Tuesday, December 29, 2009

L.A. Heritage Day 2010 Set for April 11th

The L.A. Heritage Alliance will be presenting the 3rd Annual Los Angeles Heritage Day event at Heritage Square Museum in Los Angeles on Sunday, April 11, 2010.

This event promises to bring together at one location 100 heritage organizations that tell the story of Los Angeles. Further details will be release in early 2010, including free admittance tickets, performance schedule, and more.

To be a sponsor of the event, please contact the LA Heritage Alliance via email (see contact information at right).

Monday, December 21, 2009

L.A. Conservancy Preservation Award Nominations Due Feb. 1

The Los Angeles Conservancy seeks nominations for our 29th Annual Preservation Awards, which recognize outstanding achievement in the field of historic preservation in L.A. County. Nominations are due by 5 p.m. PST on Monday, February 1, 2010.

Downloadable application (MS Word): http://www.laconservancy.org/awards/PA10_application.doc
General information: http://www.laconservancy.org/awards/index.php

Preservation Award winners range widely, from sensitive restoration, rehabilitation, and adaptive reuse projects, to groundbreaking advocacy and education efforts by individuals and groups. We encourage submissions from throughout Los Angeles County that illustrate the value and power of historic preservation. Construction projects may be commercial, residential, or institutional. We also encourage nominations for historic landscape projects and significant contributions to preservation education or program development.

Past recipients include the Dr. Ralph J. Bunche Peace and Heritage Center, Oaklawn Bridge and Waiting Station, Palomar Senior Apartments, Point Fermin Lighthouse, City of Huntington Park Historic Preservation Ordinance, and Valley Municipal Building, among more than 200 others.

To qualify, projects must have been completed by December 31, 2009, be located in Los Angeles County, and meet nationally recognized standards for the treatment of historic properties and landscapes (in the case of construction or landscape projects).

Winners will be selected by an independent jury of leading experts in architecture, historic preservation, and community development. The awards will be presented at a luncheon in May 2010.

The deadline for submitting nominations is February 1, 2010. Each nomination has a non-refundable application fee of $50. You can download a nomination form below or from our website, or request one by calling the office at (213) 623-2489.

Downloadable application (MS Word): http://www.laconservancy.org/awards/PA10_application.doc
General information: http://www.laconservancy.org/awards/index.php

Thanks, happy holidays, and best wishes for a great 2010.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Free Training for Executive Directors

Enrollment Open for January, February, March 2010
Apply NOW—Only 135 Spots Available

The Annenberg Foundation is seeking leaders who aspire to nothing less than greatness, and want to connect those leaders with valuable resources and training so that they can lead their organization towards transformational change.

Alchemy is a free organization and leadership development program. It is focused on building the capacity of small to midsized nonprofit organizations and their leaders. Enrollment is open to qualified nonprofits with operating budgets of up to $2 million serving Los Angeles County.

-Executive Director and Board Chair must attend. The program is FREE but both must commit to two day-long training sessions, followed by a half-day 3 months later. These sessions are led by nationally respected facilitators and local practitioners.

-Include one more board member. You may bring an additional Board member, aka your “Board Champion,” so each organization is allowed to have three individuals in attendance.

-Critical topics covered. Alchemy will tackle Board effectiveness, fund development, public involvement and accountability. You will receive implementation tools, mentoring, and a connection to a network of regional peers to support you on an ongoing basis.

-Training in two phases. The first phase of Alchemy begins in January, February and March 2010. Upon completion, participants will be invited to apply to the second phase, Learning Laboratory, which is a deeper dive into issues of sustainability with a series of roundtables and ongoing services such as technical assistance and a small grants program.

Alchemy exists to reach aspiring leaders and align the Executive Director and Board Chair in common purpose. By connecting them to resources that will support their ability to produce results and readiness to lead, we will create a strong, resilient, and vibrant Los Angeles.

For more information and to apply Please visit www.annenbergalchemy.org or call (213) 403-3030.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Grants for PLANNING Historic Projects

From GrantStation...

National Endowment for the Humanities: Interpreting America's Historic Places: Planning Grants
This program provides funds for public humanities projects that may need further development before applying for implementation. The Deadline to apply is January 13, 2010, but you need to register with grants.gov to be able to apply for Federal Funding.

About the Grant:
Interpreting America’s Historic Places grants support public humanities projects that exploit the evocative power of historic places to explore stories, ideas, and beliefs that deepen our understanding of our lives and our world. The Division of Public Programs supports the development of humanities content and interactivity that excite, inform, and stir thoughtful reflection upon culture, identity, and history in creative and new ways. Interpreting America’s Historic Places projects may interpret a single historic site or house, a series of sites, an entire neighborhood, a town or community, or a larger geographical region. Grants for Interpreting America’s Historic Places should encourage dialogue, discussion, and civic engagement, and they should foster learning among people of all ages. To that end, the Division of Public Programs urges applicants to consider more than one format for presenting humanities ideas to the public.

