On May 22, 2012, Northern California Grantmakers hosted a special briefing at San Francisco City Hall with Mayor Ed Lee and children’s advocate Marian Wright Edelman, Founder and President of the Children’s Defense Fund. The program, sponsored by the Rosenberg Foundation, Mayor Ed Lee’s Office, and NCG was a festive event that included guests from NCG’s membership, San Francisco government and school district officials, and non-profit leaders such as the Rev. Cecil Williams of Glide Memorial.

Ms Edelman, who was the first African American woman admitted to the Mississippi state bar delivered a sobering, yet inspiring talk on the state of children in this country and encouraged everyone in the room to do their part to change the plight of youth, particularly Black and Latino youth, in this country.

Here are a few bleak statistics that Ms. Edelman shared:

• A public school student is suspended every second
• A high school student drops out every 8 seconds
• A public school student is corporally punished every 20 seconds
• A child is arrested every 21 seconds
• A child is born into poverty every 34 seconds
• A child is abused or neglected every 47 seconds
• A baby is born without health insurance every 87 seconds
• A child is killed by a firearm every 3 hours – more than 7 a day – and is killed by abuse or neglect every 5 and a half hours
• Every minute a baby is born to a teen mother and every 3 minutes to a mother who had little or no prenatal care. Every 9 hours a baby’s mother dies in childbirth. Black babies are 4 times as likely as White babies to have their mother die in childbirth.

Ms. Edelman, who was in town to share her work with The Black Crusade for Children, ended the presentation with a call to action noting that these statistics will only get worse without the help of all. The Black Community Crusade for Children (BCCC), a program of the Children’s Defense Fund was organized “to confront a deepening crisis faced by Black children and is calling on America to take action against a toxic cocktail of poverty, illiteracy, racial disparity, violence and massive incarceration that is sentencing millions of children of color to dead end, powerless and hopeless lives and threatens to undermine the past half century of racial and social progress.”

Her appeal included four requests. That we stand up for children by:

1) Not missing the boat in achieving positive outcomes for youth; the time is now
2) Knowing that we are all in this together; therefore we are on the same boat
3) Not believing the naysayers who will tell you that the problem can’t be solved
4) Realizing that Noah’s ark was built by amateurs, not professionals; therefore we must not rely on leaders to fix the problem, but grassroots organizing efforts.

In the words of Ms. Edelman: “If we don’t stand up for children, then we don’t stand for much. “

For more information about the program, please visit NCG’s events calendar.

NCG’s annual Corporate Philanthropy Institute (CPI) is around the corner and I am looking forward to attending once again . The CPI is always packed with punch. If you’ve attended in the past I’m sure you recall previous conferences where you heard from excellent guest speakers, listened to panels featuring your corporate grantmaking peers, were introduced to themes totally new to you, and you left with your head buzzing with new ideas.

This year’s theme Corporate Social (R)evolution promises not to disappoint. Once again, the CPI is shaping up to be an excellent day of conversation. The agenda is full of amazing speakers– eBay, McKesson, Adobe, Purpose, Net Impact, SoCap, Council on Foundations, B Labs, GOOD/Corps are just some of the great organizations you’ll be hearing from. You’ll leave with big ideas, as well as take away practical approaches to influence your work.

I know like me, you try to do your best to get to the most valuable conferences and seminars throughout the year and use your budget and time wisely. So if you’re on the fence about attending this year’s CPI  allow me to break it down for you:

1.) NCG’s signature annual corporate conference, the CPI, is serious value for money;

2.) You don’t need to get on a plane;

3.) It is rare to spend time with our amazing Bay Area peer network, conveniently in one space, sharing ideas; and

4.) You need to know about social innovation and entrepreneurship.

If these terms-”social innovation” and “social entrepreneurship” make you uneasy, come find out why they are important and how this affects our work as corporate grantmakers. The day will highlight many of the new ideas and concepts in social innovation-from social entrepreneurship, to shared value, to B corporations-and  how they are being interpreted and implemented in corporate philanthropy, how citizenship is changing in response, and how companies are using these approaches to innovate.

Don’t you want to hear about companies adapting the most exciting ideas of our time to corporate philanthropy? I do! Get out from behind that desk and freshen up your thinking while socializing with your peers. See you in a few weeks.

Event Details

What: Corporate Philanthropy Institute: Corporate Social (R)evolution
When: June 13, 2012 | 8:30 am – 4:30 pm
Where: The California Endowment, Oakland

Full program description is here www.ncg.org/cpi.

Designed to focus on the nuanced experience of a corporate grantmaker, the CPI is a day–long conference developed to focus on the most significant global and national trends impacting corporate philanthropy.

Corporate Social (R)evolution

 Social Impact. Social Change. Social Innovation. People are working in new and different ways to solve the world’s most pressing problems: developing businesses with social missions, adopting entrepreneurial strategies to further their community agenda, and engaging entire companies in the work of addressing social problems. We are also seeing increasing numbers of individuals actively engaged in talking about, investigating, exploring, and being directly involved in creating change.

At this year’s CPI we’ll explore many of the new ideas and concepts in social innovation—from social entrepreneurship to shared value to B corporations. We’ll talk about the different ways they are interpreted and experienced, how corporate philanthropy and citizenship may adapt or change in response, and how we use these approaches and opportunities to build “best in class” programs.

Big Picture, Real Tactics, and a Look Ahead

The CPI will provide participants with both the big picture of social change and innovation efforts in the nonprofit, business and philanthropy spheres and practical conversations about promising and effective practices. We’ll discuss how social innovation can be used in what we do in our philanthropy and community involvement efforts. The CPI will close with an exciting discussion with some of the visionaries who are leveraging corporate philanthropy and social media to build social movements.

Institute Sessions

Opening Plenary: New Dimensions in Social Change and the Role of Corporate Philanthropy

Morning Plenary: Solving Social Problems: Creating Change through Social Innovation

Lunchtime Plenary: Social Innovation in 3D: Companies Making Social Innovation Reality

Afternoon Breakouts:

Building Community Involvement Programs That Stick; Social Change through Employee Engagement

Increasing Impact, Enhancing Value–Strategies for a New Corporate Philanthropy from COF’s Corporate Philanthropy 2012 Project

Closing Plenary: Moving Customers, Employees, and Consumers to Action! How Companies are Helping to Build Social Movements

Who Can Attend

The CPI is designed to benefit corporate philanthropy and community relations professionals, as well as corporate senior leadership from the Northern California region and beyond. NCG membership is not required to participate.

Cost

$150 / NCG Member
$300 / Non-Member funder

To read a full program description and/or to register for this year’s Corporate Philanthropy Institute visit ncg.org/cpi.