Northern California Grantmakers

NCG member The Women’s Foundation of California has released a new report under their Elder Women’s Initiative.

Launched in 2008, the Elder Women’s Initiative works to build a movement led by elder women and their allies to address issues affecting elder women–such as elder women’s vulnerable health and economic security amid the ongoing recession and state budget crisis which affects safety net programs relied upon by elders–and generate solutions.

AGEnda for Action: Building a Movement for Elder Women’s Advocacy presents the Initiative’s findings and provides recommendations for how funders, policymakers, and advocates can ensure all Californians age with well-being, dignity and economic security.

Read the full report online.

Check out The Women’s Foundation of California’s Elder Women’s Initiative online.

GrantCraft has two new guides for grantmakers.

Funding Community Organizing: Social Change through Civic Participation offers a grounding in the basics of community organizing, as well as examples of what the work can accomplish in many different fields and communities.

Advocacy Funding: The Philanthropy of Changing Minds provides information to help foundation determine if advocacy is a good choice for their organization and presents the legal procedures and potential pitfalls of advocacy funding.

Yesterday the James Irvine Foundation released a pathbreaking new report detailing best practices for increasing voter turnout in low-income and ethnic communities. The research documented in the report indicates that rather than the more-typical mailers and pre-recorded phone calls, quality personal contact is the key to reaching these underrepresented groups. The report, “New Experiments in Minority Voter Mobilization,” notes how the application of these successful tactics could result in even greater participation from underrepresented communities in November 2008.

Read the report here.