Board Fellow: Natasha Fong-Cohen, MBA Candidate 2012

Organization: Latino Economic Development Corporation (LEDC)

Project Goal: Fundraising and Development

Natasha Fong-Cohen is working with LEDC (Latino Economic Development Corporation). LEDC’s mission is to provide services to the Latino community within the Washington, D.C. metro area through services in small business development, homeownership counseling, and affordable housing preservation. They provide micro-loans and counseling to small business and first-time homebuyers as well as tenants’ rights education.

The project Natasha will be working on is to enhance LEDC’s current Board members’ engagement with fundraising and development. This will include interviewing the various Board members, reviewing current Board commitments and expected fundraising goals for the upcoming year, and conducting research on best practices of other organizations in order to create a short-term and long-term plan to increase the Board’s role in fundraising for LEDC.

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Board Fellow: Dawn Antoine, MBA Candidate 2012

Organization: Teaching For Change

Project Goal: Fundraising

Teaching for change provides teachers and parents with the tools to transform school into centers of justice where students learn to read, write and transform the world.  Established in 1989, Teaching for Change operates from the belief that schools can provide student with the skills, knowledge and inspiration to be citizens and architects of a better world-or they can fortify the status quo.  By drawing direct connections to “real world” issues, Teaching for Change encourages teachers and students to question and re-think the world inside and outside their classrooms, build a more equitable, multicultural society, and become global citizens.

To promote a vibrant, inclusive democracy, Teaching for Change helps schools teach by example-by providing ways for meaningful parent involvement, and participatory lessons which go beyond a hero’s version of history. Teaching for change achieves these goals through programs including: Tellin’ Stories which was named by The Harvard Family Research Project as one of the 12 leading innovations in family engagement.  Teaching for Change also publishes widely acclaimed texts, Beyond Heroes and Holidays and Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching.

After 20 years of serving the community, Teaching for Change is looking for ways to increase donor revenue.  It is looking to Dawn as a George Washington University Net Impact Board Fellow to create a sustainable fund-raising strategy.

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Board Fellow: Rachel Tolbert, MPA Candidate 2012

Organization: Peace x Peace

Project Goal: Business Planning

Rachel Tolbert is a student in the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration at the George Washington University. She is currently working with Peace x Peace, a non-profit organization that promotes leadership and gender equity by empowering women worldwide and giving them the tools and education to build global communities of peace.

Peace x Peace has asked Rachel to help them create a business plan with the aim of expanding the organization’s mission and programs. The new business plan will create a set of strategic short- and long-term goals to build the organization’s capacity as well as increase board member engagement. Rachel is excited to be working with Peace x Peace and looks forward to helping them accomplish their goals.

 

 

Board Fellow: Mia Cakebread, MPA Candidate 2012

Organization: Peace x Peace

Project Goal: Grant writing 

Mia is a first year MPA student at the Trachtenberg School focusing on Education Policy working with Peace x Peace, a non-profit organization that promotes leadership and gender equity by empowering women worldwide and giving them the tools and education to build global communities of peace. Her responsibilities for the next few months include attending board meetings to learn more about the function of a board of directors and assist the organization with a grant-writing project. Currently, Peace X Peace is looking for funding for their program called Connection Point, which serves as an online site for greater communication and understanding between Arab, Muslim, and Western women. Mia is responsible for developing the list of foundations and grants that Peace X Peace can target over the next year and create an action plan for the organization to follow. 

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Board Fellow: Prathishta Rebala, MBA Candidate 2012

Organization: Life Pieces to Masterpieces (LPTM)

Project Goal: Strategic Marketing and Fundraising

Life Pieces to Masterpieces (LPTM) is an arts-based, year round, comprehensive youth development and education organization for African American males ages 3 to 21. Life Pieces’ mission is to provide opportunities for their apprentices to discover and activate their innate and creative abilities to change life challenges into possibilities. Their continuing goal is to nurture, embrace, encourage, and elevate African American boys and young men so that they grow into mature men who demonstrate social responsibility and create positive change in their communities.

2011 marks LPTM’s 15th Anniversary, and to celebrate this accomplishment they are in the planning process for the celebration. Prathishta is working with LTPM’s standing committee on strategic marketing and event planning of the various events as part of their three-part celebration.

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Board Fellow: Meghan McHugh, MPA Candidate 2012

Organization: Kid Power

Project Goal: Communication Strategy

Meghan McHugh is a first-year public administration student at the Trachtenberg School.  She is currently working with Kid Power, a civics-based organization that provides academic, artistic, nutritional, and service learning opportunities for elementary and middle school children through afterschool and summer programming. 

