In this country, giving to nonprofits is practically a holiday tradition, prompted by the season’s suggestion to think of those in need. Louisville’s non-profit sector has not suffered from the mortgage crisis or the volatile stock market, but nonprofit organizations are keeping a wary eye on 2008. WFPL’s Elizabeth Kramer surveyed several Louisville nonprofits about the trends they saw in 2007 and their outlook for the New Year.
The end of the year brings many things, including pitches from non-profit organizations reminding you to give before January first so that you can deduct your donations on your 2007 tax forms.
Several Louisville organizations, from St. Vincent de Paul to the Metro United Way, say this year’s fundraising efforts are bringing in more checks now than they saw at this time last year, and they are optimistic about their future fundraising efforts — at least in the short-term. That sentiment falls in line with what other fundraisers are reporting across the country, as illustrated in a recent report by Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy. Patrick Rooney is head of research at the Center.
“Fundraisers today are slightly more optimistic about the fundraising environment than they were six months ago or a year ago,” Roony says. “At the same time, they’re not very much more optimistic about the future.”
The roots of this optimism stem from recent history in fundraising. While nonprofits on the whole struggled following the 2001 terrorist attacks and an economic downturn, they saw more pennies in their pockets after 2005 as donations began to increase. Part of this increase has come from nonprofits cultivating several specific strategies. One has been matching gifts, where a donor agrees to put up a large sum of money if others contribute enough to mach that amount.
In 2007, the Fund for the Arts got a $50,000 conditional pledge from former Brown Forman CEO Owsley Brown and his wife Christy. The conditions? Board members of area arts organizations had to increase their current contributions over the previous year and those increases had to add up to at least $50,000. After the Fund put out the call in December, contributions exceeded the $50,000 goal. Also, Jewish Family and Vocational Service recently used a $25,000 gift that other donors matched and exceeded by $12,000.
The other strategy is getting people involved in volunteer activities to experience the actual services nonprofit organizations provide. Wendy Adams is vice president of marketing and communications at Metro United Way.
“We are finding that when people are able to get engaged with their community and see the impact that their donations are having, that they’re much more likely to give,” she says.
Adams says many people volunteer through employee programs, like one of the largest local fundraising projects of 2007 — Yum’s World Hunger Relief Week. Held in October, it raised money for the United Nation’s efforts to combat hunger internationally. Locally, 1,800 Yum employees volunteered their time at almost 50 organizations in the metropolitan area that work to combat hunger. Metro United Way matched those volunteers with the organizations and those volunteers later sent in donations.
However, some local fundraisers recognize possible trouble on the horizon. Again, Wendy Adams: “We are seeing that where the housing market had affected people initially was in lower income areas and we have seen that that has stretched out now to middle class homes and middle class families.”
Adams says this situation would not necessarily mean a decrease in donations, but it could cause expenses to increase for the social service agencies that serve people who have fallen on hard times.
Nonetheless, most non-profit professionals are confident that local organizations can weather an economic storm. One is Kevin Connelly, the CEO of the Center for Nonprofit Excellence.
“I think most agencies are going to come through this pretty well,” he says.
Connelly credits local nonprofits with applying creative ideas to raising money and with involving the community. He recounts how Wayside Mission had once requested people to bring in their favorite holiday dishes to serve in its kitchen. After the health department told the mission this would violate health regulations, Wayside modified its idea. It asked people to bring their recipes and ingredients to the kitchen and help prepare the food. Connelly and others expect that local nonprofits will be able to build on that creative legacy in 2008.
Anesthesia Awareness
The new film Awake features a character who wakes up in the middle of his own open-heart surgery – but he can’t move or speak because he’s been paralyzed for the procedure. The movie is enlightening millions of people to the rare occurrence called “anesthesia awareness”. Rick Howlett spoke to Dr. Laura Clark, Professor of Anesthesiology and Peri-Operative Medicine at the University of Louisville. Though she hadn’t seen the film at the time of the interview, they spoke about “anesthesia awareness” and just how often it occurs.
