Community Initiatives:

News and Announcements

Improving urban education in Rhode Island

The Urban Education Task Force has released a final report with seven recommendations to improve urban education in Rhode Island. The Foundation was a proud funder of the report. Our grantmaking in education supports many of the recommendations, such as improved educator quality, school innovation, and multiple pathways for student success. Read the final recommendations.

Congratulations, New Urban Arts!

New Urban Arts is one of just 15 youth arts organizations nationally to receive the pretigious Coming Up Taller award, the nation’s highest honor for the field of out-of-school time arts and humanities programs. Learn about the award and its presentation by First Lady Michelle Obama.

Smaller nonprofits must complete Form 990-N to maintain exempt status

The Pension Protection Act of 2006 requires tax-exempt organizations that do not meet the income threshold for filing an annual return to provide the IRS with certain information each year. The IRS created Form 990-N for this purpose, and smaller nonprofits began filing it in 2008.

According to IRS estimates, half a million nonprofits have failed to file a Form 990-N. Guidestar reports that these organizations could find themselves stripped of tax-exempt status in May 2010.

Foundation Fellows, Class of 2009

Rhode Island Foundation names twelve nonprofit leaders Foundation Fellows

January 22, 2009

Michelle Cruz of The Lost Chord will travel to Cape Verde, Africa, “to explore and document the rich music history of the island and develop the ‘Sounds Across Waves’ program allowing children from two nations to converse through music.” Maria Montanaro of Thundermist Health Center will lead the planning and development of a private bilingual school in rural Honduras. And Mary Kim Arnold, executive director of the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, plans to attend “Leadership for the 21st Century: Chaos, Conflict and Courage,” an executive education program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and set up a “creative practice and leadership” blog with video, audio, images, and links so that “I can share with other nonprofit leaders throughout the year, and hopefully beyond.”

“The 2009 class of Foundation Fellows is as diverse as the communities represented by their organizations,” notes Rhode Island Foundation President and Chief Executive Officer Neil Steinberg. “Their proposed projects reflect a true commitment to the spirit of the Fellows program, which is designed to recharge the batteries of nonprofit leaders so that their organizations will continue to thrive well into the future.”

This year’s Fellows class also includes the inaugural Sharon Chancellor Fellow. Named in memory of Chancellor, who died suddenly in September 2008, this Fellowship is made possible by the generosity of her family and friends and through the auspices of The Women’s Fund of Rhode Island and United Way of Rhode Island. Chancellor, a highly respected and sought after organizational development consultant known for her insightful contributions to the nonprofit community, was a member of the boards of both organizations. To honor Chancellor’s passion for women’s and minority causes, each year a woman of color among the selected Fellows will be designated the Sharon Chancellor Fellow. The 2009 Sharon Chancellor Fellow is Valerie Tutson, executive director of Rhode Island Black Storytellers, whose project will involve travel to South Africa to experience Black storytelling. Tutson plans to use her experiences to guide modern storytellers in their development.

Introduced by the Foundation in 2000, the Fellows program offers an opportunity to nonprofit executive directors to take productive mini sabbaticals from their organizations. Fellows, who design their own sabbatical projects subject to Foundation approval, receive a stipend of $10,000 from the Foundation, which also grants $5,000 to their organizations to compensate for the executive directors’ time away.

Reintroduced as part of a suite of programs offered by the Foundation’s Initiative for Nonprofit Excellence, the Fellows program, in the words of Initiative Director Jill Pfitzenmayer, “allows nonprofit leaders to gain new perspective, take time away from day to day operational responsibilities, and return to their organizations with new energy and focus.” In keeping with the Initiative’s focus on building capacity in Rhode Island’s sizeable nonprofit sector, the Fellows program encourages executive directors, through a year of professional exploration and interaction with other nonprofit leaders, to bring back to their organizations new approaches to accomplishing their core missions.

Between 2000 and 2005, 100 local executive directors went through the Fellows program. A comprehensive program review prepared for the Foundation in 2005 included the following highlights:

Of the 88% of Fellows who reported they felt a renewed commitment to their work, 80% attributed this to the Fellowship experience.
Of the 93% of Fellows who reported that they had become more effective leaders, 80% said that the Fellowship was a significant or very significant contributing factor.
Of the 79% of Fellows who reported that they had introduced a new work direction to the organization, more than half (57%) said the Fellowship contributed significantly or very significantly to this outcome.

Abu Bakr, assistant to the president and director of planning services and professional development at University of Rhode Island, will facilitate the year-round group meetings of the Fellows.

2009 Fellows participants are:

Mary Kim Arnold, Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, Providence
Michelle Cruz, The Lost Chord, Pawtucket
Sandra Del Sesto, Institute for Addiction Recovery, RI College Foundation, Providence
Tina Dolen, Aquidneck Island Planning Commission, Portsmouth
Angelo Garcia, Channel One-Central Falls, Central Falls
Kohei Ishihara, Providence Youth Student Movement (PRYSM), Providence
Maria Montanaro, Thundermist Health Center, Woonsocket
Ann O’Grady, Fantasy Works Youth Theater, Inc., Saunderstown
Deborah Perry, YWCA Northern Rhode Island, Woonsocket
Kathleen Swann, Leadership Rhode Island, Providence
Valerie Tutson, Rhode Island Black Storytellers, Providence
Linda N. Ward, Opportunities Unlimited, Inc., Cranston

Learn more about the Fellows Program.