Living United

December 5 is New Date for Awards of Nonprofit Excellence

The United Way Awards of Nonprofit Excellence, originally scheduled for October 29, but postponed due to Hurricane Sandy, have been rescheduled for Wednesday, December 5 at the Boars Head Inn. 

We ask that everyone who RSVP'd for the first date, please confirm your attendance (or now send a regret) for the new date. Here is a link to the RSVP card with the new date. You can fill it out, save it to your computer and then send it as an attachment to Leigha Rae at [email protected] before November 30. If you are simply confirming your attendance, please call Leigha at 434-972-1708.

 If you were not able to attend on the original date, but are now able to attend, please use the RSVP card.

We are loooking forward to celebrating the accomplishments of our finalists, and announcing this year's recipients.

 

Posted by: Kim Connolly

United Way Excellence Awards Dinner POSTPONED

Thanks to Hurricane Sandy and the forecast wind gusts of up to 60 mph later today, the United Way Awards of Nonprofit Excellence Dinner scheduled for tonight, October 29, at the Boars Head Inn, has been POSTPONED.

We will announce the new date as soon as possible.

Please stay safe.

 

Posted by: Kim Connolly

October 29 United Way Awards of Excellence Update

We are watching Hurricane Sandy very closely as it may impact our plans to hold the United Way Awards of Nonprofit Excellence tonight at the Boars Head Inn.

As of 6 a.m, Monday, October 29, the dinner is still ON. If the Boars Head Inn loses power today, we will postpone the dinner to another date.

Please bookmark this blog and check back during the day for updates. If our office loses power, we will not be able to update our website, but can update this blog.

Posted by: Kim Connolly

Vice President of Marketing & Communications, United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area.

Celebrate Excellence in Local Nonprofits

Tomorrow is the last day to RSVP for the United Way Awards of Nonprofit Excellence next Monday, October 29 at the Boars Head Inn. Join us in recognizing, celebrating and promoting excellence in local nonprofit leaders and boards of directors.

Finalists for Excellence in Board Governance award: Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville, The Senior Center, and The Women's Initiative

Finalists for Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership award: Jacki Bryant, CYFS; Fay Painter, MS Society, Blue Ridge Chapter; Erika Viccellio, Charlottesville Free Clinic.

We are so fortunate to have such strength in our local nonprofit organizations. Help us shine a light on those who work so hard behind the scenes to make our community a better place to live.

 

Posted by: Kim Connolly

Nonprofit Volunteers, Boards and Governance in Charlottesville

This is a busy week for us.

Jessica Snyder, our Volunteer Center director, is finalizing all the United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring projects, with the final volunteer teams choosing their projects today.

Our annual board retreat is this Friday. It is a time to reflect and to plan. At last year’s board retreat, our board members self-selected which of our three impact teams they would serve on: School Readiness, Self-Sufficiency or Community Health. Board members invested a lot of time and energy this past year investigating the issues and unmet needs in our community relating to their specific impact areas. Our board members have already shown their commitment to positive change and are energized for further
action.

Speaking of good board governance, the deadline for nominations for our United Way Nonprofit Awards of Excellence, for leadership or board governance, is this Friday, September 7. Find more information and nominating guidelines here.

 

Posted by: Kim Connolly

Oh, What a Night! Celebrating Local Nonprofits and Staff.

We are experiencing post-event euphoria here at United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area. Last night was our  fifth annual United Way Awards of Nonprofit Excellence, and the evening was everything we could have  hoped for. Our board chair, Margery Daniel, and board member, the incomparable Jay James of NewsRadio 1070WINA, collaborated to engage the former Leadership Award recipients who were in the audience to tell their stories about what it means to work in the nonprofit field, and what it meant to be recognized for their work.  
Many thanks to Gordon Walker of JABA, Pat Smith of OAR/Jefferson Area Community Corrections, Peter Thompson of the Senior Center, and Chuck McElroy of WorkSource for being such good sports. 

Then it was on to Steve Krohn of Virginia National Bank, underwriter of the Excellence in Nonprofit Board Governance Award, and Governor Gerald Baliles, chair of the review panel for the award. He spoke at length about each finalist board: The Center for Nonprofit Excellence, PACEM and the Senior Center; and then announced that the 2011 recipient was the Center for Nonprofit Excellence.

Board chair Russell Willis Taylor graciously accepted the award on behalf of her board and the staff of CNE.

