The following video was produced by the Congress for the New Urbanism with funding from the Greater New Orleans Foundation’s Metropolitan Opportunities Initiative:

Greater New Orleans Foundation 2012 Series Recap

Here’s a recap of our 2012 bus tour series where we explored issues such as education, criminal justice, and the arts—as well as learned more about the Greater New Orleans Foundation. Below you’ll find a description of each tour, with links to the nonprofits and people we met. If you liked what you saw on these tours, please consider making a donation to the Greater New Orleans Foundation to support our work.

With meats cured in-house, Louisiana produce, and years measured in pickle jars lining Dante’s walls, Loubier felt it was time to start giving back to the community he loved. He began by using local charities that directly benefited the restaurant’s day to day operations. “We pay NOLA Green Roots to come collect our compost which fertilizes their sustainable urban gardens,” explains Loubier. Soon Dante’s causes began to accumulate and Loubier decided to open a fund at the Greater New Orleans Foundation. “I noticed that some of my causes, like NOLA Green Roots, were already grantees of the Foundation’s IMPACT program. IMPACT allowed me to streamline my giving and pool my money into one large fund,” says Loubier.

Over the past three years, the Foundation’s highly-competitive IMPACT fund has granted to roughly 100 best of the best nonprofit organizations in arts & culture; youth development; education; and health & human services. IMPACT’s ultimate goal is to create a resilient, sustainable, vibrant, and equitable region in which individuals and families flourish.

“I enjoy being able to offer my patrons the opportunity to give back to this community we all love,” says the Chef, “and giving is always in season.”

Thompson and Henderson participated in a recent event sponsored by the Greater New Orleans Foundation. The occasion was to inform donors and friends of the Foundation about challenges within New Orleans’ criminal justice system. They spoke in the courtroom where Thompson was sentenced for the first time and exonerated nearly 30 year later. “I kept staring at the portrait of Judge Patrick Quinlan because he was the judge who put me away the first time and freed me the second,” said Thompson.

Henderson explained that their next venture was to launch a lawn care company. “One thing you learn in Angola is how to cut grass,” says Thompson with a smile. Thanks to GNOF grantee Good Work Network, a business plan is in the works and they’re currently looking for a truck and equipment. In response to hearing their story that day in the courtroom, an anonymous donor stepped in and pledged half of the cost of the truck.

We’re grateful for the generosity of New Orleans’ donor community. We’re pleased to play a part in connecting donors to community needs.

To hear the NPR segment on the case against John Thompson, click here.

To read the New York Times article, click here.

To watch their stories, a project produced by Resurrection After Exoneration, click here.

To read the Understanding New Orleans One Issue at a Time: Criminal Justice program of events, click here [PDF].

1)  

I am responsible for the start-up, implementation, and management of a new collaborative workforce initiative in the healthcare and bioscience industries.

2)  What did you do on day one?

I made a major decision to change the name of the initiative! It was called, New Orleans Regional Workforce Funders Collaborative.  After saying it several times, I felt we needed a new name that was shorter, reflective, and active: New Orleans Works – N.O.W.  is it.

3)   How will you define success? 

Success is when healthcare and bioscience employers hire low-skilled workers for jobs that turn into careers — careers that pay decent enough wages to support a family.  We’re going to help employers provide the necessary trainings so their employees have more than a job, they have a career.

4)  What will be the work of the collaboration?

There are three goals.  The first is identifying what employment opportunities are available in the healthcare and bioscience industries.  The second is to determine the skills necessary for these positions.  The third is to help fill vacancies by connecting newly trained, newly skilled workers with healthcare employers.

5)  What’s your favorite restaurant, and why?

As a New Orleans native, it’s like Lays potato chips – you can’t have just one!  But if I had to choose, my most favorite is Munch Factory. It’s a new restaurant in Gentilly and the food is excellent. Since Gentilly is still rebuilding, it’s nice to see another business doing well.

New Orleans Works is in collaboration with the following organizations: Ford Foundation, JPMorgan Chase, City of New Orleans, BioDistrict, Urban Strategies, Baptist Community Ministries, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, United Way, Surdna Foundation, and GNOF. To learn more about the N.O.W. Initiative, contact Carla Major at 504-598-4663 or Carla@gnof.org.

Some of us will take comfort in the fact that the field, represented by the 755 grantmakers who responded to the survey, did not backslide significantly into bad habits.  Unrestricted and capacity-building support held steady, and foundations even reduced grant approval times from an average of 90 to 60 days.  Multiyear grants, however, took a sharp downward turn over the past three years: close to 30 percent of funders reported that due to the sour economy and other factors, they had decreased dollars for multiyear support.

While the survey holds some interest as a mirror held up to the nature of US grantmaking, foundation staff might use it most effectively to reflect on their own practices.  The survey can help convince trustees who, for example, still object to the idea of making grants for general operating support.  When so many grantmakers have adopted the practice, and for so many good reasons, there’s strong motivation for detractors to reexamine the basis for their resistance.

