Today I am in Portland – a truly different universe (Portlandia?). Soon I will be on Horizon Air to Seattle – then home tonight so I can be at my board meeting in the morning. I serve on the national board of Camp Fire and was here to visit one of the best Council’s (Alaska’s Council is still #1) and to see some of the program officers at Murdock Trust on Foraker business. The meetings went well, but I am a bit blue – maybe jealous – after watching how good, committed, and creative the Portland Camp Fire ED was. All of the characteristics I outlined in the April newsletter on great nonprofit CEO’s were manifested in his performance today. He was socially intelligent, courageous, and he was totally committed… Read more »

Hello from sunny and warm, 82 degrees, Philadelphia,PA. I am here at the Council on Foundations annual conference. Alaska’s own Diane Kaplan was asked to present on foundation investment in nonprofit capacity building. She asked Steve Moore, CEO of the Murdock Charitable Trust, to co-lead the session – and they asked me to be present to answer specific questions about nonprofit capacity. There was a standing room only crowd in a too hot room, but no one left early and the discussion was good. Also at the conference, Rasmuson Foundation won the Gold Award for public policy work for Pick. Click. Give. It’s nice to run into many familiar people at this gathering. Jeff Jessee and Delisa Culpepper from the Alaska Mental Health Trust are here – along with Jeff… Read more »

I made it home after posting my last blog and by the way, I did not misbehave, not even once. I’m lucky to have spent the last four days in Anchorage, sleeping in my bed. Even though two of those days had snow, it was good to be on the ground. Later tonight I leave again for the lower 48 to speak at a couple of conferences. Since returning on April 1, I have worked with HeartReach a Valley nonprofit that receives support from the MatSu Health Foundation to build its capacity, finished reports for other projects, and dealt with a “crisis” for an anonymous organization – a pretty typical week when I am able to stay in my office. Since I returned from my winter break on January 13,… Read more »

Well, it’s Thursday evening and I’m sitting in 1F on the tarmac in Juneau getting ready to fly home again. These long days of rising early so I can exercise, then board the early flight to Southeast are catching up with me. But flying does give me time to start something I’ve wanted to do for some time — blog. We have decided it’s time for me to report on my travels and insights along the way. Most blogs will be short, some very short. Sometimes there may be some smidgen of insight. I always plan to report on where I am. My wife, Stephanie, once accused me of being Waldo — like “Where’s Waldo?” — because she continued to see me in unexpected places with unexpected people. So maybe… Read more »

We recently celebrated our tenth anniversary surrounded by Partners, board members, staff and friends. Foraker was founded on the concept of partnership. One of our closest partners is Rasmuson Foundation. Jeff Baird from Rasmuson captured some comments from people at our birthday party on January 20th. You can see them here. I think you’ll also enjoy reading Dennis McMillian’s “journey down memory lane” in his President’s Letter this month. He recounts the story of how Foraker began on the back of a napkin — isn’t that where all great ideas originate? And he recognizes the people who have helped us along the way…. Read more »

The Foraker Group is pleased to announce that we are official members of the National Council of Nonprofits. Help us celebrate and check out their announcement here…. Read more »

It is not often you will find me excited about surfing the web. I see technology mainly as a utilitarian tool that should be used sparingly in order to devote more time to actually connecting personally to people. You might also know that I am completely committed to the sector – including all its facts and statistics. However, I know that sharing those facts has much less impact if they aren’t reinforced through stories. So I was very pleased that I found this YouTube video that captures the statistics of our sector in a compelling way – a way I think people notice more than if I or anyone else just recited them. Take a few minutes to watch and be inspired by our world. Thank you for all you… Read more »

The list is posted on the PickClickGive website. It represents roughly 90% of the total donations. There will be a much smaller second installment for some organization that will include all the charitable gifts from PFD filers that are still under review by the State. That number should be available in early November. Specific donor information and a check will be coming to each organization by mail in the next few weeks. Please trumpet these numbers, thank your donors, tell your stories of impact, post updates on your Facebook pages, Tweet, email your friends, contact your local media. Every chance we get to raise awareness of PCG is an opportunity to grow donations through the program in this upcoming year…. Read more »

In an earlier post, we linked to a blog post on the Chronicle of Philanthropy blog about a new study that offers a “value” to a Facebook fan. While the post there may have been simply informing nonprofits about a new study and asking how the study might change the way a nonprofit thinks about its social media investments, this post is troubling for several reasons: They offer no guidance to nonprofits regarding how to start thinking about the value of fans on Facebook; They offer no commentary on the findings in the study which are questionable at best. More than anything, nonprofits should not be looking simplistically at the “value” of a fan as this study presents value. The inherent value of a Facebook fan goes far beyond a… Read more »

CHECK THE LIST and File Online Today On Oct 15th over 1000 nonprofits in Alaska could lose their tax-exempt status. Will your nonprofit be one of them? We hope not. The Urban Institute’s National Center for Charitable Statistics has developed a simple tool to find out if you need to file. Here’s how in 3 easy steps: (1) Go to the NCCS website <http://nccsdataweb.urban.org/PubApps/990search.php> (2) Select the name of your state and then enter your nonprofit’s name. If there is an alert “FILE NOW” by your nonprofit’s name, then (3) File a 990 by Oct 15 or your nonprofit’s tax-exempt status will be automatically revoked Please help The Foraker Group SPREAD THE WORD!… Read more »