hosts an annual photography competition. In the photographs, you can view images of their members interacting with nature – and community. There is one grand prize winner selected out of categories such as “Todos Outdoors,” “Conservation Cultura,” “Latino Outdoors Identity,” and “Semillitas Outdoors.”

See the 2022 winning images, .

Big Cat Sanctuary Alliance

Are you aware that on December 20, 2022, President Biden signed a new law prohibiting the ownership of tigers and other big cats as pets? Under this new law, only credited facilities, like sanctuaries, zoos, and aquariums, can own these large cats. However, Emily McCormack, Steering Committee Chairperson, explains that the trade of large cats is primarily done underground and, for this reason, is very hard to track.

Read more, .

Attendance Works

Executive Director Hedy Chang was recently quoted in an NPR article discussing how absenteeism in schools hasn’t recovered since the beginning of the pandemic.

“I think people have been a little bit under the false impression that when COVID became more endemic, that that would then result in a significant improvement in attendance. And I’m not seeing that,” said Chang.

Read it .

Oregon Just Transition Alliance

(OJTA) and other environmental advocates lauded the passage of housing bill HB 2001 as a major win for environmental justice and frontline communities around the state.

“This victory will go a long way to addressing the housing crisis today and long term, in a way that will most benefit frontline communities. We are grateful to state legislators and Governor Kotek for advancing this smart policy,” said Joel Iboa, executive director of OJTA.

Read more about this important housing bill’s passage .

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Hispanic Federation recently hosted its first Advance Change Together (ACT) convening during the National LGBTQ Task Force’s 2023 Creating Change Conference to help underfunded Latinx LGBTQ+ organizations. “We want to make sure that these voices are represented and empowered and uplifted,” Frankie Miranda, President and CEO of Hispanic Federation, said. The organization is helping this section of the Latinx community by giving out grants totaling $1 million. was one of the grant recipients.

Read more, .

Bay Area Community Health Advisory Council

is hosting Soul Stroll 2023, their annual walk-a-thon, on Saturday, May 20, 2023. Established in 2002, the event will be back in-person, consisting of a one-mile, three-mile, and five-mile walk/run.

Learn more or sign up to attend, .

HERicanes

As most current and former athletes know, the “What’s next?” and “Who am I now that my sport is done?” aspects of the journey can be scary, tumultuous, exciting, anxiety-filled, and confusing. and their panel of expert SpeakHERs will be on hand with their co-hosts to provide helpful conversation about how former athletes can thrive in the new direction their careers take at their upcoming event, Thriving in Redirection Beyond Sports.

The event will be held Monday, March 20, 2023 from 9am – 10am PDT.

Register to save your spot.

Vision Zero Network

There’s still time to register for 2nd webinar in their Fundamentals of Vision Zero Action Planning series: Building a Safe System Foundation for Your Plan series. Participants will be able to solidify their community’s work towards safe and equitable mobility.

The webinar will be held Thursday, March 23, 2023, from 10am – 11am PDT.

Learn more and register .

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Let us know what’s going on with your project and we’ll do our best to get it into the next Project News and share on social media.

Email Stephanie at communications@communityinitiatives.org.

If you would like to learn more about our projects, please visit our projects page.

The post Project News | March 16, 2023 appeared first on Project Portal.

Patty Neubacher, volunteer Advisory Committee Member for is retiring after more than thirty-four years with the National Park Service, as the Deputy Region Director of the Pacific West Region.

Sign up to receive project updates and access back issues of their newsletter .

Breakthrough Sacramento

will host their annual fundraiser, themed Are You Smarter Than A Breakthrough Student? on April 1, 2023. This will be the first in-person fundraising event in three years. Supporters will be able to meet current and past Breakthrough students there.

Learn more or sign up to attend, .

Construction Industry Workshop Initiative

(CIWI) is now accepting applications for their Summer 2023 internship program. Their Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for interested candidates is now available on their website. Applications are due April 3, 2023.

Complete the RFQ process .

ComSciCon

2023 Flagship Workshop will be held July 19-22, 2023 at Emerson College in Boston, MA. Graduate student attendees of the 11th annual workshop will have a one-of-a-kind opportunity to meet early career leaders in Science Communication, learn from and interact with a remarkable group of invited experts, and produce an original work communicating complex technical concepts from science and engineering to new audience. Apply by March 19, 2023 for an all expenses paid opportunity to attend.

Learn more .

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Let us know what’s going on with your project and we’ll do our best to get it into the next Project News and share on social media.

Email Stephanie at communications@communityinitiatives.org.

