Posts Tagged ‘grants’

Seeking Veterans to Receive Home Weatherization this Fall

Posted on Monday, August 27th, 2012

We are excited to announce that we have received a Celebration of Service Grant from the Home Depot Foundation to help pay for weatherization supplies in our fall Community Weatherization efforts.  The Home Depot Foundation is honored to support the housing needs of our U.S. military veterans and has pledged $30 million over three years to ensure every veteran has a safe place to call home. To fulfill that goal they will support the volunteer efforts of community groups that specifically identify service projects that benefit veterans.  This project is also supported by the Alliant Energy Hometown Rewards Grant that Fairfield has received-a 2-year project to help educate our community on how to reduce energy usage and reduce our carbon footprint.

We will mobilize community volunteers to weatherize the homes of 20 veterans here in Fairfield.  We need your help to find those homes.  Please contact us to sign up if you are a veteran and would like to receive this service.  Please forward this email to those who might be interested.  We are also seeking volunteers for this project and will continue to update you as plans unfold.  Please be in touch!

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Sponsors of the Fairfield Volunteer Center

Posted on Tuesday, August 21st, 2012

Each year we apply for numerous grants and conduct several fundraisers to cover our operating budget.  We are currently in the 2nd year of funding from the Volunteer Generation Fund, which covers a large portion of our budget.  We are also grateful to have received funding from the City of Fairfield in the form of LOST funds (Local Sales Option Tax), the Greater Jefferson County Foundation, Alliant Energy’s Community Betterment Grants, and many of you!  We continue to seek out other opportunities to compete for grants and/or to partner with others throughout Fairfield for the betterment of our entire community.  With much appreciation…

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Introduction to Fundraising Planning-Class Sept. 12 1-2pm

Posted on Tuesday, August 21st, 2012

On Wednesday, September 12 from 1-2 pm the Fairfield Public Library will host a live webinar on Introduction to Fundraising Planning.  This class is great for local non-profits, people in the fundraising world and anyone else.

If you’ve never created a financial planning road map for your organization, here is a great place to start!  Invite your board of directors and your fundraising committee so that you can all be on the same page!

Learn a basic planning process for diversifying your organization’s support.

A successful nonprofit organization has diversified funding streams. If your organization has never developed a fundraising plan or calendar, this session is for you. It provides an overview of the process of strategically thinking through the components of a fundraising plan. You’ll learn how to:

  • Take stock of your organization’s strengths and assets
  • Develop a case statement
  • Set fundraising goals
  • Identify funding partners
  • Prepare a fundraising plan and calendar

Skill:

  • Fundraising Planning
  • Foundation Fundraising
  • Individual Donors
  • Government Funding
  • Earned Income

Sign up for this free class by calling or stopping into the Library- 641.472.6551.  Space is limited.

As always, we love to hear your ideas on further class topics.  Please be in touch!

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Featured Agency-Alliant Energy Hometown Rewards Program

Posted on Tuesday, August 21st, 2012

The City of Fairfield has been the lucky recipient of the Alliant Energy Hometown Rewards Program (HTR)- a 2 year program to help our residents and overall community reduce our energy usage in many fun and informative ways.  The exact format that the programming has taken was created by a local steering committee and numerous classes and events have already taken place, including the tree planting that the volunteer center helped with on Earth Day.  That event mobilized more than 700 volunteers of all ages and got more than 200 new trees planted throughout Fairfield.

Monthly classes have been happening at the library on the second Saturday of each month and have attracted numerous participants.  Those classes will continue through 2013 and upcoming classes include Weatherization, Geothermal Energy & Lighting.  Since the launch of the program this past spring total City energy use has been down, residential use has dropped 4.9%, and HTR is tracking above expected levels on 55% of their goals.  Nearly 1500 people have participated in the Hometown Rewards Program in some manner.  And this is only after the first quarter!  One of the easiest ways to increase your own energy efficiency is to sign up for a free Alliant energy audit where a trained professional will visit your home and give you great ideas on how to reduce your energy bill and even leave you with some great products like compact flourescent lightbulbs!  Having an audit performed on your home will also help Fairfield earn more rewards from Alliant.  Upcoming volunteer opportunities with HTR include the ever popular community weatherization efforts in October.  Contact Anna Bruen at annabruen@gmail.com or Scott Timm at stimm@iastate.edu to learn more.

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Free Classes for Grant Seekers

Posted on Tuesday, May 1st, 2012

Free Workshops for Grant Seekers

The Fairfield Public Library will host two free workshops for those who seek funding for nonprofit organizations:  Saturday, May 12, 1:30-3:30pm.  Sessions will be led by Kief Schladweiler, Coordinator of Cooperating Collections from the Foundation Center in New York (http://foundationcenter.org).  Mr. Schladweiler will visit Fairfield to highlight electronic and print resources that are freely available at the library.

