2008 Year-End Summary

Dear Springboard Foundation Members, Contributors, and Friends,

I am pleased to report on another very successful year for the Springboard Foundation.  In the last year, we have grown to 49 members, have added three new grantee organizations, and have distributed more than $360,000 to our outstanding group of grantees. Since our group’s founding, we have given more than $2.8 million to the very worthy organizations we support.

As you may know, Springboard supports grass roots educational and after school programs in some of Chicago’s most challenged neighborhoods. These programs offer children safe and welcoming environments to pursue sports, arts, get homework help, orperhaps have a hot meal. The programs are all unique, but they share several qualities.  First, they exist to help the kids. Second, they have extremely dedicated leadership. And last, they have all started with very few resources other than a tremendous passion to improve the lives of kids in their neighborhoods.

The 49 members of Springboard all contribute financially and also give their time to visit, evaluate, and assist, as needed, the programs we support. Each year we visit the programs we have funded in the prior year to monitor their progress and to touch base with the leaders. We also read grants for dozens of potential new grantees and visit a handful to determine which we can add to our roster. It is on these visits to existing and new programs that we get to see the many inspirational and incredible stories of their wonderful leaders and the kids they help. We have learned that these leaders represent the most important element of a successful program and we attempt to fund the most promising individuals.

This year, we have made grants to 25 organizations in amounts that range from $5,000 to $20,000. Because many of our grantee’s budgets are less than $150,000, we believe these amounts are quite significant to them.

In addition to funding, an important aspect of the Springboard relationship is our access to outside service providers. The “Springboard Management Suite” consists of leading nonprofit service providers who offer expertise in areas that are vital to our grantees’ growth and development. This includes strategic planning, fundraising, accounting, and IT, to name a few. We are extremely grateful to our management suite partners that help us support our grantees in this valuable way.

We are also extremely grateful to the Chicago Community Trust who we rely on heavily.  Their personnel and resources have enabled us to spend our time and attention on the programs, and they do an excellent job of coordinating our efforts. It is important to note that because our members underwrite all of our expenses, 100% of all outside contributors are invested directly to the communities we support.

On October 7th, we held our annual dinner at Café Brauer in Lincoln Park. We had a stunning performance from a group of young cheerleaders from the Hudson Academy, one of our grantees. We also awarded this year’s Springboard Award to CircEsteem.  The award recognizes one of our most outstanding programs each year. The award was accepted by Paul Miller who told several moving stories about some of the incredible kids in his program and the heights they have reached. His group of young circus performers have found incredible opportunities to travel and perform in places they could never have imagined visiting. A few have been fortunate enough to receive academic scholarships to college. It is stories like these that inspire us to keep building upon Springboard’s success.

It has been an honor to serve as Springboard’s President this year. Mike Ochsenhirt will serve as President next year and Tony Hoban will join him as Vice President. I am very grateful for their help this past year and wish them the best for next year. As always, we are grateful also to our Board of Directors, Prudence Beidler, David Coolidge, Richard Driehaus, Jim Glasser, and Springboard’s founder, Doug Mabie, who will be joined by Mike and Tony on the board.

Thanks to all of you for your support of this great organization.

Sincerely,

Jack Keller