Rasmuson Foundation President Diane Kaplan reports monthly to the Foundation’s board of directors on activities of the staff, of our nonprofit partners, and notable developments around the state. This post borrows from her report for a quick look at some recent events that we’ve had the pleasure to be involved with.

Fisheries Summit: On December 16, Ed Rasmuson convened a Seafood-Fisheries Summit at the Foundation offices. Together with Governor Sean Parnell and University of Alaska President Patrick Gamble, some 20 university leaders, senior government officials and fisheries industry experts came together to discuss opportunities for and obstacles to employing more Alaskans in the seafood industry. Summit participants committed to supporting the development of a more integrated approach to workforce development in Alaska – a historic step for all involved.

Ed Rasmuson, Governor Sean Parnell, and me.

Pick. Click. Give.: Doyon, Ltd. is giving Pick. Click. Give. (PCG) a boost through radio public service announcements and web ads promoting Athabascan values and giving back to the community through Pick. Click. Give. The Doyon Foundation is new to the PCG program list this year. 

Another Pick. Click. Give. boost is from ExxonMobil, which is providing a 1-to-1 match, up to $100,000 of PCG donations to campuses of the University of Alaska, Ilisagvik College, and Alaska Pacific University.

Harper Arts Touring Fund: The Alaska State Council on the Arts (ASCA) has begun administering Harper Arts Touring Fund grant applications. In addition, ASCA administers Arts in Education grants. Currently, it is conducting a survey of performing arts and visual arts presenting and touring organizations in Alaska.  Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of joining nearly 1,000 members and friends of Alaska Chinese Association at East Anchorage High School to celebrate the commencement of the 2012 Chinese New Year, the year of the dragon.

Chinese New Year is a key holiday with a rich history and an elaborate set of rituals. Gong xi fa cái literally means congratulations and be prosperous – a modern adaptation of the more traditional Chinese new year greeting. The 2012 Chinese New Year commences midnight on 23rd January and the holiday lasts for 15 days, concluding with special candle lights and even lantern parades in many cities. Each of the 15 days has a special meaning and requires certain observances. Most of us are familiar with the dragon or lion dance and fireworks that have come to symbolizes many New Year rituals, but there is a much more diverse and elaborate set of private activities that go hand-in-hand with these more public displays.

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Posted by Jordan Marshall, Initiatives and Special Projects Manager

Some great news from the Alaska State Permanent Fund Dividend Division: in the first eight days of 2012, participation in the Pick. Click. Give. charitable contributions program surpassed the entire three-month campaign totals from 2009, the first year of the program. In fact, this year’s numbers already eclipse 2009 in terms of dollars, individual donors, pledged contributions, and average participation rate.

As of 6 a.m. this morning, nine days into the New Year, 7,293 Alaskans have pledged $621,875. About 4.6 percent of all Alaskans who have filed online have opted to participate in the program.

In 2009, by way of comparison, the entire 90-day campaign generated a total of $545,000 from 5,163 Alaskans, about 1 percent of filers.

Making a gift from your Permanent Fund Dividend to the nonprofit causes you care about through Pick. Click. Give. is among the easiest ways to help strengthen your community. Whether it’s a service or program that you, your family or neighbors depend on, when you give just a small bit of your PFD away, you are making Alaska a better place to live, to work, and to raise a family. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Jeff Baird, Program Associate

Today, ladies and gentlemen, you are invited to take a peek into the mind of a Rasmuson Foundation program associate. Please excuse the mess. I wasn’t expecting company.

As I said yesterday, the Foundation would like to boost the number of Tier 1 awards it makes by 25% by the end of 2012. Given this, we thought it would be a good time to go over some basics. But first, for those who might be a little rusty on our terminology, here’s a quick overview of our grant programs.

The Tier 1 program is for requests up to $25,000. These are normally handled by Aleesha Towns Bain or me. Anything above $25,000 falls into the Tier 2 program and will normally be handled by Sammye Pokryfki, Chris Perez or Jayson Smart.

The Tier 1 program encompasses five types of requests. The bread and butter of our small grant program are requests for capital like furnishings, equipment, vehicles, construction/renovations projects, among other things. If you’re looking for a straightforward way to introduce/reintroduce yourself to the Foundation, this is it.

The Foundation also funds capacity building activities, program expansion, creative works and technology under the Tier 1 program. These requests can be a little trickier, and it’s definitely worth a conversation with staff prior to submitting your request. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Milenko Matanovic, founder of the Pomegranate Center.

Milenko, a thinker, teacher and artist preparing communities for the future, will be the opening keynote speaker for Alaska State Council on the Arts’ 2012 Alaska Arts and Culture Conference taking place January 13 and 14.

All things deserve to be done well.

