Login with FacebookMaking Connections to Strengthen Nonprofit Boards
We at GreatNonprofits are dedicated to increasing the strength and visibility of nonprofit organizations that are doing an exceptional job. We know that building a strong organization is a complicated venture, and a diverse board of directors is an important part of any healthy organization. With that in mind, we’d like to take a moment to highlight an upcoming event for nonprofits and their leaders. The Volunteer Center in San Francisco is currently recruiting nonprofits to participate in The Board Match, an event sponsored by PG&E to engage nonprofit leaders and encourage collaboration with talented and experienced individuals. The Board Match is a job-fair style event featuring over 100 nonprofits—from throughout the Bay Area—whose leadership will be on hand to talk to interested candidates about serving on their organization’s board of directors.
The event will be held on January 12, 2010, from 4:30 - 7:30 PM at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, but the nonprofit application period ends soon! Last year’s event drew more than 700 candidates, and this year promises to be equally dynamic. You can make sure your favorite nonprofit can participate by getting the information into the right hands. If you’re involved with an organization you think might benefit from a great opportunity to meet other dedicated people, make sure they know about the event – and soon!
If you’re just learning about The Board Match, don’t worry. There’s still time to apply. The deadline has been extended until December 1st! Encourage your favorite organization to visit http://www.theboardmatch.org to learn more about how to reserve a spot. This is a great way for organizations to learn from one another and to strengthen their board of directors, but it’s also a chance for you to help out your favorite organization and make sure they take advantage of this opportunity.
Nonprofits Shine for India and Rock Their Jewish Thing
In case you haven't checked in in a while, we've been super busy lately running two exciting and special campaigns: the InDiya Shine Awards and the Jewish Choice Awards.
These campaigns focused on organizations working for India and Indian communities abroad, and on Jewish organizations, respectively.
The results are outstanding. The InDiya Shine winners showcase the incredible breadth of work being done in and for India, including nonprofits supporting vision, hearing, children, youth, culture, arts, community, women, cancer, education, literacy, poverty and more. The Jewish Choice winners, many of which focus on young adult and teen engagement, highlight the dynamic and cohesive nature of the Jewish community, as well as the emphasis being placed on engaging the next generation.
We'd like to thank our InDiya Shine partner, Little India- check out some great articles about Indian philanthropy here:
The Season of Giving
Top Indian Nonprofits Based on Assets and Revenues
Most Reviewed Indian Nonprofits
We'd also like to thank our Jewish Choice Partners, Jewish Funders Network, JTA, Natan, Slingshot Fund, Jewish Jumpstart, Upstart Bay Area, and JGooders.com.
Finally, we want to thank YOU for your participation in identifying the top Jewish and Indian nonprofits. To see the amazing winners, click below:
2009 InDiya Shine Awards winners
2009 Jewish Choice Awards winners
(Spoiler alert: More great lists are coming, so get your holiday giving and volunteering spirit ready, because we're about to unleash a world of great nonprofits!)
Inaugural List of Top-Rated Jewish Nonprofits
Menlo Park, Calif. — November 18, 2009 — GreatNonprofits, Jewish Funders Network, JTA, Natan, Slingshot Fund, Jewish Jumpstart, Upstart Bay Area, JGooders.com, and GuideStar announced today the Top-Rated Jewish Nonprofits. Jewish nonprofits focused on young adult and teen engagement got the highest ratings in this inaugural list. The ratings were submitted by people in the Jewish community who have volunteered, donated, or been served by the nonprofits. There are over 180 nonprofits on the list available at http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/jewish/_.
The nonprofits with the most reviews for their categories receive additional promotion.
“Winning the GreatNonprofits Jewish Choice Awards validates our mission and does the Russian American Jewish community proud,” said Mordechai Tokarsky, division director of Gateways’ Russian American Jewish Experience (RAJE), in New York. RAJE was the top-rated nonprofit in the Northeast with a budget of over $1M. “We hope winning this contest will help us garner the support we need to bring the RAJE model of communal renewal to other US cities. This will enable nearly 1 million Russian American Jews to build strong communities, fortify their Jewish identity and enhance their sense of Jewish peoplehood.”
This is the first ever list providing reviews of Jewish nonprofits by those who have actually experienced their work. The contest, held during October and November in honor of the Jewish High Holidays, asked people to submit reviews and ratings about Jewish nonprofits. The results show the dynamic and cohesive nature of the Jewish community, as well as the emphasis being placed on engaging the next generation. These unique results will be helpful to donors and supporters looking to get involved.
“There are so many great Jewish nonprofits that don’t have an advertising budget and are not household names,” says Perla Ni, CEO and founder of GreatNonprofits. “Through this first-ever list of top-rated Jewish nonprofits, you can see how some of these nonprofits are changing lives. Donors and volunteers who are interested in getting involved now see which nonprofits are really making a difference."
The entire list of nonprofits is at http://greatnonprofits.org/reviews/issues/jewish/_.
About the 2009 Jewish Choice Awards The awards were hosted by GreatNonprofits, the leading provider of user-generated ratings and reviews of nonprofits, Jewish Funders Network, JTA, Natan, Slingshot Fund, Jewish Jumpstart, Upstart Bay Area, JGooders.com, and GuideStar. Over the course of the Jewish Choice Awards, more than 103,000 people visited the GreatNonprofits Web site, and almost 4000 reviews were posted about more than 180 nonprofits serving youth.
Reviews appear on GreatNonprofits.org as well as GuideStar.org, the premiere source for donor research on nonprofits. Nonprofits with the most positive reviews in their region and budget category were determined the winners of the 2009 Jewish Choice Awards. Additionally, nonprofits with 10 or more positive reviews will be included on the GreatNonprofits Top-Rated Jewish Charities list. Those who submitted reviews were eligible to win prizes such as free Noah’s Bagels, free copies of “Business Mensch” by Noah Alper, a free stay at Kimpton Hotels, and more. Reviews submissions took place from October 1st to November 13th, 2009.
Creative Nonprofit Donation Gifts
This Xmas, I'm going to try to expose my children to the joy of giving. I'm compiling a list of nonprofits that allow donors to sponsor children and encourage letters/email between donor families and the sponsored child. I think my kids would really learn a lot from a pen-pal relationship with a needy child. I know that that Cambodian Children's Fund encourages email and donors get regular emails from the sponsored child (translated with the help of CCF staff). Any others you may know of ? Please add them here as a resource for everybody.
