Rasmuson Foundation

The unforgettable taste of cherry pie

2008-11-10T14:11:00.002-09:00

Tart and tangy, cherry pie is delicious........ but not for one Rasmuson Foundation staff member. Director of Operations Denise Burger recently served cherry pie to the team here and shared the story of her deep dislike for the dessert as we launched a workplace campaign to support the United Way of Anchorage.

United Way of Anchorage collaborates with a broad range of service partners to affect change in three primary areas: Education: Helping Children and Youth Achieve Their Potential; Income: Guiding Families to Financial Stability; and Health: Improving People’s Health. United Way’s goal is to create long lasting changes that prevent problems from occurring in the first place.

The United Way of Anchorage has put the call out to individuals, companies, government and labor to support positive and lasting change in the lives of people in our community. They invite all of us to LIVE UNITED.

Organizations and companies can join the challenge with a workplace campaign. They’re a great way to live out an organization’s values and boost employee morale. For more information about conducting a United Way campaign at your workplace, click here.

This year, the Foundation’s workplace campaign is being championed by Denise. To get us revved up for the campaign, she promised to eat a large slice of the pie if we met our campaign goal. It was only after Denise shared a personal story about a time early in her life when the cupboards were empty and she could have used the assistance of United Way and its service partners that we understood the importance of the pie. Denise recalled eating a lot of cherry pie during that challenging time and not only did she dislike that particular type of pie, over time, she came to equate it with unpleasant circumstances.

She is therefore particularly excited about United Way’s Alaska 211 phone hotline, which provides a one-stop-shop source of information about a range of community services. Think about it like the 911 of social services. Trained operators connect thousands of Alaskans in need with the range of important services that can help them better meet life’s unexpected challenges.

In a devilish sort of way, we look forward to watching Denise eat her cherry pie, but only because it means that our campaign met or exceeded its goals. But more importantly, we hope that perhaps cherry pie will come to represent here the power of United Way’s ongoing commitment to building a stronger community by making a positive difference in the lives of both individuals and families.

We invite you to join us and Live United!

National health funder meets Alaska partners

2008-11-03T09:47:00.006-09:00

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Local Funding Partnerships director Polly Seitz was in Anchorage last week and dropped by the Rasmuson Foundation to talk more about how Alaskan philanthropy and non-profit groups can partner with her organization. Seitz also announced the RWJF’s newest ground-breaking program, a diversity focused fund that will partner with organizations that specifically serve hard-to-reach populations. The goal of the drive will be to promote physical and emotional safety and security and reduce exposure to violence in communities.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is amongst the largest foundations in the United States and is devoted to improving health and health care. Each year, they grant approximately $500 million to innovative non-profit organizations.

Seitz came to Anchorage to catch up with one of the Robert Wood Foundation’s successful partnerships with the Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Inc, which was funded through its original vulnerable populations program. The RWJF Local Funding Partnerships Program joined with several Alaska partners to help build Chanlyut, a therapeutic residential community for Native Alaskan individuals who are sober but struggling to achieve long-term recovery.

Chanlyut offers a path out of substance abuse, crime and homelessness by emphasizing peer mentoring, creation of small business enterprises and Alaska Native culture and values. The RWJF donated $513,762 over four years for the project and the Rasmuson Foundation provided $100,000 in matching funds to the effort.

Over sandwiches and coffee on Wednesday afternoon, Seitz met with several groups including heads of tribal organizations and other foundations to brief them on what makes good candidates for the Local Funding Partnerships Program.

Through its Local Funding Partnership program, Seitz explained that the RWJF turns to local communities to come up with creative solutions to address their own health issues. Her organization seeks to fund projects that have substantiated buy-in from a wide-range of community players, as Chanlyut does. Therefore, RWJF requires non-profit organizations to first engage their local funders, such as the Rasmuson Foundation and others, before approaching them about a project. On average, she said, each successful project has nine other funding partners behind it.

In addition to having good buy-in, Seitz said solid projects present innovative solutions to a problem. She noted a new program in Kansas City where the Fire Department partnered with the local nurse association. In that situation, 80 percent of the Fire Department and EMS calls were non-urgent but had a health or human service element—like an elderly person who had fallen. Under the new program, the Fire Department formed an alliance with the Visiting Nurse Association so a nurse can be dispatched to the residence where problems are reported within 24 hours. The coalition serves a metro area across two states.

