Save the Children has increased procurement of crucial baby and household supplies for families, submitted the names of five key staff members to the UN for its priority staff list to cross into Gaza, and is renewing its appeal for $10 million to be able to scale-up its relief efforts.

In the eventuality that crossings into Gaza will open for a large-scale delivery of aid, Save the Children is preparing 2,220 hygiene kits and 1,150 baby hygiene kits, and has delivered hundreds of kits to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in the hopes that it may speed delivery into Gaza.

The agency, which has been delivering life-saving food aid in Gaza despite the violence, is purchasing additional supplies and has expert emergencies staff in Jerusalem prepared to enter the area as soon as humanitarian agencies and additional personnel are permitted to enter the conflict zone.

Throughout the three-week conflict, the agency has provided large food parcels to more than 21,000 people, half of them children. Its efforts to reach needy families, however, have been hampered by an increasingly dangerous operating environment that threatens the safety of staff and the people they are trying to serve.

“Save the Children is scaling up to be able to go into Gaza as soon as crossings open, and we are allowed to enter. The situation is dire, and we will need to move as quickly as possible to reach families in need,” said Annie Foster, Save the Children’s team leader for the Gaza emergency response. “Over 3,000 women have delivered newborns, often with little support. And there has been no support for children suffering from the stress of what has been happening around them. We’re poised, ready to get in there and deliver quickly.

” Save the Children will print child-protection leaflets early next week for distribution with its other supplies. The leaflets will feature help lines for children to call, with pictures on how to identify unexploded ordnance and other dangers, and advice for parents on how to console their children if they are suffering from signs of stress. The organization also is packaging safe play kits for quick distribution to Gazan children, which will support their coping mechanisms and allow a return to normalcy.

“The best way to deal with emotional distress is to get children back into a routine — that is, to sleep the night through, play with their friends, go to school and return to their family routine,” said Foster. “In Gaza, it has been impossible to set up any safe protected areas for children. Our initial response will also focus on establishing areas where children have the space to be children.

” Save the Children is calling for a peaceful solution to the current crisis that endangers the lives of nearly every child in Gaza, and the lives of Israeli children in areas subject to attacks. Save the Children also is calling for a cessation of hostilities by all parties including air and ground assaults from Israel and rocket attacks from Gaza.

Epilepsy is a major health problem in our nation. More than 3 million Americans have epilepsy, with 59,000 of them living in Arizona; yet it remains one of our most misunderstood and unknown health issues. Annually about 200,000 new cases affecting people of all ages are diagnosed, resulting from head injury, stroke, prenatal illness, a variety of illnesses/infections, and many other causes; however in over 70% of cases the exact cause is unknown. About half of people with epilepsy have continuing seizures even with treatment. Many face problems in educational attainment, employment, transportation, and social interactions.

Since 1971, the Epilepsy Foundation of Arizona has been your local affiliate providing services to those individuals and their families affected by epilepsy in Arizona. We are dedicated to ensuring that people with seizures are able to participate in all life experiences and are working to prevent, control and cure epilepsy through services, education, advocacy and research.

The Epilepsy Foundation of Arizona is a nonprofit 501 (c) 3 organization and is funded primarily through individual donations from the general public, and receives restricted grant support from foundations and private industry.

Most foundations are not making the changes that they and their grantees say are essential to supporting nonprofit success, a new survey of staffed foundations commissioned by Grantmakers for Effective Organizations finds.

The survey, Is Grantmaking Getting Smarter: A National Study of Philanthropic Practice (16 pages, PDF), builds on a similar study conducted in 2003 by the Urban Institute in partnership with GEO. According to the new report, many grantmakers have not adopted practices that they admit are important for effective grantmaking. Asked in prior interviews and focus groups which practices best help nonprofits achieve results, grantmakers and nonprofits agreed on two priority areas: improving the type of financial support grantmakers provide, such as giving more general operating support and more multiyear support; and working in a supportive and respectful relationship with grantees.

According to the report, an overwhelming majority of respondents said they are not providing the funds needed to cover the overhead costs associated with funded projects, while only 24 percent say their grants often or always include appropriate overhead. Moreover, only a third of respondents (36 percent) said that they regularly solicited feedback from grantees through surveys, interviews, or focus groups. On a more positive note, the survey found that foundations with staff and board members who have nonprofit experience were significantly more likely than those without any to engage in grantee-friendly practices.