Kid Power is currently in the middle of a strategic planning process with an outside consulting agency, and Meghan’s role is to serve as a steward for communications and development issues within the greater strategic plan.  The goal is to increase awareness of the organization and secure fundraising opportunities by expanding Kid Power’s network in DC.  The Director of Development has already identified special events and media outreach as two areas of particular importance for the organization’s communications strategy in the short term.  Meghan is currently working with board members (through online surveys, individual conversations and discussion at meetings) to solicit ideas and encourage board leadership in these areas.  By the end of the spring, Meghan hopes to present the board and staff with specific, achievable steps to increase the number and effectiveness of small fundraising events, develop an annual “signature” Kid Power event, and improve outreach to local and online media sources. 

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Board Fellow: Kula Koenig, MBA Candidate 2012

Organization: William Penn House

Project Goal: Fundraising

Kula is an MBA candidate at the George Washington University focusing on Strategic Management and Public Policy. She believes business can be a force for good and is an active member of the GW Net Impact Club serving as a Board Fellow. In her capacity as Board Fellow, Kula serves on the board of the William Penn House. William Penn House describes themselves as, “a Quaker lodging and program center conveniently located near the US Capitol Building and historic Eastern Market. We offer clean, safe, affordable lodging and conference facilities, daily silent worship, weekly yoga, semi-monthly potlucks and community dialogues and workshops. The William Penn House seeks to promote peace and justice in all that we do.”

Kula is helping to fundraise around the organization’s Radical Hospitality initiative. Kula will spend her time as a Board Fellow designing an outreach and marketing strategy for the initiative, identifying prospective donors, and diligently making requests for donations. 

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Board Fellow: Karen Berry, MBA Candidate 2012

Organization: William Penn House

Project Goal: Strategy & Succession Planning

Karen Berry is serving as the Board Fellow for the William Penn House. The William Penn House is a Quaker-operated program that works in pursuit of social justice by promoting their tenants of: peace, community, simplicity, and truth. The organization welcomes visitors from the across the U.S. and around the world to stay in the their hostel and act as a resource of service to the local DC community. Additionally, the William Penn House acts a communication-center for the Quaker community within the DC area. 

As a Board Fellow, Karen will be assisting leadership at William Penn in their on-going strategic planning as well as laying the foundation for a leadership succession plan for the organization.

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Board Fellow: Andrew Seal, MBA Candidate 2012

Organization: DC Greenworks

Project Goal: Fundraising

DC Greenworks, a 501 c3 non-profit, is the national capital region’s preeminent green roof advocate and educator, as well as a one-stop shop for low impact development (LID) consultation, design, and installation. We serve the Washington, D.C. community by providing training, tools, and techniques that utilize, protect and advance the environment. DC Greenworks sees a vital connection between economy and ecology, employment potential and environmental sustainability.  We actively seek to discover, promote, and deliver cutting edge solutions that are cost effective, eco-friendly, and socially beneficial.

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Board Fellow: Lauren Cooper, MPA Candidate 2012

Organization: Reading Partners

Project Goal: Fundraising

Reading Partners is dedicated to transforming struggling young readers into confident readers who are excited about learning. Their vision is that all children will have the reading skills they need to reach their full potential and that children will become lifelong readers. Their focus is on children from low-income communities and high-need urban areas.

Instruction is given to students one-on-one and at the student’s reading level. Reading Partners is one of the only organizations that have measurable results from the individual instruction. Reading Partners measures students’ reading skills using the Rigby PM Ultra assessment tool.

Reading Partners was founded in the Bay Area and has since expanded to Los Angeles and Washington, DC. They have partnered with Net Impact in hopes of growing their presence in the district. As their Net Impact board member, Lauren will be working on donor cultivation and partnerships and fundraising events.

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Board Fellow: Alice Chan, MBA/M.A. in International Development Candidate 2012

Organization: LearnServe International

Project Goal: Fundraising

Alice Chan is working with LearnServe International, a local nonprofit organization that equips high school students with skills of business planning, innovative problem‐solving, and cross‐cultural fluency through service learning trips abroad and leadership and social entrepreneurship training.  LearnServe International works with students and teachers from a diverse range of 30 public, private, and charter schools in DC, Maryland, and Virginia.

The project Alice is working on is focused on developing a network of local business partnerships to help LearnServe sustain their current programs through financial support, advising, and mentorship. Specifically, Alice will work to identify entrepreneurial and socially responsible businesses to join this network and ways to sustain their engagement.