By : Saaha Paulsen
Source : http://napavalleyregister.com
Category : Small Business Garant
The Napa Valley Vintners organization is putting in place a new strategy to distribute funds raised at Auction Napa Valley, saying it wants to make a more meaningful impact locally.
The shift will eliminate housing as one of three main areas of vintner support, as it increases support for local youth and wellness programs with a goal of closing the “educational achievement gap in Napa County.”
Kathleen Heitz Meyers, president of the trade association that represents more than 400 members of the local wine industry, announced the changes in a letter sent to Napa County nonprofits in January.
Since then, the Vintners organization has been meeting with community groups to explain new grant application processes and how the changes will affect groups that have been on the receiving end of the millions raised annually at the June wine auction.
In her letter, Heitz Meyers said the changes had been in the works since 2008, but had been put on hold by the economic recession. “In 2008, determined to make a more meaningful difference in our community, we refined our giving strategy,” she wrote. After working with consultants, Vintners created a plan “to invest more deeply in targeted grantmaking” with a goal of producing “more significant outcomes,” she wrote.
The recession of 2008, however, interceded. “Almost immediately, our plans were temporarily put on hold so we could assist those most immediately affected by the economic crisis,” Heitz Meyers wrote.
Last year, $980,000 of a total of $6.85 million distributed went to community housing programs “to help keep people in their homes and avoid homelessness.”
As the Vintners implement their new distribution plan this year, “organizations whose programs are long-term grant recipients of Auction Napa Valley but no longer fit eligibility and selection criteria may be eligible for phase-out grants for 2012 and 2013,” Heitz Meyers wrote.
Among the groups that may be most affected by the new strategies is Napa Valley Community Housing, which last year received $250,000 from Auction Napa Valley proceeds.
“We understand the change in ANV, but it will be a challenge for us to fill the gaps in our funding sources,” said the nonprofit’s executive director, Kathleen Dreesen.
“Most people don’t realize the costs that go into predevelopment before we can build our complexes, many costs covered by ANV,” Dreesen said.
Suzanne Shiff, executive director of the Napa Valley Coalition of Nonprofit Agencies, said, “The new ANV changes will definitely affect the way the grants are structured and the funding criteria. This will present a challenge to many of the agencies that have been funded in the past and have been identified as critical local gaps, especially housing, legal aid, disabled, and seniors.
“Since the recession in 2007, our social service programs have, and continue to feel, the cuts in federal and state funding plus cuts in private donations. At the same time, their caseloads and needs have increased tremendously,” Shiff said.
“I know that the Auction has always tried to avoid negative impacts to any agency,” Shiff said, “and I don’t think that the changes in the grant program would put any agency out of business. But no one really knows how this will unfold or the impacts because of the other cumulative funding factors.”
Randy Snowden, director of Napa County Health and Human Services, which has received Auction Napa Valley grants for homeless programs, said, “In the long term it will result in migration of funds from one area of need to another … from safety net services to education.”
And while the loss of support may make his job more challenging in already challenging times, Snowden said, “I can’t criticize them. It’s a completely worthwhile endeavor.”
A history of giving
In 2011, the Napa Valley Vintners jubilantly announced that since its beginning in 1981, the annual wine auction, now called Auction Napa Valley, had returned $104 million to the community in grants.
“However most of that has been raised since 1998,” said Terry Hall, communications director for the Vintners. The first wine auction, put together by a group of volunteers, was a simple affair that raised $140,000 for health care for farmworkers.
In 1999, the Napa Valley Wine Auction, which had become a model for charity wine auctions, attracting an international group of bidders, raised a record $9.5 million.
Throughout the 2000s, the auction continued to bring in millions, and the Vintners were able to greatly expand their support for nonprofit groups. The primary focus remained grants for health and wellness programs, with the second largest category being children’s and youth programs. The third component was housing.
In 2007, for example, with $8.8 million to distribute, they gave $3.8 million to health programs that ranged from $25,000 to Community Resources for Children to $700,000 to Clinic Olé. Grants to youth programs totaled $1.3 million, with $290,000 going to Boys and Girls Clubs in the valley. In the housing category, $662,000 went to such recipients as Napa Valley Community Housing and Calistoga Affordable Housing.
