One Book One Island is a collaborative project of community partners and sponsors on Nantucket which seeks to promote reading, literacy and community by encouraging the entire population of Nantucket to read, discuss, and reflect on the same book. In addition, the project is designed to foster the importance of life-long learning for children and adults and to provide multiple opportunities for cultural enrichment in the community.  The first selection for 2015 is Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario. Based on the Los Angeles Times newspaper series that won two Pulitzer Prizes, this astonishing story puts a human face on the ongoing debate about immigration reform in the United States. Now a beloved classic, this page-turner about the power of family is a popular text in classrooms and a touchstone for communities across the country to engage in meaningful discussions about this essential American subject. Enrique’s Journey recounts the unforgettable quest of a Honduran boy looking for his mother, eleven years after she is forced to leave her starving family to find work in the United States. Braving unimaginable peril, often clinging to the sides and tops of freight trains, Enrique travels through hostile worlds full of thugs, bandits, and corrupt cops. But he pushes forward, relying on his wit, courage, hope, and the kindness of strangers. As Isabel Allende writes: “This is a twenty-first-century Odyssey. If you are going to read only one nonfiction book this year, it has to be this one.” Now updated with a new Epilogue and Afterword, photos of Enrique and his family, an author interview and more, this is a classic of contemporary America. There will be seven days of related events from February 2- February 8.  For a full schedule, book discussion questions and places where you can pick up a copy of the book, visit the One Book. One Island. page at nantucketatheneum.org.  

The Community Foundation for Nantucket is always looking for new ways to advocate, support, and convene for the more than 100 nonprofit organizations on our island.

 For the past two years, the Community Foundation has worked with several other nonprofits to look at Island-wide giving and donation trends, looking to see if legislative efforts could negatively impact our local charities.  Our Steering Committee has included representatives from the Atheneum, NHA, Maria Mitchell, NCF, access nantucket, Nantucket Public Schools, Boys & Girls Club and NCH.  Our hope in spearheading this new initiative is that Nantucket nonprofits will combine their voices in educating our community about the wonderful good works they do, and the challenges they face.

 As we begin 2015 and another year of philanthropy, we want to start by examining the current state of the nonprofit sector, not only on a national level, but also specific to Nantucket.  Nonprofit Finance Fund (nff.org) is conducting its seventh annual nationwide survey and we hope you will add your nonprofit’s voice to this collective action.

What is the Survey? 

  The survey, which is anonymous and takes about 10-15 minutes to fill out, collects data on challenges facing the nonprofit sector, as well as new and emerging trends. NFF’s Survey is one of the largest data-driven community organizing efforts in the social sector. We support the survey because NFF is committed to turning the survey results into action and making them available to everyone, through an online Survey Analyzer and other tools. Findings from NFF’s survey have been included in government testimony and policy recommendations, presented at dozens of conferences, and used to bring your challenges to life in new ways.


How does it work?

 Through the NFF, the Community Foundation has been given a dedicated survey data collection link for distribution to the nonprofit community on Nantucket.  Use of this dedicated survey link will take respondents to the comprehensive survey questions of NFF’s State of the Sector Survey, but will do so via a unique pathway that allows for those respondents’ data to be parsed separately from the broader set of national data. Data collection via the dedicated link will provide a window into the current dynamics and challenges that face the Nantucket nonprofit community as described by the nonprofit leaders themselves. This approach also allows for a comparison of local response data to that of national data to illustrate how the Nantucket nonprofit community’s self-reported environment is similar and/or different from nationally identified trends.

What are the benefits?

Here are just a few examples of how your Nantucket nonprofit and the Nantucket community  as a whole will benefit from your participation in this survey.

• result in or offer increased collaboration among our island nonprofits
• establish common grounds among similar nonprofits
• offer statistics and information on the economic impact of our island sector
• will allow us to assess the findings and improve upon our philanthropy tactics for the future

 How do I fill out the survey?

Please click on the link below to take the survey before it closes (in about a month). We encourage you to urge other Nantucket nonprofits to complete it as well. The more survey respondents, the more representative and useful the findings will be.

 http://fluidsurveys.com/surveys/nff/2015-state-of-the-sector-survey/?collector=143892

 NFF will analyze the results and distribute them to the community in early May.

 Thank you for all that you do.

The Nantucket Community Music Center’s mission  is to enrich the cultural life of the island by fostering and supporting music education and performance opportunities for young people and adults.  The Community Foundation for Nantucket is excited to promote  this winter music course which meets every Tuesday starting January 13  through March 10 and culminating with a musical performance event on March 14th. The course is called “Innovations in Improvised Music in the 20th Century” and features instructor Nigel Goss. The class will explore the history of jazz and improvised music and focus on the development of sounds and style from pre-blues and folk, through ragtime, swing, big bands, bebop/cool jazz, and the rock and roll’s influence in the 1970′s.  The class is free to the public and meets from 10 -11 in the parlor at 56 Centre St. What a great chance for us islanders to learn the history and joy of music in our lives.

The Nantucket specialty license plate is still available for pre-order here:

 www.nantucketlicenseplate.org

When MassDOT receives 1,500 paid applications, the plates will go into production. After the first 1,500 plates are delivered, the specialty license plates will be made available at RMV locations across Massachusetts. Today, over 1,400 applications have been received.

