In its inaugural year, the Metro grant process may face amendments from within the council, specifically from Councilman Charlie Tygard.  Here is a portion of the article published in the Nashville City Paper:

Yesterday, Tygard said he’s going to file an amendment to alter the funding awards before the Council votes on the issue next week.

He illustrated the Domestic Violence recommendation as an example of why the amendment is needed. Once the organizations had been scored, the Domestic Violence section refined its process to focus on some key areas such as shelter services. However, Tygard said this section had a panelist who was also a board member of the YWCA of Nashville and Middle Tennessee that received $196,170.

“There was an individual, who I’m sure is an honest and caring [individual], and did what she thought was right, but by being on the board in one of the agencies in that category that received a large amount of money and the fact that the discussion was steered towards changing the way the grants were given as opposed to the other two categories, obviously raises some questions,” Tygard said.

 Did you apply for a Metro grant? What did you think of the process?

Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee has a need for office space. Here is the organization’s complete request:

Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee, currently housed on the campus of Monroe Harding, is a statewide child abuse prevention agency established in 1984 to provide services, training, and leadership in the area of child abuse prevention and strengthening families. The building we are now leasing is up for sale and will be demolished! We are looking for around 2000 square feet of space that would allow for individual offices, a work area, and training space. We do not serve families from our offices but do host training events and collaboration meetings. We feel we are great tenants in that we provided $20,000 in upgrades at our current location (wood floors, custom draperies, carpeting, painting). We would be interested in leasing a space or co-locating with another agency. Please contact Carla Snodgrass at 615-383-0994 if you have space or are aware of space we could lease.

Yesterday, CNM hosted a free, interactive workshop entitled The Fountain of Youth: Communicating with the Next Generation.  Sam Davidson and Stephen Moseley, founders of CoolPeopleCare.org, shared ideas and tips on how your nonprofit can attract and retain young volunteers, donors and supporters. Here is a clip from their presentation:

Sam talks about his baseball trophy… from Stephen Moseley on Vimeo.

To access the power point presentation, and for additional information on yesterday’s workshop, click here. This event was the beginning of a Lunch and Learn series that will focus on generational issues in the nonprofit world. Click here to find out more about this series and all of our CNM workshops.

redpepper, a local ad agency invites non-profit organizations to submit their proposals for CreateAthon®, scheduled to begin on September 18, 2008. CreateAthon is a 24-hour blitz during which redpepper provides free marketing and creative services to Nashville-area non-profit organizations. Here is more from the agency’s news release:

Non-profits are invited to visit www.redpeppergivesback.com to learn more about the CreateAthon event and submission guidelines, as well as view the work – and a video – from CreateAthon 2007. A downloadable PDF version of the application is available at www.redpepperinc.com/createathon.pdf. The deadline for CreateAthon 2008 applications is July 31, 2008.

“One of redpepper’s goals for 2007 was to find an innovative way to support the Nashville non-profit community. We believe that the CreateAthon event is a productive way to meet this goal,” said Tim McMullen, president of redpepper. “After last year’s event, our team was physically tired, but our hearts and minds were inspired and invigorated by our non-profit CreateAthon clients and their passion for the mission of their organizations.”

 redpepper is the first – and only – Nashville-area advertising agency to participate in the national CreateAthon event. In its second year as a participant in the annual CreateAthon, redpepper is looking forward to offering support to the vital non-profit community in Nashville.

 ”Through CreateAthon, Hands On Nashville benefited by having redpepper redevelop the identity of one of the community’s most cherished events, the Mary Catherine Strobel Volunteer Awards. redpepper did everything from enhancing the Strobel Awards’ logo and developing an event tagline, to designing invitations and programs,” said Lisa Davis of Hands on Nashville. “We are so grateful for their contributions that added elegance to Hands On Nashville’s celebration of outstanding volunteerism.”

 During CreateAthon 2007, redpepper completed 44 projects for 13 clients with an estimated value of more than $110,000.

The deadline for CreateAthon 2008 applications is July 31, 2008. Organizations selected by redpepper to receive CreateAthon 2008 services will be announced on August 10th. Please visit www.redpeppergivesback.com for information or an application. Or, contact Eva de Paulis at 615-320-9335 or eva@redpepperinc.com with any questions.

For more information about CreateAthon, please visit www.riggs-createathon.com.

This news is a bit old, but definitely worth mentioning. YouTube launched a nonprofit program last year that allows nonprofits to upload videos to your own channel. Its a great way to deliver your message to a mass audience in an affordable way. Check out the video with tips on what to post below.

For more information, visit http://youtube.com/nonprofits.