By 2008, the Vintners group realized it needed to figure out how to give out these millions for “the most impactful giving,” Hall said. “We realized we can do some things — like make wine — but that didn’t mean we necessarily knew how to give the money away to make the most difference.”
Hall said the Vintners regularly do community needs assessments, trying to figure out “what makes the most sense to fund. How do you make the most impactful giving?”
While the majority of grants from the Vintners range from $10,000 to $400,000, Hall said, the Vintners were also able to begin funding significant projects. In 1999, the group designated $3 million to build the Napa Valley Vintners Community Health Center in Napa, which houses Clinic Olé, Sister Ann Dental Clinic, Healthy Moms and Babies and Napa Emergency Women’s Services.
Vintners marked the 25th anniversary of the auction in 2005 by launching a $1 million fund “to ensure that every Napa County child has access to health insurance.”
In 2007, the Vintners launched the “YES — Youth, Education and Success” initiative with $2.4 million and subsequent funding of $350,000 “to provide leading-edge learning.”
Hall said the success of these initiatives helped inspire the organization’s next goal: to address the educational gap for Napa County youngsters.
That decision, made in 2008, is now being implemented. “The amount of money we’ve been giving (to housing projects) is not as significant” as the funds to youth and health programs, Hall noted. Over the auction’s history, the Vintners have given $76 million to health programs, $12 million to youth programs and $7.8 million to housing assistance programs.
Another factor, Hall said, was that many of the housing programs had access to other funds. “We don’t want (what we give) to be too little, to not be effective,” he said.
Increasing the focus on youth program funding, he said, can concentrate on problems in the valley like “decreasing the disparity between cultural groups.”
“These are difficult times and people are worried,” Snowden said. His agency’s case load for homeless services and prevention is up “50 to 75 percent,” and state and federal sources are grappling with their own financial problems, he said.
Still, Snowden said, the Vintners “have done everything they can to minimize the damage. What they’re doing makes sense.”
Source : http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/vintners-shifting-grants-from-auction-napa-valley/article_2da5ad3a-65bb-11e1-ba39-0019bb2963f4.html
Source : http://napavalleyregister.com
Category : Small Business Garant
The Napa Valley Vintners organization is putting in place a new strategy to distribute funds raised at Auction Napa Valley, saying it wants to make a more meaningful impact locally.
The shift will eliminate housing as one of three main areas of vintner support, as it increases support for local youth and wellness programs with a goal of closing the “educational achievement gap in Napa County.”
Kathleen Heitz Meyers, president of the trade association that represents more than 400 members of the local wine industry, announced the changes in a letter sent to Napa County nonprofits in January.
Since then, the Vintners organization has been meeting with community groups to explain new grant application processes and how the changes will affect groups that have been on the receiving end of the millions raised annually at the June wine auction.
In her letter, Heitz Meyers said the changes had been in the works since 2008, but had been put on hold by the economic recession. “In 2008, determined to make a more meaningful difference in our community, we refined our giving strategy,” she wrote. After working with consultants, Vintners created a plan “to invest more deeply in targeted grantmaking” with a goal of producing “more significant outcomes,” she wrote.
The recession of 2008, however, interceded. “Almost immediately, our plans were temporarily put on hold so we could assist those most immediately affected by the economic crisis,” Heitz Meyers wrote.
Last year, $980,000 of a total of $6.85 million distributed went to community housing programs “to help keep people in their homes and avoid homelessness.”
As the Vintners implement their new distribution plan this year, “organizations whose programs are long-term grant recipients of Auction Napa Valley but no longer fit eligibility and selection criteria may be eligible for phase-out grants for 2012 and 2013,” Heitz Meyers wrote.
Among the groups that may be most affected by the new strategies is Napa Valley Community Housing, which last year received $250,000 from Auction Napa Valley proceeds.
“We understand the change in ANV, but it will be a challenge for us to fill the gaps in our funding sources,” said the nonprofit’s executive director, Kathleen Dreesen.
“Most people don’t realize the costs that go into predevelopment before we can build our complexes, many costs covered by ANV,” Dreesen said.
