March 2009 - Posts
I'm in a really good mood.
Maybe it's a carryover from last night...listening to Stevie Wonder sing about how he loves Barack Obama, American Idol and life. How can you listen to Stevie and not be happy? He's a soulful guy.
But maybe I'm happy because I'm heading to New Orleans later today, my first trip back since Katrina hit the town where I spent my freshman year in college. I'm not going back to visit Tulane, although I do hope to grab an hour or two to ride the St. Charles Streetcar to the heart of the garden district and walk my old route around campus.
Nostalgia aside, and I seem to be having plenty of that this week, I'm happy and excited about the event that is taking me back to my old stamping grounds. That's the 46th annual International Conference held by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
Blackbaud is exceptionally proud to partner with AFP as the full conference sponsor. It's one of the ways we show our support of the fundraising profession, which really grew up along side our technology. We believe in and value the good work the association does to promote ethical fundraising and provide high-quality educational opportunities for the industry's professionals.
This year, I have the pleasure of going to the conference not just as a Blackbaud representative and an AFP partner, but also as the President of the SC Lowcountry chapter of the association. I got involved with the group locally as a way to give back to my own community. Through the years, I have worked along side so many interesting, devoted professionals, who have become colleagues and friends. I have especially enjoyed being able to work both internationally and locally with AFP, connecting the two as we all collectively invest in the long-term health and growth of the nonprofit sector.
On Sunday morning, at the AFP Chapter President's Council meeting, our chapter is being honored for achieving 10-Star status. This recognition acknowledges that we have accomplished a variety of activities and serve as a model chapter. Even more exciting than this recognition is the fact that, that same morning, we will be presented with an award check for achieiving the highest percentage membership growth in 2008 for chapters of our size.
I need to be clear that, as 2009 President, I'm simply the one who has the honor of accepting on behalf of last year's board. The real credit goes to that board, who worked diligently under the leadership of Toni McHugh of MUSC's Storm Eye Institute. Toni, and Lori Cook of The Citadel Foundation (our 2008 and 2009 membership chair and a rising star in the industry) are the two people who really made this happen.
Although the schedule is action packed over the next few days, I hope to blog while I'm in New Orleans, sharing news about the exciting events taking place -- with the chapter, with the association and with Blackbaud.
So stay tuned!
P.S. And in case you're wondering, I'm going for Adam in season eight of American Idol. My 10-year old (the die hard fan of the family who has us all watching together) thinks Adam and Danny flip flop as the top performer each week. We'll see.
I "friended" Waddle the Penguin today on Facebook.
Seriously, Waddle is my newest contact, and I look forward to following his travels as he gets settled in his new home at the South Carolina Aquarium.
It's spring break this week, so when Cappi Wilborn from the aquarium invited me to come meet its four newest residents, I decided I'd mix work with some fun and take my kids along. So we headed downtown for a sneak peak of the aquarium's soon-to-be-opened exhibit, Penguin Planet.
The penguins, which are on loan from Sea World in San Diego, arrived two months ago and have been getting acclimated to their new home in the Lowcountry. The aquarium built a special exhibit to house the birds and did special training to ensure the staff was fully equipped to care for these very special creatures.
I'm not sure what it is about penguins that makes them so fascinating. They swim, eat fish (mackerel being their favorite, I'm told), stand still for hours and then swim again... Sounds kind of boring, but it's not. Whether you're 40 (something) like me or eight like my son Will, it's easy to share in the magic.
Like most museums, so much of what the aquarium does is focused on education. Stopping by the aquarium to visit the four Magellanic penguins isn't just fun, it's also an opportunity to learn more about the world of penguins and the role they play in our ecosystem. While you're there, you just might meet Waddle, the penguins' mascot.
And if you'd like to keep in touch after your visit, you can visit Waddle's website, www.WheresWaddle.com, link to him on Facebook or follow him on twitter. This bird is clearly a Millennial who understands how to use technology to engage kids of all ages. I know I'll be looking for updates from Waddle on Facebook. I admit it. Ever since my mother gave me a copy of Mr. Popper's Penguins, I've been an unabashed penguin fan.
Kudos to the South Carolina Aquarium for deploying social media tools not only for education but also to engage penguin fans like me and provide us with the opportunity to get involved. Blackbaud is proud to be a corporate member of the aquarium and to support the educational programs they provide within the community.
