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Jessie Ball duPont Fund awards University $219,975
Nonprofit organizations in the Northern Neck of Virginia will soon have an information-sharing network similar to one developed at the University for Richmond-area charities. A $219,975 grant from the Jessie Ball duPont Fund will underwrite the new program as well as build a central system at the University that can be replicated in other communities. “The value to participating nonprofit organizations is considerable,” said President Bill Cooper. “For example, ConnectRichmond provides links to the U.S. Census and other demographic data that Richmond organizations are now required to provide in applications to a growing number of donors.” The idea for ConnectNorthernNeck emerged during an information-sharing meeting of representatives of Northern Neck nonprofit organizations to discuss how they could work together to tackle a variety of issues. It was clear that many of their needs could be filled by an information resource network like ConnectRichmond, founded at the University’s Jepson School of Leadership Studies as part of the Campus Community Partnership,” said Betsy Curtler, assistant vice president of foundation, corporate and government relations. In 1993 the Jepson School established the partnership, a consortium of four area colleges and universities, to employ campus resources to address community challenges in metro Richmond and to offer students relevant, community-based learning experiences. In 2000 Campus Community Partnership brought together Richmond-area nonprofits through ConnectRichmond, a Web site providing the nonprofit community with centralized access to information to improve its capacity to fulfill its many missions. “The Northern Neck site development will be accompanied by development of a three-year plan for the Campus Community Partnership to slowly migrate away from dependence on donations to operate largely on revenues generated through replication and annual maintenance fees,” said Nancy Stutts, director of Campus Community Partnership and founder of ConnectRichmond. Stutts explained that the Campus Community Partnership plans to develop a “ConnectSystem,” a global network of affiliated community information brokers that will link people involved in service organizations to information and each other for three primary purposes: enhancing communication; integrating services, programs and policies; and organizing communities to advocate on their own behalf. Each affiliate will host a local information network, while the ConnectSystem application will be centrally housed on its own server and feed local sites state and national data provided by ConnectRichmond. “We have had interest from communities in the U.S., England and Australia,” said Stutts. “Once the Northern Neck pilot is launched and evaluated, we will be positioned to replicate the system elsewhere.” |
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