You’ll never guess where I am tonight – the Philippines! Well sorta. Tonight was the 31st year of Maharlika, a celebration of the Filipino community in Anchorage. Money is raised to support scholarships and other worthy causes. The sell out crowd was dazzled by great music and dancing that rivaled Vegas! And WOW, everyone was decked out in their finest. Foraker’s own Malu Antonio from Shared Financial Services was not only involved in planning and implementing this event, she and her family and friends entertained us with their great dance moves. Tonight’s smidgen of insight is that we live in a state full of opportunity to experience culture from around the world. Let’s celebrate this diversity while we acknowledge our common humanity through such exposure. Dennis… Read more »

Flathead Lake Montana — October 9, 2011 While this may look like Alaska, today I am at Flathead Lake where the University of Montana conducts research on fisheries and climate change. The Montana Nonprofit Association asked us to assist them in a retreat with one of their most significant members. I was lucky enough to get to come to this beautiful part of our country, just outside of Kalispell about 65 miles south of the Canadian border. My smidgen of insight this time is how lucky we are in Alaska to live in an environment that so many people in the Lower 48 wish for. While Montana is truly beautiful and has many wilderness areas, it is still easier for people to invade their remote places than it is in… Read more »

We are currently planning our educational program for 2012 and we want to be sure we’re offering the classes you want. We’ve prepared a very brief survey that will help us learn what classes you are interested in and when you would like to take them. As our thanks for sharing your thoughts with us, we will offer you a free two-hour class for participating in the survey. Please click here and you will go to the survey, which will take you less than five minutes to complete. Thanks…. Read more »

Nome — September 28, 2011 Locals complained that the summer of ’11 was not so nice. It was rainy and cold. But Mother Nature must have felt sorry for them since today had to be one of the nicest late September days on record here. I was in town to facilitate a Funder’s Forum for a group of grant writers from Nome and neighboring villages. These sessions are where the Denali Commission, Mental Health Trust, Alaska Housing, HUD, USDA, DCCED, and Rasmuson present their programs and connect with local communities so they will ask for funding for their priority projects. These sessions have been held for over a decade and have been presented in at least a dozen communities. They are useful for the communities and also a great way… Read more »

“Community Building for Alaska,” is a two-day workshop facilitated by Louise Van Rhyn, a passionate social entrepreneur from South Africa, on October 24-25th at the APU Campus in Anchorage. This experiential workshop will bring together community leaders, philanthropists, business leaders, and citizens from rural and urban Alaska. Share your knowledge and experience, become engaged, and participate in meaningful community building dialog. Space is limited. Click here for more information or to reserve your seat…. Read more »

I took a brief sabbatical from the blog because my travels during the summer were more personal, so I had fewer work related insights. But now that fall is here, the normal hectic pace at Foraker is on steroids and we are all booked solid through the year. We are not complaining, just stating the fact that we are busy. A lot of this work is predictable, but it seems we are doing much more than last year at this time. Yesterday and today I was in Kodiak. A beautiful place in the rain or shine and this trip we had both. Yesterday was with one of my favorite boards, the Senior Citizens of Kodiak. They are smart, engaged, and partnering as they should with their ED. They are a… Read more »

Today is Sunday, July 31st. I am sitting on the front porch of a cabin at Camp Denali. The family that owns this paradise has “adopted” us. So occasionally we get a deal we cannot refuse to visit this great place. We come to be inside the Park and luxuriate in Alaska’s magnificence. After we woke this morning and had a delicious gourmet breakfast, we hiked to Wonder Lake where we paddled around a while. I found my knees were not as durable as they were 45 years ago when I spent summers working at camps. I survived but was a bit sore this time. The mountain isn’t out today. Too bad, because from this porch on the right day we could be front and center to the view what… Read more »

Dennis McMillian, Foraker’s president and CEO, has been traveling around the state presenting the results of a study conducted in 2007 and updated in 2010 by the University of Alaska’s Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) on the economic impact of the nonprofit sector in Alaska. During his presentation in Juneau, the Juneau Empire did not adequately source the material McMillian was quoting. That story was also picked up by the Anchorage Daily News. Alaskans who read those stories may be asking themselves where McMillian got the information. The executive summary from the ISER study is posted on Foraker’s website and provides that information. Some of McMillian’s quotes were taken out of context. He was asked why Alaskans did not give more money to nonprofits and he suggested that… Read more »

I just left Washington DC. It was a quick trip for a few meetings. The temperature was nearing 100 degrees so thinking about getting back to our cool summer is exciting. Another reason to be thankful for the trip home is that everyone in DC was more anxious than I have ever seen in my many visits. The mood is tense and people appear very worried about the country’s future. Everyone I met with was from the nonprofit sector. Each person seemed resigned that the best-case scenario will inevitably create an uncertain future for those many nonprofits that depend significantly on federal support. Once reliable funding from Uncle Sam (and Ted) may be less dependable after a solution for the deficit is found. The smidgen of insight from this trip… Read more »

It’s been a few weeks since I checked in on the blog. It’s summer and even at Foraker we slow down a little this time of year – at least we slow down in facilitations and trainings. It seems no one wants to meet when the fish are running and the trails are snow free. While we are doing less external work, this is the time of year we do our internal cleanup. I wonder what others experience when it comes to updating all of their internal records? Maintaining policies and resolutions, updating bylaws, cleaning up files can seem like menial work. Still, for all of us, keeping basic information current and accessible is crucial to our sustainability. Most important it assures us that if anyone wanted information, we know… Read more »