Northern California Muse

But will the Celebrity care about our Charity and our cause? Will they be sincere or do they just want the publicity?

Who cares? We need one! A small infusion of hard cash could start an Endowment Fund and our Charity might not be strapped for cash every winter. Maybe with a large infusion, we could start that building that has been needed for too many years. We would definitely raise the salaries of our employees who are classified as low income.

A visit by our Celebrity would be nice, but not required. They could stay in one of our local, luxury B&B (donated of course) for a few days and we would do a quick photo shoot of our Celebrity touring our facilities. We of course would provide our Celebrity with a diner to meet the locals and collect some more donations. We would send our Celebrity away with everything they need to splash our cause and needs across the world.

Sounds great! We would get the donations and they would get some nice publicity. It is a win-win! Our Celebrity could have a nice week-end vacation and we would not worry about making the payroll for a year or two.

I know it is all seems like fluff and may not seem real, but the infusion of cash to a Charity is very real. And that is what really counts.

I have always believed that a person should donate to their favorite charity depending on their abilities. Those who have the time should donate their time; those who have the money should donate the money. I value their efforts equally. I disagree with those who believe you do not care if you do not “get your hands dirty.” A Celebrity can do more for a Charity by using their name, than by actually volunteering. So why do we have an issue?

We never question the motives of someone who sends a check. We do not send them a questionnaire to verify their sincerity. We do not ask them if they would still donate even if they lost their charitable deduction on their tax return. If they do not really care; we would not return their check. So why do we question the motives of a Celebrity?

So send me a Celebrity! We will be very nice and treat them well and hopefully reap the rewards. We would spend the money wisely, furthering our cause and be very appreciative to anyone willing to help in whatever way that they can. Application for Celebrity is attached.

Rugie is a great cat. He is also available to anyone wanting an affectionate, playful black cat. He is adorable; he loves people, cats, dogs, moles, mice, lizards, birds, snakes, invertebrates and any other living thing. If he finds one, he will bring it home and play with it until it escapes in my house. A good nickname for Rugie might be One-A-Day. We usually find his new toys in the bathroom and usually in the shower, so if you are visiting my home, please be very observant. You might find a snake coiled around the toilet. Rugie transforms the very large shower into a racetrack with Rugie in the middle keeping the toy moving his long black paw and claw.

I must explain the Claw. Rugie got his arm tangled in a cage door at the Humane Society when he was a very tiny kitten. Of the thousands of cats and kittens using the pet-safe cages, only Rugie got his leg caught. Without the special attention from the staff he would have lost his leg. The incident left him with one non-retractable claw. He keeps it very sharp and it has become a specialized tool. And Rugie is a very adaptable cat. He has learned to find many uses for his very long sharp claw.

Another name for Rugie might be Captain Hook. When hungry – he can reach out and grab your shirt or arm when you walk by to remind you of his desires. He uses his claw to encourage on sluggish toys in the shower. He can pick up anything with it and flip it in the air. This includes your earrings or other jewelry or small valuables. He also uses it to inspect his food. Rugie loves canned cat food. It is a real treat. Rugie uses his claw to remove it from the bowl and flip it onto the counter or wall before he eats it. I think this behavior relates to his bug-catching skills. He loves to catch bugs and bring them in the house. Any bug or spider is a good bug to Rugie. He likes to flip them in the air just like canned cat food.

Fortunately for us, some days he can not find any live toys to bring in. But Rugie loves life and can always find something to do. His original name was RugRat, because as a kitten he tore through the house with reckless abandon. He never stopped.

Rugie’s playmates are 3 large dogs. He also teases and chases other cats and runs away hoping to be chased. He loves to tease a dog and run. He just loves the thrill of a chase. The sound of all the dogs chasing a one 8 pound cat through the house can be a terrifying sound. Rugs, chairs, tables can go flying. Sometimes I come home to find my entire living room rearranged. You can see where some large animal has squeezed behind the couch to catch a cat. The 10 x 16 rug moved 3 feet with the furniture, because some large dog has made a “speed stop”. I have seen a “speed stop”; Rugie flying down the hall into the living room with a 110 pound dog in pursuit. Rugie stops. Dog stops and the entire contents of the room on the carpet keeps going. We no longer keep breakables on a coffee table or any table. We in fact do not keep breakables in our house, except in locked cabinets bolted to the wall.

