My Nonprofit Reviews

I have worked with the GreatNonprofits platform for several years, and I recommend it highly. It is polished and professional, and it shows nonprofits to their best advantage. Also, it makes asking for reviews, and giving them, simple and if need be, confidential.

I work with a variety of nonprofit organizations, many of them small to mid-sized. Establishing credibility with their constituents is essential. Nonprofits ask many philanthropists for gifts and grants today, even if we do not know them well. GreatNonprofits helps ease the path to giving by showing how the community values their organizations. I also like that GreatNonprofits is linked to GuideStar profiles. Thanks, everyone!

I have lived in Bee Cave for just over 4 years, and the scenic views inspire me. I have been taking iPhone photographs from my balconies and saving them. I read about a “dark skies” photography exhibition at The Hive at Hill Country Galleria, which is the public exhibition space of Bee Cave Arts Foundation, on the western edge of Austin. I selected a few of my night images and sent them in. To my surprise, two images were chosen for the show. What a treat! The exhibition and lecture by City staff about the importance of dark skies for wildlife were both enjoyable and I learned a lot. Since then, I have visited The Hive on several occasions, and I always enjoy myself.

I have been a volunteer for @CCLATX for just over a year now. I curate the Twitter feed (handle noted), as we have grown from 11 to about 130 followers, as of the date of this GreatNonprofits review. This all-volunteer Austin chapter of Citizens' Climate Lobby - affiliated with @CCL3rdCoast @citizensclimate @cclconservative - is so incredibly devoted, thoughtful, non-partisan and well organized. I actually lean toward the conservative side of the climate change argument, and I believe addressing climate change makes excellent business sense. I urge anyone reading this review to follow @CCLATX on social and please join us for meetings and events. You will learn a lot!

I had the pleasure of visiting the Center in January, 2017. Thank heaven, after the devastating hurricane of 2017, the Center survived. This nonprofit had only recently completed construction on its new building, in fact. Happily, the architect and the builder did a great job. The Center sustained only modest hurricane damage, and it was repaired and running again in no time. In fact, the Center has become a meeting place for other organizations in Port Aransas that were less fortunate. One cannot blame them for wanting to meet at the Center! It is new, clean, modern, airy, the art galleries are lovely, and there is plenty of parking. And they continue to offer delightful programs and events. The staff and Board have a very positive attitude. Please donate and support this marvelous community institution!

I met Dr. Tim Tristan back when I was living and working in Corpus Christi, Texas (through fall, 2010). We have kept up ever since on Facebook. Texas Sealife Center is all-volunteer and overseen by trained professional veterinarians. Its work is truly lifesaving, and I cannot fathom how the Center has continued operating with no paid staff. I understand plans for an employee are on the horizon, so stay tuned. The volunteers are incredibly devoted, they work 24-7, and they are handling an ever-increasing number of injured and stranded wildlife along the Texas Gulf Coast, which is why I urge everyone to donate today. You can also find the Center's "wish list" of items on Amazon.com, and you can make Texas Sealife Center your charity of choice on Amazon Smile. There is no more worthy nonprofit to support than Texas Sealife Center!

I first discovered Big Medium while attending a "Austin Green Drinks" sustainability presentation at a neighboring gallery in early 2014. Since then, I have become a regular visitor and volunteer. Located in the Canopy development on Springdale Road, Big Medium has a focus on contemporary art and artists in Texas. Big Medium produces the East Austin Studio Tour, West Austin Studio Tour, Texas Biennial, and it hosts innovative exhibitions during the year.

Having several artists as friends, I cannot say enough how important the Big Medium tours and exhibitions are to them. They are truly invaluable. I have also found the Big Medium staff to be very friendly and genuinely supportive of artists of all walks of life and all artistic styles. Their approach is "real" and refreshing. They take risks. I like that.

Another aspect of Big Medium is that it provides affordable studio space to artists, and partners with various organizations in Texas, "to help foster the arts and facilitate an inclusive cultural dialogue between artists and their communities." Big Medium director Shea Little has mentioned to me more than once his interest in more affordable housing for artists in Austin, and similar to the plight of many Austin-area musicians, this is truly a critical need.

My experiences with The Conservation Fund are with the Texas field office (see: http://www.conservationfund.org/places-we-work/texas/). I have known Texas Director Andy Jones and his colleague in the Pineywoods, Julie Shackelford, for more than a decade. Whenever I can provide assistance, I jump at the chance. I only wish I could do more.

What I have witnessed is a no-nonsense, scientific, intellectual, and businesslike approach to habitat conservation. The Conservation Fund is lean and focused. They have also been among the first to adopt new business models in keeping with the times. Their approach is a bit like a SWAT team - they identify the need, and they proceed to fix it. The end.

I have worked for other conservation and wildlife nonprofits over the years, both as a staff member and as a volunteer. The Conservation Fund stands head-and-shoulders above the rest. Whenever I have asked for advice and assistance, they have given it to me without delay and without question. They are not emotional, but they are kind, and they adhere to the highest ethical standards.

Other groups in the conservation arena are quite adept at "feel good" self-promotion, and many are also staff-heavy. The membership you contribute is eaten-up quickly by administrative overhead, and the land and/or species protected are relatively fewer. When asked, I always suggest people contribute to The Conservation Fund. I have the utmost trust in them.

