Stories
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Board Leadership Boot Camp: Helping Nonprofits Thrive
Read more: Board Leadership Boot Camp: Helping Nonprofits ThriveAbout 4 years ago, Michael Williams began volunteering for Executive Service Corps (ESC), helping them provide affordable consulting and capacity building services to nonprofits in the Triangle. Since 1987, ESC’s 72 volunteer consultants do pro bono work provide support nonprofits in Chatham, Durham, Orange, and Wake counties. Volunteers come from a variety of management backgrounds,…
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The Art of Giving
Read more: The Art of GivingAbout four years ago, Virginia Lee was in the locker room at her local gym and saw a flyer that intrigued her. The Art of Giving (TAG) was inviting women to join their philanthropic efforts and provide grants to support local nonprofit organizations. “I was at a point where I wanted to get more involved…
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A Mother’s Honor Becomes a Community’s Gift
Read more: A Mother’s Honor Becomes a Community’s GiftGlioblastoma. Diagnosis of this particularly aggressive form of brain cancer shattered their world in 2004. The next year, they said goodbye to Caroline—a wife, mom of three, daughter, sister, and friend. Today, this family is making a difference in the lives of others to honor the one they loved and lost. A PhD medical geneticist,…
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Banding Together for the Trees
Read more: Banding Together for the Trees“I believe that you just cannot do work on environmental issues at the local level without the community [being] involved,” says Elaine Chiosso, Executive Director of the Haw River Assembly (HRA). Her organization has spent six years advocating for better environmental protections to be required in Chatham Park, a 7000+ acre planned development community that…
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Campaign for Grade-Level Reading: Wake County Update
Read more: Campaign for Grade-Level Reading: Wake County UpdateDuring the 2018-19 school year, WAKE Up and Read’s book drive program distributed more than 138,000 books at 13 schools, 17 childcare centers, and various community events during the spring and summer. That’s 6,800 students in the program’s schools, and 1,300 children in its childcare centers impacted across Wake County’s growing “literacy rich culture.” WAKE…
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Campaign for Grade-Level Reading: Orange County Update
Read more: Campaign for Grade-Level Reading: Orange County UpdateThe Orange County Campaign for Grade-Level Reading (OCCGLR) aims to develop childhood readiness and reading by third grade, and, like its counterparts in Chatham, Durham, and Wake Counties, further seeks to address the disparities that exist in learning and reading for children from communities of color. In its early planning stages and before its invitation in…
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Tools for Involving the Next Generation: the Donor-advised Fund
Read more: Tools for Involving the Next Generation: the Donor-advised FundMy clients don’t always come to see me with philanthropy foremost on their mind. Of course, sometimes they do, but often their focus isn’t on philanthropy. Instead, they have pressing family issues to cover that are a higher priority. Because of this, as their advisor, I believe that it’s often wise for me to bring…
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Top Ten Responsibilities of a Nonprofit Board Chair
Read more: Top Ten Responsibilities of a Nonprofit Board ChairGood nonprofit Board Chairs are made, not born. Here are ten practices to achieve best outcomes from the Board you are leading, written by Chuck ReCorr. Every Board Member participates, but no one dominates. Chairs must facilitate the dialogue, going so far, at times, to ask each Board Member for…
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Helping People Finish What They Started
Read more: Helping People Finish What They StartedOn the long drive home together from the beach, Martin Nystrom staved off the usual fatherly lectures. Instead, he enjoyed his son’s company, just the two of them. Joseph, age 24, controlled the radio, and pried at his father to share his appreciation for country music. He worked his way from Tyler Farr to Dierks…
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Winning the Lottery: Connecting with Barker French
Read more: Winning the Lottery: Connecting with Barker FrenchW. Barker French is perfectly at ease sitting in a blue plastic school chair at East Durham Children’s Initiative (EDCI). His comfort is understandable; for the past eight years, French has spent lot of time with EDCI, volunteering first as a founding member and now as Board Chair of the organization. French and his EDCI…
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The Product of Opportunity
Read more: The Product of OpportunityHe seems to own any room he enters. With his boisterous and booming voice, “Cheshire cat” smile, and colorful suits, without knowing Farad Ali, you might assume that he was born into a privileged life. But you’d be wrong. “I didn’t know I was poor, but I was poor,” Ali said. “I was born into…
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A Legacy of Giving: Tips for Family Philanthropy
Read more: A Legacy of Giving: Tips for Family Philanthropy“Hi Nana and Grandpa,” the email began, “After some serious consideration, I would like to donate my $500 to the Ocean Conservancy.” Nana and Grandpa, local residents who started a donor-advised fund when they moved to the area 14 years ago, were elated to receive the note from their oldest grandson. In response to their…