Health Cycle: Assessment Blurbs
Saturday, December 4, 2010 | 12:21 amThe following are short excerpts from the working group’s full organizational assessments of the health nominees, which are in turn based on the Organizational Profiles submitted by the organizations. These assessments are designed as a tool to help our Partners make informed decisions about the organizations when voting on which organization will receive a grant from the One Percent Foundation. If you have any questions, contact Dulcie Madden at dulcie (at) onepercentfoundation (dot) org.
—Betsy Uhrman | no comments
(posted in Grantmaking Reflections | tagged Mary's Center, tamtam, UM Healthcare Trust, Women of Means)
Update from Women’s Community Clinic (2009 Health Grantee)
Wednesday, November 24, 2010 | 1:32 amDear One Percent Foundation,
I am so grateful for your support of the Women’s Community Clinic in 2010. As a result of your grant, the Clinic has been able to continue its mission of improving the health and well-being of all women. Below, I have highlighted some of the Clinic’s important work made possible through your support this past year.
In gratitude,
Carlina Hansen Executive Director, Women’s Community Clinic
Sexual and Reproductive Health Services: Our Core Services
The Women’s Community Clinic provides free sexual and reproductive health care services to thousands of Bay Area women who lack access to care. Our clients are from all walks of life—the majority of whom have no, or inadequate, health insurance and make less than 100% of Federal Poverty Level. Our services include:
- annual physical exams, including breast exams and pap smears
- colposcopies (a follow-up diagnostic procedure for abnormal pap smears)
- care for gynecological concerns such as urinary tract infections and missed or irregular periods
- testing, treatment, and counseling for sexually transmitted infections such as HIV and Hepatitis C
- birth control and emergency contraception
- pregnancy testing and options counseling
- mental health counseling, and
- direct referrals for more specialized care of health conditions
By the end of 2010, we will have provided more than 5,400 clinical health care appointments to over 3,200 women. We strive to bring our clients free, high quality, health care in a supportive environment, and they agree: over 97% of our clients stated that were ‘very satisfied’ or ‘extremely satisfied’ with their overall experience, 100% felt encouraged to participate in the care that they received; and 100% were satisfied with the amount of respect that Clinic health care providers showed them. (source: Spring 2010 Client Survey)
—Betsy Uhrman | no comments
(posted in Grantee News | tagged Women's Community Clinic)
Trends in Healthcare
Tuesday, November 9, 2010 | 2:13 amOn October 26th, the healthcare grant cycle working group came together for a conference call with Kathryn Saenz Duke* of the Public Health Trust to discuss trends in medical care. The purpose of the call was to gain a better context of key field trends in advance of reviewing nominations.
Here Kathryn talks about what she sees as major trends in medical care today. Please note that Kathryn is speaking for herself , not on behalf of current or past programs that she has directed or otherwise been involved with.
Kathyrn Saenz Duke Biography
Kathryn came to the Public Health Trust almost one year ago, following work as an independent consultant on prescription drug access and cost issues for safety net providers. Previously, she served eight years as director of the Public Health Institute’s Medicine for People in Need (Medpin) program, whose initial funding came from cy pres settlement of a class action suit involving drug pricing in California.
—Betsy Uhrman | no comments
(posted in Grantmaking Reflections | tagged Kathryn Saenz Duke, Public Health Trust, working group)
1% Giving Pledge in Lifestyles Magazine
Wednesday, November 3, 2010 | 11:53 pmOPF’s 1% Giving Pledge was featured in winter 2010 issue of Lifestyles Magazine!
Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are asking all billionaires to commit to give 50% of their net wealth to philanthropy. OPF believes that you don’t need to be a billionaire to make a difference. We’re encouraging people to sign the 1% Giving Pledge and commit to give at least 1% of your annual income to philanthropic causes.
—Betsy Uhrman | no comments
(posted in OPF Updates | tagged 1% Giving Pledge, Buffett, Gates, Lifestyles)
On Social Investing
Monday, November 1, 2010 | 11:07 pmOn October 28, OPF hosted a conference call with Julie Johnson* of Fresh Pond Capital to explore the who, what, where and how of social investing–an umbrella term to describe investments that seek to maximize financial and social benefits. The genesis for the call were a series of conversations among OPF board members about how as individuals and organizations we can align our investing with our social change efforts.
Here you can listen to the complete call:
More resources can be found at the Social Investment Forum, which includes a database of institutions and organizations engaged in socially responsible and sustainable investing
*Julie Johnson, CFA, is a co-founder and the managing director of Fresh Pond Capital, a socially responsible investment firm. Julie has had a particular interest in sustainable agriculture, financial literacy, and social justice. Julie is active supporting local agriculture and children through her work with Waltham Fields Community Farm and The Food Project. She has collaborated with Resource Generation, a progressive organization working with young people to create social change.
—Betsy Uhrman | no comments
(posted in OPF Updates | tagged Fresh Pond Capital, Julie Johnson, Resource Generation, social investing, Social Investment Forum)
Taking Over the Government
Wednesday, September 15, 2010 | 3:45 pmThings are not looking good for the economy. It appears that without some major, politically-unlikely governmental action, we’re going to experience a prolonged period of slow growth and recession. And given the political climate, I expect the government’s ability to address difficult problems and make financial and social investments for the long-term to be severely diminished for some time to come. As Paul Krugman wrote in August, “the lights are going out all over America…literally.”
