News

Full Circle Fund congratulates Melanie Nutter, our Environment/Energy Circle Chair, who Mayor Gavin Newsom today named as the Director of the San Francisco Department of Environment. Melanie will lead the Department of Environment, which helps all San Francisco residents and businesses take an active role in protecting and enhancing the urban environment, produces and publicizes information on sustainable practices, and develops innovative and practical environmental programs for all residents.

“Melanie brings years of experience and stewardship on environmental policy,” said Mayor Newsom. “Her knowledge of government and her role in building coalitions to promote major environmental policy initiatives will be invaluable as we chart our City’s efforts toward a greener, more sustainable environment and green jobs economy.”

Since 2005, Melanie has served as Deputy District Director for the U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, where she manages the Speaker’s district office by supervising staff, addressing constituent concerns, and advising on local policy issues. Melanie functions as the district policy liaison to Speaker Pelosi’s policy advisors on issues including the environment, energy, transportation, environmental health, women’s issues and food policy.

In 2007, Melanie co-founded the Energy and Environment Circle for Full Circle Fund with the help of Vice President Al Gore and green jobs advocate Van Jones. Melanie has been a grassroots political organizer with Greenbelt Alliance, the Public Interest Research Groups (PIRG), and Green Corps Congratulations Melanie!

Posted in Wade Crowfoot, Gavin Newsom, Melanie Nutter, Van Jones, environment, Nancy Pelosi, special announcement

With a growing network of more than 180 Members, 44 current and former grantees, plus staff, and board, Full Circle Fund has increased its size and scope each year. Yet, members and key stakeholders realized that as the organization grew, there was an increased need for a more universal and convenient way to share information, manage knowledge, and communicate.

This spring, after months of research, testing, and feedback, Full Circle Fund launched a new Member Platform, via a partnership with Jive Social Business Software. With the new Jive platform, members, staff, and grant project teams will be able to network, collaborate, and engage in a way more efficient than ever before. Members will have information about their project, their Circle, other members, and issues in the field, at their fingertips.

Says Ben Kiker, Chief Marketing Officer at Jive,

“By using Jive technology in this space, Full Circle Fund is taking a leadership role, paving the way for other philanthropists and engaged citizens to leverage social business software to tackle the toughest issues facing our community. The Jive platform enables Full Circle Fund members and staff to efficiently collaborate, share resources, build an eco-system of support around innovative models and leaders, and maximize their impact on the world.”

The new platform leverages Jive’s social business technology to create a virtual meeting space for grant project teams. Teams can now easily collaborate on key documents, set deadlines, and schedule their next meeting. They can also communicate the project’s goals, milestones, and potential challenges in a way that encourages participation from other members. One of the most exciting features is the potential this platform has for increasing Full Circle Fund’s impact. By helping members engage, via sections like “Help Wanted,” the current needs for grant project teams are made transparent and members easily plug in if they have the needed skills or resources.

The Member Platform initiative has been led by Full Circle Fund staff Caroline Thompson and Education Circle Chairman Jeff Camp, with a team of members participating as consultants and now, evangelists. Caroline explained,

“The objectives were to make participation in Full Circle Fund easier and also to take our organization to the next level by capturing important conversations about grant projects that were previously only found in our member’s personal inboxes.”

Finally, the platform is helping members get to know each other better, just like any other social network, since every member has access to the basic contact information, bio, and photo of their fellow members, and can easily see the skills and knowledge other members have available to leverage for the benefit of our projects and grant partners.

If you’re a member and you haven’t yet logged in, do it today at http://member.fullcirclefund.org. Contact Caroline Thompson if you have any questions about logging in, or how to get engaged on the new Member Platform.

Posted in members, corporate supporter, Member Platform, impact, results, grantees, resources, jeff camp, technology

Citizen Schools announced Monday that Joe Ross, a member of Full Circle Fund’s Education Circle, has joined the organization in California as state Executive Director. Citizen Schools is a national nonprofit organization that mobilizes adult volunteers to teach apprenticeships, and partners with middle schools to expand the learning day for low-income students.

Part of Full Circle Fund’s dual mission is to build the next generation of community leaders, and within our Circles we provide inroads for private sector members to engage with the issue areas they care about. We asked Joe to share in his own words what prompted this successful tech executive to make the shift.

“I’ve always been academically interested in education, but my experience with Full Circle Fund made me realize how deeply I want to be personally involved in a hands-on way. Not just occasionally, but full time. When I joined Full Circle, right away I was inspired by the network of education reformers I met within the Education Circle.”

