Development Committee Minutes

April 28, 2009

 

Meeting: Monday April 27 6pm

 

Attending: Walter Wright, Chair; Mira Allen; Mary Ann Kearns; Felicia Sullivan; Jason Woodward; Y Sok Woodward; and guests Joe Sexton and Malka Schraga-Wiesner

 

Minutes from April 13, 2009 approved.

 

We received a second CTC VISTA grant for 2009-2010. The focus of the project is fundraising and grants. The incoming CTC VISTA volunteer will work with the Executive Director and the Development Committee.

 

The Graham Foundation declined to fund our Lowell Soundscape project. We will follow up to see how we might improve our proposal. 

 

Mary Ann and Mira will post job descriptions for a Marketing Intern and a Curatorial Intern on the WIKI. 

 

Walter circulated a list of local bank contacts. We have a name and a telephone Eastern, Enterprise, MA-COM FCU and Sovereign. We have a website for Bank of America Corporate Philanthropy. Mira thinks that we are outside their ‘footprint’ of eligibility. I logged on to their site and passed the eligibility quiz. Jeanne D’Arc CU,  Lowell Five and Washington Savings have phone numbers.

 

Walter collected foundation forms. Here’s a breakdown –

 

Name	Deadline	Average grant
BBF Foundation	Letter none	unknown
Bessie Pappas Charitable Foundation	Letter Sept 30	$5000
Carlisle Foundation	Letter none	$1500
Linden Foundation	Letter due June 1	$10,000
McCallum Family Foundation	Letter none	$15,000
NBT Charitable Trust	Letter none	$200,000
Stoico/FIRSTFED	Letter none	<= $5001
Stoico/FIRSTFED	Letter due May 31	> $5000
Sovereign Bank Foundation	Letter due June 1	unknown
Tomforhrde Foundation	Letter due May 15	$5000

 

Additional grants to check out add to list:

Lowell Cultural Council

Mass Cultural Council

Mass Humanities Foundation

Parker Foundation, not listed for 2009-2010, we become eligible again in 2010-2011

National Endowment for the Arts

National Endowment for the Humanities

Stevens Foundation (Josh Binder is contact)

Community Development Block Grants (via city, consider Econ Dev category)

NAMAC (capacity grant)

Greater Lowell Community Foundation (capacity grant)

Warhol Foundation

 

We should look to orgs with similar content for who funds them.  For example:

Zietgeist (and the other regional orgs on their site)

Mobius

Walker [MN]

Eyebeam [NYC]

Warhol Museum? [Pittsburgh]

Soap Factory [Pittsburgh]

Whitney Biennial [NYC]

Expertimental TV Center [NY]

... other NAMAC member orgs

 

Felicia was unsure when the NEA Presenting Organization grants were due. However with a new government she suggested that new opportunities may be available. We need to follow up with NEA/NEH.

 

Jason introduced Joe Sexton who discussed grant writing basics. Joe had sent us a Powerpoint presentation but instead of rereading through the slides, he talked generally about grant writing and specifically about grant writing in Lowell. His main points were 1) read the instructions, 2) be persistent, 3) follow-up and resubmit, 4) it gets easier over time, and 5) check state and government opportunities regularly. He suggested that we develop a Strategic Plan before seeking funding … otherwise we risk ‘losing focus’ and straying from our mission. Felicia indicated that we have spelled out our mission pretty clearly and that we do plan strategically. However we don’t have a Strategic Plan on paper with goals and actions spelled out. Something to think about …

 

Meeting ended at 7:30pm.

 

Next meeting: Monday May 11 6:30pm, Molka will discuss sponsorship.

 

Todos:

- All, if you have not, get your packet of foundations to Walter

- Felicia to forward NEA/NEH info to Walter

- Mary Ann to post job description for Curatorial Intern to the WIKI

- Mira to post job description for Marketing Intern to the WIKI

- Mira to follow up with the Graham Foundation

- Mira to follow up with Bank of America application

- Jason to meet with Malka to go over our budget for 2009-2010

- Walter coordinate packet data and get back to everyone before next meeting

- Walter prepare report for the next board meeting Sunday May 3, 12noon