Bluegrass Army Depot
Most people can agree that new steps need to be taken to secure the chemical weapons stored at the Blue Grass Army Depot in central Kentucky. But the methods to that change could be many, and a variety of leaders have been working toward that change for years. Two men who are seemingly opposites when it comes to most topics are finding ways to work in consort on this particular project. Kentucky Public Radio’s Ron Smith reports.
Renewable Energy From Hydro
Renewable energy isn’t as affordable (yet) as fossil fuel energy. But the growing green power market could help offset the cost… and encourage new green power development. That’s what’s happening for a small hydroelectric plant on the Kentucky River. WFPL’s Kristin Espeland reports
Health issues for truckers
Truck drivers are sometimes the most hated presence on the road. But without them – most of the country’s consumer goods wouldn’t get to their locations. Kentucky Public Radio’s Nicole Erwin examines the trucking industry, how it’s related to the nation’s economy and some of the challenges that face drivers.
Well-Being Therapy
The holidays are sometimes a depressing time for people. And sure, we’ve all been down in the dumps at times. But how do you know when those spells of depression are really something more? And what can you do to change that? Millions of people throughout the world suffer from chronic depression. Dr. Giovanni Fava of the University of Bologna has developed a therapy method called “Well-Being Therapy”. He spoke with WFPL’s Robin Fisher.
Bali Conference
United Nations climate change talks wrapped up in Bali, Indonesia last week. Louisville’s Metro Air Pollution Control District head Art Williams recently returned from that conference. He says he attended the proceedings to learn more about what cities and states might need to do to implement future climate change agreements. He spoke with WFPL’s Kristin Espeland about some of the major outcomes of Bali as well as what comes next.
Top Award for Arboretum
Bullitt County’s Bernheim Arboretum has just won the top award for green building from the U.S. Green Building Council. It’s the first project not only in Kentucky but surrounding states to achieve the council’s LEED platinum certification. WFPL’s Kristin Espeland takes us inside.
Corrections System
The Metro Corrections Vision 20/20 Commission is studying the crowding problem at Louisville’s eight-year-old jail. Heidi Caravan visits the jail and explains the panel’s role in helping to solve a complex problem.
Sojourn Community Church
The Sojourn Community Church finally found a permanent home in Louisville’s Germantown neighborhood. The new space and the church’s approach to worshipping have propelled its growth. WFPL’s Elizabeth Kramer found that Sojourn’s take on faith is part of a national phenomenon.
MetroCall
MetroCall has answered over three million calls on everything from jury duty information to local trivia. Louisville was one of the first cities in the U.S. to start such a service. MetroCall workers answer questions and put callers in touch with other agencies they need – it also is a clearinghouse in time of crisis, like during Hurricane Katrina when it took requests for housing and donations. Tune in to hear a bit about MetroCall’s history and how the service continues to grow.
Thirty Second Wine Advisor
Maybe you’re a wine lover, or you are just starting to learn about wine but don’t really know where to turn. Got thirty seconds? Local food critic and wine connoisseur Robin Garr has just the book for you.
The 30 Second Wine Advisor is Garr’s first published collection of his e-mail newsletter of the same name. WFPL’s Robin Fisher as she talks with Garr about the book, how to pick a great wine and what wine goes best with Spam.
Renewable energy isn’t as affordable-yet- as fossil fuel energy. But the growing green power market could help offset the cost, and encourage new green power development. That’s what’s happening for a small hydroelectric plant on the Kentucky River. WFPL’s Kristin Espeland reports.
The first time water flowing over the Lock 7 dam near Harrodsburg was spun into energy was 1927. Electricity flowed from this hydroelectric plant for the next 72 years, until the generators fell into disrepair… and its owners abandoned it around 1999. Enter David Brown Kinloch, president of Lock 7 Hydro Partners.
Inside the plant’s generator room, high above the churning water, he says the plant’s owners had given up.
“Actually they wanted to tear it down… and we stepped in and bought it from them… and are in the process of getting it completely running again and modernized.”
