Catalogue Milestones: 2012

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Spur Local

By Marie LeBlanc, Community Partnerships Coordinator

After looking back over the past ten years, the Catalogue is excited to reflect on our last year (2012!) and the exciting accomplishments that we’ve seen in the past twelve months.

In 2012, the Catalogue counted over 100 individuals and 20 corporations as supporters of the Catalogue initiative — partners invested in our mission of connecting caring citizens with worthy community causes across the Greater Washington region. Among these were two new corporate portal partners, including our first university partner.

The Catalogue expanded its full-time staff in 2012, to include a Community Partnerships Coordinator, in addition to the Executive Assistant to the President, who started in 2011. The team of four (plus a webmaster and part-time social media coordinator) works closely together to spread the word about Catalogue nonprofits and strength the Catalogue nonprofit community.

Finally, in 2012 the Catalogue passed the $19 million mark for total dollars raised for Catalogue nonprofits since 2002. This is a significant milestone for us, and we’re looking forward to celebrating ten years of the Catalogue’s success at our annual event — Inspiration to Action — next week. While we’re proud of the accomplishments behind us, we hope to increase those successes exponentially in the decade to come. We hope you’ll join us in the effort.

Catalogue Milestones: 2011

Posted on November 19, 2012 by Julia Cain

As we approach our celebration of the 10th Catalogue for Philanthropy, we look back to see how the Catalogue has grown and evolved.

Just one more year and then … we’re at this one! Let’s look at what was new in 2011:

– The Catalogue’s corporate portal, Community Connections, launched with five beta partners — bringing giving and volunteering into the workplace every day of the year. Community Connections offers an interactive medium that facilitates engagement for employees who want to attend events, volunteer, donate, or get more deeply involved in philanthropic activities. Learn more right this way.

– Speaking of connections, the Washington City Paper teamed up for the first time with Catalogue for a December Giving Guide (“Give it Up, DC!“) that reached 72,000 people. The partnership will continue in 2012 and we’re looking forward to the second issue. Keep an eye out!

And remember: our tenth anniversary celebration and Catalogue launch is coming soon …

Catalogue Milestones: 2010

Posted on November 13, 2012 by Spur Local

By Marie LeBlanc, Community Partnerships Coordinator

As we approach our celebration of the 10th Catalogue for Philanthropy, we look back to see how the Catalogue has grown and evolved.

The Catalogue’s review team is a staple of the work we do — providing the knowledge and expertise needed to determine which small charities truly are “one of the best.” From 55 in 2007, the review team grew to 100 in 2010 — and brought together individuals from foundations, corporate giving programs, giving circles, government agencies, and peer nonprofits.

2010 was also a landmark year for the Catalogue in terms of dollars raised. In our eighth year, Catalogue recorded over $2.8 million dollars raised by our nonprofits — a significant number, despite continuing economic challenges across the country.

Veterans Day

Posted on November 12, 2012 by Julia Cain

Each year, on the eleventh day of the eleventh month, we pause — as a nation, and as a people — to pay tribute to you. To thank you. To honor you, the heroes, over the generations, who have served this country of ours with distinction. […] Today, a proud nation expresses our gratitude. But we do so mindful that no ceremony or parade, no hug or handshake is enough to truly honor that service. For that, we must do more. For that, we must commit — this day and every day — to serving you as well as you’ve served us.

— President Obama, 11/11/12, Arlington National Cemetery

Today, learn about several Catalogue nonprofits dedicated to servicemembers, veterans, and their families:

– Comfort for America’s Uniformed Services (CAUSE): ensures that recuperating service members have opportunities for recreation and social interaction.

– Operation Homefront DC Metro Chapter: acts as a problem-solver and facilitator to provide swift emergency assistance: goods, financial aid, and skilled hands-on support.

– Yellow Ribbon Fund: supplies the personal services that government programs don’t cover with the help of over 1,200 volunteers.

On The Trail

Posted on November 5, 2012 by Julia Cain

“The great thing for me, now, is that writing has become more and more interesting. Not just as a craft but as a way into things that are not described. It’s a thing of discovering. That’s when writing is really working. You’re on the trail of something and you don’t quite know what it is.”

— American writer, director, and actor Sam Shepard, born today in 1943

Unfold in the Dream

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Julia Cain

“Everybody is different — even writers. You have to learn how to use your energy and not squander it. In the writing process, the more a story cooks, the better. The brain works for you even when you are at rest. I find dreams particularly useful. I myself think a great deal before I go to sleep and the details sometimes unfold in the dream.”

— British novelist Doris Lessing, born today in 1919

As Memory Is

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Julia Cain

It is useful to remember that history is to the nation as memory is to the individual. As persons deprived of memory become disoriented and lost, not knowing where they have been and where they are going, so a nation denied a conception of the past will be disabled in dealing with its present and its future. […]

History is a doomed enterprise that we happily pursue because of the thrill of the hunt, because exploring the past is such fun, because of the intellectual challenges involved, because a nation needs to know its own history. Or so we historians insist. Because in the end, a nation’s history must be both the guide and the domain not so much of its historians as its citizens.

— historian Arthur Meier Schlesinger, Jr., born today in 1917

In The Closeness

Posted on October 9, 2012 by Julia Cain

[…] Now sets the weary moon upon its slack seabed
Now the bursts of laughter quiet down, and even the storyteller
Nods his head like a child on his mother’s back
The dancers’ feet grow heavy, and heavy, too,
Come the alternating voices of singers.

Now the stars appear and the Night dreams
Leaning on that hill of clouds, dressed in its long, milky pagne.
The roofs of the huts shine tenderly. What are they saying
So secretly to the stars? Inside, the fire dies out
In the closeness of sour and sweet smells. […]

— excerpt from “Night in Sine”
Leopold Sedar Senghor, poet & president of Senegal, born today in 1906

Sound of Music

Posted on October 1, 2012 by Julia Cain

… I go to the hills
When my heart is lonely
I know I will hear
What I’ve heard before
My heart will be blessed,
With the sound of music
And I’ll sing once more.

— “The Sound of Music” by Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II;
made famous by Julie Andrews, who was born today in 1935

In the singing spirit now? Learn more about the great orchestras and musical nonprofits in Catalogue’s network this morning.

Catalogue Milestones: 2003

Posted on September 25, 2012 by Julia Cain

Good morning, Catalogue friends! We are looking forward to our 10th anniversary and launch event, coming up on December 3.

So to start celebrating both that anniversary and our network of awesome local nonprofits, we’ll be counting down the 10 weeks to December 3 right here — and chatting a bit about several “Catalogue Milestones” from each year, each week.

Let’s start from the beginning: 2003, the first year of the Catalogue …

– The 1st print Catalogue for Philanthropy, focused on DC charities, is mailed to 30,000 high net worth individuals in the greater Washington region
– The 1st Catalogue engages 20 reviewers and 3 community partners: Harman, Meyer, and Cafritz Foundations
– 250 people celebrate the launch of the 1st Catalogue at Shakespeare Theatre Lansburgh Theatre
– The Catalogue team includes 2 staff members; 1 corporate sponsor supports the Catalogue

We’d also like to give an extra shout-out to the two nonprofits that both appeared in the 1st Catalogue and will appear in the 10th:

– Dance Place: “is a hub of activity where a 40-week presenting season, a bustling dance school, and a neighborhood cultural center thrive on each others’ energy.”
– Healthy Babies Project: ” aims to reduce the rates of infant death and low birth weight and provide comprehensive and structured health, prenatal, and childbirth education services.”

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