Monday, November 23, 2009

2nd Annual "Walk It Off" Tour of NoHo: Sat. 11/28

From the Museum of the San Fernando Valley...

We are pleased to extend an invitation to another North Hollywood “NoHo” historic walking tour.

2nd Annual NoHo Historic “Walk It Off” Tour
Saturday, November 28th 10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Tour attendees will learn about real cowboys, pioneer families, movie television and recording stars, the Spanish conquest, Mexican ranchos, great steam trains, vast ranches and orchards, land barons, wars, architecture, and much more! Additional tour highlights include:
-Amelia Earhart Statue
-Security Trust and Savings Bank (1924)
-Amelia Earhart Library (1928)
-El Portal Theatre (1926)
-St. Paul’s First Lutheran Church
-NoHo Arts District
-NoHo Fire Station #60
-Lankershim Arts Center (1939) (S. Charles Lee, architect)
-So. Pacific Railroad Depot (1896)
-Commonwealth Savings & Loan Building
-Weddington Family History
-North Hollywood Masonic Temple Lodge 542
-Lankershim Elementary School (Marilyn Monroe attended)

RSVP: 1-818-347-9665 or email at TheMuseumSFV@gmail.com
Please leave name, address and phone number (walk-ups welcome too!)
Cost: $10 per person suggested donation
Parking: Street and metered parking in area

Sponsored by the Universal City/North Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

Reservations for the tour are on a first-come, first-served basis. Tour meets at Amelia Earhart Statue; NW corner of Tujunga St. & Magnolia Blvd.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Updated IRS Form 990 Training

NONPROFIT GOVERNANCE & THE REVISED IRS FORM 990 - A SERIES OF FIVE WEBINARS DESIGNED TO HELP YOU FILL IN THE BLANKS.

Your organization’s Form 990 is one of your most important documents. It is the world’s window into your organization. The IRS, donors, funders and the press review your Form 990 to determine such information as:

-Do you have an independent board of directors overseeing your operations?
-Does your organization maintain high ethical standards and a culture of transparency for your donors, volunteers, clients and employees?
-How much of each donation does your organization pay its outside fundraisers and how much does it keep for its mission?
-Is your executive compensation in line with organizations in your area of similar size and with a similar mission?

In recent years the IRS has adopted a specific focus on nonprofit governance as part of its oversight of nonprofits exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The revised Form 990 requires nonprofits to describe in detail their governance practices, including such issues as how the nonprofits manage conflicts of interest and set executive compensation.

The five-part webinar series is designed to help you understand and comply with the new disclosure requirements. Each webinar in this series will discuss in-depth one of the new disclosure requirements. It will assist you in developing policies and procedures that will allow your organization to follow best practices and help inspire confidence in your funders and the general public that your organization is well run.

This series is designed for members of the board of directors and senior executives of nonprofits, as well as attorneys that counsel nonprofit organizations on governance matters.

The webinars are held once a month. They begin at 9 am and last approximately 60 minutes – and you never have to leave your office! Please feel free to forward this invitation to your nonprofit partners. For more details, please click here. To register, please click here.

Free Lunch: Oral History as Research and Archives

ICW "In Conversation" series presents:

Telling Stories: Oral History as Research and Archives
Friday, December 4, 2009
Noon to 1pm

The Overseers’ Room, Huntington Library

A conversation between historian David Igler of UC Irvine and:
-Lisa Rubens, Historian and Academic Specialist at the Regional Oral History Office, a research unit of The Bancroft Library, UC Berkeley
-Ana Elizabeth Rosas, a Postdoctoral Ford Foundation Fellow in the department of Black Studies at UC Santa Barbara
-Natalie Fousekis, Director of Cal State Fullerton’s Center for Oral and Public History (COPH) and an Associate Professor in the History Department

This seminar will explore the use of oral history as a research method and the basis of many recent path-breaking historical studies. How and when should scholars conduct oral histories? What are the limitations of oral histories as source material? What are the best oral history archives in California? Three scholars will discuss the possibilities and problems associated with oral history.

This conversation is part of a brown bag luncheon series sponsored by ICW.

The event is open to any who wish to attend, and a limited number of lunches will be available upon a first come/first served basis. To reserve a seat, please respond to Kim Matsunaga at kmatsuna@usc.edu by November 30.