HOW YOU CAN HELP US MATCH $100,000 OF A GRANT FROM THE HEWLETT FOUNDATION:
Over the past several years, the Communications Network has enjoyed considerable growth, more than tripling our membership. We’ve also put on back-to-back sold-out conferences, and participation in other events, such as our frequent webinars, continues to grow.
To the board and staff of the Communications Network, and hopefully to you, these are strong indicators of the growing importance of communications to the field of philanthropy and a strong desire by practitioners to have access to other communicators as well as ideas about how to continue to excel at this work.
Now we have a chance to take the Network to its next level, thanks to the support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The foundation has just awarded us a three-year, $150,000 matching grant. Because the foundation is interested in ensuring that the Network continues to bring in new supporters, it has agreed to match new donations dollar for dollar up to $50,000 a year for the next two years.
You can help us meet this match in several ways:
--Consider joining other foundations that have taken leadership in our field by making a grant to the Network. This type of support is incredibly helpful in furthering our efforts, and larger grants also cover memberships for multiple staff members from your organization. We’d be happy to discuss options and work with you how a grant could best be structured to meet your foundation's needs.
--It also is important for us to maintain our level of membership as a way of encouraging funders – both past and prospective – to support us. Having a strong, robust and increasing membership is one of the strongest signals we can send to funders about the importance of the Network. Although we will be sending membership renewal emails shortly to current members, you don’t have to wait. You can renew for 2010 today by clicking here or by completing the attached form.
--You can help us find new members. Dues from each new member will count toward our match requirement. If you are not currently a Network member, and would like to join, please visit our website or use the attached form. Also, if you know people who you think would make good members, please urge them to join or send us their contact information.
The future of the Communications Network is as much in your hands as it is in ours. As a network, our strength lies, more than anything else, in our members. As much as the Network strives to serve our members directly, our members also serve each other by sharing their ideas, asking questions of each other, and working together to advance the practice of communications in philanthropy.
We look forward to your continued support and offer our thanks in advance for your help in enabling us to meet this latest and very exciting opportunity.
If you have any questions as well as ideas you want to discuss, please contact me.
Sincerely,
Bruce Trachtenberg
Executive Director