Seitz also took an hour to talk with more than two dozen Alaskan non-profit organizations that are dealing with violence in the state, from family violence to rape. She announced that the Local Funding Partnerships Program is launching a new diversity program fund that is seeking smaller projects (between $50,000 and $200,000) that reach groups such as Alaska Natives. In this first round of giving, the RWJF has identified 300 organizations that it will invite to submit a grant application in the process. In the future, Seitz said they’ll look to other organizations and hopes groups in Alaska will step forward. Seitz said the final details are still being put on the program and more details will be forthcoming soon.

To find out more about the RWJF Local Funding Partnership Program, click here. If you think that your organization might have a project of interest to the RWJF Local Funding Partnerships program and because the RWJF requires local collaboration prior to approaching it, feel free to email the Rasmuson Foundation at rasmusonfdn@rasmuson.org.

How do you define philanthropy?

2008-10-27T11:11:00.005-08:00

The Alaska Federation of Natives Annual Convention closed on Saturday and the optimistic, affirmative aura created by the attendees and delegates lingers in the air. Each Convention teaches us many things; this year much of the discussion turned to the survivability of rural communities as they face new threats from increasing energy costs and decreasing populations.

As Rasmuson Foundation works with partners to evaluate and formulate a response for the changing needs of both urban and rural grantees, and as we prepare to launch a campaign asking Alaskans to share their Permanent Fund Dividend with worthy Alaska nonprofits, we find ourselves considering the role of, and sometimes the definition of, philanthropy.

Byron Mallott, senior fellow of the Alaska Native Policy Center at First Alaskans Institute, recently relayed a story from a Yakutat potlatch about a type of philanthropy that is not captured in the giving statistics that we, as grantmakers, pour over on a regular basis.

The potlatch was held as a memorial to two recently departed members of a large Eagle Clan family. In Byron’s words, “At the potlatch, in addition to much gifting of food, white goods, utensils and other items, more than $18,000 was collected and redistributed according to Tlingit potlatch protocol among all present – some for those who cared for the deceased prior to death, some for those who helped with family during times of need, some for those who expressed condolence and solidarity, some for those of opposite clans who have been there for family, and much for those whom the host family/clan know are in need. In all I would surmise that some $30,000 worth of ‘community philanthropy’ was gathered and disbursed on that night.”

There’s no doubt that rural Alaska is facing great challenges, perhaps some of the greatest since statehood. There’s also no doubt that Alaskans will come together to help those who need it. These times will test us all, but to quote the Foundation’s benefactor, Elmer Rasmuson, “giving is an Alaska tradition.” And that tradition is among the rich fabric of Alaska traditions that will see us through.

What is your definition of philanthropy? Please comment here.

The Credit Crunch Hits Home

2008-10-20T11:36:00.004-08:00

By now some of the root causes of the current world-wide credit crisis are familiar to everyone. We’ve heard over and over about subprime mortgages, risky jumbo mortgages, and their family of products: adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs), 2-28 loans, interest-only payments, option ARMs, no-doc loans.

We have also learned how these mortgages were sliced into pieces and bundled into investments making up the alphabet soup of the investment vehicles: RMBSs (Residential Mortgage Backed Securities), CDOs (Collateralized Debt Obligations - a term that appeared in the New York Times only three times before 2005, but almost every week since summer 2007, and nearly daily since Spring), SIVs (Structured Investment Vehicles) and CDOs of CDOs.

The subprime crisis has spilled across the entire financial industry. Inter-bank lending and liquidity, commercial paper, money market funds, the auction-rate securities market, hedge funds, and the stock market have all become “victims”. Banks and financial institutions are writing down billions of dollars of losses and are being bailed out and/or “injected” with cash from their federal governments. Falling housing prices, compounded by record foreclosures have yielded a massive housing bust, not only in the US, but in the UK and throughout Europe. This crisis is truly global.

Here in Alaska, it seems we have been relatively shielded from the housing crisis and the resulting credit crunch. But as we dig a little deeper, we are beginning to see real effects on a local level. One such example:

Over the past two years, the Rasmuson Foundation has been working with a nonprofit housing developer, Community Development Inc., in their efforts to redevelop the notoriously aged and deteriorating Fairview Manor Apartments in Fairbanks into Weeks Field Estates – a new, affordable housing complex. The majority of the financing for this project was via the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program, while the Rasmuson Foundation was poised to provide a program-related investment (foundation lingo for a low-interest loan) to provide additional gap subsidy to the development.