“Then, during the Grant Cycle, I got to know some of the nonprofits under consideration for a grant. One of those nonprofits was Citizen Schools. In the end, the Circle did not give its grant to Citizen Schools, but I was still struck by the organization’s success mobilizing hundreds of adult volunteers to teach middle school kids after the end of the regular school day. Then I heard they were looking for an executive director. I couldn’t resist raising my hand.”

Joe continued, “In my technology career, I saw Flip Video grow from a relatively obscure idea into the buzz of the Bay Area and beyond. I expect Citizen Schools, which already has had an amazing impact in Silicon Valley and Oakland, to follow a similar trajectory. And while it won’t end up like Flip Video as an acquisition by Cisco Systems, Citizen Schools’ model of education reform will prove ripe for adoption by Sacramento — and by policymakers around the country. That’s scalable impact — what we venture philanthropists, borrowing from startup lingo, might call an ‘exit strategy.’”

Congratulations on this new step, Joe! If you’d like to join Joe in the Education Circle, or one of the other circles, contact Melissa Tracy by email to talk about becoming a member and joining one of the new grant project teams.

Posted in Joe Ross, impact, education

AT&T currently holds the title of #1 Corporate Philanthropist in the Bay Area as ranked last year by the San Francisco Business Times. It’s clear the company takes seriously the responsibilities of being a good corporate citizen, developing and retaining great talent, and consistently investing in areas that will help strengthen communities. So it’s also a natural fit that the company has became one of Full Circle Fund’s newest corporate partners. AT&T’s commitment to citizenship and sustainability is not new, however; it has been a part of the company’s heritage for more than 130 years.

“With a company of AT&T’s size, we know we have the potential to have a real impact on the communities we serve. But our decisions must have purpose,” explains Loretta Walker, Vice President of External Affairs for AT&T, “Full Circle Fund’s unique, proven model helps leverage the talent of our employees for the benefit of nonprofit organizations in issue areas that are aligned with our company’s sustainability initiatives, such as education and minimizing our environmental impact.”

Through the partnership, AT&T employees Derrick Wong and Aaron McDaniel have become Full Circle Fund Members and are serving on project teams in the Education and Environment Circles. Derrick is helping the environmental organization Green Schools refine their business model in preparation for the rollout of a statewide, locally implemented green schools certification program.

In the Education Circle, Aaron is working with Beyond 12, an organization building an innovative support system to increase college completion for low income students who will be the first in their family to earn a college degree. These projects are aligned with AT&T’s commitment to making an impact on the educational and future economic success of underserved youth and towards more sustainable practices in energy consumption and environmental sustainability.

Says Full Circle Fund’s CEO, Amy Lesnick,

“As an organization, we look for corporate partners who are committed to investing in innovative solutions that make a sustainable difference in our local community and in the world. Full Circle Fund is excited to be able to help AT&T extend its impact by leveraging the creative energy and skills of its employees to support innovative non-profits, while at the same time cultivating the next generation of community leaders.”

When AT&T talks about “sustainability,” though, they’re not just talking about the environment. They organize their sustainability initiative into six focus areas: Strengthening Communities, Investing in People, Leading With Integrity, Minimizing Environmental Impact, Connecting People and Business, and Leading Innovation and Technology. These issues embody their commitment to making their business and communities stronger well into the future. In July 2010, the San Francisco Business Times (a media partner of Full Circle Fund) will announce the 2009 top Corporate Philanthropists and AT&T is sure to be on the list.

Posted in AT&T, Derrick Wong, Aaron McDaniel, Beyond 12, Green Schools Initiative, Corporate Philanthropy Summit & Awards, spotlight, environment, San Francisco Business Times, corporate supporter, education

After a significant period of of issue-area exploration, inquiry, and research known as the Grant Cycle, both the Environment / Energy Circle and the Education Circle members have selected five compelling grantee organizations for 2010. The new grant projects are with Beyond 12, UC Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry, Green Schools Initiative, and Rising Sun Energy Center. Additionally, the Environment Circle will continue to partner with Imagine H2O.

The projects, which range from helping a world class institution develop and promote a toxics scorecard for consumer products, to using technology to address a critical gap in college completion support for low-resource students, are an excellent complement to Full Circle Fund’s existing grant portfolio. Read more about the projects here:

> Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry - In this Environment Circle project, members will bring business acumen to this new department (founded in late 2009) at UC Berkeley. Members will be working to create a strategic plan for growth, build a network of businesses who see the value of green chemistry, develop a toxics scorecard for consumer products, and identify opportunities to shape policy.

