Blog

In 2019, Community Initiatives continued our commitment to self-evaluation and again contracted with Research Evaluation Consulting (REC) for our annual Project Impact and Customer Satisfaction Survey. Thanks to the participation of 84% of project partners, we were able to take a comprehensive look at our collective activities and experiences.  We are thrilled to share highlights with […]

  We started thinking about volunteerism at work after we organized our own team activities and found that it made us feel great, the data backs us up on it  A few years ago, the Japanese concept of ikigai took off in America. Ikigai, which translates to “reason to live” in Japanese, is the idea […]

December is usually the time of year for relaxing by the fire with a nice cup of hot cocoa surrounded by family and friends, that is, unless your nonprofit work depends on fundraising. The last month of the year is when more than 30% of charitable giving takes place and 10% of all donations come […]

Community Initiatives partnered with the San Francisco LGBT Center to host a workshop September 26 in San Francisco on “How to Start Your Own Nonprofit” to members of the community interested in traditional and alternative ways to serve a community. At Community Initiatives, we have helped hundreds of advocacy groups, community organizations, after school programs […]

  We shine the spotlight on some of the many Community Initiatives project partners that make a difference in children’s daily lives on a national, state, local and school level.   Many large school systems and government bodies with limited capacity look at a young person’s academic success through a binary lens: students are either […]

A Q&A with Maritza Penagos, the Interim Executive Director of San Francisco Mission District’s nonprofit El/La Para Trans Latinas. El/La serves 300 to 325 participants a year, with a core group of 30 who use their services weekly. El/La also hires trans Latina women. Six of eight of their staff members are trans Latina and […]

We were overjoyed to have a lively crowd of project directors and staff, partners, and allies join us for our very first open house February at our Oakland location. Check out our photo album of smiling faces in our sun-filled conference room. We hope to host additional events in the future to promote the sharing […]

In 2018 we met a long-held customer service goal, and for the first time, our Annual Project Survey was conducted by an external evaluator. Thanks to Research Evaluation Consulting (REC) and your participation, we took an independent and comprehensive look at our projects’ activities and experiences. In total, 75 projects (85%) participated in the survey. […]

I am pleased to announce the exciting launch of Community Initiative’s refreshed brand and website! I invite you to take a tour to get to know us, again. Our dynamic new project page showcases the incredible diversity of our community. The approximately 90 projects can easily be sorted by topic area to help network members […]