Rugie has a theory. If it moves, Rugie will move it. If he can not move it, he will find one of his dog friends to move it for him. If you can watch it crash to the floor – great. If you watch it crash to the floor from a great height – even better. All shelves in my house are empty; barren.

Rugie loves his dogs and particularly likes one very large furry dog. They play games with balls, toys, pens and any object from my desk. They often imitate kid games like “Hide and Go Seek” and really quit fun to watch. They more often are loud raucous games and seem a little rough as the dog grabs the cat or the cat swings from the muzzle from the dog, blood dripping from the pin holes around the dog’s face. But it is handy to have a large dog friend. If you lose the little ball under the furniture, the dog can lift or move it so you can retrieve it with your claw. Real teamwork! Dogs can also toss the toys great distances; which of course adds to the fun. Then both the dog and cat can chase it or each other.

I guess we will keep him …………but some days I am not sure.

Post by Guest Writer - Mouse
I read about this local Foundation with an Emergency Fund for individuals and families suffering from some catastrophe. So if their rented house burns to the ground and they must check into a hotel with their 3 children, 2 dogs and a cat; emergency money is available.

This happens about once a year in our community and there is a mad scramble by numerous people to assist the family. They need groceries, clothes, a kennel for the pets and gas to get to work. Sounds wonderful and I was ready to donate to this Fund!

The internet is great! In a minute I read the details about the Fund. “Families only” can receive up to $300. That is 2 nights in a hotel or a week’s worth of groceries or some gas for the car and a pair of jeans for each family member. Not all; select one! So maybe they stay in a very cheap hotel, eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and stop by the thrift store for clothes. Nope, they need gas money too. So they will need to live in a tent with the dogs and cat that they bought from the thrift store, eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, stop by the thrift store for clothes and then they can put gas in the car too. That works!

$300, give me a break! Oh by the way, it will take up to 10 days to get the money after your Church requests the money. Forget it; I want a Fund that hands out $1000. Ok, I can hear you now. How will the money be spent; on beer and drugs?

So maybe the Fund can hand out Coupons for the local hotel, grocery store, pet kennel, thrift store and gas station. I bet the local grocery stores and thrift shops would donate the Coupons free. I bet the local Humane Society could take the pets for awhile. The Food Bank could get involved.

I like the idea! We need a new and better Fund; a Fund that really helps out a family or an individual. I am sure they have catastrophes too.

But I have forgotten something; we need someone to administer the Fund, plus we will need a phone and a computer so we can create the coupons and some literature. We will need some software for the computer, an office and a non-profit organization, plus a Board of Directors; the list is getting longer and I am getting a headache.

Next time I hear about a family’s house burning down, I will go to the bank, get some cash and drop it by. I will throw in some extra cash so they can buy some beer.

The northern California Coast is rockin’ and rollin’ again. We had a 4.4 this week and several little quakes. We do not even notice these. We read about them in the newspaper. So how should we prepare for the big one?
A group from Red Cross has been holding meeting lately; getting us to thinking about and talking about our lack of planning.
 
Am I prepared? Not completely, but it appears that I am a great deal more prepared than most people on the coast. I never have enough dog food to last a month and if we had to survive weeks without help, we would be eating a lot of tuna fish and other canned items I do not like. We have enough candles, firewood, first aid stuff and 1000 gallons of water. Of course, we could get more water from a spring or the river and add bleach. We would survive; I do not know about the dogs. I guess I will have to stock up on dog food. I do not want to share my cans of tuna with them. 8 for them and 1 for me – I will buy dog food today!

