NYC Venture Philanthropy Fund

VPF Featured at EPIP Conference

Emily Kessler — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 22:49:47 +0000

The 2013 EPIP National Conference was held from April 4-6 in Chicago, and featured the inaugural Innovations Gallery. Conference attendees were invited to present their research with regard to innovative solutions to giving and philanthropy. VPF members, Emily Kessler and Nichole Martini, showcased the power of collective giving in their submission. Responses were positive, inspiring several conference goers to plan for their own giving circles in their communities from Baltimore to Oakland, CA.

News from our Previous Investees

Emily Kessler — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 21:36:57 +0000

Concrete Safaris

Our 2009 investee, Concrete Safaris empowers children to be healthy leaders through outdoor education and exercise programs that enrich the mind, body, community and environment, giving them the tools they need to reach their goals. Their theme for 2012 was Big Rocks, and this year they’re kickin’ it in with People Power. Since creating the program in 2008, Mac Levine, Concrete Safari’s founder and Executive Director, has had over 1,200 kids participate in their programs. Mac is currently looking for a few wonderful new board members and has some fantastic volunteer opportunities as well. You can reach her at: mac@concretesafaris.org

This year, their City Surfers program will expand its roots in East Harlem with support from the Levitt Foundation’s food justice grant initiative.

Children at P.S. 102 and Union Settlement Association, both in East Harlem, will participate in Concrete Safaris’ year-round, after school and summer program called City Surfers. Approximately forty-five 7 – 11 year olds will design and transform their backyards in Washington and Jefferson Houses into edible, beautiful gardens. City Surfers will educate at least 1,000 neighborhood children as well as their parents, grandparents, and other family members about gardening, leading planting and other nature-related workshops. Students will participate in an evaluation of their work to better understand neighborhood health. Finally, City Surfers will learn how to cook healthy meals with the food grown in their gardens.

Brooklyn Young Mothers’ Collective

Congratulations to Yeashea Braddock, the new Executive Director of the Brooklyn Young Mothers’ Collective (BYMC)! Ms. Braddock was previously the Community Based Doula at BYMC. She is passionate about women and family health. It is her belief that when you effect change with women and families you effect change in the community both locally and nationally.

BYMC, our 2010 investee, supports disadvantaged young mothers to develop into healthy, educated, self-sufficient women who are actively engaged in community life.

They provide a variety of services for disadvantaged, pregnant and parenting young women. Their goal is to ensure that they graduate from high school and/or a four-year college and develop advocacy skills so that they can navigate the education system for themselves and their children.

PMC Update

Emily Kessler — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 20:18:25 +0000

VPF’s Project Management Committee has been extremely productive since beginning our work with Corona Youth Music Project in January 2013. Together with CYMP’s Project Director, President and CEO, Alvaro Rodas, we have established several areas in which our team can assist CYMP achieve its 2013 goals. Our first project, identifying and implementing a new bookkeeping system, was overseen by VPF PMC member Bill Pullano in a quick and efficient manner. Bravo Bill! Our second project has been lengthier and more detailed: designing and implementing a system for evaluating and measuring CYMP’s programs. We’ve had several meetings with Alvaro, discussing and determining the organization’s short term realistic and achievable goals and objectives. At this point, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and hope to wrap up project #2 by the end of June. Going forward, for the second half of the year, we will be concentrating on strategy, vision and governance. If any of these ideas sounds exciting to you, we’d love to have you join the PMC. Please reach out to Emily or Heidi at projectmanagement@nycvpf.org.

We have a winner!

Emily Kessler — Mon, 19 Nov 2012 00:27:48 +0000

Alvaro Rodas of the Corona Youth Music Project (photo by @MilesLadin)

The results are in! VPF members chose the Corona Youth Music Project to be our 2013 investee.

Please join us on Wednesday, November 28th from 6:30-8:30pm for Awards Night when we will gather together with members and friends to congratulate Corona Youth Music Project and Alvaro Rodas on becoming our 2013 investee. Stay tuned for more information.

Pitch Night 2012

Emily Kessler — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 03:42:39 +0000

VPF Members Ben and Alison Mathias (photo by @MilesLadin)

On Monday, November 5th, VPF’s members and guests gathered at the home of Richard Marker to hear presentations from our three investee finalists. Richard, as many of you may know, is the Co-Principal of Wise Philanthropy™ and Founder of NYU’s Academy for Grantmaking & Funder Education. He graciously stepped in at the last minute to host our Pitch Night event, when our original hosts, Cultural Strategies Initiative (CSI) and Demos, had experienced a week-long power outage as a result of Hurricane Sandy. We are particularly grateful to Richard for his hospitality. Likewise, we offer our deep thanks to CSI and Demos for originally offering their conference room to us, and would encourage everyone to check out their programming and resources.