 The initial registration fee set by the state is $40, of which $12 goes to cover the state’s production cost of the plate and $28 returns to Nantucket. Note that this $28 is tax-deductible for the applicant. There is an additional one-time $20 swap fee charged by the state when applicants pick up their plate at their local RMV. A renewal fee set by the State of Massachusetts will be due every two years. For future renewals, the entire renewal fee will benefit Island non-profits.

 The Nantucket Lighthouse School originally agreed to serve as the principle non-profit sponsor, and has devoted hundreds of hours to the effort to make a Nantucket license plate a reality. In keeping with the School’s community-minded spirit, it has committed to donating 50% of net proceeds to other island non-profits that benefit children. This will be done through rewarding partners that bring in applications during the drive to reach 1,500 applications, and an independent fund administered by the Community Foundation for Nantucket.

 The License Plate Committee has invited other island non-profits to participate as “Partners” in the initial marketing effort and benefit directly once the 1,500 completed application threshold has been met. During the pre-production phase each Partner organization will receive, for each application they generate designating their organization as beneficiary, 100% of the non-profit proceeds ($28) returned to the Island from the initial registration fee. For those Partner organizations that bring in 75 applications or more, they will receive a pro-rata revenue stream so long as the program is in existence with the state.

We can do this Nantucket!

8 days until Christmas! Looking for the perfect last minute gift? Look no further then a Nantucket License Plate. Your license plate will help the community effort to benefit Nantucket’s children. Visit www.nantucketlicenseplate.org for more information because this Holiday, “It’s All About The Plates!” Love Nantucket? Put it on your car! www.nantucketlicenseplate.org

Happy Holidays from all of us at the Community Foundation for Nantucket!

Nonprofit to Nonprofit: The Movies Give bACK! The Community Foundation for Nantucket and the Nantucket Dreamland are teaming up to give bACK!  The Dreamland understands the value of community support for Nantucket’s many nonprofit organizations.  They created a new program which runs monthly, October-May, to help other nonprofits raise funds and awareness. On December 12th, join the Community Foundation at the Dreamland! We will have a table in the lobby with some information and familiar faces.  The Dreamland Foundation will donate $1.50 of every ticket sold to the 6:30pm screening of Exodus: Gods & Kings  to the Community Foundation for Nantucket.  Special thanks to the Dreamland for this new program! So, “Let’s All Go to the Movies”…. Friday December 12th at 6: 30 pm to see:    

Today, December 5th, was the 2014 Community Foundation Grants Breakfast.

As we celebrate our 8th Community Grants Cycle through the Nantucket Fund™, and the 5th Annual Grants Breakfast, we would like to honor all the donors who have had the confidence in the Community Foundation to support the Nantucket causes that are most significant each year.  We are proud that we have been able to award nearly $360,000 to 45 individual nonprofits providing services to Nantucketers since 2007, and that we met our 2014 goal of doubling our grants to over $100,000.

Phil Stambaugh, President of the Foundation board, greeted around 100 people this morning at the Nantucket Hotel to celebrate one of our favorite days of the year – The Giving of Grants! Here is a little taste of where our grant dollars went this year:

We are pleased to announce The Nantucket Fund™ 2014 Grant Recipients

• Alliance for Substance Abuse Prevention
• Nantucket Boys & Girls Club
• Nantucket Community Sailing
• Swim Across America
• A Safe Place, Inc.
• Nantucket Community Music Center
• Nantucket Food Pantry
• Walden Chamber Players, Inc.
• access nantucket
• Nantucket Community School
• Housing Nantucket/ NHA Properties
• Health Imperatives, Inc.
• Sustainable Nantucket
• Theatre Workshop of Nantucket
• Linda Loring Nature Foundation
• Literacy Volunteers of the Atheneum
• Family & Children’s Services of Nantucket
• Nantucket Dreamland Foundation
• Nantucket Film Festival
• Friends of Nantucket Public Schools
• Nantucket Interfaith Council/Rental Assist
• MYNantucket (Mentoring Youth)
• Nantucket S.T.A.R
• Inky Santa’s Toy Drive
• NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness)
• Nantucket Safe Harbor for Animals
• NHA Diversity Festival

Margaretta Andrews, the Executive Director of the Foundation, closed the morning’s event after we heard from all 27 of the deserved, grateful, hard-working and inspirational recipients. Here is the Foundation’s very own Jeanne Miller with one of the newest members and the future of our Nantucket community that we work so hard to support. THANK YOU TO THE FOLLOWING FOR THEIR SUPPORT OF THIS EVENT: The Nantucket Hotel – Mark & Gwenn Snider, The SeaGrille, The Nantucket Bake Shop and The Downyflake Restaurant. What a wonderful morning of friends, community and philanthropy!  We can’t wait for the year ahead to see these grants in action! If this post has inspired you to give bACK to your Nantucket community, visit our website at www.cfnan.org and see the 3 ways you can GIVE this Holiday season!  

A Sneak Peek of our design at the “Festival of Trees.”  We trimmed our  tree with philanthropy! Happy Holidays!