The law firm of Boult, Cummings, Conners & Berry has announced the implementation of a pro bono program to respond to the legal needs of the Middle Tennessee nonprofit community.

The program is designed to deliver legal services to nonprofits of limited means where the payment of standard legal fees would significantly deplete the organization’s economic resources. Additional information on BCCB’s Pro Bono policy can be found at: http://www.boultcummings.com/probono/.

If your nonprofit organization has a legal issue and is a CNM member, contact Membership Coordinator Avé Trotter at 615.259.0100 or ave@cnm.org for more information.

The Getting Attention Blog by Nancy Schwartz, a nonprofit communications consultant, announced the 2008 Nonprofit Tagline Award winners. One thousand taglines consisting of eight words or less were submitted. The twelve winners were selected by over three thousand nonprofit officials in an online poll. Here are some of the standouts:

“Where Actors Find Their Space”-NYC Theatre Spaces/This clearinghouse for NYC rehearsal and performance spaces uses a double entendre to go beyond a description of its services and highlight the value of its work.

“Stand Up for a Child”-CASA of Southwest Missouri/CASA’s tagline provokes anger, compassion and a desire to help, in just five words.

“Stay Close…Go Far”-East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania/This simple yet distinctive tagline from East Stroudsburg cuts through the clutter. Its straightforward character mirrors that of the school. 

“Helping Preserve the Places You Cherish”-LandChoices/LandChoices’ tagline thoroughly communicates the value of its work while evoking one’s most precious memories of walks in the woods, wildflower meadows and childhood camping trips. There’s a real emotional connection here.

To read the complete lists of winners, and find out how to apply next year, click here.

Many Nashville area nonprofits took part in the new metro grant process. The Community Enhancement Fund committees met Monday and Tuesday. No word yet on when the grants will be announced, but the recommendations will be on the Mayor’s desk by the end of the week.  Here is the full story from the Nashville City Paper.

Nonprofit recommendations will be given to mayor this week
By: By Nate Rau, nrau@nashvillecitypaper.com

Posted: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 12:02 am

The final meetings for Metro’s new nonprofit grants program were completed Tuesday. That means the Community Enhancement Fund committees should have their recommendations this week about which Nashville programs should receive city funding.

A panel of reviewers, appointed by Mayor Karl Dean, Vice Mayor Diane Neighbors and Metro Councilman Erik Cole, chairman of the budget and finance committee, ranked 124 area nonprofits seeking Metro grants.

The committees will be allocating a total of $2 million to the three nonprofit areas of emphasis identified by Dean as warranting Metro funds – domestic violence, education and aftercare programs and community service.

Brenda Wynn, the chair of the community service committee, said her group will recommend six non-profit programs to receive a grand total of $500,000. The domestic violence and education committees will each be allocating $750,000 for nonprofits in their areas of emphasis.

Dean said the new CEF program was implemented to take the politicking out of the process and to ensure accountability for those programs receiving funding.

“I think the process went extremely well,” Wynn said.

The recommendations will be to Dean’s office by the end of the week, Wynn said.

 Update: The Nashville City Paper just posted this story.

This story comes to us from WPLN:

Councilman Pushes for Special Victims’ Fund

Monday, July 07th, 2008

The Metro Council will take up a bill next week to create a special fee on criminal court cases to fund several groups working with crime victims.

More than year ago, the state legislature allowed local governments to levy a 45-dollar fine on all criminal defendants found guilty, where the sentence is more than five-hundred dollars.

Earlier this year, CASA, the group providing special representatives for children in court, approached Councilman Mike Jameson, about instating the fee on its behalf. Since then, 5 more groups have been added to the list, including the YWCA and the Ujima House, both of which provide shelter and services for victims of domestic violence.

Jameson says the amount of money foundations are giving to non-profits is decreasing.

“…And they’re hurting. Local municipalities, which also contribute portions of their budgets to non-profits are likewise restricting their contributions. So the revenue streams are drying up.”

The fee is expected to generate 252-thousand dollars annually. While the bill will split the money 6 ways, Jameson says the organizations could work out a different funding formula amongst themselves. The bill will be on third and final reading next week.

By Christine Buttorff

Grease is all the rage on Broadway. Come and see the amazing talent of Salama’s high school students as they perform in the full Broadway version of this musical classic at Belmont’s new Troutt Theatre.Tickets are $10 each. You can purchase at the door or click the link below to purchase your tickets in advance:

https://www.sagepayments.net/sagenonprofit/shopping_cart/forms/donate.asp?M_id=177829387434

(Advance purchased tickets may be reserved for either will call or pick up at Salama)