Since then, he’s restored two of the plant’s three generators, which, in 1927, he says were the top of the line. Today, these iron behemoths look like giant vintage spaceships. And Kinloch runs between them and the more modern, 1980s, control panel like a mad scientist. As he powers up the first unit, Kinloch explains what’s happening far below us.
Last year, the Sojourn Community Church finally found a permanent home in Louisville’s Germantown neighborhood after renting spaces in the Highlands for seven years. The new space and the church’s approach to worshiping have propelled its growth from a congregation of a several hundred to about one thousand. WFPL’s Elizabeth Kramer spent some time at the church and found that Sojourn’s take on faith is part of a national phenomenon.
It’s Friday night and at the 930 Art Gallery no steeple or even a prominent cross is in plain sight, although this gallery is part of the Sojourn Community Church. On display are art and photographs about southern Sudan made and collected by a group of members and novice documentary filmmakers who have visited the African country.
The several hundred people here are mostly in their twenties or thirties. Clad in comfortable yet stylish attire, they appear to have hipster credentials. They are part of the city’s creative crowd, replete with several local artists and musicians. Over the past year, they have been drawn to this sprawling former school building where Sojourn has mounted other art exhibitions and staged concerts.
Meanwhile, attendance at Sunday services has grown three fold. Kevin Janes, who books bands that play here, credits his generation’s appreciation of art, which he calls a gift from God. He believes that the kind of art Sojourn showcases is working to change people’s minds about the church.
“It seems like a lot of the biggest response has been people’s preconceived notions of the church have been shaken and they start to see that we’re putting wheels on the message — not just preaching, but putting wheels on it and putting flesh on it. You know?,” Janes says.
The wheels Janes speaks of are sahowcasing art and participating in community service projects in a neighborhood where 30 percent of young children live in poverty. Outside of these activities, Sojourn gives traction to its message by heralding it via three Web sites with blogs and podcasts of sermons and music. Its message also is out on several CDs.
But ultimately, the basic message these wheels carry is the Gospels of the Bible.
The vehicle that Sojourn has built in Louisville is similar to what a new generation of churches throughout the country has created. Many are part of a growing organization called Acts 29, a network with 104 churches in 30 states. Sojourn is a member and so is Seattle’s well-known Mars Hill Church, led by Mark Driscoll. He has written a primer on practicing evangelism while being active and engaged with modern culture. Driscoll also co-founded Acts 29. Its members identify themselves as a new breed of Christian evangelicals who are called upon to establish — or what they call “plant” — new churches.
“Things are really shifting in the North American Church,” says Daniel Montgomery.
He is Sojourn’s senior pastor and a Southern Baptist Seminary graduate. He also serves on the Acts 29 board of directors. Like other Acts 29 members, he resists being affiliated with specific denominations and embraces a doctrine akin to those set by the Southern Baptist Convention. Montgomery and members of Sojourn say their approach to faith was born out of their own experiences growing up in a country where religion has been politicized and where politics has been besieged by religious authorities and organizations that appear to be motivated by gaining and maintaining power rather than devotion to Christ.
“Denominations are primarily based on control and they have little influence,” Montgomery says. “Whereas a lot of these networks that are emerging aren’t based so much on control, but are based on relationships, and they have a lot of influence — where there are natural peer-to-peer relationships, where people are coming together. It’s essentially what denominations started off as.”
That coming together, he says, results in a church devoid of segregation and one that includes people from diverse backgrounds.
Sojourn’s beliefs, of course, come through more clearly during its Sunday services, where Montgomery preaches. On a recent rainy Sunday he gave a sermon about masculinity. He encouraged men to be like the “real Jesus,” one who was a manly man and not a prissy motivational speaker. He bemoaned the feminization of the church and talked about men’s responsibility to lead their wives, their families, their communities and the church.
“You’ve ever been in church, you’ve ever gone to church, and there’s not many women, but there’s a lot of these men who are always smiling and they’re doing great — like something out of “Stepford Wives” or “Twilight Zone” or something you know?” Mongomery asks the congregation. “It’s kind of freaky. So leadership is about defining reality. I just want to call this out. This is what’s happening in the North American Church.”
