Archive for the ‘Gifts’ Category

The Giving Circle of Alexandria is pleased to announce that we are now accepting and reviewing applications from Alexandria’s non-profit organizations for Developmental Gifts up to $5000.  These grants are intended to support non-profits and initiatives that contribute to the success of Alexandria’s children.  On behalf of the Giving Circle, I invite your organization to apply for one of these grants.

If you are interested in applying for a Developmental Gift, please submit a letter of inquiry by July 1, 2010 to Kelly Donovan.  Your letter should be no more than three pages double spaced, and should address the following items:

• Name of your organization, location, and contact information  (please provide all contact information including telephone, mail and email addresses).
• Your organization’s mission
• How long has your organization been in existence?
• Who does your organization primarily serve?
• What specifically is prompting your request for funding?
• What is the annual budget of your organization and the project for which you are requesting support?
• If your project budget is greater than $5,000, please explain briefly how you expect to fund the remaining cost of the project.
• How will a Developmental Gift assist you in helping children, youth, and/or families of Alexandria?
• What outcome or benefit do you hope to achieve from the project/program for which you are requesting support?
• Please include the number of children, youth, and/or families of Alexandria that will benefit from such project/program.

The Giving Circle Board of Directors will decide and announce the recipients of these gifts in October based on the letters of inquiry we receive by the July 1 deadline. For more information about the gifts the Giving Circle makes and the groups we help, please visit the Gifts area of our website. We look forward to hearing your ideas and plans for helping Alexandria’s children, youth and families!

• need to expand playgroups throughout the City;
• desire for a mechanism to help various organizations collaborate on their efforts;
• the importance of engaging fathers; and
• the observation that transportation, childcare and language barriers continue to be obstacles that keep parents from attending workshops, classes or other programs they need.

The next gift committee meeting is February 11 at 7:00 pm in City Hall, Room 2000.  All interested members are invited to attend this meeting.  We will discuss the responses to the RFI in the context of what investments the Giving Circle will make for 2010-2011. This is an opportunity to learn more about how your Giving Circle investment will be used and and to be a part of that decision.

If you would like to review the responses to the RFI or want more information about the gift committee, please contact Peggy Stypula or Karen Snow.  We hope to see you on the 11th.

• ALIVE Child Development Center - $5,000 for implementation of Creative Curriculum in its preschool and daycare center for low-income families.
• Alexandria Tutoring Consortium – $2,200 to continue its successful tutoring program for 1st and 2nd grade children and to expand two new programs, Book Buddies and Reading Readiness, to reach additional students.
• Child and Family Network (CFNC) – $2,000 to purchase children’s books for its Family Literacy Program.
• New Neighbors Education Center – $800 for tuition and childcare to enable six Healthy Families clients to attend English instruction classes.

Each of these gifts directly supports our mission to prepare children in Alexandria to enter school ready to learn and have a successful future!

In January, the Gift Committee will resume its analysis of community needs and where a Giving Circle gift can have the most sustainable benefit. All Giving Circle members are welcome to be part of the Gift Committee and participate in this process.  Please contact Karen Snow or Peggy Stypula if you would like to be part of the Gift Committee.

We invite all Giving Circle members to attend Gift Committee meetings and to become a part of the gift process.  In particular, if you are interested in serving on the subcommittee to evaluate priority gift possibilities, please contact Karen Snow or Peggy Stypula.

The next gift committee meeting is October 20, 2009 at 7 pm at City Hall.

Healthy Families Alexandria (HFA) has been selected as one of two (out of 38) sites in Virginia to go to scale – this means tremendous resources will be focused on securing the state and local money needed for HFA to be in a position to serve ANY family in Alexandria that qualifies for the program. Healthy Families Alexandria could serve an additional 238 first time parents each year and give them the resources they need to raise children who are healthy, happy and ready to learn.

Carol Freeman, Program Manager for HFA, commented that “We are extremely grateful to the Giving Circle for their strong, unwavering support of the program for the past four years … Strong community support is one of the major reasons we were chosen.” She further noted that The Giving Circle gift has brought the program additional publicity and financial support.

There is a big caveat – the state and local money is not secured yet. Healthy Families  needs our advocacy help in the months ahead to make sure this happens. Find out how you can help.

To learn more about Healthy Families Alexandria, visit  its parent organization on the web, Northern Virginia Family Services.