“The findings were sobering in how they point to fairly slow progress among grantmakers in two key areas — the money and the relationship,” said GEO executive director Kathleen Enright. “This study shows that we still have a way to go in these two areas. That said, we were encouraged to find evidence of a movement of grantmakers who are making significant changes in their practice. Our job is to help expand that movement.”

“Is Grantmaking Getting Smarter?.” Grantmakers for Effective Organizations Press Release 12/10/08.

Here are a quotes off Walter’s personal profile page:

“On September 14, 2005, I suffered a dual brain aneurysm rupture and massive subarachnoid hemorrhage (a hemorrhagic stroke; my neurosurgeon referred to it as a massive bleed.) I may have been predisposed to stroke; my father had an Ischemic stroke in 1979. I suffered a major skull fracture in 1962 that was never really acknowledged as TBI. In those days, no one knew (or cared about) the comprehensive effects – emotional, physical, and spiritual – of serious head injuries.”

“I created this Network as part of my ongoing commitment to stroke survivors, advocacy for the stroke community, and out-reach to the various support entities for survivors and caregivers. This network is part of the evolution of two prior groups: a Yahoo Group for Stroke Survivors & the MSN group known as “Stroke Survivors & Caregivers.”

I joined Walter’s network and started a caregiver’s group on there where people who have shared similar experiences as my experiece with my Dad can congregate and share their experiences, support each other and get stroke related information. I am pleased to announce that Walter’s Stroke Survivor’s Advocacy Network is now a very special new member of the Give Clicks  family of charities and that you can now designate it as your charity to recieve a portion of your online shopping proceeds!

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded $4 million to the University of California to open a multi-campus School of Global Health, likely in 2011, The San Jose Mercury News reported Dec. 10 (see school story). The grant will enable at least five campuses each to tackle a problem facing developing countries, including infectious disease, climate change and food security.

Five Indiana charities team up to donate $3.2 million

Five charities in central Indiana have donated a total of $3.2 million to organizations addressing basic needs, such as food banks and homeless shelters, The Indianapolis Star reported Dec. 10 (see needs story). The Lilly Endowment, United Way, the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, the Richard Fairbanks Foundation and the Central Indiana Community Foundation contributed to the effort, which will help provide groceries and rental assistance to people in need.

Family foundations get focused with mission statements

Family foundations are writing formal mission statements to help target their giving and better leverage their charitable dollars in uncertain economic times, The Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 10 (see family story). In October 2008, more than eight in 10 family foundations had a formal mission statement, with most of them reviewing the statements at least once every five years, says a survey by the National Center for Family Philanthropy.

NTEN is running a survey on nonprofit IT salaries. They describe it as follows:

By Karen Schweitzer, About.com

Another one of GiveClicks non-profit charity partners is the American Liver Foundation. The American Liver Foundation (ALF) is the nation’s leading nonprofit organization promoting liver health and disease prevention. ALF provides research, education and advocacy for those affected by liver-related diseases, including hepatitis.

This is a cause very near and dear to my heart as I have several friends who have undergone liver transplant surgery. I was a leading organizer/fundraiser several years back for a grassroots initiative among the members of my Dudepit Forum and other bass players around the globe who raised nearly $200,000 for medical costs associated with Tower of Power’s bass player Rocco Prestia’s  liver transplant. My older sister, Kathy also had her gall bladder removed and suffers from NAFLD. 

GiveCicks own channel partner Paul Fox also underwent liver transplant surgery on September 16, 2008 and we are very happy to report that he is doing very well and working tirelesly to support the American Liver Foundation as well as the rest of the GiveClicks family of non-profit charity partners and is an inspiration to us all! To designate the American Liver Foundation as your GiveClicks charity to have a portion of your online shopping purchases sent to the ALF at no cost to you please go here!

To go grab some teriffic savings and help your designated non-profit at the same time at no additional savings to you click here.

This is our way of thanking you for helping our non-profits and we thank the good folks at for creating these exclusive offers for our members!

Concern about the economy’s impact on the nation’s non-profits is growing as they are under pressure to put in place best practices for management and public disclosure.
– Source: Chicago Tribune

The skinny on Habitat for Humanity’s side business

A unique opportunity allowed Habitat for Humanity to start a side-business that allows them to generate additional revenue for the organization’s main objectives under the non-profit umbrella.
– Source: MinnPost.com

Non-profit day care takes a different approach

A new non-profit preschool in a North Carolina town mixes children with typical development and those with developmental disabilities. And the popularity of this new idea is quickly catching on in other areas.
– Source: Goldsboro News-Argus