This year, our Grants Committee received an outstanding 54 applications for the 2012-2013 award, more than double the number of responses VPF has ever received in a given year. Clearly, there is a deep and strong need for funding in the arts in our city. There are so many organizations worthy of support, so it was truly a feat for the Grants Committee to narrow the pool down to three finalists. We heard passionate presentations from Emily Weiner and Jeffrey Solomon of Houses on the Moon Theater Company; Alvaro Rodas of the Corona Youth Music Project (CYMP); and Will Maitland Weiss and Karen Zornow Leiding of the Arts and Business Council of New York. Houses on the Moon uses theater to give voice to marginalized communities. The Corona Youth Music Project employs a peer mentoring model to broaden music education in communities where the arts has been slashed from public school curricula. And the Arts and Business Council of New York is working to bring Power2Give – an existing online crowdfunding platform – to the NYC arts community in an effort to ensure more financially viable organizations.

Members debate the merits of our presenters. (photo by @MilesLadin)

VPF members now have the arduous task of choosing the applicant who is most aligned with VPF’s mission, and who will benefit the greatest from our year-long technical assistance program. Regardless of the outcome, all of our three finalists deserve much praise for their efforts in finding unique solutions to bring arts programming to under-served communities in NYC. We thank Houses on the Moon, the Corona Youth Music Project, and the Arts and Business Council of New York for their heartfelt presentations at our annual Pitch Night event.

Finally, a big thank you goes out to the VPF Grants Committee for their diligence and hard work this year in reviewing an enormous pool of worthy applicants.

Our 2013 investee will be announced on Friday, November 16th. Stay tuned!

Hurricane Relief Resources

Emily Kessler — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 13:18:18 +0000

Photo courtesy of @MilesLadin

The NYC Venture Philanthropy Fund is committed to a viable and sustainable New York City. We are heartbroken by the amount of loss and devastation our city and state has endured, along with our neighbors in New Jersey, Connecticut and all along the Eastern seaboard. To that end, we have compiled a list of resources for those of you who want to help or need help as a result of the recent hurricane.

Be well and be safe.
Donations:

For general recovery efforts:
Red Cross for flood relief
United Way of NY
The Mayor’s Fund to Advance NY
Council on Foundations: Hurricane Sandy Disaster Grantmaking
The TechSoup Blog: Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief Resources

For region-specific assistance:
Brooklyn Recovery Fund of the Brooklyn Community Foundation
Lower East Side Recovers

Food banks are in dire need of monetary donations:
City Harvest
Food Bank for NYC

Volunteering:
Manhattan User’s Guide – How to Help
New York Cares
NYC Service

If you or a loved one is in need of assistance:
New York City Office of Emergency Management
Federal Emergency Management Agency: Disaster Assistance

For more information or additional resources, please contact us at info@nycvpf.org

NYC VPF New Directors Announced

Emily Kessler — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 13:40:24 +0000

Dear NYC VPF Members and Friends,

We are writing today to introduce ourselves as your new Co-Directors of the NYC Venture Philanthropy Fund. In June 2012, the VPF Board voted to turn over leadership responsibilities from Jason K. Babbie to Heidi Klaimitz and Emily R. Kessler. We thank Jason for his tireless commitment to VPF and for continuing to remain on the board to guide us through this transition.

Many of you already know Heidi, who has been an active member of the VPF board since November 2008. Heidi has also served as Co-Chair of the Grants Committee and as a member of the Project Management Committee. Her background blends international media, corporate communications and work within the social sector. She is a member of the Educational Outreach Committee for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and is a Board Member of The Rosemary Pencil Foundation. Heidi has completed the grantmaking program at NYU’s Heyman Center for Grantmaking and Philanthropy as well as Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business Executive Education Middle Management Program for Nonprofit Managers.

Emily has been a member of VPF since 2010 and served as the Chair of the Project Management Committee in 2011. She is a nonprofit strategist and coach, working with a variety of organizations in building their capacities. Emily is the former Executive Director of the Joukowsky Family Foundation. She currently serves on the Emerging Practitioners in Philanthropy NYC Chapter Steering Committee and on the MoMA PS1 Contemporary Circle Steering Committee.

This summer, we have launched our RFP for organizations working in the arts in the NYC community. If you know of an innovative, start-up nonprofit in the arts, please direct them to our website www.nycvpf.org for further information. The deadline for applications is August 31, 2012.

We are also committed to learning about the work of other social entrepreneurs operating in the NYC area, and will be spending the summer expanding our networks to bring you information on some of our more socially enterprising neighbors. Watch our blog for highlights of our findings.

If you have any questions at all about your membership, or if you’d just like to write to say “Hi”, we welcome your correspondence and can be reached at hklaimitz at nycvpf.org and ekessler at nycvpf.org.