If you would like to learn more about our projects, please visit our projects page.

The post Project News | March 2, 2023 appeared first on Project Portal.

In December 2022, was present when President Biden signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law.

Read about this and other news in

The Carpentries

The quarter one meeting of Executive Council will take place on February 21. During this meeting, they will review their 2022 year-end financials, discuss upcoming strategic plan activities, and select new Officers and committee members.

Read more in

Center for Scientific Collaboration and Community Engagement

The (CSCCE) February Community Call focuses on “creating inclusive community resources and programming.” Members of CSCCE staff and community of practice will share tips for creating accessible resources and help participants to check whether their existing resources need an update. The call will be held Wednesday, February 22 at 11am EST/4pm UTC.

Immigrants Rising

Happening today!
Today is fourth and final UndocuThrive webinar “Information is Power: Accessing Higher Education.” The UndocuThrive with/out DACA series is designed to prepare communities for the future. Throughout the series, Immigrants Rising will share information and resources that will help participants better understand the legal, educational, mental health, and entrepreneurial opportunities that are available. The call will be held today, February 16, 2023 at 5:00 PM (PST).

.

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Let us know what’s going on with your project and we’ll do our best to get it into the next Project News and share on social media.

Email Stephanie at communications@communityinitiatives.org.

If you would like to learn more about our projects, please visit our projects page.

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is holding the next seminar in their Outward: Advocacy Training series February 8, 2023. This workshop highlights how students can advocate for themselves amidst the application process towards higher educational institutions. Students will learn what self-advocacy means for undocumented students pursuing health-related professional programs and how it can help them succeed.

Register for this event .

Palomacy Pigeon & Dove Adoptions

is seeking volunteers for the annual Berkeley Bay Festival that will be held at Shorebird Park in front of the Strawbale Nature Center at 160 University Avenue, on April 22. Palomacy’s goal that day is to find new friends and supporters for their pigeon and dove rescue efforts.

Read more .

Latino Outdoors

Join in their celebration of their 10th anniversary! Over the next year, Latino Outdoors (LO) will be publishing a new Crecemos Outdoors: Now and Then blog post every month. This first post in the series talks about LO’s origins and describes the significance of their anniversary art.

Read the inaugural blog in the series .

Mission Science Workshop

is looking to hire part-time science instructors. Are you curious about how things work? Do you enjoy tinkering and building things? Love working with K-8 youth?

Find out more about this great opportunity .

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Let us know what’s going on with your project and we’ll do our best to get it into the next Project News and share on social media.

Email Stephanie at communications@communityinitiatives.org.

If you would like to learn more about our projects, please visit our projects page.

The post Project News | February 2, 2023 appeared first on Project Portal.

In the first video, you’ll meet Muhammad, who at 16 years of age is no longer in school as his family cannot afford to pay the fees, and instead spends time searching for food to feed his family.

The second video shares a musical celebration and appreciation of the support Abbas and Help Aid Africa provide for the people served, which includes recreational trips for the kids, clearing hospital bills, building a house of worship, and improving access to food and other essential supplies.

Watch Abbas talk with .

Enjoy the joyous , featuring Lady of Mercy Kids, shot on the Island of Mombasa and directed by Moha Ismael.

Thank you for sharing your work with us, Abbas!

The post Board Member Abbas’ Work in Africa appeared first on Project Portal.

Theresa Harlan, Director of the , was recently quoted in a KQED article on the cattle ranching debate occurring in the Point Reyes area. She said, “My grandmother was a ranch cook and my uncles worked on ranches as ranch hands.”

Read more .

Global Philanthropy Project

“Since was founded, documented LGBTI funding outside of the U.S. has increased from US$35 million in 2010 to $136 million in 2020 – an increase of over $100 million per year! What will be possible in the next decade?”
– Matthew Hart, Director of Global Philanthropy Project.

Read more in  post.

MENTOR California

Coming soon! is preparing to release their new resource, Mentoring Boys and Young Men of Color in Schools: The Video Series, which includes a youth-written “How to Watch” curriculum guide and music. Developed over the course of 2022 by the young people in the MENTOR California program with partners The Hidden Genius Project and Kingmakers of Oakland, the video series features interviews of five mentoring leaders: BaBa Lemon, Torie Weiston-Serdan Ph.D. Chris Chatmon Brandon Nicholson and Ashanti Branch. This resource will be available for schools and community partners soon.

Follow for updates.