Everyone talks about the need to escape the coast if we have a real disaster. This is hard for me to understand. If we are caught by a tsunami or quake; do I really want to go to civilization and share in their devastation? I would be better off in the woods with a few neighbors. We all have tarps that cover our wood piles and chainsaws; we could probably make decent shelters quickly. If our larders an empty, I know of 30 turkeys that cross my property every day and of course, we are overrun in deer. A little culling would not hurt either population. I also know a few neighbors who might consider the bear who regularly jumps on our trashcans as a real target.

It also appears that too many are worried about a tsunami anyway. Except for those living and working in our harbors and river inlets; we all live over 100 feet off the ocean and most several hundred feet. Yes, we might lose a few houses hanging on a low-lying cliff, but a 30-70 foot wave of water will not impact many homes. Our bridges may be at risk, but they fall anyway without the help of a big wave or a little shaking.

So, we all need to stock more food and dog food. Maybe we need some more row boats to cross the rivers lacking bridges. But then I am sure some coastal entrepreneur would ferry you across for a small fee. Those with regular medical needs should consider moving, because it will be hard to get to the civilized inland. Otherwise in a major disaster, I am better off staying put on my hill. We can even crank up the generator and watch how Los Angeles was washed away. Skip it, I will save the gas.

Post by Guest Writer - Mouse
A Community Foundation came to talk to our volunteer group. The whole idea sounded great; an organization to promote the local charities and to possibly fund them. It would be a place for local charities to share ideas and resources. I could imagine all kinds of possibilities. They could inform local charities on new ideas, like management and grant writing and advise local charities on how to meet certain standards. They could teach classes. A real solution to many of the problems faced by small charities, doing the hard work of serving the community.

I listened intently; $12 million in assets and growing. The speaker discussed the services available, such as the Foundation could assist you in setting up your own “mini” Foundation and the Foundation would donate the money on our behalf to the “deserving” local charities. The Foundation would also provide the legal services so you could leave your entire estate to the Foundation. The speaker proudly mentioned that they regularly visit all of the local senior centers, so they could “help” the seniors donate all there monies to the Foundation. I began to think I was listening to a big “sucking machine”.

Finally the “hard ball sales pitch” came to an end and our group of volunteers sat in silence. We had no questions; I think we were all stunned. I was. I wanted to hear about the local charities helped, the money donated and the Foundation’s real accomplishments that helped our community.

To end the silence I asked, “How do the local non-profits contact you?”
Answer “They don’t, we contact them.”

The speaker must have heard my thoughts and quickly continued. “We review the local charities against certain standards and we add them to the recommended list. Our Board is aware of the community needs and we contact the organizations that fit within our focus.”

I immediately thought of 3 non-profits that are obviously not on their list, since they have never been contacted. “Focus”, by definition the “focus is the geographic area called the “community”, all of it. Before I could open my mouth, the speaker summed up and ran from the room. Wow, we sat in silence. We did not even have time to clap and thank the speaker for his time.

Arriving home, I signed onto their website. I immediately noticed there are no instructions on how to apply for a grant. After a quick calculation, I determine that 20+ non-profits received grants from $2000-$6000 for a total .2% (that is point 2 percent) of their assets. With a few exceptions, the bulk of the grants went to parks, museums, libraries, the arts, festivals and entertainment events. The charities serving the poor, hungry, homeless and drug-addicted appeared to be missing from the list.

Do not get me wrong, I like the arts and parks. I just wrote a check to my favorite PBS station and a local park. But the sales pitch was that the Community Foundation was “a vehicle to give back to the community” and “to be a significant force in improving the quality of life” and I read that to include all aspects of our community, even the “disadvantaged”.

So I called and asked for a copy of the Grant Guidelines. After some hemming and hawing, they agreed to send me a copy. For a moment, I thought I was reading the guidelines for a private Foundation, not a Community Foundation. The answer was clear; our Community Foundation’s goals were to enhance the community and not to solve our social problems.

