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Category Archives: Events

Around Town: November 20-21

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It’s almost Thanksgiving, friends! So there is really no better time to express our thanks for our communities and give something back to our local non-profits. And this weekend offers some great (and fun) opportunities to do just that. Check it out:

Saturday, November 20

* 23rd Annual Help the Homeless Walkathon: The National Mall will host the largest walk to benefit the homeless in the nation and no less than seven Catalogue non-profits will take part. Definitely consider signing up and choosing one of these great organizations as your beneficiary: Carpenter’s Shelter, L’Arche Greater Washington, Miriam’s Kitchen, Pathways to Housing DC, Samaritan Inns, The Dwelling Place, and Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless. And you can sign up right here! Continue reading →

Around Town: November 12-13

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Happy Friday, Washington! Don’t forget: we have a newly-announced 2010-2011 Catalogue class, so be sure to hop over to our main page and learn more about them. They are an incredible group. Also don’t forget: we have plenty of events coming up from an array of our non-profits and the best way to learn about them is to get involved:

Saturday, November 13

9:30 AM — Tutor Training: Basic Literacy Training (Literary Council of Northern Virginia): Looking to combine your love for books and service? Become a LCNV tutor! Training starts this weekend and you can download an application here.

10:00 AM — Free Clay Handbuilding Class (Capitol Hill Arts Workshop): Families and students of all ages are invited to experiment with clay and create their own pots. The class is just one part of ARTdays, a series of free classes and concerts for all families.

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Inspiration to Action …

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… is coming to the Harman Center for the Arts! Today marks our 8th Annual Catalogue Kick-Off and we are psyched to introduce our newest class of high-impact non-profits.

We’re in full-on event-preparation mode here at the Catalogue, so this likely will not be my longest blog post. But suffice it to say that we are pretty pumped for tomorrow. We’ll be welcoming more than 500 guests from around the Greater Washington area, honoring our new and re-featured non-profits, and showcasing the winners of our 2010 Enterprise Awards and Power of 8 video contest. We are so looking forward to a keynote address by Ted Leonsis (Founder and Chairman of Monumental Sports & Entertainment) and some killer performances from Joy of Motion and City Year DC.

Check back for some event coverage — and for the 2010/2011 Catalogue for Philanthropy!

Around Town: November 6-7

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Welcome to November, Greater Washington! Who doesn’t like umbrella-reversing wind and freezing rain? Lucky for you, our non-profits offer some wonderfully entertaining ways to escape the cold. A day in a beautiful gallery or a night at the theatre are great ways to start the month:

Saturday, November 6

10:00 AM — Heart of L’Arche Tour (L’Arche of Greater Washington DC): Take a one-hour tour, meet core people and board members, and hear from a family whose life has been touched by L’Arche. Get to the heart of it all!

3:00 PM — The Best Haunted House Ever (Encore Stage & Studio): Catch an afternoon performance of this hair-raising tale at The Children’s Theatre. Think deliciously scary, but not too scary. Performances run through November 7. Full schedule here and tickets right here.

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Around Town: October 29-31

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Happy Friday, Greater Washington. And more importantly, Happy Halloween! In between encounters with your friendly neighborhood ghosts and goblins, you should consider celebrating with our great non-profits — visiting a haunting house or dancing Halloween-style in Dupont are also great follow-ups to rallies on the Mall.

Friday, October 29

7:00 PM-9:00 PM — Thriller on H Street (Joy of Motion Dance Center): learn the moves and dance under the stars on H Street NE. Moonwalk contests and door prizes are also involved. Seriously, need I say more?

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Around Town: October 23-24

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Coming this weekend to a non-profit near you …

Saturday, October 23

8:00 AM-2:00 PM — DC Stop Modern Slavery Walk (Polaris Project): join thousands on the National Mall as they raise awareness of human trafficking and funds for organizations working to end it. Register here!

10:00 AM-noon — West End Walking Tour (Coalition for Smarter Growth): take a morning walking tour from Downtown to Georgetown and explore how community involvement has shaped the neighborhood, plus check out Francis Field and Michael Jordan’s old haunts!

8:00 PM — Dance Performance (Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Co): catch the premiere of “Charlie Chan and the Mystery of Love” and leap into 1930s Hollywood through a multi-media dance exploration set to period music and the spoken word poetry of Wilma Consul. — SOLD OUT

8:00 PM — Masterworks 2 Concert (Fairfax Symphony Orchestra): head over to the George Mason University Center for the Arts for a beautiful evening of Sibelius, Mozart, and Bartok. Tickets right here.

Saturday, October 24

3:00 PM-6:00 PM — The World’s Largest Indoor Picnic (A Wider Circle): for real! Kids can enjoy a giant Wii screen, Moonbounce, and miniature golf course, while adults can stop by the driving range or silent auction, plus there will be plenty of good food all afternoon.