Introduction to Finding Funders

The 1:30pm workshop will introduce the Foundation Center’s comprehensive online database, Foundation Directory Online Professional, which is freely available via public computers and personal laptops inside the library.  Learn how to create customized searches, and develop targeted lists of foundations to match your nonprofit’s funding needs.  Use Power Search to conduct research in nine databases at once:  Grantmakers, grants, companies, 990s, news, jobs, RFPs, nonprofit literature, and PubHub reports.

Proposal Writing Basics

During the second workshop, learn the key components of submitting a proposal to a foundation.  For those new to proposal writing, the class will cover:

  • How your proposal fits into an overall grantseeking process
  • What to include in a standard proposal to a foundation
  • Tips for making each section of your proposal stronger
  • What funders expect to see in your proposal and attachments
  • Tips for communicating with funders during the grant process
  • Additional resources on proposal writing, including sample proposals

About the Instructor

Kief Schladweiler has been the Foundation Center’s Coordinator of Cooperating Collections since 2005.  In prior years, he served as the Center’s online librarian. He joined the Foundation Center in 1999 after working as a reference librarian for The New York Public Library. He received his M.A. in Library and Information Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Register in Advance

Space is limited.  To reserve a spot please stop by the front desk of the library, or call 472-6551 and indicate whether you wish to attend one or both workshops.  Your admission ticket is your current Fairfield Public Library card.  To avoid a line, please have your account updated in advance.

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RSVP: Some History and Some National and Iowa 2010 Stats

Posted on Wednesday, April 13th, 2011

Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), one of the largest volunteer efforts in the nation, has matched local problems with older adults who are willing to help since 1971. RSVP projects link the skills of the senior volunteers with identified community needs. The volunteers determine how many hour(s) a week they can serve. RSVP volunteers do not receive any monetary incentive or stipend, but the RSVP project, as funds allow, may reimburse them for certain out-of-pocket costs associated with their service activities. In addition, RSVP volunteers receive accident, personal liability, and excess automobile insurance, as well as community recognition!

Each year nationally nearly 430,000 older adult, age 55 and over, provide community service through more than 740 locally sponsored RSVP projects. The amount of service can vary from a few hours a month to almost full-time.

In 2010, 21 Iowa RSVP Programs mobilized Senior Volunteers to serve 614,920 hours  (49,570 more hours than in 2009) through 1,300 Iowa non-profits leveraging…

$10,263,014 worth of community service to the State of Iowa!

Those 21 RSVP’s served in 41 out of 99 Iowa Counties in 2010. Fairfield will be added to that number in 2011!

JoBeth Lewer is the RSVP Director in Fairfield. The phone number is 641-209-9045 and this program is available through the Fairfield Volunteer Center.

The Fairfield RSVP projects include two components; the “Senior Companion Friendly Visits Program” and the “Home Weatherization Project”. Click to learn more about these projects and volunteer opportunities for people ages 55+.

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JoBeth Lewer Appointed Director of Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP)

Posted on Thursday, March 17th, 2011
JoBeth Lewer

JoBeth Lewer, RSVP Director

The Fairfield Volunteer Center recently appointed JoBeth Lewer as the Director of the newly established RSVP project in Fairfield.

JoBeth is dedicated to improving the quality of life in Fairfield bringing her talents and organizing abilities for managing volunteer community services. In past years, she served as the Deputy Director for First Fridays Art Walk and most recently as Director for the Fairfield Volunteer Center.

RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Program) is a national program federally funded by a grant awarded to the FVC last October. RSVP engages persons who are 55 and older in a variety of volunteer activities. (more…)

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New Volunteer Center Website and Logo Launched

Posted on Tuesday, March 1st, 2011

Thanks to a grant from  Strengthen Rural Iowa (SRI), the new Fairfield Volunteer Center website was launched on March 1.

The website was created using WordPress, a popular tool for making user-friendly, social-media-ready websites. This “blog”  (web log) can be updated easily by Fairfield Volunteer Center staff .

The new Fairfield Volunteer Center logo was the basis of the look of the new website. Local graphic/website designer Carol Jarvis of www.artvisiondesign.com created the logo, web design layout, PowerPoint presentation, letterhead, brochure, and business cards for the Fairfield Volunteer center, underwritten by SRI.

Former Fairfield Volunteer Center President David Seagull guided the project. The website was created by Lee Leffler of www.NewsletterGal.com, and her associate Arthur Day.

The site has individual pages about the organization, news, links to the volunteer database and a link for donating.

Check out the new website now! www.FairfieldVolunteerCenter.org

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Iowa Volunteer Generation Fund Grant Awarded to Fairfield Volunteer Center

Posted on Wednesday, February 16th, 2011

Volunteer IowaThe Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service (ICVS) announced on February 16 that it is giving 2 grants to the Fairfield Volunteer Center.

A total of eleven organizations received grants to support Volunteer Generation and Community-Based Service-Learning. Volunteer Generation Fund grant funds are awarded to organizations to support development and strengthening of the volunteer infrastructure in Iowa by serving as a Volunteer Connector Organization (VCO). While Iowa reached the number two spot in the nation for volunteering in 2009, this funding will help even more Iowans find opportunities to provide meaningful service in their communities. (more…)

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