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Bama Works Fund Awards $773,800 to 106 Nonprofits

The Bama Works Fund of Dave Matthews Band at the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation (The Fund) is pleased to announce its Spring 2023 grant funding decisions, totaling $773,800 and supporting 106 nonprofits throughout the region.  With this round of grants, the Bama Works Fund extends its twenty-plus years of commitment to Charlottesville and the surrounding counties.

The Fund supported a wide range of organizations this cycle, including those working to mitigate food insecurity, youth programming, and the arts.  As always, funding priority was given to organizations impacting lives in the City of Charlottesville and the Counties of Albemarle, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Nelson, and Orange.  Click here for a full list of Spring 2023 grant recipients.

Established in 1999, The Fund has now awarded more than 2,800 grants totaling more than $28 million to local organizations.  Since its inception, The Fund has operated under the philosophy that meaningful and long-lasting change begins in the community.  Both prior to and throughout the pandemic The Bama Works Fund of Dave Matthews Band has shown unwavering support for those most vulnerable in our region, supporting nonprofits and community-based initiatives that are working to ensure that everyone in our region can thrive.

Brennan Gould, President and CEO of the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation, says “The commitment of the Dave Matthews Band to this region is remarkable. So many individuals have been positively impacted by this grant program and we are deeply grateful for the critically important work of the organizations that will benefit from these grant awards.”

Twice each year, the Bama Works Fund of Dave Matthews Band at the Community Foundation awards gifts through a competitive grant cycle.  The next application period opened on July 1st, with an application deadline of September 1st.  Click here for more info.

Charlottesville Area Community Foundation Continues Responsive Expansion

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

For more info on the foundation, contact Eboni Bugg, Director of Programs, at (434) 296-0045 or ebugg@cacfonline.org. If you have questions about the application process, please contact The Spark Mill at lindsey@thesparkmill.com as our contracted hiring support firm. 

The Charlottesville Area Community Foundation (Community Foundation) is excited to announce several new hiring opportunities that will deepen our impact and support for local residents, grantee organizations, donors, and other regional partners. The Community Foundation seeks powerhouse candidates for the roles of Director of Advancement, Capacity Building Manager, Senior Communications Manager, and Database & Technology Manager. Hiring for these four positions will begin in May on a rolling basis and continue into the fall. For more information, please click here.

This strategic growth, along with ongoing enhancements to our grantmaking and data management, follows over three years of intentional listening to and thought partnership with the community. As a community-centered, equity forward organization, our mission is to improve the quality of life for those negatively impacted by inequitable systems across our region, so that we can be a region in which everyone can belong, participate, contribute, and thrive. We seek to use our collective resources to catalyze and support the movements that create positive and lasting change, and we know that having the right people on our team will help us fulfill our mission.

“These upcoming hires, added to our dynamic team, will help us to more effectively execute on our mission,” said President & CEO Brennan Gould. “We are excited about our continued growth and look forward to incorporating our learnings over these past years and coupling them with engaging donor programming and more flexible, participatory grantmaking practices for maximum impact.”

These four new, crucial positions support other changes the Community Foundation is undertaking in response to lessons from the pandemic and our administration of the Heal Charlottesville Fund. In addition to more responsive, flexible discretionary grantmaking coming this Fall, we recently launched our Community Advisory Committee to incorporate more voices and perspectives of those closest to the issues our region faces. In 2021, we distributed the largest grant in our history – and our first local impact investment – when we funded a regional partnership to provide affordable housing in the region. We are also currently transitioning to a more user-friendly, comprehensive database system that will better connect grant seekers and other community partners to our fundholder community.

To receive news and future updates, subscribe to our email list by visiting www.cacfonline.org/updates.

The Community Foundation Welcomes Three New Board Members

Three new members have joined our Governing Board (from left to right): Bethany Teachman, Judge Bob Downer, and Jake Zarnegar.

Judge Downer served as General District Court Judge for the 16th Judicial District in Virginia for 18 years. He was elected by the General Assembly serving in 2001 and reelected in 2007 and 2013. Bob instituted the Therapeutic Docket serving the City of Charlottesville and Albemarle County. He is the recipient of the Clarence Earl Gideon Award in 2019. He presently serves as a facilitator judge in the Judicial Performance Evaluation Program.

Teachman is a Professor and the Director of Clinical Training and Co-Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the University of Virginia in the Department of Psychology, and director of the public website MindTrails and Project Implicit Health. She has been awarded an American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Early Career Award, multiple national mentoring awards, and she is a Fellow of multiple associations.

