The Rural Alaska Community Action Program (RurAL CAP) is a statewide 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 1965 to empower and improve the quality of life for low-income Alaskans.

The 24-member volunteer board that governs RurAL CAP is a representative board. Some board members are elected from organizations that serve low-income Alaskans in target areas. Other board members are appointed by elected public officials such as the Governor, borough and city mayors, and tribal presidents. All board members are nominated annually and elected for a one-year term of service. A representative board keeps RurAL CAP connected to current public officials and to the current leadership of partner organizations.

If board giving can be defined as a board member making an annual, personal, unrestricted donation to support the work of the organization, then for its first four decades, the RurAL CAP board did not practice board giving. It was simply not part of the board culture. (more…)

It’s felt like the holidays in recent weeks at the Rasmuson Foundation offices. Crates and boxes have been coming and going. Workers, looking official with levels, tacks and hammers, have been sweeping into the offices.

The art exchange is on.

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posted by Jeff Clarke, Vice President and Michele Brown, President, United Way of Anchorage

Effect (noun): consequence; outcome; result. Effective (adjective): producing or capable of producing an intended result.

Implicit in investing in a stock or mutual fund is the due diligence necessary to increase the odds of financial success, as evidenced by a return on that investment. Savvy investors go to great lengths to ensure that they invest successfully. For those of us working in the third sector, be it either in a nonprofit or as a funder, the effectiveness of our combined work — our investors’ rate of return — is under increasing scrutiny by the public, policy makers and the sector itself. We hear the question over and over, “how do you measure (and therefore know) that the work you do makes a difference? Show us the data that justifies our investment and your tax advantaged status”.

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Posted by Aleesha Towns-Bain, Program Associate

 Earlier this spring, I had the pleasure of serving on a subcommittee for Catholic Social Service’s Refugee Assistance & Immigration Services (RAIS) program to award grants to Anchorage-based groups that serve emerging communities. Our subcommittee awarded $64,000  to six organizations that will participate in the Emerging Communities Project for the next several months. Funding for this project came from the Compassion Capital Fund Demonstration Program, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

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