Education Working Group Highlights
Wednesday, September 1, 2010 | 1:13 amNew processes and approaches helped the working group to narrow down the nominated organizations into the final five, but also gave them tools to evaluate and compare organizations that focus on vastly different aspects of education. This all leads up to giving a deserving organization the largest grant in One Percent Foundations history – $12, 000.01!!
In order to aid the working group in the sometimes seemingly impossible task of narrowing down 15 great organizations to just 5, a couple of new tools were implemented, including a conference call with a professional from the field to provide some insight about the challenges faced in Education today and sending out a new document called Organizational Profiles to all the organizations prior to the working group starting their work. These documents included information about what the organization does, their history, theory of change and financial details. More information on these and other changes can be found here.
Providing the working group with these new and improved ways of collecting information about each organization and comparing that information to one another allowed the working group to focus on some important issues while narrowing down the field of nominees. The following themes are what emerged as most important throughout our discussions: Read the rest of this entry »
—OPF Partner | no comments
(posted in Grantmaking Reflections)
Update from Agora Partnerships (2010 International Aid Grantee)
Thursday, August 19, 2010 | 10:26 pmI was in Washington, DC last week and stopped in at Agora Partnerships’ office to briefly meet with and get a quick update from Agora’s Director of Business Development, Liz Sessler. Agora was the recipient of an $8000.01 grant from One Percent Foundation earlier this year, in the International Aid grant cycle.
There were two things which stood out in our conversation.
First, since receiving the grant award, Agora has launched The Accelerator, a program which packages a suite of services the organization has developed for promising early-stage businesses, and rolls them all up into a highly structured, integrated delivery. Previously, the services delivered by Agora – such as training seminars, consulting from teams of MBA candidates, and linkages to networks and finance – were offered a la carte. The Accelerator will deliver a suite services through a 6-9 month program, providing a larger window for Agora to work with entrepreneurs and a stronger pipeline to find and prepare promising small business for investment and growth.
Second, Agora’s mission of aiding small businesses to grow and create jobs and income, highly depends on connecting these companies with finance. To that end, Agora’s strategy includes raising for-profit investment funds, which provide capital to the most promising entrepreneurs that the organization works with and mentors. Agora raised its initial fund, the Agora Venture Fund – which was discussed in the Working Group’s assessment – and currently makes small investments ($25,000+). Recognizing the growing need for finance, and hoping to capitalize on the new investment pipeline created by The Accelerator, Agora is embarking on raising a new $10-12 million fund, the Prometeo Fund. With Prometeo, Agora will have the ability to invest up to $500,000 in a single company. The organization has a number of firm commitments in the capital raising process, and is hoping to close the fund later this year.
Lastly, Liz passed along word about a NYC Agora event for young professionals on August 25. Details for the event are available here.
Marc Bush is an OPF Partner and was Chair of the 2010 International Aid Working Group.
—Marc Bush | no comments
(posted in Grantmaking Reflections | tagged Agora Partnerships, Grantee Update, international aid)
Philanthropy for All: Take the 1% Pledge
Thursday, August 12, 2010 | 2:33 amThe following piece, written by OPF Founder, Daniel Kaufman, appeared in Huffington Post on August 11, 2010.
By now, you likely have heard about The Giving Pledge, Bill Gates’ and Warren Buffett’s campaign to get billionaires to commit to give 50% of their net wealth to philanthropy. This morning, Stephanie Risa Stein authored an editorial on the Huffington Post about the Giving Pledge, arguing that the giving pledge shouldn’t be limited to the very wealthy.
We at the One Percent Foundation couldn’t agree more. That is why we started a movement to encourage people, particularly those in their 20s and 30s, to give 1% of their income to philanthropy. We are democratizing philanthropy. Now, we invite you – regardless of wealth or age – to join us. Take the 1% Giving Pledge to commit to give 1% of your income to charity. For those of you that can give more, please do! But the 1% Giving Pledge is a commitment that anyone can make, and we hope you will join us. Read the rest of this entry »
—dkaufman | no comments
(posted in OPF Updates, Philanthropic Trends | tagged 1% Giving Pledge, Huffington Post, Stephanie Risa Stein)
Holistic Education
Monday, August 2, 2010 | 2:12 amFirst off, I am really excited by the work that the One Percent Foundation is engaged in, and I am honored to be contributing to your collective knowledge on education.
The main thrust of my philosophy is simple: all students deserve a holistic education. For me, I define holistic as everything that happens outside of the classroom. In my mind, privileged children thrive not only because of the rigor of their schools, but also because they receive ongoing support and access to all sorts of opportunities through the arts, sports teams, summer camps, international travel, etc. When I take a minute and reflect, these are the things that shaped me, boosted my elf-esteem, and taught me about cooperation and community. I did not learn these things at my desk inside a classroom. Read the rest of this entry »
—OPF Partner | no comments
(posted in Field Notes | tagged Education Pioneers, Noah Ingber, Summer Search)
Around the World in 85 Days
Thursday, July 22, 2010 | 7:30 pmOkay, so that’s not technically true…my wife Debbie and I are already half-way around the world. But we do only have 85 days left before we end our worldwide journey and return to the U.S. So this seems like a good time to reflect on how what we’ve seen and experienced so far on our travels will affect the way we conduct our personal philanthropy. A few quick thoughts:
1. Overpopulation. This is something that I’ve never given much thought to, even though I’ve lived in a number of big, crowded cities (New York, anyone?!). But when I got to the densely populated countries of Asia, the first thing I realized is that there are a lot of people in this world. And with estimates predicting the global population will reach around 8 billion by 2025 (the population was half that in 1974), it strikes me that this is an issue of major importance to the sustainability of our planet.