> Beyond 12 (formerly CollegeSUCCESS) - In this Education Circle project, members will help Beyond 12’s two social entrepreneur founders through a major growth period. Projects include interviewing key internal and external stakeholders to develop an expansion strategy, a marketing plan, a partnership model and quantitative partnership evaluation tool for this national nonprofit organization. Beyond 12’s mission is to increase the number of first generation, underrepresented and low-income students who graduate from our nation’s colleges and universities.

> Green Schools Initiative - This Environment Circle project will help improve the environmental health of US schools as members assist with the development of a statewide certification program strategy, help the organization build high-level partnerships, create a campaign to mobilize parents, and implement a sustainable growth plan.

> Imagine H2O - In this project, Members of the Environment Circle will continue to help bring innovation in water to the next level by assisting this nonprofit with marketing and volunteer recruitment, as well as supporting the current business prize, and planning expansion of prizes.

> Rising Sun Energy Center - Environment Circle Members will work with this green workforce development and retrofit services nonprofit on a strategic marketing and expansion plan, fundraising, and impact measurement.

A huge thanks goes out to all the potential grantees who participated in the grant cycle as well as all the Inquiry Team Leads and new Project Team Leads for their incredible passion and commitment. Congratulations to all the members of the Education and Environment Circles, the project teams, and our four newest (and one returning) Full Circle Fund nonprofit partners!

These new projects are kicking off now! To learn how to get involved, contact Melissa Tracy by email to talk about becoming a member and joining one of the Education or Environment Circle’s new grant project teams.

Posted in Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry, Rising Sun Energy Center, Beyond 12, Green Schools Initiative, Imagine H2O, education, environment, grantees

Every year 18 million patients visit an estimated 7,000 free clinics in the U.S. to receive healthcare. These clinics face a hard choice. A clinic can either spend a large portion of its budget on medicine and medical supplies or refer its patients elsewhere for treatment. Some clinics are able to procure medical donations but they are often inconsistent and time-consuming. Meanwhile, billions of dollars of usable medicine and medical supplies go to waste every year due to logistical challenges. That’s where the Global Economic Opportunity Circle’s Grantee, SIRUM (Supporting Initiatives to Redistribute Unused Medicine) steps in.

SIRUM is a nonprofit online exchange system that streamlines the process of matching demand for medicine in areas of need with the excess supply from pharmaceutical companies. After free clinics and donors register with the SIRUM network, their software automatically matches the available supply of medication with the demand from free clinics. This process occurs in real-time using simple information technology.

Since receiving the grant at the beginning of 2010, SIRUM and Full Circle Fund’s team have helped to pass a county ordinance in Santa Clara county and have opened a dialogue with state lawmakers to help them realize that change is necessary and California Law should be re-written on this topic. SIRUM recently acquired a major donation of unused medicine worth over $20,000 from a small pharmaceutical company in Florida and was able to redistribute it for use in San Mateo County. SIRUM also prompted a letter written by the California Department of Health to be distributed to all skilled nursing facilities in the state that expressly supports donation of unused medicine to counties.

Full Circle Fund Project Leads Michelle Branch, Dion Ward and Tracy Dooley have been hard at work with SIRUM’S leadership to develop the domestic outreach plan. Currently the team, including Paul Saunders, Dee Dee Nguyen, Sarah Wigglesworth, and Natasha Mooney are helping conduct outreach to key counties that have a combination of populations in need as well as clinic medication distribution networks that will allow organizations such as SIRUM to help match supply with need. Members Marc Thibault and Rebecca Smullin have also contributed to the Project Team in various capacities.

“We are very grateful to work with Full Circle Fund,” says SIRUM’s Director of Operations George Wang (pictured above with the rest of the SIRUM team), “They have helped us develop a strategic plan for client recruitment, connected us to key decision makers in the Bay Area, and assisted us in pinpointing potential future funders. Their experience and expertise has been invaluable to our success.”

Full Circle Fund is also working with SIRUM and local government to allow Good Samaritan donations in San Francisco and Marin Counties, and is investigating further expansion of Department of Health clinics in Contra Costa, Solano, Mendocino, Sonoma, Santa Cruz, and Sacramento Counties. Additionally, team members are investigating an outreach strategy to the large health systems in Los Angeles and San Diego.

Posted in SIRUM, Global Economic Opportunity, grantees

We’re excited to welcome Melissa Tracy to Full Circle Fund’s team. As our new Membership and Development Associate, Melissa will use her background in nonprofit fundraising and development, project management, and cause-marketing to help grow and support Full Circle Fund’s membership base as well as be an integral part of the development program. She is an East Coast transplant and already has one Full Circle Fund Member Retreat under her belt since she flew out at a moment’s notice just hours after accepting the position to take part! Make sure to introduce yourself to our newest staff member at the next meeting. To find out more about Melissa- read her bio.