What’s missing from the survey are the robust debates behind the various grantmaking practices probed in the study. These exchanges are common in the GEO community, many of whose members pride themselves on their attention to matters of craft.  These debates are rooted in some telling assumptions about the evolving field of philanthropy.  First, there’s the assumption that there are better and worse ways of making grants, ranging from the awful to the inspired.  Inspired philanthropy, after a hundred years or so of professionalized grantmaking, is coming ever more clearly into view.  It can be codified and learned.  Second, there is, I believe, a growing sense that the argument for perfecting the craft of grantmaking has a moral as well as a practical dimension.  Not only can bad grantmaking practices set back social change efforts, they can also do them irreparable harm.

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Albert Ruesga is president & CEO of the Greater New Orleans Foundation and a member of the GEO board of directors.  He’s the managing editor of the White Courtesy Telephone blog.

Immediately following the catastrophe, the Japanese community of New Orleans sprang into action, partnering with the Greater New Orleans Foundation to establish the NOLA Japan Quake Fund. The fund was created as a way to give back to Japan, a country that collectively donated more than $44 million to New Orleans after Katrina.“Both the Japanese government and individuals gave and asked for nothing in return,” says Hiroko Kusuda, a law professor at Loyola University and member of the Japan Club of New Orleans who has been instrumental in the fund. “We wanted to reciprocate their generosity on a small scale.”

Through mostly grassroots efforts, the NOLA Japan Quake Fund has raised nearly $300,000 in donations from individuals, local businesses, and corporations. “It was a very successful fundraising effort,” says Dr. Masako Wakabayashi, the oldest member of the Japan Club of New Orleans and an active advisor to the fund. “The general population of New Orleans could identify with the victims.”

But the question of what to do with these funds remained. Both Mrs. Kusuda and Dr. Wakabayashi went on a fact-finding mission to the affected regions in Japan to identify the areas of greatest need. “We went on our own because we were concerned about large organizations and their ability to distribute the funds effectively,” says Mrs. Kusuda. She describes the trip as being “very emotionally demanding” and recounted seeing a school that had flooded up to its fourth floor, where crayons, pens, and books remained, and the day’s assignment was still written on a blackboard.

Dr. Wakabayashi and Mrs. Kusuda have identified two very different funding areas through the research they conducted in Japan. One grant will support a government fund for orphans, which will directly aid school-age children who have lost their parents in the disaster; a second grant will fund Life Supporters of Miyako, a grassroots nonprofit that provides much-needed mental health services and legal aid to victims in one of the hardest-hit areas.

While great strides in recovery have been made, not all of Japan’s wounds have healed. “The victims are confused, and not optimistic,” says Dr. Wakabayashi. “Because of the nuclear threat, they are displaced. They do not know if they can go back to their homes.” Because there are still so many needs, the NOLA Japan Quake Fund will keep seeking donations. “We will continue our effort,” says Mrs. Kusuda. “We do not want to stop.”

To donate to the NOLA Japan Quake Fund, visit http://www.nolajapanquakefund.org/index.html.

“The art classes we offer bring joy,” says director Glenda Toups, “because our residents have weathered countless bad fishing seasons and an oil spill, they look forward to these classes to bring stability. Creating art together brings companionship, pride, and a sense of achievement.” Last year alone, HRAC provided 152 programs in libraries, schools, and community centers across six parishes.

While programming for adults is strong, HRAC’s programming for youth is weak. However, a recent grant from the Greater New Orleans Foundation will enhance its Coastal Communities Youth Arts Program. Now, the organization will have an artists’ residents program in every elementary school, middle school, branch library, and community center within the region. “We believe that opportunities like this will have a lasting impact on the area’s youth,” says Toups.

And, enhance the already rich cultural scene.

The Houma Regional Arts Council is one of 21 organizations receiving a grant through the Coastal Communities Fund.

To see HRAC in action, watch the below video: 

Our goal in attending these events was to raise awareness about philanthropy’s role in the recovery and renaissance of Southeastern Louisiana. Since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, GNOF has expanded its role beyond that of a traditional community foundation to include leading projects in affordable housing, workforce development, and the environment. In this expanded role, the Foundation has gained key insights into the best and most innovative nonprofits serving our region.  We have also established ourselves as an anchor institution and economic driver.

To spotlight our work, particularly our recent work in the coastal communities, the Foundation helped sponsor the annual Economic Development Luncheon, attended by nearly 500 top business and political leaders. We also conducted face-to-face meetings with our Congressional delegation and representatives from key agencies including The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and Department of Labor.

As we reflect on our time in Washington, we acknowledge the importance of reaching out and establishing new relationships to celebrate the generosity of our donors and address the needs of our region.

To see pictures of the event, go to our Facebook page (Greater New Orleans Foundation) and view the album, “Mardi Gras in Washington D.C.”