Moments in Philanthropy :: November 2011
In This Issue
Madison Community Foundation
Awards $1,233,144
in Fall Grant Round
Marie Graber Provided a Way to
Make History
PlayTime Productions’ 25th
Anniversary
Madison Children’s Museum Wins
Prestigious National Award
Madison Community Foundation Awards $1,233,144
in Fall Grant
Round
Boys and Girls Club
of Dane County - $35,000 to develop a comprehensive Creative and Performing
Arts Center to bring a voice to underserved youth. Participation through
lessons and performance in music, dance, choir, and drama will lead to improved
cooperation, teamwork, confidence and social skills.
Clean Lakes Alliance
- $37,500 to develop an engineering road map to act on the findings of the
Yahara CLEAN report, resulting in a concrete plan to clean Yahara Watershed.
Outcomes will include identifying and prioritizing the ten most crucial actions
to reduce phosphorus load and bacterial growth, identifying responsible
parties, and distinguishing funding sources for implementation.
Goodman Community
Center - $50,000 for Capacity Inventories and Action program. GCC is
working with John McKnight, a Northwestern University professor, to empower
neighbors to strengthen their community and their lives by conducting a
community capacity inventory. Residents of inventoried blocks will then share
resources and teach each other desired skills.
Kennedy Heights
Community Center - $30,000 for a new Youth Playground and Natural-scape.
Kennedy Heights Community will together plan, fundraise, and build a community
play space for youth and young children. $5,000 will be used as a 1:1 match for
an endowment to maintain the space over time.
Literacy Network
- $45,000 to develop a Bilingual Family Literacy program to teach literacy
skills to native Spanish speaking parents of elementary students in the Madison
Metropolitan School District. Teachers and staff from MMSD and Edgewood will
improve Spanish language skills and understanding of cultural issues.
Madison Public
Library Foundation - $500,000 to the capital campaign to build a new Madison
Central Library. The new library will be 33% larger with a 250 seat auditorium,
a 75 seat program room with after-hours access, and multiple smaller meeting
rooms. Attendance is expected to double to 1 million in the first year after
opening.
Middleton Cross
Plains Area School District - $35,000 for a 2:1 challenge grant to leverage
$70,000 for an endowment fund by the end of 2012. This endowment will provide
funding for extra-curricular enhancement programs.
Urban League of
Greater Madison - $20,000 to support the launch of a Customer Service
Academy to be part of ULGM job training programs that serve under- and
unemployed adults. Curriculum will be based on the renowned Disney Customer
Service Institute.
Vera Court Neighborhood
Center - $54,000 for a Latino Academy for Workforce Development, which
provides the job skills, industry accreditation, and confidence needed for
adult Latinos to obtain better employment. LAWD is dedicated to ensuring a
well-trained and knowledgeable workforce.
Marie Graber Provided a
Way to Make History
In 1991, Marie Graber left a $15 million unrestricted Legacy gift with
Madison Community Foundation that changed Dane County forever. It became the
basis of the MCF Unrestricted Fund, which supplies distributions for
competitive grants awarded throughout Dane County.
Distributions of more than $16 million over the last 20 years have built
and supported hundreds of Dane County’s best loved community projects and
programs.
Monona Terrace, new public libraries, community gardens, affordable
housing, food pantries, biking and hiking trails, Henry Vilas Zoo, the Olbrich
Rose Garden, Boys and Girls Club, Dane County Parks, Madison Children’s Museum,
YWCA and YMCA facilities, and three community centers are just a few of the
capital projects that were built with MCF grants.
Hundreds of grants were made to programs for arts and culture, children
and families, community development, elderly, environment, learning, and youth.
To contribute to the fund begun by Marie Graber, click here.
For more information on creating your own fund, email Amy Overby, Vice
President, Donor Relations, or call (608) 232-1763
PlayTime Productions’ 25th Anniversary
In 1979, Teddy Studt started a little theatrical group for neighborhood
children who wanted to put on plays in the park, which then grew and blossomed
into a bona fide non-profit theatre in 1986. This month, PlayTime Productions
is celebrating twenty-five years of theater by the young, for the young,
performed for thousands of Dane County residents who have enjoyed live,
affordable, family centered theater productions. Though Teddy passed away in
September 2010, her legacy lives on in the vibrant September-May season when
two plays are performed in 15 Dane County venues.
The Teddy O. & Robert R. Studt PlayTime Productions Fund at Madison
Community Foundation was started last fall with donations made to PlayTime as a
memorial to Teddy to provide support for more theater by the young, for the
young, for generations to come.
Renaye Leach, PlayTime’s managing artistic director, said, “We serve
family audiences and students from third grade through high school cast in our
plays. Our kids are hands-on in
every step of the production, learning teamwork, leadership, discipline, and
experiencing success, especially during those hard middle-school years. Teddy
was fond of saying, ‘Everyone needs a little magic in their lives.’”
This year’s productions are “www.OZ”, a lively telling of the children’s
classic that starts Nov 5 at Monona Library, with a special anniversary show
Nov 26 in the Overture Center for the Arts Playhouse, and “The Reluctant Dragon,” beginning with
auditions in February and performances throughout April and May.
For PlayTime Production’s performance schedule,
click here.
To help support the Teddy O. & Robert
R. Studt PlayTime Productions Fund, click here.
Awards and Accolades:
Madison Children’s Museum Wins
Prestigious National Award
Madison Children’s Museum has been awarded the 2011 National
Medal for Museum and Library Service, a once-in-a-lifetime honor for any museum
or library in the country. The National Medal, awarded by the Institute of
Museum and Library Services (IMLS), is the nation’s highest honor for museums
and libraries for extraordinary civic, educational, economic, environmental,
and social contributions. Recipients must demonstrate innovative approaches to
public service and community outreach.
Kathleen Woit, MCF president, said, “MCF has funded programs
and supported the capital campaign of this vigorous community asset for many
years. We at MCF have watched it grow from a small touring program in 1980 to a
magnificent, multidisciplinary resource in the heart of downtown Madison. We
have much to be proud of in this gem of a museum - it is a high caliber
learning environment and playground for children and adults alike.
The award is the first of its kind to be granted to any
Wisconsin museum. It will be presented, along with the sum of $10,000, to
museum representatives by Michelle Obama in spring of 2012 in Washington, D.C.
StoryCorps, a nonprofit organization committed to recording, sharing, and
preserving Americans’ stories, will send trained facilitators to Madison to
record conversations about the museum and its impact on the community.