We will be back to our regularly scheduled Good Works programming tomorrow.

Be careful and safe please!

Happy New Year, friends!

And on this second day of the year, the application for the the 2013 Catalogue for Philanthropy is live and online:

The mission of the Catalogue is to create strong and vibrant communities by connecting caring citizens with worthy community causes. We do this by raising visibility and resources for the best small community-based nonprofits, and engaging donors in a more meaningful giving experience. To that end we publish an annual print Catalogue that is distributed to 25,000 high net worth individuals, encouraging them to give to vetted, community-based nonprofits. The past few years have seen new channels of distribution open for the Catalogue and its featured nonprofits — through corporate portals and our workplace giving program, a budding school portal program, and partnerships with local media.

Applications are due on February 25, 2013, at midnight. As we did last year, we’ll feature some FAQs a bit later in the month. So if you have any questions about the process, feel free to leave them in the comments and we will be sure to tackle them.

Looking forward to reading your application!

As 2012 turns into 2013, we are particularly grateful to all of you who have helped us raise over $19mm (and counting) for some of the best small charities in the greater Washington DC region.

Your support means:

* 47,639 people served in outdoor education programs each year
* 3,486,841 hours of tutoring/mentoring annually
* 957,570 people served in arts outreach programs
* 99,578 medical exams and referrals
* 1,474,415 meals served to hungry people each year

If you haven’t contributed this year, please take a moment to make your tax-deductible contribution before the year ends Choose the charities that mean the most to you, and please give generously. You can do so with confidence, knowing that Catalogue nonprofits have been vetted in a rigorous review process that takes months to complete.

And consider making a contribution to the Catalogue itself, and helping us help the 330 nonprofits in our network to do what they do best. The Catalogue is a tremendous community resource and we charge no fees for the work we do: generous donors like you make the Catalogue possible.

So stand with us as we work together to make this community a better place to live. And if you’ve already given, please accept our thanks — on behalf of all the great nonprofits that are proud to say they are part of the Catalogue family.

We will be on blog-vacation until 2013 (with a couple exceptions).

Have a happy and healthy holiday and we will see you in the New Year!

Read the full Winter 2012 newsletter right here.

December is a big month for the Catalogue for Philanthropy. In addition to promoting the 2012 Catalogue and our new group of nonprofits, we also hosted our 10th anniversary celebration, Inspiration to Action. We hope that many of you were able to join us for the festivities.

The Catalogue team was honored to celebrate 10 years of creating meaningful connections between caring citizens and worthy community causes with such a passionate group of nonprofits, donors, friends, and other community supporters. The event featured a reception, nonprofit performance showcase, and intimate benefit dinner. A highlight of the dinner was a live auction, featuring ‘exclusive experiences,’ which raised over $20,000 for the Catalogue.

Jane Harman and the Harman Family Foundation also made a surprise announcement — a Challenge Grant, which matched new and increasing gifts made or pledged on December 3rd to either the Catalogue or our charities. The grant raised $200,000 for Catalogue nonprofits at the dinner — $100,000 in pledges matched by the $100,000 challenge: a great way to kick off the giving season!

As always, the Catalogue for Philanthropy is grateful for your continued support. While you browse through the 2012 Catalogue and select your favorite nonprofits for this year, we hope that the Catalogue for Philanthropy is one of them. Please consider making a gift to support the work that we do this holiday season, and all year long.

Warmest regards,
The CFP Team

We’re looking forward to celebrating 10 years with our awesome community of nonprofits today!

We couldn’t be more jazzed about the second year of our partnership with Washington City Paper — the result of which is the 2012 Charitable Donation Guide in last week’s edition, featuring our new class of nonprofits:

[...] But if Thanksgiving is the traditional kickoff to the holiday shopping season, it can also be the kickoff to some holiday-minded generosity, which is where this week’s Washington City Paper comes in. For the second year in what we intend to become an annual tradition, City Paper has worked with the Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington to produce Give It Up, DC, our guide to local nonprofits that need — and deserve — your support.

Thanks to a handy “Donate” button, you can support any of these great community-based nonprofits directly from the City Paper’s site. So learn more about them right this way!

Good morning, Greater Washington. We very much hope that you all stayed safe and well over the past couple days!