Last year, we launched what's fast become a well-loved corporate giving program. It's called Reward Your Passion, and it encourages employees to apply for a $500 donation to nonprofits where they volunteer. I am fond of this program for two reasons. One, it's a way to support and honor employee volunteerism. And two, it's a way for us to ensure corporate dollars are reaching into the communities where employees live and work.
We award a number of Reward Your Passion grants each quarter. Team Blackbaud Global, an employee committee that represents all our offices and our remote staff, reviews the applications and selects the winners. This week, they picked the following organizations as recipients. Each will receive $500 in honor of a specific employee's volunteer service.
- Riverside School, England
- Elder Help, San Diego, CA
- Carolina Youth Development Center, N. Charleston, SC
- Fields to Families, Mt. Pleasant, SC
- What Now America, San Francisco, CA
- Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Bethesda, MD
- Teachers Supply Closet, Charleston, SC
- McGrath Foundation, Australia
- Camp Sunshine, Casco, ME
- Birthday Wishes, Inc., Newton Centre, MA
- Muscular Distrophy Association of San Diego, CA
- Anti-Poverty Initiative, Indianapolis, IN
- Children's Museum of the Lowcountry, Charleston, SC
- Charleston Concert Association, Charleston, SC
- Cainhoy Athletic Soccer Club, Charleston, SC
Congratulations both to the organizations listed and to the employees who put a face to our value that service to others makes the world a better place.
Oh, and if you work for a nonprofit where Blackbaud employees volunteer, make sure you encourage them to apply for a Reward Your Passion grant! The process is simple, and the rewards are well worth it.
Blackbaud has a longstanding relationship with the Coastal Community Foundation, located in Charleston, SC, where we're headquartered. This partnership began many years ago when, as a young company, we were looking for a way to launch new giving programs and build infrastructure that could grow with us. The answer came in the form of the Blackbaud Fund.
Managed by CCF, The Blackbaud Fund provides grants annually in support of educational programs for disadvantaged youth and the disabled. This mission was established by Blackbaud's founder, Tony Bakker, who felt strongly that the fund would allow us to make a long-term impact on the community.
By far, the neatest thing about this fund is that -- from the very beginning -- we have relied on employees to determine how the grants are distributed. Service on the Blackbaud Grants Committee has become somewhat of an honor, a special role that individual people are asked to take on. The committee is made up of employees who represent all our divisions here in the Lowcountry. Each person serves for two years (or two grant rounds), working under the guidance of Edie Blakeslee from CCF and our own Tina Fei, who serves as our volunteer committee chair.
The process is pretty straightforward, thanks to the support Edie and her team give us. The applications come in through CCF, and we rely on Edie's guidance to help sort through them and make decisions. The hard part is actually determining who should receive funding. In the early days of the fund, I served as a non-voting advisor. Sitting in on those meetings was fascinating, watching my colleagues learn how to really dig into an application, evaluate how the nonprofit would spend the money, and balance emotional reactions with the data in front of them. Deciding how to give away money, when you can't give it to everyone, is hard.
To me, the most important and rewarding part of the entire process is the site visits. After the applications have been read and we're down to a manageable number, Edie arranges for a group of committee members to visit each organization. It's a chance to see the nonprofit in action, meet the staff, and ask questions. Although that sounds pretty straightforward, there's nothing like a site visit to bring a proposal to life. In one memorable instance, the committee went from thinking a proposal was less-than-interesting to putting it at the top of the funding list. I still recall how passionately those who visited the organization spoke about what they learned and what they saw.
Just yesterday, the members of the 2009 Blackbaud Grants Committee submitted their individual evaluations of the applications in the final round to CCF. On Monday, they meet to discuss how to allocate this year's funds. On Monday, regardless of what role they play within the company, they will be grantmakers. They'll speak passionately about what they saw, they'll discuss who will accomplish the most with the funding, and they'll collaborate to determine how the pool of money to be allocated will be spent.
I don't envy the tough decisions this committee needs to make. They take on the challenge willingly and, through the process, learn so much about the nonprofits around us, the issues our community faces, and how individual people like them can make a difference. Although the nonprofits who are selected receive funding to run their programs, I think the people who serve on the committee win, too.
Thanks to Edie, Tina and the 2009 Blackbaud Grants Committee for all their hard work. I look forward to sharing the news of who is being awarded grants!