Montgomery enthralls the listeners and many of them jot notes on a handout. It lists references to the Bible, to articles by Driscoll and to books like “No More Christian Nice Guy.”
These handouts, given out at each service, are provided to help spark discussion at Sojourn’s 42 community groups that meet each week in members’ homes throughout the city. Montgomery calls these groups key components to cultivating those peer-to-peer relationships and growing the church.
“Come in. Hey, Josh. Welcome,” says Kelsey Barnes.
It’s Tuesday night and 10 people gather at the apartment of Jamie and Kelsey Barnes off Hurstbourne Lane. Several have clothing imprinted with drawings of skulls and crossbones. Some have tattoos. A few are students at the Southern Baptist Seminary. They start by discussing events in their lives that week, and Jamie makes an announcement.
“We have the best reason to celebrate this week,” Jamie says. “I don’t know if all of you got my e-mail but Jimmy last week expressed his desire to be identified as a Christian, to claim Christ as his savior.”
They congratulate Jimmy before discussing Montgomery’s sermon.
Although Sojourn professes that everyone is equal in the eyes of God and the church, the women go into a spare bedroom and the men remain in the living room for their discussions. In their divided groups, they consult the Bible and relate it and Montgomery’s sermon to their lives. They end with a prayer as one group and talk about seeing each other the next week.
Montgomery sees these groups as an essential element to this growing church. That growth is something he expects to persevere and ultimately result in changes throughout Louisville. He and other church leaders are resolute when they talk about their ambitions.
“We actually want to see concretely the social, economic fabric, the political fabric of the city change and we believe that’s possible and it’s something we should expect because of the Gospel,” Montgomery says.
Meanwhile, Montgomery and his colleagues have been cultivating and propagating their faith beyond Germantown and Louisville. Sojourn helped establish Louisville’s Crossing Church and is working to establish new churches in Ohio, Tennessee and Kentucky.
Kentucky’s New Governor
The Commonwealth of Kentucky has a new leader as of last week. Steve Beshear became Kentucky’s 61st Governor Tuesday. Eighty marching bands and 150 horses helped to usher him into office in an inaugural parade, which was following by his first public speech as governor. Here’s that address in its entirety.
Refugees in Louisville
Louisville does a good job of welcoming refugees, according to a Washington official who visited the city in early December. Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Ellen Sauerbrey met with refugees and toured Kentucky Refugee Ministries and Catholic Charities.
She thinks the way both groups operate is terrific. Sauerbrey also gleaned an idea about a national service that she said she will bring back to the Capital. She spoke with WFPL’s Heidi Caravan.
Inside Greek U
In the mid-1980’s, University of Kentucky professor Alan DeSantis was a student at James Madison University and a fraternity member. Little did he know at the time fraternities and sororities would become a focus of his adult life. This year DeSantis published his first book, Inside Greek U: Fraternities, Sororities, and the Pursuit of Pleasure, Power and Prestige. WFPL’s Robin Fisher talks with DeSantis about fraternities and sororities and how belonging to a Greek Organization affects the lives of the students involved.
Grawemeyer Award
Peter Lieberson is the 2007 Grawemeyer Award winner in Music Composition for his Neruda Songs. This setting of love sonnets by Pablo Neruda was composed for his wife, the late Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, a world-famous mezzo-soprano who succumbed to cancer in July of 2006. Peter Lieberson’s winning composition is his most personal and powerful work, expressing his deepest emotions in what would be a final gift for his wife. He spoke with Daniel Gilliam of Classical 90.5.
Bullitt County’s Bernheim Arboretum has just won the top award for green building from the U.S. Green Building Council. It’s the first project not only in Kentucky but surrounding states to achieve the council’s LEED platinum certification. WFPL’s Kristin Espeland takes us inside the innovative new visitor center.
Buildings can be big polluters. And big consumers. A United Nations research team reported this year that buildings consume nearly 40 percent of the world’s energy. But a green building, like Bernheim Arboretum’s visitor center, tries to leave that cycle of consumption and waste. Bernheim education director Claude Stephens says building green starts with where you locate a building. This one sits on a little hill, tucked in between patches of forest. (more…)