The Center for Scientific Collaboration and Community Engagement

The (CSCCE) is accepting “intent to enroll” forms for their two-year Community Manager Certification Program. The program equips community managers with skills and frameworks that ground their work in a community-centric leadership approach through multi-week courses, mini-workshops, and peer learning experiences. Two program tracks will be held this year, April and September, 2023.

Learn more .

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Let us know what’s going on with your project and we’ll do our best to get it into the next Project News and share on social media.

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The post Project News | January 19, 2023 appeared first on Project Portal.

is a project that cultivates intimacy with the earth and ancestral food traditions through medicinal storytelling on seed songs and seed rematriation in innovative, grounding, rich fertile, nourishing learning circles. Read about on their blog. Across Turtle Island, there is a growing intergenerational movement of indigenous people proud to carry the message of the grand rematriation of seeds and foods back to indigenous communities.

Read more .

Radical Monarchs

recently launched a new, improved website.

Check it out, .

Regeneración Pájaro Valley Climate Action

Registration is open for Climate of Hope 2023!

Join February 23 forum: Climate ARTivism – Creative Action for Climate Justice. This online event will feature artists from across California.

Admission is free and donations are accepted to help support community access to the event.

Register .

Attendance Works

Mark your calendars for a new series of webinars from and the California Department of Education. The first webinar, “Rising to the Challenge” features Attendance Works’ Executive Director Hedy Chang and California State Superintendent Tony Thurmond. Topics will include a focus on helping schools and districts combat chronic absence. Chang and Thurmond will be joined by other experts in the field.

Watch the first webinar January 18th from 11am – 12:30pm PT on the .

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Let us know what’s going on with your project and we’ll do our best to get it into the next Project News and share on social media.

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The post Project News | January 5, 2023 appeared first on Project Portal.

The 2022 SECA Art Award Exhibition, at SFMOMA through May 29, will celebrate Bay Area Artists. Marcel Pardo Ariza’s portion of the exhibit honors “Bay Area trans leaders in photographic portraits that appropriate Catholic altarpieces featuring saints. Exploring the relationship between kinship and queerness, the tender images hang on walls saturated with color and jeweled patterns,” according to SFMOMA. For their help and support the artist thanks among other Bay Area pro-Trans and pro-Queer organizations.

Read more .

Mission Science Workshop

is excited to announce that they will be opening a third location in San Francisco’s Bay View neighborhood. They thank all of their Bayview school and after-school partners who voiced their wishes for a neighborhood science workshop loud and clear – and give a huge and special thank you to the Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation for making this possible.

Consider donating in support of the new location, .

FruitGuys Community Fund

Kicking off the new year of funding opportunities, the 2023 application portal opens Monday, January 2 and will accept applications through Monday, January 30. Their focus is small farms and preferences include the following efforts:

• Water Conservation
• Natural Pest Control
• Pollination
• Soil Health
• Energy Efficiency
• Heirloom Crops
• Consumer Access to Food
• Equity, Community Building, & Education
• Support of beginning and under-represented farmers including BIPOC and women

Apply January 2 – 30, 2023.

Academic Data Science Alliance

is holding an upcoming panel focusing on Political Science Careers. During the panel, they will discuss the career paths of three quantitative political scientists.

The panel will be held:
Thursday, January 19th
12PM ET / 9AM PT

Sign up .

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Let us know what’s going on with your project and we’ll do our best to get it into the next Project News and share on social media.

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The post Project News | December 22, 2022 appeared first on Project Portal.

���ϸ����� and Research Evaluation Consulting (REC) teamed up once more in 2022 to conduct our annual satisfaction survey. We were able to examine the actions and experiences of our Projects in a representative way because 90% of our Project Partners participated.

Who Are We?

This year, Projects selected primary and secondary foci for their mission. Education, Social Justice, and “Other” were the top priority categories in our network, but our Projects are still varied in purpose and contribute much to the following sectors:

Philanthropy Youth Development Journalism and Media Animal Welfare

Human Services Arts and Culture Networking and Alliances

78% of ���ϸ����� Projects have at least one employees and are diverse in both scope and budget.

• 33% of projects have budgets up to $99,999.
• 36% of projects have budgets between $100,000—$499,999.
• 13% of projects have budgets of $500,000—$999,999.
• 18% of projects have budgets of over $1 million.

How Do We Measure Impact?

Measuring impact is critical to any Project’s ability to demonstrate their value and ultimately raise funds for future work. Metrics may be self-selected or dictated by the terms of a grant agreement. A total of 79 Projects (100%) identified at least one metric that they tracked. They are listed below in order of emphasis.

