IN UNITY FOR SERVICE

Your National Exchange Club Foundation’s Board of Trustees had productive meetings during the Mid-winter conference in La Quinta, California earlier this month. Following our official board meeting and the NEC Board of Directors’ strategic planning session, the two boards met in combined session to discuss the progress of our capital campaign and how we can work together to move our organization forward. We began to identify common goals and discussed effective ways to combine our resources for the greater good. By working together - In Unity for Service - we can advance the mission and achieve the goals of Exchange. Many thanks to NEC President Carmack for his support and leadership!

 

INVESTING IN AMERICA’S FUTURE

Campaign Update

Our Hartsook team was on hand at La Quinta in early January to report that our campaign progress is on track. As we neared our $2 million mid-winter goal, next steps have already begun. Our campaign timeline was shared with those present. HCI Senior Vice President Norma Murphy reported on grant development that has been underway. We anticipate beginning formal applications within the coming months as we establish our competency to handle larger gifts. (Please see Campaign FAQ below.)

The following weekend, another $325,000 was committed to the campaign at an event in Houston! Those commitments put us at $2,130,700 in pledges and gifts to date. Added to the leadership group were Marjorie Evans, Marc and Susan Schwartz, Brenda and Bob Robinson, Kerry and Peggy Mazoch, and Judy Bunch from the Houston area. We appreciate their involvement in the campaign and their vision for our organization!

As part of our partnership, Hartsook has made full scholarships available for an upcoming philanthropy conference they are sponsoring in Kansas City. Look for more such opportunities as our partnership continues to evolve.

We appreciate President Claude Carmack’s personal support of Investing in America’s Future campaign, as well as his call to action for the NEC board of directors and the current and next classes of district leadership to support the campaign. Recognizing the need for solidarity and 100% leader participation to demonstrate our own capacity, President Carmack made a personal appeal to national and district leadership at the NEC board meeting on January 9 in La Quinta, California. Carmack’s remarks followed a productive week of meetings and strategy sessions, with both NEC and NECF boards agreeing to work together to move our great organization forward.

Your Foundation leadership has made it clear that we are committed to this endeavor to advance the programs of Exchange. The Steering Committee is meeting regularly to oversee the progress of the campaign and make sure we remain on course. We are excited about our progress to date and believe this successful fundraising effort will give Exchange the confidence a national organization with our mission and resources deserves. We have a vision for Exchange, and we are moving forward every day. Our initial campaign goals are:

1. Sustain Child Abuse Prevention Efforts through Perpetual Endowment
2. Establish Proactive Leadership Role in Contributing to the Prevention Field
3. Evaluate and Research Programs and Impact
4. Restore and Expand Network Resources

(Subsequent campaigns will focus on Exchange’s Programs of Service, including Americanism and youth programs.)

 

Campaign FAQ

This is YOUR campaign, so each month we will focus on questions asked by our members regarding our capital campaign.

Question: When will we start approaching charitable foundations?

Answer: “Charitable foundations don’t exist to give money away; they exist to further their own missions.” Thinking otherwise is a big mistake, according to HCI senior vice president Norma Murphy. Murphy outlined a strategy that includes: proper identification, developing a relationship, assuring a high probability of success with aligned missions, developing a formalized plan and working that plan. It is important to have assurance of continuation funding (since foundations usually want their names attached to start-up programs). Once these things are in place, staff can focus on developing budgets, project outcomes, establishing a process for objective evaluation, and addressing other requirements of potential grants. It’s not fast, but it’s thorough. And it’s effective. Murphy has over 30 years experience in successful grant writing, and she doesn’t like to write grants that don’t have a very high probability of success.

Murphy noted that the number one complaint she hears from charitable foundations is “You didn’t do your homework on us”. Norma has been working behind the scenes for many months to help us identify potential matches and begin to develop relationships for us. Our timeline is to start submitting applications in late spring, when we have had time to fulfill some of the basic competencies expressed by the foundations. We anticipate results beginning by the end of calendar 2010.

Norma Murphy will be a presenter at this year’s Child Abuse Prevention Symposium in La Quinta, California. Not only is she helping your National Exchange Club Foundation to develop these successful relationships. She is also willing to help our network of CAP Centers become more successful in the individual and local efforts.

 

CAP Updates

• April is Child Abuse Prevention Month! Start thinking about your club activities. This is an excellent opportunity to distribute information, increase awareness, and help your community know what resources are available. Watch for additional information coming soon!
• The Symposium Planning Committee has been hard at work with early planning of our event to be held in conjunction with the 92^nd National Exchange Club Convention in La Quinta California. Symposium will kick off with a reception for CAP Center representatives on Tuesday evening, July 20. Workshops and network sessions will occur the next two days, merging with convention activities on Thursday.  Symposium will conclude with the traditional CAP Breakfast on Friday morning, as convention continues through Saturday.

 

Do You CARE?

We know you do! And we’re certain your club’s activities prove it! Each year, your National Exchange Club Foundation honors individual Exchange Clubs or groups of Exchange Clubs sponsor the most effective and innovative child abuse prevention projects. These awards, known as the CARE (Child Abuse Reduction Effort) Awards, will be presented at the CAP Breakfast during the 92^nd National Exchange Club Annual Convention on July 23, 2010 in La Quinta, California.

Awards will be presented to the top clubs in both the “50 members +” and the “fewer than 50 members” categories. Each category recognizes projects related to a local Exchange Club Center, as well as projects not related to a center. The CARE Award application form is available online at www.nationalexchangeclub.org (in Member Area/Forms & Awards) or you may request one by calling your National Headquarters. Each club that returns a CARE Award nomination form to the Foundation by the deadline will automatically receive an official CARE Award banner patch. Show you CARE by submitting your club’s application by the May 31, 2010 deadline!

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Thank you for all you do for Exchange, and in support of our Foundation. We encourage you to ask questions and learn more. Please do not hesitate to contact me at 909-758-0857 or rdgordon@pngusa.net; or Interim Executive Director, Karen Askew at kaskew@nationalexchangeclub.org or 800-816-4570. And please visit our websites at www.exchangeclubfoundation.org and www.preventchildabuse.com.

Yours, in Exchange,