A Joint Initiative Between     Heart of Wisconsin     Business & Economic Alliance and     Community Foundation of Greater     South Wood County

Home About Us B2B Club Breaking News Contact Donate Events / Programs Feedback Ideas Incubator Industry Clusters Links / Resources Progess Funds Progress Teams Public Art / Murals Publications		Breaking News April 9, 2005 - Council on Foundations gives Communication Award News Release The Council on Foundations, Washington DC, has named 115 winners of the 2005 Wilmer Shields Rich Awards for Excellence in Communications. One award is for Community Progress Initiative printed materials. The Community Foundation of South Wood County, Wisconsin Rapids, received a gold award for its “Plant the Seed - Endow Your Community” publication, and a bronze award for the “Community Progress Initiative” publication created with Heart of Wisconsin Business & Economic Alliance. Both awards were given in the special report category of community and public foundations with assets of $5-20 million. The awards will be presented at the 56th annual Council on Foundation Conference in San Diego on April 11th. The Community Foundation’s “Plant the Seed – Endow Your Community” campaign was announced in August 2004; it’s designed to create awareness of endowment funds that support charitable causes in South Wood County. The gold-award publication contains a packet of Forget-Me-Not seeds to emphasize the concept of endowments – if you plant the seed (make a gift) today, your contribution will grow and give back to the community for generations to come. The seed’s name also helps illustrate how an endowment fund can be a wonderful “forget-me-not” legacy of an individual, family, or event. The “Community Progress Initiative” was introduced in April 2004; it’s a three-year initiative to assist local residents, entrepreneurs, and businesses to work together and be innovative and entrepreneurial in order to lay the groundwork for new jobs, retaining and building community assets, and inspiring a vibrant economy. The Initiative offers many business-support programs and industry-support networks, leadership-building programs, and community development in the form of local vision statements and Progress teams, community endowment funds, and community grant-making. The Wilmer Shields Rich Awards program recognizes and encourages excellence in communications by grantmaking foundations and corporate giving programs. The awards, which originated in 1984, showcase the ways foundations and corporate giving programs use communication strategies and techniques to advance their grantmaking goals. “The work submitted by Community Foundation of South Wood County demonstrates its commitment to public accountability and effective communications and serves as a model of excellence for other grantmakers.” said Dorothy S. Ridings, president and CEO of the Council on Foundations. “This year’s awards are an important reminder that strategic communications are a wise and critical investment in achieving philanthropic objectives.” The award categories for 2005 are: annual reports; special reports; newsletters; public policy campaigns; and websites. Judges evaluated entries based on the following criteria: overall outcomes/impact, message and design effectiveness, organization of content and outreach/distribution strategies. The 54 judges represented a range of professional skills, including communications, foundation and nonprofit management, graphic design, photography, writing, and website development. Community Foundation of South Wood County, established in 1994, is dedicated to building charitable endowments, providing grants, and serving as a catalyst to strengthen the South Wood County and town of Rome communities – for good, forever. In fiscal year 2004, CFSWC reported assets under administration of $18 million and grants to local nonprofits of over $2.5 million. Since 1995, over 2,500 grants have been distributed, totaling more than $14 million. To learn more about Community Foundation of South Wood County, call 715/423-3863, or visit www.cfswc.org. To learn more about the Community Progress Initiative, visit www.progressinitiative.com.
		Copyright © 2005, Community Progress Initiative, South Wood County & Town of Rome