1. Outcomes and Impact
2. Event Attendance
3. Populations Served
4. Project Impact
5. Services Offered
6. Financial Stability and Funding
7. Participant Feedback
8. Public Awareness
9. Staff Feedback and Satisfaction
10. Degree of Engagement
11. Collaborations and Partnerships

We’re proud to report that ���ϸ����� Fiscally Sponsored Projects served a total of 1.45 million people in 2022. Also, our projects enjoyed the help of 2,500 volunteers.

What Went Right?

Projects celebrated many successes in the past year, most often cited in the selected key categories below.

Organizational Improvements
60% mentioned organizational improvements as significant successes; this was the number one category of significant successes this year. This theme included efforts such as hiring and training staff, setting strategy, building capacity, and modifying performance indicators.

Community Engagement and Outreach
A plurality of Projects (24%) described stories of engagement, outreach, and provision of services to their target audiences. Such responses highlighted ongoing, expanded, or new programming, serving specific groups in their geographic or professional areas, and sharing knowledge with others in their communities.

Finally, Projects felt ���ϸ����� had positively impacted their work. The most-commonly referenced examples mentioned:

Project Infrastructure and Operational Support (60%)
Guidance and Positive Interactions (22%)

Shared Challenges

Many challenges may feel unique to your organization, but your peers are often struggling with similar hurdles – even if they work in a different focus area. This year’s most common challenges are listed below.

Fundraising and Financial Viability
The challenges reported by 28% of projects were primarily associated with fundraising, project budgets, and maintaining financial capacity.

Turnover
Staffing issues (17%) included challenges with internal turnover and hiring of new board staff.

Most Valuable Services

Projects specifically listed and ranked the most valuable services they received from ���ϸ�����: (*projects can select more than one response.)

• 36% Accounting and Financial Services
• 23% Accounts Payable
• 23% Human Resources Support
• 18% Legal Services and Contract Review
• 10% Grant Support

In Your Own Words

“���ϸ����� has been amazing to work with – responding quickly to questions and providing thought partnership as EFN launches itself as an organization with a staff of one.” “Staff is responsive, and portal is tremendously helpful to a new nonprofit.” “All of the ���ϸ����� people with whom we work have been extremely helpful, available with little lead time, and extremely gracious and patient” “Our team received much support as we launched new projects such as a membership-based coalition and sponsorships through a conference. ���ϸ�����’ staff was very helpful in creating contracts and helped us ensure we stayed within guidelines”

“���ϸ����� is incredibly helpful and supportive.” • Parent Advisory Council “���ϸ����� is making us a more polished and professional organization.” “���ϸ����� has allowed South Kern Sol to focus on the work and address some of the most critical needs our most vulnerable communities have had, such as partnering with the food bank to provide fresh food access, PPE, COVID-19 vaccines to our communities.” “���ϸ����� goes the extra mile to offer best-in-class service to its fiscally sponsored projects. This commitment to continuous improvement and some core organizational values that we share in common with ���ϸ����� have allowed us to extend our reach and impact beyond what would have been possible without fiscal sponsorship.”

Meeting the Need in Fiscal Year 2022

We are pleased to announce that in each service area measured, Projects reported satisfaction levels statistically on par with ���ϸ�����’ Fiscal Year 2021 satisfaction rating. On average, Projects gave a rating of 3.42 out of 4, which was slightly higher than in Fiscal Year 2021. Similarly, about 94% of Projects said they would be at least somewhat likely to recommend ���ϸ����� to others.

89% of Projects responded that they were satisfied or somewhat satisfied with ���ϸ����� in the Fiscal Year 2022. Project Infrastructure and Operational Support was the top reason ���ϸ����� made a positive difference in our projects’ work. Projects also gave positive staff interactions a nod as one of the top reasons ���ϸ����� made a positive difference. Yet, we appreciated your candid responses to the survey and noted that some Projects who discussed dissatisfaction with ���ϸ����� did write about issues with staff, which we plan to address.

We are focused on how we can improve service delivery in 2023. Based on the data received, we will continue to prioritize and improve in these critical areas:

• Improved communications
• Celebrate successes internally and externally
• Bolster funding opportunities and support
• Follow up with projects about their needs and concerns
• Continue to provide high-quality HR support and financial services for projects
• Continue to evaluate and streamline the survey

Each of our Projects relies on fiscal sponsorship to make their work possible. But that decision has an impact beyond the administration of your organization’s efforts alone. By joining the ���ϸ����� network, you are also making the work of other incredible groups possible. We thank you for your work and the successes we have experienced together in 2022.

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