Report to Members
by Sara Gould and Sandra Mikush, Co-Chairs

Our annual conference was a great success! Very strong interest in community organizing attracted many more participants the we'd expected. The conference created a real buzz as participants discussed and debated the issues raised in various sessions and the quality of the workshop sessions was exceedingly high. The Conference Planning Committee, under the leadership of Henry Allen of the Hyams Foundation, deserves much of the credit for the conference success.

At the conference, NFG held its annual membership meeting and elections for the board of directors. We welcome new members Jane Downing of the Pittsburgh Foundation and Antonio Manning of the Fannie Mae Foundation to the NFG Board. Sara Gould, Regina McGraw of the Wieboldt Foundation, and Garland Yates of the Annie E. Casey Foundation were elected to second three year terms of office on the board. The membership also recognized Henry Allen of the Hyams Foundation and Bettie Hodges of the Marin Community Foundation for their six years of service on the board. Sherri Pugh, who recently left the Foundation for the Mid South to take a new position as a HUD Fellow in Minneapolis, resigned from the NFG board. We want to recognize her two years of service and wish her good luck in her new work.

This past year has been one of growth and expansion for NFG. As we start implementing our three-year strategic plan we have added a new staff position. We want to welcome Pat Taylor as Assistant Director/Membership Services. Pat comes to NFG with an extensive background in nonprofit management. For the past three years she worked with Seedco, a national nonprofit intermediary providing technical and financial assistance to community based organizations working to revitalize their communities. Pat also directed the Alcohol Policies Project for the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Advocates Senior Alert Process for Families USA.

The most significant highlight of 1998, aside from the community organizing conference, is the publication of the NFG Jobs Tool Box. The toolbox is now at the printer. Each member organization will receive a copy shortly after the first of the year. We hope this and future toolboxes will be a useful resource and are very interested in your feedback.

The Jobs Tool Box will also be available to members on our NFG web site, www.nfg.org. The web site will offer links to other sites and resources for even more detailed information. On the NFG web site, a search function will help you get to the information you want. We will offer member-only discussion options so that you can communicate with other NFG members regarding jobs funding strategies.

This year we have also held two very successful regional forums on the issue of income inequality. The first was at the NNG conference in Minnesota and the second in Boston at the conference of the Associated Grantmakers of Massachusetts.

The board, staff and leadership of NFG look forward to serving you in 1999. We thank all who participated in NFG program and committee activities during the past year. We hope that you all have a very happy, healthy and safe holiday season and a peaceful and productive New Year!

Back to NFG Home Page.

1301 Connecticut Ave NW, Suite 500 • Washington, DC 20036 • Phone: (202) 833-4690 • Fax: (202) 833-4694 • nfg@nfg.org
Copyright © 1998-2008 • Web Site Usage Policies