A quick primer on the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program: Established in 1986 the LIHTC program provides market incentives to acquire and develop or rehabilitate affordable rental housing. Over the past two decades the program has helped construct and rehabilitate more than two million affordable housing units in the nation. In oversimplified terms, housing developers are awarded tax credits by state housing finance agencies that they can sell to investors. They use equity generated from the sale of these tax credits to lower the debt burden (mortgage) on their developments, making it easier to offer lower, more affordable rents. Investors purchase the tax credits to lower their federal tax liability. And who are these investors? Historically, they have been banks, insurance companies, and the government-sponsored entities (GSEs) of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac or the same folks deep in middle of the current crisis.

The tax credit investor for the Weeks Field development was SunAmerica Affordable Housing Partners, one of the nation’s leading investors in low-income housing tax credits. SunAmerica is also a wholly-owned subsidiary of AIG, the largest insurance company in the world.

On September 15, all parties involved with Weeks Field expected SunAmerica to close on the project, providing necessary cash. After all, construction had been underway with a groundbreaking and demolition occurring more than a month earlier. Yet, the assault on financial service companies continued world-wide and, apparently, no company was too big to fail. AIG, one of the highest capitalized companies in any industry, succumbed to this pressure. The Federal Reserve, citing special considerations, subsequently bailed out the non-depositary institution. Not surprisingly, SunAmerica pulled out of the Weeks Field deal.

With the departure of SunAmerica, the developers of Weeks Field have been scrambling to find a new tax credit investor - hopefully one that is willing to pay a competitive rate for the tax credits. Given declining income and balance sheets of potential investors and the overarching credit crunch, it may prove more difficult than ever before.

Increasingly, the same is true for other nonprofits throughout Alaska, especially those that have relied on bank lines-of-credit or similar vehicles to finance their operations.

We’ve begun to hear anecdotally about tightening short-term working capital loans to nonprofits of all sizes and missions and are interested in how the credit crisis has affected your organization. Please share your stories.

The Steve Nash Foundation sets standard for excellence in sports philanthropy

2008-10-13T09:34:00.001-08:00

For his charitable work through The Steve Nash Foundation, Phoenix Suns superstar Steve Nash was named to the 2006 Time 100 – The People Who Shape Our World list. Former NBA great Charles Barkley penned a nice tribute of Steve for Time.

The private family foundation, founded in 2001 and dedicated to assisting underserved children in Arizona, British Columbia, Paraguay and Uganda in their health, personal development, education and enjoyment of life, continues to receive deserved accolades for its work.

In celebration of the many ways that sports improve people’s lives and strengthen communities, The Sports Philanthropy Project and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation most recently awarded it the prestigious 2008 Steve Patterson Award for Excellence in Sports Philanthropy for its leadership in sports to create positive change in the lives of others.

In the process, The Steve Nash Foundation’s Executive Director Jenny Miller was recognized for her unquestioned “dedication to meaningful social change through her work” and called “a model of a forward-thinking leader in the field.”

What many Alaskans may not know is that Jenny Miller and her family reside in Anchorage and she runs the Foundation from here.

Said Jenny, “We’re very honored by the Steve Patterson Award, and really humbled to be recognized by others with such commitment to community. I’m fortunate that my work is with people who are a constant source of inspiration in a very real you-can-be-doing-more way. So it’s wonderful to be honored, but also to be challenged like that to keep improving.”

Founder Steve Nash said “It is an honor to receive this type of recognition for the work that I care about so deeply. Steve Patterson is the kind of person that always sought out to improve the lives and well being of others and to be awarded in his name is truly an honor. I am humbled by the acknowledgement of our work in the global community. This is just the beginning and we look forward to continuing these efforts and building on the foundation we have established.”

Thanks to The Steve Nash Foundation for your leadership and congratulations on the much deserved recognition!

Come on in. The water's fine.

2008-10-06T14:59:00.005-08:00

At a gathering of foundation communicators last month in Chicago, researchers David Brotherton and Cynthia Scheiderer released the report “Come On In. The Water’s Fine. An Exploration of Web 2.0 Technology and Its Emerging Impact on Foundation Communications.” The report, commissioned by the Communications Network, surveyed a selection of foundation communicators to determine what the field is thinking, doing and learning about Web 2.0 tools.

The report found that nonprofits are making more use of Web 2.0 tools than are foundations – mainly to advance fundraising and volunteer recruitment, but also to connect with constituents in new and meaningful ways. One compelling example is Thank Your Donor launched by Blood Services of Canada. The campaign encourages those who have benefited from donated blood or plasma products to tell their stories via user generated media, with the result being an undeniably powerful presence that connects people through a shared experience.

