The Loop

Those of us working in the nonprofit sector often bemoan the difficulty of staying on the cutting edges of the information and approaches that will help us be more effective in serving our communities. Lack of time and limited funds often seem like difficult barriers to overcome.

The Community Foundation used the occasion of its annual fall celebration of giving on Nov. 19 to shine the spotlight on a compelling initiative growing right here in our community, the Fox Valley Memory Project. (view full program)

We have welcomed two new members to the Community Foundation staff. Heidi Dusek joins the staff as a community engagement manager. She will administer grant programs including capacity building grants for improving the effectiveness of nonprofits and arts and culture grants. She also will work with the Foundation’s affiliates in Chilton, Clintonville, Shawano and Waupaca. […]

Some people wonder what my husband, John, and I mean when we say that “we are all living with dementia.” We use this statement to indicate that nearly all persons in our community—regardless of age—know at least one individual who is experiencing the progressive memory loss and mental confusion that comes with Alzheimer’s disease or […]

The Fox Valley lost a true mover and shaker with the Oct. 31 passing of Joyce Bytof. That’s how I knew her from a distance through the years. An interview in May gave me a closer experience with this extraordinary woman. I saw beyond the successful businesswoman to an individual who was convinced her will […]

Where other people see problems in an inner city neighborhood, John McKnight sees assets. McKnight is a professor emeritus at Northwestern University, an author and co-creator of Asset Based Community Development. He visited the Fox Cities recently to check out Neighborhood Partners, a project that seeks to build on the assets of the central Appleton neighborhood […]

Residents of a central city Appleton neighborhood will have resources available to grow their own food, reduce their energy usage and renew their neighborhood through a partnership of nonprofits, funded by a $55,000 grant from the Environmental Sustainability Fund within the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region. 

“Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.” A.A. Milne You have heard the advice — plan ahead! Finally, after many years of working with other nonprofits, worrying about emergency situations we would regularly see and responding to requests for funding something […]

After attending the Council on Foundations’ Fall Conference for Community Foundations in San Diego last week with my colleague Shelly Leadley, our director of donor services, and 700 other people, we left with these key takeaways shared at one of the sessions on community leadership:

My coworker Rosie Sprangers and I recently attended an emotional presentation of iPads to eight amazing students from the Kaukauna Area School District. Why was it so special? The students have cognitive or developmental disabilities, and iPads help them communicate more effectively at school and home.