NPO Conversation : December 11, 2012

We invite leaders of nonprofit organizations to join us each quarter for a brown-bag lunch discussion about issues, ideas, and concerns in the nonprofit and philanthropic community.

The meetings are a time for us to “talk shop” and move beyond the usual conversation between foundations and nonprofit organizations. Each session focuses on a particular topic. Guests will learn a little about GMA and a lot about their peers’ perspectives on important issues.

Topic for the next NPO Conversation:  NEW Rules of Engagement

Regardless of the population you serve – the elderly, disenfranchised, students, artists – or your focus area – the environment, the arts, health, civic engagement or education, you are most likely considering ways for your organization to engage more people, more often and more deeply. Continue Reading »

Jessie B. Cox Trust concluded its environment grantmaking for 2012.

The Trust’s theme of helping conservation organizations preserve larger landscapes – faster, continued with the projects that received support in 2012. Most grants supported strong coalitions with ambitious goals set in a regional context. Nearly all had strong scientific bases or components that tease out big questions in the field of conservation biology. The projects that emphasized linking and connecting habitats to promote ecosystem resilience continued to be a top priority. Continue Reading »

EVENTS OF NOTE

The American Textile History Museum will present GMA Foundations’ founder Newell Flather with its 2012 Community Service Award  at a Gala on Friday, November 2nd.

The Community Service Award honors an individual or individuals who  have shown outstanding community service through their good works, exemplary  volunteer service, compassion, and involvement with the American Textile  History Museum (ATHM) and the community.   Past honorees include Nancy and Richard Donahue, John H. Pearson Jr., George and Carol Duncan, Michael Creasey and the Lowell National Historical Park and Brenda Costello.

Newell Flather has been an originator and leader in the field of philanthropy for over 40 years. He was Second Marshal of his Harvard class, chaired his Class Alumni Committee since 1971, and served three terms as Director of the Harvard Alumni Association. He taught high school in Ghana from 1961-63 as a member of the first Peace Corps volunteers. “By being first, we got to break everything that became the Peace Corps rules.”

In 1974, he was a founding trustee of Oxfam America, which today raises over $75 million annually for projects in the developing world. While Chair of Oxfam, in 1980, he visited the massive refugee camps on the Thai-Cambodian border, where he had his first contact with many courageous Cambodians who are citizens of Lowell today. Continue Reading »