So I’ve started to wonder…could the social sector take over some of this responsibility from the government? Read the rest of this entry »
—Mike Berkowitz | no comments
(posted in OPF Updates | tagged Brooks, Krugman, Pallotta, social sector)
Assessment v2: Lessons and Next Steps
Monday, September 13, 2010 | 5:13 amAs you may have read in an earlier post, the assessment process changed quite a bit with the education cycle (for which voting is now underway). These changes significantly improved the way we assess nominees, improvements that are hopefully apparent in the assessment summaries the working group put forth for voting. The purpose of this post is three-fold: to tell you a bit more about what those changes actually mean, to share what we learned along the way, and to outline how we’re going to tweak it to make the next cycle truly excellent.
- Improved Content: The working group had a call with Elana Karopkin, the Assistant Superintendent at Achievement First. Prior to that, she was the founding principal for the Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice (SLJ). Elana talked with the working group about charter and public schools, the context and history of the education sector at large, and current policy issues. In addition to this, the working group also had an improved “assessment basics” training, which included a finance and 990 how-to worksheet, improved clarity about theory of change, and a stronger facilitated discussion about organizational effectiveness and how One Percent measures it. Read the rest of this entry »
—Dulcie Madden | no comments
(posted in Grantmaking Reflections | tagged Achivement First, assessment, Education, working groups)
Education Cycle: Assessment Blurbs
Friday, September 10, 2010 | 4:29 amThe One Percent Foundation’s Assessment Committee and Working Groups do great work, and as such, we wanted to provide greater visibility into what they do.
The following are short excerpts from the working group’s full organizational assessments of the nominees, which are in turn based on the Organizational Profiles submitted by the organizations. These assessments are designed as a tool to help our Partners make informed decisions about the organizations they are voting on to receive a grant from the One Percent Foundation. If you have any questions, contact Dulcie Madden at dulcie (at) onepercentfoundation (dot) org.
—Dulcie Madden | no comments
(posted in Grantmaking Reflections | tagged assessment, Education, Organizational Profiles, working group)
Education Working Group Highlights
Wednesday, September 1, 2010 | 1:13 amNew processes and approaches helped the working group to narrow down the nominated organizations into the final five, but also gave them tools to evaluate and compare organizations that focus on vastly different aspects of education. This all leads up to giving a deserving organization the largest grant in One Percent Foundations history – $12, 000.01!!
In order to aid the working group in the sometimes seemingly impossible task of narrowing down 15 great organizations to just 5, a couple of new tools were implemented, including a conference call with a professional from the field to provide some insight about the challenges faced in Education today and sending out a new document called Organizational Profiles to all the organizations prior to the working group starting their work. These documents included information about what the organization does, their history, theory of change and financial details. More information on these and other changes can be found here.
Providing the working group with these new and improved ways of collecting information about each organization and comparing that information to one another allowed the working group to focus on some important issues while narrowing down the field of nominees. The following themes are what emerged as most important throughout our discussions: Read the rest of this entry »
—OPF Partner | no comments
(posted in Grantmaking Reflections)
Update from Agora Partnerships (2010 International Aid Grantee)
Thursday, August 19, 2010 | 10:26 pmI was in Washington, DC last week and stopped in at Agora Partnerships’ office to briefly meet with and get a quick update from Agora’s Director of Business Development, Liz Sessler. Agora was the recipient of an $8000.01 grant from One Percent Foundation earlier this year, in the International Aid grant cycle.
There were two things which stood out in our conversation.
First, since receiving the grant award, Agora has launched The Accelerator, a program which packages a suite of services the organization has developed for promising early-stage businesses, and rolls them all up into a highly structured, integrated delivery. Previously, the services delivered by Agora – such as training seminars, consulting from teams of MBA candidates, and linkages to networks and finance – were offered a la carte. The Accelerator will deliver a suite services through a 6-9 month program, providing a larger window for Agora to work with entrepreneurs and a stronger pipeline to find and prepare promising small business for investment and growth.
Second, Agora’s mission of aiding small businesses to grow and create jobs and income, highly depends on connecting these companies with finance. To that end, Agora’s strategy includes raising for-profit investment funds, which provide capital to the most promising entrepreneurs that the organization works with and mentors. Agora raised its initial fund, the Agora Venture Fund – which was discussed in the Working Group’s assessment – and currently makes small investments ($25,000+). Recognizing the growing need for finance, and hoping to capitalize on the new investment pipeline created by The Accelerator, Agora is embarking on raising a new $10-12 million fund, the Prometeo Fund. With Prometeo, Agora will have the ability to invest up to $500,000 in a single company. The organization has a number of firm commitments in the capital raising process, and is hoping to close the fund later this year.
Lastly, Liz passed along word about a NYC Agora event for young professionals on August 25. Details for the event are available here.
Marc Bush is an OPF Partner and was Chair of the 2010 International Aid Working Group.
—Marc Bush | no comments
(posted in Grantmaking Reflections | tagged Agora Partnerships, Grantee Update, international aid)