Whatever else art may mean to different people, at its core is the idea that human acts can be elegant in their expression, beautiful in form, resonant in relationship to people, materials, and community, and magical in their capacity to connect the part to the whole, whether that part is a brushstroke in a painting, a word in a poem, a piece of stone in a wall, a single note in a concert, a building in the city, a town in the landscape… Small, attentive steps combine to make an excellent whole. In art, the process and end result are inseparable; integrity in each step leads to good work.

Because it is simpler and less demanding to do this work in small doses rather than throughout our entire lives, we humans invented art to remind us how our lives should be. And soon afterwards, we started to forget that art is about everything and made it into something separate and special. Read the rest of this entry »

Earlier this year, I returned to Alaska after 27 months of U.S. Peace Corps service in Central America. I worked as a community health volunteer in Nicaragua, the second-poorest country in the western hemisphere (after Haiti). The often deplorable living conditions I experienced and the Nicaraguan Ministry of Health’s lack of resources were astounding. Water and vector-borne diseases were rampant, and many people lacked the resources to purchase a simple tube of toothpaste, let alone vital medications. Despite these hurdles, I was inspired by Nicaraguan nurses and doctors who worked long hours trekking through rivers and over mountains in 90-plus degree heat, just to deliver a few drops of polio vaccine or to check-up on a newborn in a far-flung village.

After returning to Alaska, I began to search for local volunteer opportunities. A friend told me of the famed Dr. Jill Seaman and her involvement with the nonprofit, the Alaska Sudan Medical Project (ASMP). Since 1989, Seaman has split her time between Bethel, Alaska working for the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation, and in the outer reaches of South Sudan in Africa.

In July 2011, after more than 50 years of bloodshed, Africa’s largest country split in two and the Republic of South Sudan became the world’s newest nation. I thought Nicaragua had dire health conditions, but after speaking with Dr. Jack Hickel, founder and board president of ASMP, I realized that South Sudan’s plight is much worse. The nascent country has no health care system and very limited access to infrastructure like running water or electricity. Hickel has a diploma in Tropical Medicine and began his work in Africa in 1982 as a medical missionary. In 2007, at Seaman’s invite, he visited the remote village of Old Fangak, South Sudan.  Read the rest of this entry »

Teen Underground is Anchorage Library's space for teen patrons.

Have you been to your public library lately? Did you notice anything different? Because chances are your local library has gone through some significant changes in the last few years.

Some changes so subtle you may not have noticed, like an increase in the variety of programs. But others are more dramatic, like faster internet speeds and new equipment that will connect Alaskans to each other regardless of geographic location.

Why the changes? Because your needs have changed.

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Volunteers of America participated in The Pre-Development Program to plan their new facility for youth experiencing substance abuse.

From time to time, Alaska nonprofits undertake large capital projects such as purchasing, constructing, or renovating a facility. And for many nonprofit executive directors, the successful completion of new facilities requires skills and expertise that might not be developed in the course of their day to day jobs.

Yet, what we have learned is that effective planning in the pre-development of a large building project will dictate the long-tem success of the project. (Pre-development is the phase of a construction project between the idea that a facility is needed through to the initiation of design.)

Help in meeting the challenges of this critical phase is available. The Pre-Development Program, a partnership of Rasmuson Foundation, Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, Denali Commission, Mat-Su Health Foundation, and The Foraker Group, was created to provide nonprofits with the exact expertise and planning assistance needed to launch capital projects toward success. The Pre-Development Program ensures that selected projects meet a community need; that they are adequately prepared to pursue capital funding; and that operations will be sustainable.

We asked Chris Kowalczewski, program manager for The Pre-Development Program, for a list of the top 10 things nonprofits should ask before deciding to embark on a capital project. Here is what she told us: Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Rasmuson Foundation

Thanksgiving is over. Next up (grit your teeth and prepare for the inevitable), too many hours shopping for stuff that many of us don’t need.

In Anchorage there is an alternative. Whatever your holiday gift-giving tradition, there is another way to express generosity and give in a thoughtful, meaningful way. For households with too much STUFF already, it’s manna.

For the fourth consecutive year, Congregation Beth Sholom is hosting Mitzvah Mall, a holiday bazaar that sells good deeds instead of goods. Mitzvah is Hebrew for “good deed.” Each year, the synagogue hosts the event as part of tikkun olam, an obligation to repair the world.

Mitzvah Mall is 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4, at Congregation Beth Sholom, 7525 E. Northern Lights Blvd., just west of the Muldoon Carrs Safeway.

The vendor booths are nonprofit organizations and charities that sell gifts in prices ranging from $5 to $500, with plenty in the $10 to $100 range. When you purchase a mitzvah in someone’s name, you’ll receive a card for the recipient, explaining what has been given in his or her name.

There are definite opportunities for humor and creativity, as well as compassion. For that very special person – a favorite brother, perhaps – give a toilet to a family in need ($100 to Habitat for Humanity).

Here’s a bit of symmetry: Has your teenager been studying Africa? A gift of $100 in his name will get an African child a bike to get to school.

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