The United Way Award of Excellence in Nonprofit Staff Leadership was presented by Bob Foster, on behalf of Hantzmon Wiebel, and Renée Grisham, chair of the review panel. Renée gave the audience a wonderful overview of each finalist’s unique qualities and contributions to their organizations, clients and the community. We were inspired by the work and dedication of Claudette Greene, Shelter Director for PACEM; Ethan Tate, Director of Volunteer Programs at Building Goodness Foundation; and Debbie Taylor, Director of Operations for JAUNT. Renée noted how hard it was to choose just one recipient when all were so deserving, yet ultimately she revealed that the 2011 recipient of the United Way Award of Excellence in Nonprofit Staff Leadership was Claudette Greene of PACEM.  Claudette’s acceptance speech was heartfelt and uplifting.

More can be read about each finalist in the program book.

Photos are credited to Tom Daly.

Many thanks to the wonderful staff of United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area for their many hours of preparation in ensuring a smoothly run event, and to the staff of the Boars Head Inn for their outstanding service.

If you know of an outstanding nonprofit board, or an outstanding nonprofit staff member, we hope you will consider nominating them next year. This event is a wonderful opportunity to shine the light on the people whose mission is to help others.

 

Submitted by Kim Connolly

Preparing to Honor Nonprofit Excellence

The United Way Awards of Nonprofit Excellence dinner is tomorrow night, June , at the Boars Head Inn. For the next two days, several of us in our office will be absorbed in making sure the final details are taken care of so that the evening can go off without a hitch.

The Awards of Excellence were created five years ago to recognize, celebrate, promote and inspire excellence in nonprofit leadership and board governance. For five years, we have honored outstanding nonprofit boards of directors - those dedicated volunteers who give of their time and skills to oversee the execution of a nonprofit's mission.

We have also honored executive directors of local nonprofits who have shown outstanding business acumen and leadership. Invariably, those recipients have made the observation in their acceptance speeches that they would not be standing there if not for their wonderful staff members. So this year, we revised the award criteria and renamed it the Nonprofit Staff Leadership Award, so that staff members, rather than executive directors, could have their leadership and dedication recognized publicly.

This year's finalists for Excellence in Nonprofit Board Governance are the boards of directors of:

The Center for Nonprofit Excellence

PACEM

The Senior Center

 

The 2011 finalists for Excellence in Nonprofit Staff Leadership are:

Claudette Greene, Shelter Director, PACEM

Ethan Tate, Director of Volunteer Programs, Building Goodness Foundation

Debbie Taylor, Director of Operations, JAUNT

We are looking forward to an evening of celebrating the spirit of caring and giving of our wonderful community.

 

Posted by Kim Connolly

National Volunteer Week, Taxes and Websites

This is a very busy week for us. First of all, it is National Volunteer Week, and so we will be making every effort to recognize and thank not only our own volunteers, but all volunteers in our community.

Today we debut our new and improved United Way Volunteer Center website, BeAVolunteer.info. Check it  out. It makes searching for a volunteer opportunity very simple, and help narrow your search by organization, type of cause, age of volunteer, days of the week, skills and so on. For nonprofits, posting volunteer needs is easier than ever, and they can get emails about volunteers interested in their opportunities.

 Tomorrow, April 12, is the United Way Student Service Awards ceremony. Local teens from area public and private high schools will be recognized for their outstanding community service. If sad and depressing local and national news has got you down, we encourage you to come to the Sanctuary at The Haven at First and Market Streets in downtown Charlottesville tomorrow at 5:30. You will be encouraged and inspired by these youth, and will leave feeling very positive about the potential of this generation.

Tomorrow is also the deadline for nominations for our United Way Awards of Excellence, recognizing outstanding nonprofit boards of directors and staff members.

Amy Eastlack of SuzySaid is coming to our office on Wednesday to train several us on the nuances of Constant Contact so that we can create email newsletters that are well designed and targeted. We have several new staff members who will benefit from hands-on learning with Amy, who uses the program on a daily basis. Thank you, Amy, for volunteering to help us.

Finally, it is the last week of tax season, so Pamela Frank, who coordinates the efforts of the Thomas Jefferson Area EITC Coalition, is busy orchestrating the efforts of all the volunteers manning our 10 free tax preparation sites and preparing for all those last-minute filers.

We may have to have extra chocolate on hand this week for our already hard-working staff!

