I finally got around to making some final updates to the Indie Biz Awards site. Perhaps most importantly, I added an “Acknowledgements” page, giving thanks to the incredible volunteer committee (Avery, Susan, Peter, Dave, Heather and Brianna!!) that worked with me to organize the event, as well as the event sponsors, the silent auction and [...]

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MAY 22nd at SPACE Gallery
6:30-10pm
This event has been one of my recent obsessions- I hope folks in town can make it out! The Indie Biz Awards is Portland Buy Local’s first fundraiser, and it looks like it might even raise some funds! Amazing!
Anyway- the voting is going on as we speak, and this is your [...]

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We had a great time at ILAP’s Cele Soirée Fundraiser last weekend. It was hoppin! They ended up having more than 400 people attend the event this year– more than they have had any other year. And they managed to raise some money– always a good sign with a fundraiser. I was on the event [...]

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I’ve been working with ILAP on the planning committee for CeleSoirée, their annual fundraiser, a “celebration of immigration through the arts”. The event is this Friday night and will include great food, a silent auction (including a rare opportunity to get your hands on some Tamworth Farm yarn) and some music and other entertainment. It [...]

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A huge collection of Edward Hopper prints, oil paintings, and watercolors are on exhibit until January 21st at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Sally, Lucy, Bill and I took the train in from Baltimore during the holiday madness, the show was packed of course, but well worth it.
The National Gallery [...]

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Tomorrow my grandfather, Harry Wilks, will be in the Wall Street Journal. OK, so it will be in an advertisement for Ohio, but still it’s kind of cool.
The text of the ad talks about his beginnings in investment and business, and his great success in his entrepreneurial endeavors. And then it goes on to talk [...]

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Last year, the microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank received the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, bringing attention worldwide to the new and growing field of microfinance. It also piqued my interest. So, just before Christmas, I loaned about $150 to six businesses around the world through the site Kiva.org.
One loan was to a [...]

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The Case Foundation has launched a new, and really pretty interesting, grant program targeted at passionate individuals and groups of people who are making grassroots change. 20 $10,000 awards will be made this year, with four finalists being awarded an additional $25,000 prize.
The new program comes on the tails of the report they commissioned a [...]

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When you have about 15+ minutes this video is worth watching…
David Suzuki, delivered a great key note speech at last years USGBC conference in Chicago. David Suzuki is a geneticist, environmentalist, and broadcaster that has a remarkable way of explaining complex scientific data in a down-to-earth easy to understand language. He runs the David Suzuki [...]

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A few weeks ago in Berkeley (”Beserk-lee”) California, The Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) hosted its Fifth Annual Conference. In attendance were more than 700 business owners, community activists, economists, government officials, and network leaders from all around the country and Canada.
The conference actually started two days before we arrived, with a day-long [...]

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Good philanthropy, it seems to me, funds innovation that would otherwise never emerge, and supports action where none would otherwise be taken.
This quote is taken from a post by Alex Steffen on the World Changing website, entitled The Future of Philanthropy: Innovation, Networks, Thought Leaders and the Fringe. It is worth a read if you [...]

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Maine Women’s Fund just received a $1 million gift from the River Rock Foundation, a private foundation based in South Freeport Maine. This is the biggest gift the MWF has ever received, enabling it to strengthen its grant-making programs and serve more women and girls in Maine.
The trustees of River Rock are Marilyn Bronzi, Barbara [...]

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