> If you’re interested in becoming a Member of Full Circle Fund, know someone who is, or if you’re an existing Member with a question about anything membership-related, contact Melissa by email!

Posted in staff, special announcement

The Federal Guidelines for the $439 million Teacher Incentive Fund (TIF) grant program are out, and the deadline for applications is July 6, 2010. TIF is a five-year Federal grant to improve education in high-need schools and districts by funding innovation in increased teacher pay. Districts seeking ways to improve teaching through faculty dialogue and a new approach to teacher evaluation and compensation are potentially a good match for TIF.

To help California Districts navigate the application process, Full Circle Fund’s Alternative Teacher Compensation Project Team and PACE (Policy Analysis for California Education) have made a collection of tools available. On June 9th, they hosted a 45 minute webinar, viewed by 20 participants from across the state, with slides and audio narration by the US Department of Education’s Jo Anderson, Jr. and Dr. Julia Koppich, renowned expert on teacher compensation. The recorded webinar is now available for reference on Full Circle Fund’s TIF Page.

PACE, an Education Circle Grantee, has also published a Guide to the Teacher Incentive Fund for California School Districts, written by Julia E. Koppich, now available on the PACE website.

What makes TIF different from others is that unlike other grants, high-need districts and unions can apply for TIF support directly. There is no need to negotiate with state organizations — districts just make their plan and apply.

According to the Alternative Teacher Compensation Grant Project Lead Stephen Dodson, 2010 is the year to apply for TIF.

“This grant program has been significantly expanded — money is available. It has also been modified significantly based on feedback from prior grant recipients. For example, this year’s TIF program requires recipients to evaluate teachers based on multiple measures rather than exclusively on test score gains.”

Full Circle Fund and PACE hope districts will take advantage of the opportunity to develop a TIF proposal, and the resources they’ve made available to support the application for this important program.

We are also excited to announce that new Full Circle Fund Member and Community Fellow Katherine Casey will be taking over as the Project Lead in July 2010. By day, Katherine works at Education Pioneers. Thank you and congratulations to Stephen on his leadership for the past several years.

Posted in webinar, Policy Analysis for California Education (PACE), Alt Comp Dialogue, education

Through our partnership with the Center for Nonprofit and Public Leadership, Full Circle Fund has just added a UC Berkeley Student from the Haas School of Business to our team as summer intern. Michelle Poon was a student in the new Economics of Philanthropy course at UC Berkeley which was co-taught by Dr. Nora Silver, Amy Lesnick, and Full Circle Fund Fellow Darian Heyman Rodriguez. The course was essentially a collegiate giving circle, was modeled after Full Circle Fund, and resulted in two grants being awarded, based on the students’ research, vetting process, and group decision-making.

Michelle, who graduates in 2011, will be assisting with ramp-up and population of the new Member Platform, marketing and impact initiatives, research, attending Circle meetings (especially in her personal interest area, Education) and shadowing key leaders to learn more about engaged philanthropy, education policy, and the Full Circle Fund model. Make sure to say hello to Michelle when you meet her this summer!

Posted in staff, special announcement

At an awards dinner tonight, the San Francisco Business Times will officially induct Amy Lesnick, Full Circle Fund’s Executive Director/CEO, into its “Forever Influential Honor Roll,” a first-class index of outstanding women leaders who have made sustained and widespread contributions to the Bay Area business community. This is the third year Amy has been honored, having been named a member of the Bay Area’s Most Influential Women in Business in both 2008 and 2009.

Amy holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and has over 20 years of leadership experience in business and nonprofits. She serves on the Advisory Board of Virgance.com, the Jefferson Awards Steering Committee, and on Grameen America’s Leadership Council. Most recently, she took on the role of co-lecturer for the undergraduate Economics of Philanthropy course at the Center for Nonprofit and Public Leadership at the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business.

The San Francisco Business Times’ list of the Bay Area’s Most Influential Women in Business is presented annually in recognition of the most accomplished, driven and inspirational women leaders throughout the ranks of Bay Area corporations and organizations. The list honors over 100 corporate and community leaders whose wisdom, community service and mentorship continually advance Bay Area business at large.

Full Circle Fund would like to congratulate all of the leaders honored tonight and thank them for their contributions to the community, as well as thank Mary Huss, Felicia Brown, Tom Van Ess and everyone else at the San Francisco Business Times for providing an annual platform to recognize these influential leaders.

Posted in San Francisco Business Times, Amy Lesnick, event, special announcement