For some local grant writers, the Nashville Chapter of the American Association of Grant Professionals (AAGP) is the place to find help. The Nashville Chapter meets monthly, providing resources, professional development opportunities, and mutual support to grant writers and related professionals. Recent meeting topics included: the strategic contribution grant writers make to their organization, current grants management software, and presentations by representatives of local philanthropic foundations. Upcoming meeting topics include: March 11th – Kate Monaghan of Partnering Services on the “ABCs of Collaboration: What Grant Professionals Need to Know” and April 8th – The Memorial Foundation: “The State of Philanthropy in the Economic Downturn”. For more information on the Nashville Chapter of the AAGP, contact Beverly Grant, Membership Chair, at Ph: 615-242-3576 x234, Email: Beverly.grant@parkcenternashville.org, or Laura Gore, President, at Ph: 615-627-1613, Email: laura.gore@secondharvestmidtn.org.

For more information on the American Association of Grant Professionals, email: info@grantprofessionals.org, or visit the website at www.grantprofessionals.org.

Channel 4 had a great story last night on the nonprofit and CNM Member, FiftyForward. The program that gives seniors free transportation to the Bellevue Y for activities with other seniors, could be in danger:

“Sitting home and doing nothing, on your laurels, all it’s going to do is just make you older,” said participant Paul Fay.

They shoot pool, exercise and, most importantly, socialize.

“My husband passed away in October, and I haven’t done anything but just be sad since then until I came over here,” said Audrey Magee.

But funding for the transportation program ends in October. In order to get the grant renewed, they need about 13 more participants. The group is recruiting hard.

“This program is a godsend to each and every one that comes,” said Ruff.

Each of the participants said going home to an empty house is somehow easier knowing that another gathering is only a few days away.

“I’m just so glad that my wife signed me up for this thing,” Fay said.

FiftyForward wants to add a new service in which citizens order their groceries, get them picked up and have them delivered by volunteers.

To sign up for the program, call FiftyForward at 646-9622 ext. 72252.

From the Nashville Scene’s Blog-Pith in the Wind:

Remember back in early January when a Nashville charity called Soles4Souls took thousands of shoes inexplicably littering Miami’s Palmetto Expressway and shipped ‘em to needy folks in Haiti?

Founder Wayne Elsey plans on paying it forward to the Magic City for its highway cor-shoe-copia by providing fresh treads to the city’s less-than-fortunate. Today Soles4Souls handed out 1,000 pairs–the first phase in a plan to distribute 10,000 pairs to the homeless in the Miami area.

Soles4Souls first made national headlines when thousands of athletic shoes, sandals and winter boots covered the Palmetto Expressway, blocking traffic for hours. In an odd coincidence, Nashville-based Correction Corporation of America organized the clean-up, and Elsey had the shoes shipped to hurricane-wracked Haiti. The incident was broadcast across the major cable news networks, raising the profile of Nashville’s little charity.

If you are like me, you are wondering what the passage of the stimulus package will mean to Nashville, specifically the nonprofit community. To help inform the community, CNM has set up an event with Congressman Jim Cooper on Monday, March 9 at 9:30 a.m. Rep. Cooper will offer insight into how dissemination of the funding works, how to gain access to it and general guidance on the items included that may impact the nonprofit community.  Join Congressman Jim Cooper and the Center for Nonprofit Management at the Nashville Public Library for this free and informative event! Click here to register.

Are you stressed, overwhelmed or just confused about how the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendment Act applies to your business? Worried about lawsuits and EEOC investigations?

Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, Inc. invites you to join us for a FREE information session to 
discuss your concerns.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11, 2009LOCATION: Green Hills Public Library
(adjacent to Green Hills Mall)
3701 Benham Avenue Nashville, TN 37215

TIME: 10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Meeting space is limited to 100 individuals. RSVP by March 9 to Debbie.Grant@givegw.org.

A representative from the UNITED STATES EQUAL EMPLOYMENT COMMISSION will present the most up-to-date EEOC information on the law and explain what investigators will be looking for if an individual files an EEOC claim on the basis of disability discrimination. Goodwill Industries will explain how we can provide you with hands-on assistance in working with your current employees or future employees who may be covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

If you need further information, please call Debbie Grant at (615) 346-1237.

That’s the question Board of Education Chair David Fox is asking. The Nashville City Paper has the story on the confusion that led to termination of crucial employees in the area of adult education:

Fox’s letter – which can be downloaded here- indicates that it was Director of Schools Jesse Register who gave the ‘green light’ to lay off four ‘aquatics program’ employees. Last year, aquatics was shifted over to share the same enterprise fund as Community Education. A $190,000 anticipated shortfall was identified and the pools were shut down.

Fox’s letter says, “Dr. Register then signed off on the termination of the four MNPS employees who were associated with the aquatics program.”

The former executive director of the nonprofit set up by Metro to run channels 9 and 10 is facing questions today amid reports of $70,000 of questionable transactions, reports the Tennessean:

Auditors found a series of “significant misappropriated funds” that appear to be linked to Catalano. They include home cable bills, a personal vacation, restaurant meals, questionable equipment purchases, payments to his son’s company and even home rent – all paid for out of the corporation accounts. The report said a vehicle given to the corporation is missing without a trace.

Many other transactions over the period reviewed since 2003 had no receipts or documentation to explain them, the report said.

“Obviously, it raised serious issues to take it to a higher level,” said Rich Riebeling, Metro’s finance director. “This seems to be very suspect activity that needs to be looked into.”

The Tennessean reports on a a Georgia based charity called Angel Food Ministries who recently had their offices raided by the FBI and IRS. The charity services the Middle Tennessee area by providing food boxes to the needy at an affordable price, allowing participants in the program to stretch their food dollar. Among a lot of questionable actions, the Angel Food ministries has a corporate jet, and loans money to board members:

“It’s unethical and might be illegal,” said Lewis Lavine, president of the Center for Nonprofit Management in Nashville. “Staff and board members should not be getting loans.”

Dan Busby, acting president of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, said that loans to staff or board may be legal under certain circumstances. But the board of directors can’t approve of loans for themselves and the organization must charge market rate interest.

From today’s Tennessean:

Soup competition attracts Nashville’s hottest chefs

The soup was on and the competition was hot Sunday at LP Field.

Call it the souper bowl. A record 60 area restaurants brought steaming tureens of their best soup for nearly 1,500 visitors to sample at the 16th annual Soup Sunday.

The highlight of the event, which benefits the Our Kids Center, was a cooking competition that paired some of the region’s top chefs with high school culinary students.

If you missed Soup Sunday, here’s a taste: The prize for most creative soup went to something called “swamp hog mud bug and gub-mint cheese soup,” brewed up by the Middle Tennessee Chapter of the American Culinary Federation.

Continue reading ‘Our Kids Event Featured Best Soups Nashville Chefs Have to Offer’

From today’s Nashville City Paper:

Outraged Council vows to save Community Education program
Nate Rau and Amy Griffith Graydon

An emotional special Metro Council meeting Thursday finished with the promise that members would take necessary action to salvage the Community Education program, which was jeopardized because of a budget shortfall in the school district’s aquatics program.

The Council budget and finance and education committees jointly met to discuss a course of action to rescue the program, which has adult literacy classes and seniors activities under its umbrella.

Metro Finance Director Richard Riebeling said the Community Education program had a $400,000 reserve balance that could be tapped to save the jobs of seven workers who were told last week they would be laid off.

But the emergency reserve will only get the program through this fiscal year, while Council members agreed a long-term solution would need to be worked out.

Continue reading ‘Council Re-instates Funding for Adult Education Programs’