Zarnegar serves as Chief Business Development Officer of Silverchair, a Charlottesville-based software company that provides an online platform for research publishers and medical education providers supporting non-profit organizations such as the American Medical Association, Oxford University Press, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and more. He previously served with CACF with the Future Fund and the Grants Portfolio Committee. He also served on the Board of the Center for Nonprofit Excellence (CNE) for six years.

Welcome!

Maggie McCann Named Director of Finance

The Charlottesville Area Community Foundation (Community Foundation) is pleased to welcome Maggie McCann as our Director of Finance. Working closely with our finance team, Maggie will play a central role ensuring the foundation maintains strong financial health, sound fiscal stewardship, and organizational integrity and compliance in order to deliver on our mission to improve quality of life as a community-centered, equity-forward organization.

“We are thrilled to have Maggie our team,” says Brennan Gould, President and CEO of the Community Foundation. “As someone long familiar with the work and impact of the Community Foundation, Maggie’s professional expertise and leadership will carry forward the foundation’s strong fiscal management and stewardship.”

Over the last four years Maggie has provided her services to organizations in the Charlottesville area while working with Hantzmon Wiebel LLP in their Business Advisory Services Division. Prior to her work in the Charlottesville area Maggie worked with the Dittmar Company for over 32 years in many different roles, and brings a wealth of experience in accounting, financial management, investment reporting, strong leadership, management, analytics, and communication.

“I feel very fortunate to be joining the Community Foundation at this time,” says Maggie. “I am looking forward to supporting the very talented foundation staff and working to fulfill the mission of the foundation to improve the quality of life for those living and working in the city of Charlottesville and the counties of Albemarle, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Nelson, and Orange.”

Maggie holds a BS from Strayer University and studied for a Master of Taxation at The Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University. 

When Maggie is not working, she enjoys spending time with her family, her husband of 34 years, their children, and grandchildren, and exploring the Charlottesville area.

Bama Works Fund Awards Nearly $900K TO 119 Nonprofits

The Bama Works Fund of Dave Matthews Band at the Community Foundation is pleased to announce its latest grant funding decisions, totaling nearly $900,000 and supporting 119 nonprofits throughout the region. With this round of grants, the Bama Works Fund extends its twenty-plus years of commitment to Charlottesville and the surrounding counties. Since its inception, Bama Works has operated under the philosophy that meaningful and long-lasting change begins in the community. We are grateful for the band’s unwavering support for those most vulnerable in our region, supporting nonprofits and initiatives that are working to ensure that everyone in our region can thrive.

The Fund supported a wide range of organizations this cycle, including youth mentoring programs, environmental initiatives, and food security causes. As always, funding priority was given to organizations impacting lives in the City of Charlottesville and the Counties of Albemarle, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Nelson, and Orange. Click here for a full list of December 2022 grant recipients.

Twice each year, the Bama Works Fund of Dave Matthews Band at the Community Foundation awards gifts through a competitive grant cycle. The current application period opened on January 15th, with an application deadline of March 15th. Click here for more information.

Justin Reid named Senior Program Manager

The Charlottesville Area Community Foundation (Community Foundation) is pleased to welcome Justin G. Reid as our newest Senior Program Manager. Justin will work closely with the Programs team carrying forward existing and new discretionary programs rooted in trust-based, equity-forward philanthropy. 

“Justin’s leadership experience and passion for our region make him an excellent choice for this position,” said President & CEO Brennan Gould. “He has deep ties to the community and has been dedicated to helping improve lives throughout our region and across the Commonwealth. We’re thrilled to have him on our team.”

Justin most recently worked at the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), Virginia Humanities, where he managed statewide engagement, special initiatives, and strategic partnerships, including multi-year, community powerbuilding initiatives with the Hampton Roads Community Foundation and the Danville Regional Foundation. Justin also previously served on our Next Gen Advisory Council and the Giving Black® Advisory Council of the Community Foundation for a greater Richmond and worked with the Governor Northam Administration and General Assembly to create the Virginia Black, Indigenous, & People of Color Historic Preservation Fund. 

“I’m excited to be joining the Community Foundation as we reimagine not just our discretionary fund programs, but also our fundamental role as a conduit for community-led reparative and regenerative action,” Justin said. “I look forward to mostly listening, as well as working in solidarity with others across our region who believe a more equitable and sustainable future is possible.” 

Along with his commitment to resourcing local communities, Justin is a noted public historian of Virginia civil rights and education organizing and a co-founder of Griffin Blvd Archives, which promotes sustainable rural development and cultural preservation in South Central Virginia. He is a graduate of William & Mary and Johns Hopkins University and currently serves on the boards of the Center for Nonprofit Excellence (CNE) and the Virginia Tourism Corporation (Virginia is for Lovers®). 

