their missions. This includes administrative and infrastructure costs; staff recruitment, retention, and development; capacity building; and programs. While the nonprofits are free to use our grants as they see fit, when they submit their application, they still will need to tell us how they plan to use our funds and how our support will make an impact in the lives of the people they serve.
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A 2022 Merit Grantee
Vital Immigration Defense Advocacy and Services (VIDAS) Legal
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Imagine living in constant fear of being pulled over for a traffic violation. One misstep could put your entire life in jeopardy because of your immigration status. Or, not accessing basic healthcare services because you have no social security number. For many immigrants like Luis Bravo, this is a daily reality. However, in 2012 Luis' life changed when he connected with VIDAS Legal, which focuses on providing competent, compassionate legal representation to immigrants in Sonoma County. |
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Luis had been living in the shadows since he was nine when his family crossed the border. Despite graduating from high school, attending SRJC, and pursuing a master's degree in counseling at Sonoma State, his career track was stopped short when he was required to get fingerprinted for an internship. “I felt like a second-class citizen,” he says. With his plans derailed, his only option was to take jobs in the hospitality industry.
In 2012, VIDAS helped Luis secure a work permit under President Obama’s DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) bill, and he finally was able to work as a school counselor. He was so impressed by the impact of VIDAS' legal advocacy on people’s lives, he decided to work there as a paralegal and eventually joined the board. Luis emphatically describes VIDAS’ work as life-changing. “From the beginning of the legal process, we also connect people with services like healthcare, unemployment benefits, and protection from domestic abuse. When immigrants can obtain rights and protection, it’s like the civil rights movement in the 60’s. We’re ushering people out of slavery.”
VIDAS provides no or low-cost legal advocacy to people from all over the world who have endured significant persecution and violence in their countries of origin. According to former immigration Judge Dana Marks, asylum cases are like "death penalty cases on a traffic court docket." Immigrants without representation are five times more likely to be deported, putting them at risk of kidnapping, sexual assault, torture, and murder.
As a grass roots organization, a key to VIDAS’ success is its staff who are predominantly immigrants themselves. Having experienced the complex emotional and physical trauma of displacement allows them to build trust with their clients, which is critical to someone enduring a lengthy and difficult legal process. According to executive director Monica Julian, one client confessed that when he walks into their office, his heart rate lowers because he finally feels safe. Says Julian, “Legal status is the key to our clients’ community access and engagement, which directly impacts their ability to live freely and securely. I think of our work as building power, both economic and political, one life at a time, for communities that have been unjustly disenfranchised for too long.”
One can hear the passion and commitment in his voice when Luis concludes, “Civil rights in America is not simple; there are tiers of citizenship based on your status. It’s become my personal mission to help VIDAS grow to serve more people and to work for immigration reform.”
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Liaison: Simply Strings
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All are invited to a Simply Strings concert on Friday, May 12th at 6:00 pm. The location is Glaser Center 547 Mendocino Ave, Santa Rosa, CA 95401. All are invited!
Please email Eman Isadiar eisadiar@srsymphony.org to secure your reservation. For this concert, the students from Simply Strings will be performing on their own.
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Liaison: Forget Me Not Farms Art Show and Fundraiser
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Our 2019 Impact Grantee Forget Me Not Farm is having a fundraiser on May 20th. If interested go to the link to buy tickets to support this wonderful non-profit.
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Nominating: Please be thinking about future leaders
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Beginning in May, we’ll be looking for future leaders for 2024-2025. (Co-presidents, President elect, VP governance, VP nominating, Secretary, and Treasurer.) Please be thinking about Impact 100 Redwood Circle members who you would recommend for these leadership positions, including yourself. The Nominating Committee will be reviewing your suggestions, actively recruiting leaders, and preparing a ballot which will be distributed in late summer. More information to come! If you have questions, please contact Gail Ginder (VP Nominating) at 707.953.4275.
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Ed Talk: "Arts and Culture Build Bridges"
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ED Talk: “Arts and Culture Build Bridges”
April 19, 4:30 p.m., Zoom
Arts and Culture offer the transformative power to connect people to one another. They inspire individuals, enrich and change lives, and foster community engagement.
Don’t miss our April ED Talk featuring the work of Creative Sonoma, a division of the Economic Development Board that advances the creative community of our county. Director Kristen Madsen and Program Officer Samantha Kimpel will inform us on the impact of music and art on brain development, self-understanding, and physical and emotional healing. They will demonstrate how they carry out their mission through an equity lens and the impact of the Covid pandemic. In addition, we will learn why and how they support core mission funding with the monetary grants they offer local organizations.
Come hear how the beauty of arts and culture stimulates our minds, connects us to each other, and improves economic vitality to a healthy community.
Click here for bios of Kristen and Samantha.
Watch your email for a link to register for this Zoom event. See you there!
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Welcome New Members!
Katie Booth
Alicia Sanchez
Tracey Schween
Teresa Tachovsky
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Save the Date for Cocktails and Conversation!
We have scheduled the next Cocktails & Conversation for May 25 from 5:00 - 6:30 p.m. This will be an excellent opportunity for members to bring friends/colleagues to learn about Impact 100 Redwood Circle. Remember, the only way that we can increase the amount of grants to the Sonoma County non-profits is to increase our membership.
Please do your part in spreading the message of our organization. Once again, the C&C will take place at the home of one of our members. Sign-ups will begin in early May so be thinking about who you might invite to this fun event.
Honorary Memberships Extended to Merit Grantees
Impact Merit Grantees will also have the opportunity to become Honorary Members of Impact 100 Redwood Circle! This is in addition to the Impact Grant Awardees.
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Communique Correction
How long do I have before my membership lapses?
The month of their renewal, a member will receive the 1st of the 3-part renewal reminders: the first of the month, a second renewal email about two weeks later, and the final renewal at the end of the month. At and at the end of the following month, the membership is suspended. Membership Co-chairs will contact you to understand if renewal dues were an oversight or intentional.
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Giving Circle Affiliate: Philanos
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Members of Impact 100 Redwood Circle are encouraged to register for We Give Summit. The event will be held virtually May 2-4, 2023 and is sponsored by Philanos Partner, Philanthropy Together. There is no charge to register and you can pick and choose those events and conversations that are most interesting. The goal - to ignite and unite all of us in the powerful movement of collective giving. All about being Bolder Together. Register here.
We Give Summit Keynotes:
- Adrienne Maree Brown: Author, activist, musician, and speaker.
- Dr. Ibram X. Kendi: Author of How to Be an Antiracist.
- Carlos Saavedra: Community organizer within the immigrant rights movement.
- Gloria Walton: Award-winning organizer and writer.
Philanos Networking at We Give Summit! On May 2nd at 2 PM ET - join Philanos leadership for a chance to learn more about Philanos. Meet representatives from other Affiliates and share in conversations about Collective Giving. Registration for the networking session is included when you register for We Give Summit.
Future Philanos Dates
As a Philanos Affiliate, Impact 100 Redwood Circle members are eligible to register for any of the following Philanos events.
May 9 Webinar, 12 pm ET - PowerUP!Baltimore Sneak Preview Register here.
May 18 Comms Club, 12 pm ET - Collaborating Within Your Circle Register here.
June 15 Tech Talk, 12 pm ET - Payment Options and Considerations. Register here.
November 5-7 - Baltimore PowerUP! 2023. Early bird registration opens May 1.
Ann Marie McGee
Philanos Board Member and
Impact 100 Redwood Circle Member
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