Suzanne Shiff, executive director of the Napa Valley Coalition of Nonprofit Agencies, said, “The new ANV changes will definitely affect the way the grants are structured and the funding criteria. This will present a challenge to many of the agencies that have been funded in the past and have been identified as critical local gaps, especially housing, legal aid, disabled, and seniors.
“Since the recession in 2007, our social service programs have, and continue to feel, the cuts in federal and state funding plus cuts in private donations. At the same time, their caseloads and needs have increased tremendously,” Shiff said.
“I know that the Auction has always tried to avoid negative impacts to any agency,” Shiff said, “and I don’t think that the changes in the grant program would put any agency out of business. But no one really knows how this will unfold or the impacts because of the other cumulative funding factors.”
Randy Snowden, director of Napa County Health and Human Services, which has received Auction Napa Valley grants for homeless programs, said, “In the long term it will result in migration of funds from one area of need to another … from safety net services to education.”
And while the loss of support may make his job more challenging in already challenging times, Snowden said, “I can’t criticize them. It’s a completely worthwhile endeavor.”
A history of giving
In 2011, the Napa Valley Vintners jubilantly announced that since its beginning in 1981, the annual wine auction, now called Auction Napa Valley, had returned $104 million to the community in grants.
“However most of that has been raised since 1998,” said Terry Hall, communications director for the Vintners. The first wine auction, put together by a group of volunteers, was a simple affair that raised $140,000 for health care for farmworkers.
In 1999, the Napa Valley Wine Auction, which had become a model for charity wine auctions, attracting an international group of bidders, raised a record $9.5 million.
Throughout the 2000s, the auction continued to bring in millions, and the Vintners were able to greatly expand their support for nonprofit groups. The primary focus remained grants for health and wellness programs, with the second largest category being children’s and youth programs. The third component was housing.
In 2007, for example, with $8.8 million to distribute, they gave $3.8 million to health programs that ranged from $25,000 to Community Resources for Children to $700,000 to Clinic Olé. Grants to youth programs totaled $1.3 million, with $290,000 going to Boys and Girls Clubs in the valley. In the housing category, $662,000 went to such recipients as Napa Valley Community Housing and Calistoga Affordable Housing.
By 2008, the Vintners group realized it needed to figure out how to give out these millions for “the most impactful giving,” Hall said. “We realized we can do some things — like make wine — but that didn’t mean we necessarily knew how to give the money away to make the most difference.”
Hall said the Vintners regularly do community needs assessments, trying to figure out “what makes the most sense to fund. How do you make the most impactful giving?”
While the majority of grants from the Vintners range from $10,000 to $400,000, Hall said, the Vintners were also able to begin funding significant projects. In 1999, the group designated $3 million to build the Napa Valley Vintners Community Health Center in Napa, which houses Clinic Olé, Sister Ann Dental Clinic, Healthy Moms and Babies and Napa Emergency Women’s Services.
Vintners marked the 25th anniversary of the auction in 2005 by launching a $1 million fund “to ensure that every Napa County child has access to health insurance.”
In 2007, the Vintners launched the “YES — Youth, Education and Success” initiative with $2.4 million and subsequent funding of $350,000 “to provide leading-edge learning.”
Hall said the success of these initiatives helped inspire the organization’s next goal: to address the educational gap for Napa County youngsters.
That decision, made in 2008, is now being implemented. “The amount of money we’ve been giving (to housing projects) is not as significant” as the funds to youth and health programs, Hall noted. Over the auction’s history, the Vintners have given $76 million to health programs, $12 million to youth programs and $7.8 million to housing assistance programs.
Another factor, Hall said, was that many of the housing programs had access to other funds. “We don’t want (what we give) to be too little, to not be effective,” he said.
Increasing the focus on youth program funding, he said, can concentrate on problems in the valley like “decreasing the disparity between cultural groups.”
“These are difficult times and people are worried,” Snowden said. His agency’s case load for homeless services and prevention is up “50 to 75 percent,” and state and federal sources are grappling with their own financial problems, he said.
Still, Snowden said, the Vintners “have done everything they can to minimize the damage. What they’re doing makes sense.”
Source : http://napavalleyregister.com/news/local/vintners-shifting-grants-from-auction-napa-valley/article_2da5ad3a-65bb-11e1-ba39-0019bb2963f4.html
