The Community Foundation of Utah

I hope that you have had a chance to play around with the new study that describes in real data "America’s Geographic Giving Divide"   Regional differences in giving are stark, a Chronicle study finds, and that leaves some places unprepared for the deep government cuts expected in coming years. You can see where Utah stands - and even each zip code in this Chronicle special report ans  exclusive database to research how much households give anyplace in the United States.

These awards are made to further the education or training of students whose parents or guardians have been or are incarcerated.

The Fund was established by Karl Winsness, who spent years in prison and knows the impact that can have on young people and their dreams.

Applicants must be a resident of the State of Utah, be graduating from or have graduated from a Utah High School with a GPA of 2.0 or above (though preference is given to students with a 3.0 or above), be admitted or attending a two or four-year accredited college, university or vocational/technical school, and demonstrate financial need.  Call the Foundation for more information at 801-559-3005.

2013 award deadline is February 28, 2013

Willy the Plumber Application 2013.pdf

This applicaiton is in a pdf file. If you would like a word document you can complete and submit, please call us

Razoo, a crowdfunding platform for charitable causes,  announced that its online community has raised $100 million for more than fourteen thousand nonprofits — more than half of it raised in the last nine months. This is the group that is powering Live UT Give UT on March 22, 2013 and the Live PC Give PC event in November. We have added a new section to our web site to bring people up to date with our Day of Giving, and will soon have an official web site about the event itself.

Since 2009, the organization has hosted fifteen "Giving Days" — twenty-four-hour online fundraising competitions — across the United States. To mark the $100 million milestone, Razoo is holding a $100 Million Celebration Sweepstakes on its Facebook page, in which supporters can help win prizes of up to $2,500 for a hundred nonprofits. Give it a shot!

Charitable giving by the largest U.S. corporations increased slightly in 2011 and is likely to be flat this year, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reports.

According to the Chronicle's annual survey of corporate giving, cash donations by U.S. corporations rose approximately 4 percent in 2011, down from a 13 percent increase in 2010. When in-kind donations are included, however, total corporate giving rose nearly 15 percent on a year-over-year basis. More than 70 percent of respondents said they expect their giving to be flat this year, with 27 percent saying they expected to give more and 2 percent predicting they will give less.

The Ostergar Scholarship Fund was created specifically for students at Escalante High School, to encourage our highest academic achievers in each graduating class to apply to the top tier universities across the country, rather than limiting their applications to those which are close to their hometown. Scholarship awardees will be able to have the fees associated with submitting applications to these universities and colleges covered and may be able to have some travel costs for out-of-state interviews at these institutions covered as well.  Selection criteria will focus on academic achievement, and the students having a high probability of being accepted the institutions to which they apply.

The tax laws in 2012 present unique challenges and but also opportunities for estate and charitable planning. Our presenters will address recent developments and discuss creative techniques available to estate planners this year. Join us for this FREE CLE / CPE. Last year’s event was a full house so please register early. Registration limited to 120 people.

Held at the Utah Law and Justice Center (645 South 200 East, Salt Lake City) from 8:00 – 2:00 pm. Lunch provided with the generous sponsorship of The Utah State Bar Estate Planning Section and the Salt Lake Estate Planning Council and brought to you by the Community Foundation of Utah, The Park City Foundation and The Utah State Bar.

Register here or place this link in your browser: http://www.utahbar.org/cle/events/estate_charitable_gift.html

A new report by Reuters news looks at the wealth of the LDS Church, including where their dontaiton come from and how they are allocated.

Reuters estimate that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints brings in some $7 billion annually in tithes and other donations. It owns about $35 billion worth of temples and meeting houses around the world, and controls farms, ranches, shopping malls and other commercial ventures worth many billions more.

Read the full article here

Anyone who lives in Utah has had the chance to glance upward and glimpse a soaring hawk. Whether you’ve noticed them or not, the hawks, eagles, falcons, and other raptors are there, all around us, living beside us on the mountain peaks, in the farmland, and along the banks of the snow-melt rivers – the same peaks, farms, and rivers that we depend on for our well-being.