As we mentioned on the CFP main page: if you see someone, or know someone, who is homeless and in need of help, call the DC Shelter Hotline at 1-800-535-7252. (Thanks to our friends at Friendship Place for this good tip.)

And for information on needs and activities of our local Human Service non-profits, you can follow them on our Twitter list right here.

By Marie LeBlanc, Community Partnerships Coordinator

As we approach our celebration of the 10th Catalogue for Philanthropy, we look back to see how the Catalogue has grown and evolved.

In its third and fourth years, the Catalogue for Philanthropy continued growing — and marked its first significant milestone in fundraising for nonprofits. In 2005, CFP broke the $1 million mark with $1,778,181 raised in the first three years of publication, and went on to increase its annual fundraising level by 43% in 2006. In 2006, the Catalogue also became an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, and transitioned its advisory board into a governing board.

The following charities were featured for the first time in print either in 2005 or 2006, and are relisted in the Catalogue this year:

- Nueva Vida offers support services for Latinas affected by cancer.

- DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence provides resources for thousands of domestic violence survivors in DC.

- Anacostia Watershed Society is an environmental group seeking safe, clean, swimmable and fishable Anacostia River

- Fair Chance builds capacity for nonprofits serving DC at-risk youth.

- Lorton Community Action Center works to break the cycle of poverty in Lorton, VA by providing community-based social services.

- theatreWashington promotes, represents, and supports Washington’s professional theatre community.

And the following nonprofits, originally featured in 2005 or 2006, were re-certified to remain on the CFP website this year:

- Community of Hope provides low-income, homeless, and underserved families with healthcare, housing, and education.

- ARRIBA Center offers employment training, job placement, bilingual, and advocacy services for minority disabled populations.

- Dana Tai Soon Burgess & Co. (DTSB&Co.) creates, presents, and tours dance works with a unique Asian American movement aesthetic.

By Marie LeBlanc, Community Partnerships Coordinator

As we approach our celebration of the 10th Catalogue for Philanthropy, we look back to see how the Catalogue has grown and evolved over the years. In 2004, its second year of publication, the Catalogue continued to grow — in size, in geographic scope, and in dollars raised for network nonprofits:

- The Catalogue featured 51 new nonprofits in the print, up from 31 in the inaugural edition

- CFP also expanded its scope to the Greater Washington region, featuring nonprofits from DC, Maryland, and Virginia

- The Catalogue partnered with an additional corporate sponsor in 2004

- From 2003 to 2004, CFP increased the amount of money raised for and by our nonprofits by 14%, with an annual total of $548,830 in donations.

The following nonprofits, originally featured in 2004, were selected to be re-featured in the 2012 print Catalogue:

- Academy of Hope: adult students gain real world skills in math, reading, and writing

- Alternative House: a dynamic system of services designed to keep young people off the streets

- Arlington Free Clinic: free health care to some 1,400 Arlingtonians a year

- Borromeo Housing: structure, stability, and security that teen parents need to provide for themselves and their babies

- Brainfood: an after-school program that gets at-risk students off the streets and into the kitchen

- Calvary Women’s Services: where 150 women find “a safe, caring place for tonight; support, hope, and change for tomorrow”

- Coalition for Smarter Growth: coordinators of the campaign for a better way to grow in the greater DC region

- Falls Church-McClean Children’s Center: a full-day, early childhood education program for 2-5 year olds

- GALA: home of the National Center for Latino Performing Arts and only performance space in Columbia Heights

- Homestretch: two full years of transitional housing, budget counseling, job skills training, and placement assistance

- Horton’s Kids: a second family to over 1,500 children from the Ward 8 housing projects

- Thrive DC: generous portions of food, along with help and hope, to Washington’s hard-to-reach homeless

- Top Banana Home Delivered Groceries: simple and user-friendly grocery shopping and delivery for 500 elderly and disabled people

- Washington Youth Garden, Friends of the National Arboretum: garden science is the medium and life skills are the message

- Women Thrive Worldwide: focus on women in developing countries; advocate for change in US international assistance and trade policies

And the following nonprofits, originally featured in 2004, were re-certified to remain on the CFP website this year:

- City Arts: beautiful murals and mosaics created by local, inner-city youth

- TrailsforYouth.org: mountain biking that introduces inner-city youngsters to the natural world and its life lessons

- Washington Jesuit Academy: rigorous, local middle school for boys with 75 students and a devoted team of educators