 

Posted by Kim Connolly

A Charlottesville Nonprofit's New Years Eve Reflections

It is December 31 and United Way-Thomas Jefferson Area seems to be one of the few local nonprofits that is open this week. We have had people walk in looking for a source of food and many callers needing help with utility bills, health issues, and more.

We have also had people walk in to give us donations, both for the Santa Fund and for the United Way. The staff members who are in this week are using the time to get caught up, clean up and prepare for January initiatives.

January is National Mentoring Month, and we are once again partnering with MichieHamlett Attorneys at Law, NBC29, Monticello Media radio stations, The Daily Progress and the Omni Hotel  for a month-long awareness campaign of the need for mentors and tutors for our at-risk kids. On January 27 we are holding our third annual Mentor. Tutor. Pass it on! volunteer recruitment fair, with 14 local nonprofits that work with kids participating.

January is also the month when people receive their W-2 forms from their employers and start filing their taxes. That means that the Thomas Jefferson Area Earned Income Tax Credit Coalition has been gearing up all month to begin offering free tax preparation services beginning January 12. Beginning next week we are offering employer workshops through the Fluvanna, Greene and Louisa County Chambers of Commerce. We have also been preparing awareness campaigns to alert people about the free tax preparation services.

Although the Santa Fund, our partnership with The Daily Progress and WINA, is associated with Christmas, the funds raised actually help local school kids all year long, AND the fundraising campaign runs through mid-January. All the school systems report increased numbers of kids needing assistance this year.

We are looking forward to a 2011 in which donors continue to be generous so that we are able to provide services that are so demonstrably needed, and also to be able to meet the grant requests from local nonprofit programs that are proven, well-run and effective at meeting health and human service needs.

The new year will still require local nonprofits to run lean budgets and critically assess their programs in terms of effectiveness and local need. Collaborations and partnerships  should be encouraged and boards should be fully engaged in providing expertise and guidance.

Who will receive our United Way Student Service Awards in 2011? What do we have up our sleeve for our fifth annual United Way Nonprofit Awards of Excellence, and who will be recognized for outstanding leadership and business acumen in the nonprofit sector?

And finally, 2011 is the 20^th anniversary of the United Way Laurence E. Richardson Day of Caring. We’ll have a new leader of our Volunteer Center who we will support, encourage and nurture in this important role, in which the Day of Caring is merely the most visible responsibility.

We look forward to the challenges and anticipate the successes of 2011. With your help, we can continue to strengthen our community.

Wishing all a healthy, stable and encouraging 2011.

 

Posted by Kim Connolly

Honoring Excellence

On Wednesday night we celebrated the good work and tremendous impact that local nonprofit organizations have on our community by shining a spotlight on agency leaders and boards of directors who do an outstanding job of furthering their missions. And in keeping with the high regard we have for these people, we asked Alma Powell, Chair of America’s Promise Alliance, to come to Charlottesville to speak about the importance of nonprofits working together to advance the common good.

You could have heard a pin drop as Mrs. Powell spoke to an audience of more than 200 nonprofit and business leaders, staff and volunteers at the United Way Awards of Excellence dinner at the Boar’s Head Inn’s new Pavilion. Her passion for helping our youth and her deeply held conviction that helping our young people succeed should be our most urgent priority came through clearly, though delivered in soft and measured tones that held us rapt.

Leonard Sandridge introduced the Excellence in Nonprofit Board Governance nominees: Children, Youth & Family Services, Piedmont CASA and WorkSource Enterprises. The 2009 award was presented to Piedmont CASA’s board of directors, and was graciously accepted by their chair, Louise Dudley. Many thanks to Virginia National Bank for underwriting the award, which includes a $2,500 donation to the honoree organization, plus $500 to each finalist.

Up next was the Excellence in Nonprofit Leadership award, presented by Jim Haden, and Underwritten by Hantzmon Wiebel, with the same donation amounts going to those organizations. Finalists were Alex Gulotta, Executive Director of the Legal Aid Justice Center, Charles (Chuck) McElroy of WorkSource Enterprises, and Erika Viccellio of the Charlottesville Free Clinic. Chuck McElroy was honored with this year’s award, and gave a wonderful heartfelt speech about his organization, its staff, volunteers and clients.

Thank you also to State Farm Insurance for underwriting the event. It was their corporate support of America’s Promise Alliance that helped us bring Mrs. Powell to Charlottesville. We hope we will see her here again.

Both Leonard and Jim commented on how hard it was for the review panels to choose among the nominees as all do great work. We hope that last night served to honor them all.

Posted by Kim Connolly.