Mitchell Kapor Foundation Weblog

I’m still thrilled about the convening that we just hosted this past Monday and Tuesday, WHAT WORKS: A Post-Elections Report Back. We gathered representatives from each of our Project 2008/VoICE grantee organizations together for two days here in San Francisco to hear strategies that worked to increase voter participation and protect the integrity of the electoral process. Through this gathering we hoped to promote idea-sharing, networking and movement-building.

We organized the presenters from each grantee into six broadly-themed panels: Creating Movements, Strengthening Emergent Voters, Engaging Young Voters, Establishing Rights, Revitalizing Democracy, and Making Media Matter.  While the panel format made for two long days of listening, there were loads of rich and worthy information shared.

My favorite feedback is from a pretty forthright guy who said:

“Thanks for a great convening. Seriously, when funders throw these things, they can get a bit dry or canned. I’m really glad you didn’t go for a bunch of gimmicky conference tricks that are en vogue – like speed dating, etc. Just goes to show when u have some good program areas and real work happening, talking about them can be pretty interesting. I was able to network with some groups and will definitely follow up with groups to see if we can share and build our programs.”

We’ll post audio files, photos, and a special format summary on our website on February 10th so that everyone can hear WHAT WORKS. Meanwhile, I enthusiastically THANK all of our guests for participating and encourage all of them to keep up their vital and terrific efforts!!

At the begining of the new year, we wanted to give everyone a sense of our direction. 2009 is an odd-but-breathtaking combination of historic and unparalleled political possibilities and the worst financial crisis in most of our lifetimes. Needless to say, we’ll keep moving thoughtfully forward in the midst of uncertainty.

(Authors: Cedric – VoICE and BBCBI, Carmen – Green Access, Tiffany – Grantee Support)

Voting Integrity and Civic Engagement (VoICE): Formerly named Project 2008, our VoICE work will build on the tremendous energy of this past elections year. Because we have limited dollars to deal with a wide range of elections-related issues, we’re continuing to narrow our focus on several sub-areas. In 2009, we will:

• Look for opportunities to convene grantees and funders in meaningful ways in order to advance a sense of collaboration and movement.
• Concentrate on our particular interest in elections administration, enfranchisement (NVRA, automatic registration, etc.), and public campaign reform.
• Map out a strategy for possibly supporting journalism/media-related efforts.

Black Boys College Bound Initiative (BBCBI): We’ve had a low-key start of the initiative, which was launched nearly a year ago. In 2009 we will:

• Host a summer convening of organizations working with young black men on collegiate goals.
• Assess the possibilities of a second phase of BBCBI focusing on college-level recruitment and retention programs.
• Continue to work with a smaller cohort of grantees on basic college preparedness strategies.
  

Green Access: With a new administration entering office and a wide-range of actors engaging in Green debates, our Green Access granting area is looking forward to positioning ourselves, in partnership with our grantees, to be at the forefront of the exciting transformations ahead. In 2009, we will:

• Establish learning communities with our grantees in order to encourage collaboration, increased understanding, and movement building.
• Clearly define Green Jobs and push for a standard definition to make sure the labor and green components maintain integrity and benefit communities of color and low-income communities.
• Build alliances with our private-sector and investment partners in order to increase investment and explore the challenges of these relationships.
• Position our grantees to be leaders of national debates around climate change, green jobs, and healthy and sustainable lifestyles.

Photo from AFL-CIO blog 2008.

Grantee Support: The current financial crisis makes helping grantees with organizational development, problem solving, and crisis management a very important one. In 2009, we will:

• Develop a formal capacity building strategy to foster deeper communication with grantee organizations and to better help them meet critical needs.
• Work more closely with intermediaries, technical assistance providers, and other foundations that support capacity building work to make sure the Foundation best leverages its resources and provides information to grantees as efficiently as possible.
• Create more opportunities for grantee organizations to share experiences across all of our program areas.

Photo from Fieldstone Alliance.

This past week, we were pleasantly surprised to have one of our grantees featured in an article in The New Yorker Magazine. The work of Green for All and of Van Jones is at the cutting edge of the green movement of the 21st century and we are proud to support their endeavors. To read the article click on the link below.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/01/12/090112fa_fact_kolbert

As we dive into plans for 2009, which will be described on this blog later this week, I want to belatedly summarize a few of the Foundation’s high points from last year (in lieu of an annual report, LOL). In 2008, Mitchell Kapor Foundation made $1.8 million in targeted grants – 20 Green Access, 22 Project 2008 (re-named Voting Integrity and Civic Engagement), and 11 through the Black Boys College Bound Initiative. We made $425,000 in special opportunity grants and another $2.25 million to core grantees (Level Playing Field Institute and Electronic Frontier Foundation). We launched the Black Boys College Bound Initiative last January (has it been a year already??) and co-sponsored several major events: a statewide Green Collar Jobs Summit, a reception for NAACP President Benjamin Jealous, and an elections call center for 1-800-OUR-VOTE. We presented to colleagues at the Funders Workgroup for Sustainable Production and Consumption, Grantmakers in Education, Association of Black Foundation Executives, and the Foundation Center. We made two made two terrific staff hires (Grantee Advocate and new Grants Officer),  launched a new online grant application and database, redesigned the website, and started this blog. And those are just the highlights!

We sincerely appreciate the cooperation and support of our many community and professional partners who make our work possible. I anticipate that we will have an equally busy and fulfilling year in 2009, as we turn our attention to convening and movement building in addition to grantmaking. Keep checking back for updates. Happy New Year!