2. Local Participation. I’ve always heard this in regard to international development/aid organizations: it’s important for a non-profit or project to have local buy-in and participation (or, even better, to have initiated within the affected community). But after having been on the ground in a number of developing nations, such as Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia, I can confidently say that this is not merely important, it’s critical. No matter how good an organization’s intentions are, without local buy-in and participation, its efforts to change the world are likely to be short-lived and ineffectual.
—Mike Berkowitz | no comments
(posted in Partner Profiles | tagged development, milo, participation, travel, voluntourism)
Update from ‘09 Education Grantee, School on Wheels
Wednesday, July 7, 2010 | 7:34 pmThe mission of School on Wheels is the enhancement of educational opportunities for homeless children from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Every week, hundreds of School on Wheels’ volunteer tutors give hope, educational assistance and support to the thousands of homeless children living in Southern California.
We provide one-on-one tutoring for homeless kids who live in shelters, motels, group foster homes and on the streets. In addition to weekly tutoring and mentoring, every student receives a backpack, school supplies, and uniforms; students get assistance enrolling in school and with locating and filing school records; and each student receives a toll-free phone number for around-the-clock School on Wheels’ support.
We do all this with no government funding. We survive through the donations of people like you who believe as we do that every child has potential and every volunteer makes a difference.
We are very proud of all our students, but here is an exceptional 17 year old who despite her circumstances, used our help and support to not only succeed in school, but excel: Read the rest of this entry »
—OPF Partner | no comments
(posted in Grantee News | tagged homeless youth, School on Wheels, tutoring)
Exciting New Changes for OPF’s Assessment Process
Thursday, July 1, 2010 | 3:36 pmOver the last six months, OPF’s Assessment Committee developed a series of changes for its assessment process–changes that will yield a more efficient and accurate process for all parties involved. The beginning of these changes (described in this post) are going into effect on July 1st, the start OPF’s 2010 Education Cycle. If you have questions about these changes or about any of OPF’s assessment approach, please contact Dulcie Madden, Chair of the Assessment Committee, at dulcie at onepercentfoundation.org. We look forward to hearing and incorporating your feedback!
Key Changes
- Decreased Nomination Period: The nomination period is now two weeks long. Previously, the period was one month, but it was shorted to accommodate a… Read the rest of this entry »
—Dulcie Madden | 2 comments
(posted in OPF Updates | tagged assessment, nominations, working groups)
Two-Hour Analysis
Monday, June 14, 2010 | 5:12 pmOne of the links in Tactical Philanthropy’s Philanthropy Daily Digest highlighted popular posts from the past year of New Philanthropy Capital’s blog. Among those was a two-part post, “How I Would Analyse a Charity in Two Hours,” a quick primer that serves as a nice UK-focused companion to our User-Friendly Guide to Nominating.
The post was sparked by the question, “What if the funder only has two hours to make a decision [about a donation]? Or a day at most?” Here’s how the author, Iona Joy, would spend the two hours:
- First hour: Desk Research, including a look at the organization’s website, a more general web search (to see how they org. is represented/referenced in the greater ether universe), and a closer look at the organization’s financial and narrative accounts for the past few yerars
- Second hour: Call the Executive Director, using the time to ask questions about how the organization defines and tracks success, key lessons learned over the past year, etc. (This second hour may be more apropos for the working group stage of our process…)
—Betsy Uhrman | no comments
(posted in OPF Updates | tagged Iona Joy, New Philanthropy Capital)
Philanthropy News
Monday, June 14, 2010 | 3:06 pmJune 2010 News:
- Philanthropy’s Biggest Opportunity – is to create an impact-based social capital market, by the CEO of Philanthropedia (Tactical Philanthropy)
- Microsoft’s Culture of Philanthropy – and how young employees are shaping it (Seattle Times)
- Millenials’ Sense of Entitlement – that can lead to philanthropy (Financial Post)
- Learning Philanthropy – in school! (Washington Post)
- Next-Gen Leaders – and how the non-profit world can make room for us (Huffington Post)
- Philanthropy’s Digital Divide – and the future of online transparency Foundation Center (PhilanTopic)
—Betsy Uhrman | no comments
(posted in OPF Updates | tagged millenial, next gen, Tactical Philanthropy)
Notes from the International Aid Working Group
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 | 4:20 amThe International Aid Working Group had a challenging task: taking fifteen diverse charities doing interesting and valuable work, and narrowing them down to a shortlist of five outstanding finalist organizations.
In response to the size and scope of the field, the Working Group changed its usual procedures; our process is explained below. Additionally, in examining the nominees a number of interesting (and not-so-obvious) themes emerged.
Working Group Process
“International Aid” is wide-ranging field, and efforts to promote peace and well-being and to alleviate poverty take many forms. The group of nominees included organizations focused on economic development, education, health, freedom of speech, and education. Read the rest of this entry »
—Marc Bush | no comments
(posted in Grantmaking Reflections | tagged evaluation, international aid, working groups)