Outside of work, Justin is active with his neighborhood association and enjoys being the unofficial DJ/photographer at family gatherings. You can also find him kayaking the Middle James or hiking across Virginia’s Blue Ridge and state parks. 

Watch our Investments Update Webinar

On October 26, we gathered members of the Community Foundation’s Investment Committee and Wells Fargo Private Bank to present an Investment Update. Our panelists included Kristina Koutrakas, portfolio strategy director for the Virginia Retirement System; Caitlin Fitzmaurize, managing director of Selby Lane Capital; Frederick Nolde, director, Investure; and Beth Snyder, partner at Foxhaven Asset Management. Rob Farrington and Olu Rosanwo, investment advisors at Wells Fargo, presented on our portfolio’s recent performance. 

Watch a recording of the webinar here and examine Rob’s slides.

Alex Gross Named Senior Program Manager

The Charlottesville Area Community Foundation is pleased to welcome Alex Gross as our new Senior Program Manager. Alex will collaboratively lead in piloting and building out new policies and programs rooted in trust-based, equity-forward philanthropy. In partnership with the Director of Programs and the donor relations team, she will cultivate relationships that bring new infrastructure, investments, and opportunities to the foundation’s programmatic work.

“Alex’s management experience, and passion for our region will enhance the experience of our grant recipients and community partners, while helping to advance the work of the foundation,” said Brennan Gould, President & CEO of the Community Foundation. “She has strong connections to the nonprofit community and has been dedicated to helping to improve lives throughout our region. We’re excited to have her on our team.”

Alex most recently served as the Executive Director of the PB & J Fund in Charlottesville and brings a wealth of experience in program development, strategic partnership, and community engagement.

“I am thrilled to be joining the Community Foundation at a time when the discretionary grant making process is being reimagined and community led,” Alex said. “I look forward to learning from all our community partners how we might develop high-impact funding opportunities to create a more equitable region.”

Alex holds a BS from Drexel University and a Master’s degree in Public Health from George Washington University.She has worked nationally and statewide for the YMCA developing public health partnerships and strategies to further advance national and regional initiatives.Alex is most at home on any body of water, be it paddleboarding on one of Charlottesville’s many lakes or surfing the small Atlantic waves. She often spends her free time hiking with her dog, attempting to relearn the violin, and trying new recipes.

Community Members Invited to Help Advance Equitable Grantmaking Practices in Central VA

The Charlottesville Area Community Foundation announces an open call for applicants to our Community Advisory Committee (CAC). Members of the CAC work with Community Foundation staff to make funding decisions and guide the strategic direction for our grant programs. 

We are excited to launch this process as an open call for the first time in the foundation’s history and believe that bringing together diverse representatives of all stakeholders affected by our grantmaking will lead to more effective and equitable grantmaking decisions and increased impact. The voices of the CAC connect us to the experiences and perspectives of people across our service area to ensure that our work is appropriate and meaningful.

 “The Community Foundation has a vision of philanthropy that is restorative and reparative for the communities we serve,” says Eboni Bugg, Director of Programs. “We believe that starts with trusting the expertise of and shifting the decision-making power to those who are most impacted by the pressing issues facing our region today.”

Committee members must live in the Community Foundation’s service area. They will be expected to serve a three-year term and will receive compensation up to $1200 annually. Community members who are interested in applying or learning more can find a description of the CAC and expectations for its members here or by contacting Megan Donovan, Grants Administrator, at mdonovan@cacfonline.org or 434-443-4019. We will be accepting applications, found here, until 10/21/22.

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The Charlottesville Area Community Foundation was established in 1967 – on the ideals of interconnectedness, of neighbor helping neighbor, and of valuing the lives of others – as an engine for positive change in Charlottesville and the surrounding counties of Albemarle, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Nelson, and Orange.  The Community Foundation works with local residents, nonprofits, and public and private organizations to facilitate philanthropy and create an equitable region where everybody can thrive.  For more information, visit www.cacfonline.org.  

Bama Works Fund Awards $669K to 88 Nonprofits

The Bama Works Fund of Dave Matthews Band at the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation is pleased to announce its Spring 2022 grant funding decisions, totaling nearly $670,000 and supporting 88 nonprofits throughout the region. With this round of grants, the Bama Works Fund extends its twenty-plus years of commitment to Charlottesville and the surrounding counties. This cycle of funding supported a wide range of organizations, including youth mentoring programs, environmental initiatives, and food security causes. Read more.