So do we have a Community Foundation or a small group of individuals sucking up the community’s charitable-giving resources and granting money to their favorite “pretty” charities? The “unsightly” charities need not apply. The “soup kitchen” does not fit within their focus unless they can emphasize the nutritional value of their food, without mentioning the unfortunate people actually eating the food.

I obviously need to do some more research.

I have spent the last 3 days combing through the websites of Charitable Foundations that offer low interest loans or Program Related Investments (PRI). I will mail numerous letters and they will probably all be rejected.
Rejected not because we do not accomplish our mission, do not exceed our stated goals or do not have measurable proof of success; we will be rejected because we are a charity in a rural county without large corporate donors or large foundations and we do not feed or house the world. The large foundations which are getting larger are looking for large solutions from large charities. We serve a community, 40% of a county, not the world.
The smaller Foundations offer yearly grants from $2,000 to $20,000 and could not consider a secured $1,000,000 loan, even though we have the documented track record and the means to repay a PRI. I am not complaining about the smaller Grants; we need those to support our low-income projects, but I have a BIG Project.
I look with envy at the skating rink that received an equal investment and ask myself, “Why are we located in nowhere USA?’ If I was in Los Angeles, Chicago or DC this would be easy.
I do not begrudge the charities that receive the large, generous Grants and PRIs. I am sure they need them too. I understand why the large Foundations are searching for large charities with large impacts. It is easier; less proposals to review, fewer to track and less risk. They probably get thousands of Inquiries every year for important Projects.
I have also read the articles about the need to fund “rural America” and “under-served areas” and the need to “build assets”. That’s us, but we are located in the wrong “rural area”. Central Valley, California is the new “under-served area”. Three large California Foundations have focused their attention on the Central Valley. We should just move!
Much conversation also revolves around the changing climate and the need for charities to focus on the environment. We recycle several hundred thousand dollars of discards through our Thrift Store each year; thus saving the earth and serving the poor. The proceeds, of course, go to support our charity. We are a Green Machine, but can we get a low interest loan; I doubt it. We have more donated discards than we space; but we are not the right cause or in the right location.
Many Foundations speak of the need for charities to be a part of the community development, to help the poor, hire the handicapped and help children. None of theses are included in our Mission, but we do them all. We hire the handicapped and disadvantaged. We give them jobs, training, develop them and promote them. I could tell you stories about our employees that would make you cry and smile. We provide a safe environment for teen-agers to work off their court-mandated community service. We are a community charity, so we try to serve the community in every way possible; not just our cause. Extra brownie points will not bring us to the attention of the large Foundations.
So I am back at the beginning. I wish Melinda and Bill Gates would look down and say, “Wow, we could invest some money here (at very little risk)”, but they will not notice us.
So I will reword my Letter of Inquiry and send a few more. We will scale back our desires to better serve our community and we will turn away donated discards and ask them to take them to the dump; we do not have the room.

I just read an interesting article on the difficulties facing rural non-profits when it comes to securing Grant money.  I think they read my mind and felt my frustration.

There are no large corporations funding non-profits in our rural location. We don’t have any large corporations. Our largest companies are the local non-chain grocery store and hardware store.

There are no large Foundations in our rural location. There are no Foundations either.We are so rural most Foundations can not find us on a map. During a discussion with a potential Foundation about a Site Visit there is a long pause when I mentioned the 3+ hour drive down a windy 2 lane road.  That road makes it difficult to develop a “meaningful” Relationship. We are a great vacation spot and I have even offered a room in a local Bed & Breakfast; no one has accepted yet.

Those with the money in the urban environment do not grasp our world or some of our problems. I mentioned to one Foundation that we had a problem in a distant location from our Center and gas money for volunteers was crucial. She apparently had a vision of 10 miles or less round-trip; I was thinking 50 miles one-way. My grocery store is 10 miles away. I want to laugh when someone asks about excessive employee benefits or high-priced salaries. What are benefits? Do employees get benefits? Not here! A benefit is they have a job. As for those high-priced salaries; some of the Foundation Heads make more than our entire payroll.