Foundations may be skeptical to jump into the Web 2.0 pool, the report authors theorize, because of a historic proclivity to remain in the background while promoting the good works of its grantee partners. However, some foundations have begun to experiment: Rasmuson Foundation launched a Gallery of Alaska Artists in Second Life to test virtual worlds as a means to share information about its arts grantees; MacArthur Foundation is “mashing” its grant award data with Google Earth to better demonstrate its reach; and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation used an online forum to solicit ideas for their “What Helps Vulnerable Children Succeed” initiative.

One might argue that foundations, which often have the resources for experimentation, have a unique opportunity to test social media to build constituencies, advance ideas and establish best practices for grantee partners. As more and more Americans form opinions from information they find online, it is important that the sector engages this new media environment.

What Web 2.0 tools have you used? Do you know of great examples to recommend? How should foundations and the nonprofit sector harness the promise of social media? Please share your thoughts here.

Got intellectual property (IP)?

2008-10-01T13:28:00.002-08:00

Philanthropy Northwest (PNW), the regional association of grantmakers for the six state region comprised of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming, held its annual conference in Coeur d'Alene, ID last week. Approximately 200 community, corporate, private and public funders comprise PNW's growing community.

The conference agenda covered a wide range of important issues that have implications for both funders and their nonprofit partners. Rasmuson Foundation staff attended and shared Alaskan perspectives and experiences as co-presenters for several sessions.

One of the key buzzwords over the past few years has been "sustainability". Its the discussion of how nonprofits can strengthen their ability to build and maintain the necessary systems (people, partnerships, financial resources, policies, etc.) to build a reputation and brand that allows one to survive and thrive over time.

To that end, Larry Clark and Michael Oxman of MissionWise presented a very interesting session entitled "The Role of Foundations in Grantee Copyright, Trademark and Licensing Efforts". The premise is simple: many nonprofits possess intellectual assets (including trademarks, patents, and copyrights) that represent potential sources of revenue. Often times, these organizations are unaware of this untapped potential and the risks that are involved in not protecting their intellectual property. The session discussed both the different forms of intellectual property and how to assess, protect, and capitalize on an organization's intellectual property.

Within the context of social enterprise, considering the application of intellectual property to mission and programs aids organizations in identifying untapped opportunities to achieve stronger outcomes.

Have any Alaskan nonprofits devised an approach to identifying, protecting and monitoring their intellectual property assets? If so, please share!

Would you consider an organized learning opportunity for intellectual property to be beneficial for your organization?

IBM gives voice to LitSite Alaska

2008-08-18T17:22:00.004-08:00

Good things come to those who wait. In June 2005, Rasmuson Foundation awarded $250,000 to University of Alaska Anchorage’s LitSite Alaska to support a site redesign and content upgrade that could significantly change the way people access and experience Alaska history. Accordingly, much of the project’s success was predicated upon forging new content and technology partnerships.

Today, LitSite Alaska, an interactive Web site with a wealth of information, insights and stories about the history, diversity, culture and traditions of Alaskans and IBM announced that the global technology leader would bring native language and stories to life using its cutting-edge speech technology. Over 1,000 pages of text have been enhanced with audio files, using IBM WebSphere Voice Server text-to-speech software. These audio files even include uncommon pronunciations of Alaska Native names and words such as KwaashKiKwaan, Tlingit, and Inupiaq.

Both CNN Money and Trading Markets.com reported on IBM's support of LitSite. “Alaskan storytelling is an art form and LitSite is playing a critical role in continuing the tradition of preserving Alaskan culture," said Kareem Yusuf, IBM Director of Product Management, WebSphere Software. "As a leader in speech technology, IBM is pleased to be playing a role in bringing Alaskan tradition to life on the Web through vocalizing traditional stories and native language.”

LitSite Alaska is a web community promoting literacy, cultural diversity, and well-being throughout Alaska. A gathering place for families, communities and teachers, LitSite Alaska features narratives illustrating many cultural aspects of life in Alaska. As an on-line learning tool, LitSite Alaska showcases a living archive of lesson plans used in Alaskan classrooms and an extensive collection of excellent peer work by Alaskan students.

Dental health in rural Alaska -- evaluating our options

2008-07-21T17:11:00.004-08:00

What’s the best way to address the facts that show rural Alaska typically suffers from oral health disease at rates 2.5 times higher than the rest of the country? One model to consider is the Dental Health Aide Therapist program (DHAT) that employs ten Alaskans who provide oral health care for 39 villages. DHATs are mid-level health providers akin to physicians’ assistants.