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I am both a volunteer and a former consultant for the South Texas Council, Boy Scouts of America. I worked with the South Texas Council officially in 2005. During that time, I produced two videos, conducted prospective donor research, developed a VIP prospect mailing list, and designed and wrote three newsletters to this influential list. I also orchestrated initial donor meetings, and wrote a few grant proposals for the Council's capital campaign, to help launch a major gift effort.

I am a big fan of the Boy Scouts of America. My father was a "star" Scout, and his father knew some of the founders of the organization from his work in New Mexico during the first half of the twentieth century. My father raised two little girls - my sister and me - who came to appreciate Scouting "second hand." Dad shared with us many of the incredibly helpful life skills and ethical teachings that he was taught during his days as a Boy Scout.

For a large part of my career, I have worked with environmental and conservation nonprofits. A standout from those experiences is my awareness that there is an urgent, continuing need to educate young people about nature, so that they understand and respect it. "Leave no trace" is one of my favorite BSA mottoes. It would seem to me that the Boy Scouts of America should consider partnering with some of the larger conservation education nonprofits to help address this need. Scouting has touched the lives of hundreds of thousands, many more young people than the conservation organizations have - or could - do on their own.

It has taken several years and the outstanding leadership of several Eagle Scouts who are now successful civic leaders, to finally complete this Council's first major gift effort. They accomplished it during one of the most difficult economic climates our nation has ever faced. Just as the Boy Scout Law requires, the Council's leadership has been: "trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, [VERY] brave, clean and reverent."

I understand the Council would like to conduct additional fundraising. I urge everyone to support them. Their longstanding camp needs and deserves additional improvements. Once those improvements are made, they will be able to host more young people in a safe natural environment - not only to learn skills that will carry them successfully through life - but also to learn about and appreciate nature and our shared natural resources. That will ultimately translate into knowledgeable land stewards and intelligent future voters.

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I first became acquainted with the North American Butterfly Association and its founding president, Jeff Glassberg, through a mutual friend who is a science advisor with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Jeff was just beginning to lay the groundwork for the National Butterfly Center in Mission, Texas. I helped him identify potential funding sources, and to open a few doors.

I have continued to support Jeff and NABA in this fashion for more than a decade. The result is discussed in my Tumblr: http://carolynmappleton.tumblr.com/post/16243336956/national-butterfly-center-this-photo-of-a.

"The 100 acre National Butterfly Center is the premier location in the United States to experience the beauty, drama and emotion of wild butterflies. You will see incredible numbers of kaleidoscopically-colored wild butterflies. The clouds of butterflies are at the National Butterfly Center because, by planting thousands of plants that the butterflies need for nectar and for caterpillar growth, we have created a butterfly paradise that sustains large populations of hundreds of species of wild butterflies.”

I can't say enough good things about NABA, the Center, Jeff Glassberg and his wife, Jane Scott. I recommend supporting NABA highly. This has been one of the most enriching experiences of my nonprofit career.

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I was aware of the Rob & Bessie Welder Wildlife Conservation Foundation for a decade prior to working with it to help develop the infrastructure for a capital campaign. I had visited the site and met the staff, and always had a marvelous experience during these visits.

In 2008, I worked for a few months to help the staff develop the infrastructure for a capital campaign for a new educational facility.

Highlights:

>Staff members are highly intelligent, committed to science-based environmental education, and they are exceedingly gracious.

>Other, more aggressive nonprofit organizations in the field seem to get more public attention, but this nonprofit is certainly among the most deserving (albeit quieter).

>Their educational work - especially in the K-12 realm - should be expanded. The need for science-based environmental education for this age group is critical. There is simply not enough of it, and WWCF provides this in exceptional quality.

>WWCF facilities are noteworthy from an historic standpoint. It is my hope they will opt for National Register status, and also secure funds for restoration of the now-historic campus.

>WWCF has its own well-managed ranch endowment fund that provides for basic ongoing needs. With a little extra outside support, even more work could be accomplished. I cannot think of a more worthy and safe place to invest your money, if conservation and natural resource education is your area of interest.

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I became a volunteer for NTEN a few years ago. I was searching online for information about constituent data management systems for two nonprofits with which I was working. I discovered an eye-opening vendor satisfaction report on the NTEN website, and there my adventure began. The report helped make my work much easier, it definitely helped my nonprofits, and soon thereafter I became an NTEN member.

Eventually, I was invited to speak at the 2010 Nonprofit Technology Conference in Atlanta, which I enjoyed greatly. I have served on two committees, the NTC Organizing Committee (fundraising track), and the Membership Committee. In 2011, I was honored to receive an NTENy award for my membership recruitment efforts.

The way society communicates and works has changed greatly, and it continues to evolve. NTEN has helped me lose my fear of new technological developments, and to embrace them heartily. The staff is always friendly and helpful.

My volunteer work for NTEN is one of the most enjoyable things I do. My blog is a direct result of my work with NTEN, in fact: http://carolynmappleton.wordpress.com/. If you are not already an NTEN member, I urge you to join!

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