One of the suggestions in the article was to establish a local Non-Profit group. That won’t happen. The 50 local charities are trying very hard to grab every $1 donation; we could never sit in a room together and share information. We are jealous if another non-profit got to put their Donation Can beside the busiest cash register at the grocery store. Competition is rough here.

One Foundation requires a professional Site Video. I did not know how to explain that I could borrow a camera or hire the local television station; but we did not have anything in between. The profession videographer moved out of town.

Now that I know the problem, I do not know what to do with the information.

As a Grant-Seeker and the nominated Grant writer for our non-profit, I have been searching for how to get more grant money. It occurred to me that I needed to understand the perspective of those with the grant money. Exploring this was easier than I thought, but am I right? I will save the verification for another day.

Foundations have “x” dollars each year to give away and they can fund “x” organizations; let’s say 20. A Foundation may receive 100, 200 or maybe 1,000 Grant proposals for the possible 20 Grants. They come in every form; glitzy, handwritten, thick, short and probably all them are syrupy.

In the worst case, the Foundation must throw out 49 proposals for every Grant. The situation sounds just like looking through job resumes for interview candidates. You have 1,000 resumes and one job opening. You are willing to interview 4-10 for the job. I know how I and my old colleagues approached the task. You make 2 piles; 1) Toss and 2) Review. My selection criteria for the first pile “Toss” was simple; incomplete, sloppy, no experience in the subject and they want way too much money. I think this first cut for Grant proposals might be similar. How else are they going to get down to a reasonable number that you want to actually read?

One question occurs to me about my resume criteria, “way too much money”. If a well deserving Grant-Seeker asks for $20,000 and the average Grant given is $1,000; do the Grant Reviewers “toss it”?

Hopefully after the 1st cut, the number of proposals is down to 100 or less. Continuing with my resume example, you take the 2^nd pile and you quickly “glance” through each one and grade them 1 – 5. In this review, some just stand out and they get a 5; some just do not meet your criteria and get a 1. Others are somewhere in between and you may or may not look at them again. The ones with a 1 go into the “Toss” pile. If those graded with a “5” is greater than the 20 possible Grants to be given; the first part of selection process is done. If there are less than 20, additional ones are selected with a grade of “4”. The goal is to spend a minimal amount of time on the first 2 cuts, so you can spend your bulk of your time reviewing the “real” candidates. Of course, all of the above is my own supposition; I have only met one Foundation person and she was very tight-lipped. I also doubt that many Foundations would admit that a Grant proposal was rejected after a 10 second review.

Given my scenario, many well deserving non-profits with limited knowledge about Grant writing will not receive a Grant. They will fall out in the first cut or “not rise to the top like cream” in the second cut. This seems unfair, but I would bet money that it is true.

So next the Foundation must actually review the remaining proposals. If I were reviewing, I would be looking to make Grants that;

• make a “real” impact
• money will not be wasted
• results are measurable
• have a proven track record

With so many non-profits wanting money; you would want some assurance that their money will have a real or permanent impact. You would not want the money wasted or to be used to pay for over-paid staff, fundraising or overly high administrative expenses. And you want some way to measure the outcome, so you know you did not waste your money. To reduce your risk another criteria might be to only consider non-profits with experience or a proven track record or history. After a review of a few Foundations and their Grants, I believe that some Foundations only make Grants to those “well known” non-profits; it safe and easy. You do not need to look through the 1,000 Grant proposals. Other criteria may include innovative or to increase self sufficiency. Hints on other criteria would probably be found in the Grant Guidelines and will probably vary between Foundations. I have ignored Foundations that only make Grants to organization for which they have a personal relationship.

Other possible criteria:

• innovative
• self-sufficiency

If you think about the first four criteria, it leads to Grants only being given to Projects or Special Programs and not to operating expenses or salaries. General operating expenses are not “measurable”. Salaries that keep the organization running can not be “measured”. The Manager that manages the operations and staff, looks for ways to save money, creates new ways to better serve the goals are considered “overhead”, even though they make it all happen.