Finally, we’d like to thank YOU for your continued commitment to VPF. Without YOUR membership, we would not be able to accomplish all that we have in such a short time. YOU understand the power of collective giving. And, YOU have donated your time and professional expertise to ensure the value of VPF’s investments. VPF is a unique fixture in the NYC community, making grants to startup organizations that would not normally have success in receiving funding from larger, more traditional grantmaking foundations. Our community depends on you to continue bringing much needed resources to solve persistent social and economic problems. So, on behalf of all the children, students, young mothers, and families in New York City who have benefited from VPF’s programs, THANK YOU!

Wishing you all a wonderful summer!

Heidi Klaimitz and Emily R. Kessler
Co-Directors
NYC Venture Philanthropy Fund

Funding for the Arts

admin — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 22:12:17 +0000

by Heidi Klaimitz

In 2012 VPF members voted to support unique, innovative ideas that address the arts in New York City.

In a city known for its unmatched diversity of ideas and talents, New York City has the highest concentration of nonprofit (and for-profit) arts organizations of any city in the United States. A 2011 study by Alliance for the Arts drawn from data submitted by 1,133 nonprofit cultural organizations in New York City that apply for funding annually from the City’s Department of Cultural Affairs and/or the New York State Council on the Arts – ranging in budget size from under $100,000 to over $10 million a year in income – shows that these groups continue to be a major industry in the city, raising over $3.8 billion in earned and contributed income annually, employing over 100,000 people on a full-time, part-time or consultant basis (the equivalent of just under 34,000 full-time employees) and drawing reported audiences of over 98.6 million people to performances, exhibitions, classes and workshops throughout the five boroughs.

These groups are located in every City Council district in the city and are significant economic and cultural engines for their communities. However, the study also shows that these groups were hard hit by the recent economic crisis: there was a substantial decrease in funding in 2009 over 2008, and what had been a 5.5% surplus of income over expenses in 2008 became a deficit of more than 10% in 2009. In addition, 183 organizations reported that they had lost over $1.1 billion from their endowments and reserves as a result of the financial downturn. The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs is the largest cultural funding agency in the nation, with an expense budget in Fiscal Year 2012 of $152 million. Though the arts and arts education are a vital part of the fabric of New York City, more than 60 percent of arts organizations in New York City reported significant budget cuts since the recession which have resulted in fewer jobs in the arts industry, reduced public programming and placed these organizations under severe strain. Given the slow nature of the economic recovery in New York City and throughout the country, it is clear that the effects of this recession will impact arts groups well into the future. This will have negative implications for the arts community, the artists and administrators it employs, and the audiences it serves – residents and visitors alike.

As a result, demand is increasing for funding and support that champion the arts and recognize the central role arts and culture play in the city’s economy, social fabric and cultural diversity. Social entrepreneurs can play a unique role in supporting the arts by focusing on the needs of organizations at the local level. In doing so, social entrepreneurs can empower New Yorkers involved in the arts with the tools necessary to realize their dreams of expression and community enrichment that New York City so embodies.

*Sources include: The State of the Arts, A Summary Overview of New York City’s Nonprofit Cultural Organizations, Their Strengths and Challenges, Alliance for the Arts, June 2011, The Recession & the Arts III, The Impact of the Economic Downturn on Nonprofit Cultural Organizations in New York City, Alliance for the Arts, June 2011, Open Society Foundations, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs

Not “Business as Usual” For So Many

Heather Rees — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 14:15:50 +0000

(As reported by VPF member-investor, Deborah Sprague of NYC Get Inspired)

Just like everyone ready this post, I’m concerned about our environment, our people and our economies – it can all be very overwhelming. We don’t always have the time to dig deeply into the things that are important to us – but I have a little more time on my hands so I’m digging deeper and I’m feeling more optimistic and hopeful lately.

So why am I optimistic? Recently, I read through several reports on the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP) website. For the past ten years, CECP has been working with top-tier international business CEOs and executives to raise the level and quality of corporate giving. I’m hopeful because they make the case to their nearly 250+ members, that in order to stay competitive in our growing economies – businesses can, should and must help shape the future in solving social problems through business strategy. Good news, more and more companies are setting up foundations to fund and partner with non-profit and non-government organizations to solve social issues like sustainability, poverty and education – it’s good business.

CECP’s recent report, Shaping the Future: Solving Social Programs through Business Strategy (a ten-year look ahead) and their other reports will leave you feeling hopeful by the demonstrated commitment of their members who are not doing business as usual.

VPF cocktail party and video

Heather Rees — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 19:16:21 +0000

On June 24th, VPF held a cocktail party for all of its current member-investors. It was a fun evening filled with old members and new, and even a representative from our current investee, Brooklyn Young Mothers’ Collective!

The night was hot, but we stayed inside and cool with wine, food, and conversation. One of our newest member-investors, Deborah Sprague, created a groovy video of the evening, which can be viewed from our Facebook page. Check it out! (and don’t forget to become a Facebook fan of the VPF page – lots of updates and news is posted there).

Happy summer!