A three-year, full-scale medical evaluation scheduled to begin this year will assess whether the DHAT workforce model -- featuring trained dental therapists working under the direction of a dentist -- can succeed in reducing the incidence of oral health disease in rural communities.

Jerry Drake, executive director of the Bethel Community Services Foundation, commented that if proven successful, DHAT could have the same impact on rural Alaska as the tuberculosis eradication program did in the mid-twentieth century.

A unique partnership between health care and philanthropy has been created around this issue; the partners are Yukon Kuskokwim Health Corporation, Maniilaq, Inc., Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium, Norton Sound Health Corporation, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Bethel Community Services Foundation, M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust, W.K. Kellogg Foundation and Rasmuson Foundation.

Last week the Kellogg Foundation issued a press release on the DHAT evaluation.

Do you have an opinion about the DHAT program? Or other ideas for improving rural Alaska’s access to dental care? Is there another public health initiative that might reduce the dental disease rate in rural Alaska? Please post a comment.

Rasmuson Foundation opens virtual art gallery in Second Life universe

2008-06-07T09:55:00.002-08:00

The Rasmuson Foundation has a new gallery featuring Alaskan artists. But in the real world, you won't be able to check it out anytime soon.

That's because the gallery only exists in the 3-D virtual world called Second Life. The popular service allows residents - or avatars - to interact with each other, explore the space, and create and trade property.

Listen to the audio clip on Alaska Public Radio Network.

More coverage of Rasmuson Gallery of Alaskan Artists in SL

2008-05-28T14:24:00.004-08:00

Several more Second Life blogs and publications recently featured the gallery including:

Secondlife Newspaper

Lane's List

And the Anchorage Daily News covered the gallery in their Sunday paper as well as online with some tips for enjoying your first time in Second Life:

Brave New Gallery

Gallery in the News

2008-05-22T15:34:00.003-08:00

The Rasmuson Foundation Gallery of Alaskan Art, located in Second Life, has been mentioned in both real world and Second Life press recently including:

Alaskan arts foundation enters Second Life
(SLNN.com)
By Dizzy Banjo

Who's New to Virtual Worlds - May 16, 2008, Wrap Up
(Virtual World News)
By Joey Seiler

Day & Night
(SLArtsParks)
By Thirza Ember

Rasmuson Foundation Gallery of Alaskan Art Opens in Second Life
(CNN SL iReport)
By Safra Jetcity

Rasmuson Foundation Gallery of Alaskan Artists Opens in Second Life

2008-05-07T06:41:00.002-08:00

The Rasmuson Gallery of Alaskan Artists officially opens Monday 12 May with a reception from 12pm - 3pm PST or SLT. Located on the University of Alaska Fairbanks sim Rhetorica, the project features a growing exhibit of art by artists based in Alaska. Each artist is a grantee of the Rasmuson Foundation. There will be music, video, and virtual food at the opening for all Second Life residents to enjoy.

At 12:30pm SLT, there will be an announcement of the 2008 Individual Artists Award recipients and an unveiling of art, video and music in the gallery by several of the receipients.

The Individual Artist Awards is a program of the Arts and Culture Initiative, a ten-year $20 million investment to increase the impact of arts in Alaska. These Awards fund individual Alaskan artists at various stages of their career whose work is defined by excellence and reflects any of the diverse cultural and aesthetic communities in Alaska.

To attend the event, you must be a member of Second Life (http://www.secondlife.com). Basic membership is free, and you must download the Second Life software after registering to access the 3-dimensional environment of Second Life.

To get to the gallery, point your Web browser to the SLURL: http://slurl.com/secondlife/Rhetorica/185/237/44 and click on the Teleport button. This will launch your Second Life software and transport you directly to the gallery once you log in.

The gallery was created through a partnership between University of Alaska Fairbanks, Rasmuson Foundation and Moonbow Productions, Inc./Cybergrrl Oh Productions, an Anchorage-based Web 2.0 strategy company.

Located on a snowy hill, the Rasmuson Gallery of Alaskan Artists takes full advantage of the creative possibilities of building in a virtual world. Enormous paintings and photographs hang in midair around the outdoor space. Avatars can either walk around or fly around the exhibits to view the select pieces of Alaskan art. One exhibit, a poem, is mounted as words on a towering post which can be read by flying to the top and floating back down to the ground.

There are three levels to the gallery - the ground floor will house art from some of the 2008 award recipients, the second floor houses additional artwork from grantees from previous years, and the third floor is a social gathering space for Second Life residents and Alaskans in Second Life.