My only experience is with animal shelters. There is no Grant money for operating expenses or capital items/buildings. If the ultimate goal is to eliminate the homeless pet problem, then building more housing space or paying staff to feed the animals is counter to the goal. Grants are available for Spay/Neuter; the current “thinking” for eliminating the pet over-population problem and it is measurable.

So Grant seekers like me are grinding their teeth conjuring up Projects out of existing activities, so they can cover some of the expenses necessary to run the organization. To add a new Project with new expenses is counter-productive to the existing organization, because a new Project increases management, overhead expenses and paperwork.

So I have stood in the shoes of a Foundation and I think I understand their perspective. I will try to find a couple of books on the subject to verify my thoughts, although I doubt that any will be bold enough to tell it like it really is. I know that I will try to make any future Grant proposals very professional, concise and somehow make them “stand out”, but not glitzy. Why not glitzy? I always put glitzy job resumes in the “Toss” pile.

Dock-diving is a new sport for dogs and their humans. The dogs do all the work or have all the fun. It is simple; how high or how far can your dog jump into the water after his favorite toy.  There are National Championships, World Games, Practice Series and more. It also a Team Sport; I am not sure if they jump as a group or not. Clubs and websites have been established around Dock-diving. New dog toys are being created for the sport, like the new Kong Water Wubba. A new industry has sprung up.

I have watched lots of dogs over the years practicing the sport for the fun of it. I just never thought of it as an organized sport. I will keep watching for a local contests. It sounds like a fun day of dogs.

Unfortunately, my dogs would not enjoy participating in this sport. Water is fun; but never above the bellie. Of course, they do not do fetch either. I can see it now. I throw their favorite toy in the water and then I get the look, “Why did you throw it out there?” or maybe “You want it; you get it !” Obviously, I have the wrong kind of dog!

I was driving along the Coast on my way home near Mendocino. It was sunny and the sky and ocean were so blue. The weather was perfect; maybe a little warm for us coastal people - 85 degrees. I saw the steam rising from the hood; I checked the gauge and dove for the side of the road. Fortunately, there was a wide pull off; unusual on our rural roads.

I looked inside the cramped engine compartment and decided it was a hose problem; but not something silver tape could fix, unless I used the silver tape to make an entirely new hose. By now, the interior of the car was heating up quickly, so I pulled my big dog out and locked up the car. We decided to make the 3 mile walk; it was a beautiful day and my dog was enthused.

We had ventured 10 feet, when a red pickup made a u-turn across the road and pulled up beside us. “Do you need a ride? I was going up to Rossi’s, but it looks like you need a ride.” I thanked him, but explained I wanted to go south to Mendocino and that was the wrong direction. He explained he lived in Point Arena and “what’s a few more miles anyway.”

So my 110 pound dog and I hitched ourselves up into his truck and off we went to our local gas station. We barely fit; his bench seat was filled with elbows, curves and other plumbing supplies. Within minutes, we had arrived and he waved as he headed back north to Fort Bragg.

After some discussion on the model of my Mustang and the shape of the hose (past-tense), we were ready to go back to the car. It had to be towed; it would be to hard to fix on the road. Problem- no dogs allowed in the Tow Truck and they insisted that I watch them hitch up my car to the truck. Before I could think of where to park my dog; some man getting gas told me he would take my dog and I up the road and bring us back. He liked dogs. So my dog and I hitched ourselves back in another truck and off we went. This ride was a little more difficult, because the bench seat was filled with MacDonald’s wrappers. My dog is fairly polite, but just try to keep his nose out of a MacDonald’s wrapper. The man was understanding and scooped the wrappers apologetically to the floor. Now I had 110 pound dog sitting on the bench seat with his nose on the floor; but we carried on. Soon the car was towed and we road back to Mendocino with dog’s nose still investigating the wrappers on the floor. We all pushed the car into the garage and within minutes I was back on the road going home.

Only in a small town……………………