January 14, 2008
I've been away from the creative writing board for a few months.....ok...more than just a few. I've recently gotten knee deep in my 12 month Master dei Talenti project at Fondazione CRT in Torino, Italy. During my time away from the blog, I've collected some great ideas for future topics, finished some 'Good Reads,' and I've gotten to be involved in some really cool projects.
DECEMBER
NOVEMBER
July 22, 2007
WINGS Global Fund for Community Foundations appoints Programme Manager
Vadim Samorodov has been appointed Programme Manager at the WINGS Global Fund for Community Foundations. Vadim has been leading the community foundation work at CAF Russia since 2001. He is a member of the Transatlantic Community Foundation Network, a Senior Fellow with The Synergos Institute, and an International Fellow with the Centre on Philanthropy and Civil Society (City University, New York). He also served on the Global Fund's Management and Grants Committee until recently.
His work with community foundations has taken Vadim to many different parts of the world and he has also spent time working in Uganda for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Vadim will join the Global Fund on 1 July and will be based in Moscow. Grants Administrator, Caroline Gobé will continue to work out of the Fund's office at the European Foundation Centre in Brussels and Director, Jenny Hodgson, will be relocating from Singapore to Bangkok in August.
July 21, 2007
Sitting at the CF Table: Initiatives Internationally
As community foundations throughout the world grow in their grant-making and endowment-building, many engage their communities and organizations in programmatic initiatives. However, as the infrastructure of community foundations differs from country to country, a community foundation must be mindful of the community’s readiness to sustain an initiative.
SOLUTION – In examining best practices in cross-border philanthropy, the Joint Working Group of the Council on Foundations and the European Foundation Centre identified several items which are applicable to community foundations abroad that plan on implementing programmatic initiatives:
§ Research and understand the political, economic, social, cultural, and technological context
§ Recognize that the organizational partners can be agents of change who contribute critical local knowledge and community access
§ Strive for transparency, but recognize that there may be circumstances in which it may be prudent to keep certain information confidential
§ When working in countries where laws and policies may be hostile to the mission of the initiative, follow local conventions
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Enlisting the services of the following organizations may guide community foundations around the world as they develop plans for establishing initiatives that are suitable and relevant for their communities:
§ Accountability in International Philanthropy (An EFC Collaboration)
§ Africa Grant-makers’ Affinity Group
§ Charities Aid Foundation
§ Council on Foundations International Programs Division (COF)
§ European Foundation Centre (EFC)
§ Foundation Center
§ Hispanics In Philanthropy (HIP)§ International Grant-making Trends Research (A FC Collaboration)
§ Latin America Initiative (A HIP Partnership)
§ Philanthropy Institute Programme (An EFC Capacity-Building Program)
§ Transatlantic Community Foundation Network
§ Treasury Guidelines Working Group (A COF Group)
§ United States International Grant-making (USIG)
§ World Bank Community Foundation Initiative
§ Worldwide Initiatives for Grant-maker Support-Community Foundations (WINGS-CF)
Research of the community’s readiness for a programmatic initiative is absolutely essential to ensuring its health and sustainability.