Celebrating Ten Years of Igniting Change

On November 12, 2011, we hosted our grantees to celebrate ten years of igniting change. Those present enjoyed dinner, mingling, table displays of the grantees' important work, and a novel event: the Grantee Collaborative Challenge. Our grantees are known for thinking outside the box, for joining with other nonprofits and leveraging their resources in new and creative ways. At our ten-year celebration, they had a chance to do just that. We announced a random blend of grantees and a challenge to those teams: Create a new idea that makes the world a better place, that serves the mission of the organizations represented by the team members and the Red Empress Foundation. We encouraged grantees to ignite change with their creativity and spontaneity. Projects could be brand new ideas or a creative combination of existing programs. After working together for 45 minutes, each team presented their idea.

We applaud the creativity of all the teams. The voting on the collaborative projects was very close. This demonstrates the power and excellence of all of your ideas. For us, witnessing your excitement, your collaborative spirit and true graciousness toward one another filled our hearts and minds with gratitude and wonder. Thank you.

We strongly encourage those of you who are not listed below as Igniting Change winners to continue the momentum and apply for a Collaborative Grant to manifest any ideas that arose during the celebration. These applications can be from the pairings at our event or new ones you discovered from meeting the other grantees at the event. Collaborative Grants are in addition to your normal program funding.

Warmly,
Gayle Nosal, Founder
Maryanne Mattson, CPA, Executive Director

Winners of the Collaborative Challenge

	Red Feather Igniting Collaboration $10,000 Grant Think Humanity and Sound Circle collaborating in "Women Having a Voice." Sound Circle will develop a sister ensemble of refugee girls in Uganda who are associated with and sponsored by Think Humanity. This project will provide a holistic approach to female empowerment, teaching girls to see with their own eyes, think with their own minds and speak with their own voices. The learning is reciprocal and mutual, and the ripple effect is limitless. Sound Circle will work in Uganda at a hostel for refugee girls. The ensemble singing will encourage the girls to grow their voices to support authentic expression in all areas of their lives. Sound Circle will return to the United States and raise awareness through a benefit concert using music they co-created with the girls in Uganda to raise funds for the hostel.
	Igniting Change $5,000 Grant La Puente and Boulder Athletic collaborating in "Boulder Alamosa United." These two organizations will develop a partnership where they exchange educational visits concerning health and wellness with the goal of creating sustainable community cultures through soccer and "garden-in-a-box. " Boulder Athletic will go to the San Luis Valley to teach soccer, referee, coach classes, mentor kids in La Puente's PALS program, and assist La Puente to establish a consistent soccer league during the summer. La Puente will come to Boulder bringing their "garden-in-a-box" program, educating families connected to the Boulder Athletic community about growing their own food and healthy eating.
	Igniting Change $5,000 Grant Eco-Cycle and Maine Sea Coast Mission collaborating in "Moving Washington and Hancock Counties Edge Program to Zero Waste." Together these two organizations will create a zero waste program for students who participate within the Edge Program's after school programs and summer camps. Additionally, with the mentoring of Eco-Cycle staff, the Edge Program students and staff will become ambassadors to move zero waste principles and projects into the greater school community of Washington and Hancock counties in Maine by forming Green Teams to accomplish specific projects. This will assist Eco-Cycle in creating its first satellite program.