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March 09, 2015
Re-evaluating our progress
This article originally appeared in Smart Business Magazine. Click here to access the original article. It’s natural, on occasion, to pause and take stock of where we are, where we’ve been and where we want to go. At GAR Foundation, we invest in Greater Akron to promote quality of life, education and economic opportunities for […]
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March 02, 2015
Guest Post: Growth and opportunity in Akron
By: Chris Thompson When the Fund for Our Economic Future says it’s committed to Growth & Opportunity what does that mean for greater Akron? If we’re successful in our quest, it means more people participating in and benefiting from our region’s economic growth. Our Fund, which is made up of nearly 50 members from across […]
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March 02, 2015
Alchemy: Storytelling that touches the soul
Members of the first core group at Alchemy: Marlon Oden, Imani Scruggs, Charlie Williams, Brandyn Costa. Shawn Taylor, Marquise Fowler Brandyn Costa arrived fully prepared with a written reflection for an interview about his experience in a youth mentoring program. It merely took one question for him to go off script, speaking passionately and […]
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February 25, 2015
Akron2Akron: Become a tourist in your own city
I have this simple philosophy where I believe that it’s sort of silly to not love where you live, so ‘Stuck in Ohio‘ bumper stickers have always confused me. No city is perfect, including Akron, but in order to live a fulfilling life, we need to make the most of our surroundings. Part of the vision behind […]
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February 09, 2015
Guest Post: Why Succession Planning Matters
By: Brian Broadbent Lately Northeast Ohio has celebrated a number of nonprofit executive retirements. However, many nonprofit boards ignore planning for executive transitions until absolutely necessary. Why is it overlooked? Nonprofit boards don’t want to consider losing their outstanding chief executive. There can be reluctance on the part of the chief executive to think about […]
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December 29, 2014
Communicating a genuine belief in your employees
The rat race. I’ve heard the phrase a hundred times, but never understood how it came to mean our tiresome work life. Turns out it is an analogy to lab rats racing through a maze, expending great effort running around, but ultimately achieving nothing. I am fortunate to have a career that I love, one […]
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November 24, 2014
Arts in Akron: Add Your Voice to the Chorus
Sometimes you can just feel it. You can’t always describe it or measure it or explain it. But you feel it and that is enough. We are feeling it right now for Akron’s arts and culture scene. Over the course of the past year, we’ve had many touch points with the community around arts. We […]
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September 04, 2014
Comments from an Education Advocate: Blended Learning
By: Kirstin Toth Senior Vice President, GAR Foundation What are the shared common themes in the terms “personalized learning, blended learning, flipped classroom, instructional differentiation, and problem based learning or interdisciplinary problem based learning?” From someone who is not an educator, but knows a little something about student achievement, the common theme is that we’re […]
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August 18, 2014
Attributes of a Successful Nonprofit
A few weeks ago, I was being interviewed by the board chair of a nonprofit . I was explaining that there is no shortage of compelling causes for our limited grant funds and that the heart of our challenge in making good grants is in discerning which organizations are the “high-quality nonprofits.” He replied by […]
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August 14, 2014
How Leaders Can Utilize Training to Engage Nonprofit Board Members
Guest Post By: Elizabeth Voudouris As nonprofits face growing complexities and challenges, getting the governance right has never been more important. Well-meaning nonprofit board members can bring relevant skills, expertise and networks to the organization, but without a clear understanding of what their job is as a board member (and what it’s not), it can […]
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