Recent history in the United States has shown that raptor species can decline rapidly, as the Bald Eagle and Peregrine Falcon did in the 1970s, going from healthy population numbers to near extinction in a matter of just a few years. Back then, DDT, an insecticide widely used primarily for agricultural purposes, was the culprit. Tomorrow, any number of threats could cripple an entire population.

HawkWatch’s efforts to study raptors allows the science to act as an early warning system: poised to take informed and measured action to address problem, as opposed to a more reactionary emergency response that is ultimately far more costly and comes at a time when a great deal of damage to ecosystem health has already taken place.

A little preventative medicine now averts a lot of emergency surgeries later. By following the birds, learning what they need to thrive, and taking action to build strategies incorporating this knowledge, we can uncover and resolve hidden maladies before they become fatal.

In order to succeed with any preventative approach, the importance of an educated public cannot be overstated. Beginning in elementary schools, through high schools and university partnerships, in combination with a variety of informal adult education offerings, HWI invests in the critical step of translating and sharing the science of raptors. We go one step further to invite the public to engage in the scientific process directly, inviting them to become trained citizen science volunteers. An encounter with a live raptor always makes an impact; one as profound as the look in the bird’s eye as you stare into the face of this creature; arguably the noblest representatives of the natural world. Such an experience so often changes how a person then sees their own role within this world.

Come volunteer with us! Get trained working with our education birds, offering community programs, or acting as a Citizen Scientist in the field.

A first easy step is to sign up for our free enewsletter – just visit our website at www.hawkwatch.org and add your email to the Raptor Update box in the upper left corner.

Eyes to the skies!

Caroline Goldman

Executive Director

"No matter how much nonprofits try to incorporate the world of finance into their work, it’s rare that venture capitalists, grant makers and social entrepreneurs meet together to discuss their work." Here are excerpts from a great blog from Scott Henderson on what he saw at the Unreasonable Institute:

"Value financial expertise. A compelling social mission and great examples of how an organization has changed the world can only go so far. Sharing sound financial projections, calculating costs and measuring return on investment can be the difference between propelling conversations with grant makers and financiers or stopping them in their tracks, says Jennifer Pryce, managing director of strategic initiatives at the Calvert Foundation.

Be open to feedback. The social entrepreneurs put their passion-filled ideas on the table and opened themselves up to criticism as well as praise. This took courage. But they took the feedback to heart, knowing it would help strengthen their venture, even if it meant a significant shift in strategy.

Explain your project clearly and concisely. The entrepreneurs had two opportunities to explain their work: Each wrote a two-page summary about his or her  venture and presented a  one-minute “elevator speech.” Based on those presentations, the investors and grant makers chose four social entrepreneurs they wanted to work with over the following two days. If the summary and pitch weren’t clear, an entrepreneur was likely to have missed out on a valuable opportunity.

Find unlikely partners. Meeting new people with shared interests can mean finding unlikely partners and opportunities. This happened over and over again as people worked together, chatted in the hallway, walked to meals and talked over coffee. Especially in these tough times, charities should look beyond the usual candidates to find new allies who can open doors for them."

The Social Innovation Fund, a federal program designed to help nonprofits expand effective programs, has awarded more than $42-million to 11 groups in its third round of annual grants, the Corporation for National and Community Service announced today. The fund, which gives money to grant makers that in turn award it to innovative nonprofits, has allotted $11-million to four new groups and $33.9-million to seven existing grantees.

These new orrganizations will each receive $2-million over two years:

• The Capital Area United Way, for early-childhood programs in the greater Baton Rouge area.

• The GreenLight Fund,  for programs to help improve the academic performance of low-income young people in Boston, Philadelphia, and the San Francisco Bay area. GreenLight seeks out the best programs and finances their work in select cities.  (See a profile of the fund from The Chronicle.)

• The John A. Hartford Foundation, for programs to treat depression in rural communities in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming.

• Twin Cities Strive, in partnership with the Greater Twin Cities United Way, for programs to improve the academic performance of low-income young people in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region.

Those winners were chosen from 25 eligible applicants—up from 18 last year but below the 54 that competed in the Social Innovation Fund’s first year.