3:00 PM-6:00 PM — Voice of the River: The Paintings of Leea Baltes (Potomac Conservancy): experience the serenity of our natural world in this brand new exhibit of acrylic paintings at River Center Lock 8.

7:00 PM — 8:00 PM — Dance Performance (Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Co): do not miss your chance to see one of the first performances of “Charlie Chan and the Mystery of Love.” Friday and Saturday night shows sold out before I could type this. Tickets this way.

Have a great weekend and hop over to Happenings for extra information.

Companies for Causes

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A few times, yesterday included, I touched on the application (or imposition?) of for-profit business models on non-profit organizations. Should non-profits take the lead from more traditional businesses or are the two models incompatible? In the future, I would like to delve further into this question. But for now, I’d like to raise a more specific one: can and do these two entities meet and talk about one another? In other words, do non-profits have a forum to discuss corporate partnerships and do corporations have one to discuss community outreach?

Enter Companies for Causes, whose aim is just that: bringing together medium-sized local businesses to brainstorm and launch philanthropic endeavours as well as entrepreneurial ones. Essentially, this effort will provide the network and resources for companies to expand their reach (and deepen their impact) in the Greater Washington community. Their first symposium is coming up next Wednesday, October 27. You can see the agenda here, sign up for more info, and check out these interviews:

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Around Town: October 16-17

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Have a great weekend, folks. And always feel free to send us an email or leave a comment if you’d like to report back on an event. We’d like to hear all about it!

Saturday, October 16: 8:00 AM — Macy’s Shop for a Cause (Carpenter’s Shelter): buy a $5 ticket to enjoy some cool all-day sales at Macy’s and 100% of ticket sales will benefit Carpenter’s Shelter.

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Around Town: October 9-10

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Looking for an adventure over the long weekend? How about several adventures? Check out these great volunteer opportunities, as well as fall-themed festivals (hay rides!), with our non-profits:

Saturday, October 9

9:00-11:30 AM – Fun Run (Latin American Montessori Bilingual Charter School): take your pick from a 10K, 5K, or 1 mile and run, walk, or push a stroller through Rock Creek Park; all proceeds will go to a new wing at the school.

9:30-4:30 PM – Volunteer Training (ASHA for Women): learn about current laws and social services affecting victims of domestic violence and find out how you can become an advocate.

Noon-12:30 PM – Sea Revels @ Magical Montgomery (Washington Revels): swing by this busy festival in downtown Silver Spring and catch a nautical song and dance performance, commemorating men and women of the sea.

1:00-6:00 PM – Oktoberfest at Hard Bargain Farm (Alice Ferguson Foundation): celebrate the season and support the Foundation’s education programs all at once; the afternoon will feature Barvarian dance, German cuisine, hay rides, and a silent auction.

2:00-3:30 PM – Volunteer Orientation (For Love of Children): both new and retuning volunteers are invited to learn more about tutoring programs and helping children succeed in school.

8:00 PM – Velocity DC Dance Festival (CityDance Ensemble): take a dancing tour around the world with The Washington Ballet, CityDance Ensemble, The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, Furia Flamenca, Urban Artistry, a DJ, and many more (really!).

Sunday, October 10

Noon-3:00 PM – BSF 38th Annual School Fair (Black Student Fund): stop by the largest independent school fair in the region and meet representatives from over fifty schools, all ready to answer questions about testing, admissions, and financial aid.

Enjoy the three-day weekend and catch you on Tuesday!

In the News (More) …

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Greetings! I wanted to focus on this post from Greater Greater Washington yesterday, so I moved the other news items-of-interest to today. Besides, why have a blogging pattern in place if you don’t break from it more or less immediately?

Game Changer? Gates Foundation Funds ABC News: an interesting one! The New York Times reported yesterday that, for the first time, the ABC network has accepted a cash grant from a foundation. The Gates Foundation will supply $1.5 million, which ABC News will supplement with $4.5 million of its own funds, “to back a yearlong project investigating global health problems and their potential solutions.” Any thoughts on this? Would you call it a “game changer?” (Two words that I have been hearing quite a lot recently …)

DC sheltering many homeless people from outside city: Washington Post reported last night that “about 10% of families receiving emergency shelter in the District live elsewhere” and questioned what effect this may have on the District’s human services budget.

Dancing With the Board – Against the Grain: Rick Moyers had a great piece over at the Chronicle for Philanthropy on Tuesday, regarding the Executive/Board relationship; he writes, “It’s complicated. It requires negotiation, practice, and constant attention. And when it works, the results can be beautiful.”

New Tools Available to Grant Seekers: the Foundation Center in New York has started GrantSpace, an online resource and “one-stop shop for grant seekers worldwide to get information they need.”

keeping the conversation going: check out Philanthropy 2173 for a very cool post about “attending” the SOCAP 10 conference from afar via Twitter, archived video, blogs, texts, and so on — “another great example of how this works when it works.”

Did we miss anything? Post more news items right here!