Philanthropy Front and Center-San Francisco is a blog sponsored by the Foundation Center.
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In fall 2007 we launched Philanthropy Chat, an online audio series featuring interviews with West Coast grantmakers and other philanthropy and fundraising experts. Listen to the current edition of Philanthropy Chat and hear Mary Gregory, senior program officer for Pacific Foundation Services (PFS), discuss the giving priorities of PFS foundations and trends in the family foundation field. Since PFS administers the giving for a dozen Bay Area family foundations Mary provides a view of the field few others can.
If you missed a Meet the Grantmaker program or want to listen to other Philanthropy Chats peruse the offerings in our Events Archive.
I'd like to extend our Congratulations to Julie Pokrandt, Development Director of River Partners since her organization was selected to receive the $1,000 grant at our Reality Grantmaking program this morning, co-sponsored with the Development Executives Roundtable and AFP-Golden Gate Chapter. Julie's proposal received a near perfect score of 19.5 out of 20 possible points, and it may have been a Reality Grantmaking first that three of the four judges gave her a perfect score! What the judges seemed to find most compelling about the River Partners proposal, aside from the compelling nature of the project, was how well detailed it was and how much information she was able to include in two pages.
As detailed in its proposal, "The Great Acorn Grow-out," River Partners will work with seven schools throughout the Central Valley to grow more than 16,000 Valley oak trees for habitat restoration projects along the Sacramento and Feather rivers. Since we spotlight nonprofit organizations from time to time, I thought I'd give some background on the Reality Grantmaking winner in our "Nonprofit Spotlight" format.
Organization Name: River Partners
Year Founded: 1998
Contact: John Carlon, President
Address: 580 Vallombrosa Ave., Chico, CA 95926 and 806 14th St., Modesto, CA 95354
Phone: (503) 894-5401 and (209) 521-1700
E-mail: info@riverpartners.org
Mission: River Partners creates wildlife habitat for the benefit of people and the environment.
Background: River Partners was founded by two conservation-minded farmers who believed that the fields of habitat restoration and agriculture could work together. River Partners protects the environment by implementing large scale restoration projects such as planting almost one million native trees and shrubs along streams and rivers in the Central Valley. See a map of River Partners projects. In addition, River Partners has reforested more than 6,000 acres of river banks and floodplains, providing critical habitat for California' s wildlife. This restoration work supports efforts to sequester greenhouse gases, improve water and air quality, recover salmon populations, solve California's levee crisis, and protect open space.
Additional Programs: Riparian Sanctuary and Bidwell Ranch Project: Mitigation Bank and Management Plan Development
Funding Needs: Demands on the natural landscape and rivers are multiplying. California's population growth and continued development are impacting our environment, clean air, water, and wildlife. California has already lost at least 90 percent of its riverside forests and grasslands. Contributions will support River Partners work to restore and preserve those special places that add so much to the quality of life in the state.
Would you like to have your organization spotlighted? Following the above format, send your spotlight to Jean Johnson.
