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About Us
Laughing Gull Foundation (LGF) is a progressive family foundation rooted in the US South. The foundation envisions healthy and sustainable communities where everyone can be their whole selves and live in balance with the earth. LGF works to create a world in which everyone is supported, included, embraced, and protected, especially those who have been pushed to the margins of our human family.
LGF’s mission is to honor our family’s evolving identity while proactively addressing broken systems that have created inequality and harmed our planet. The foundation leverages its resources to transform systems, institutions and relationships for the benefit of people and the environment. LGF works towards its mission through grantmaking, funder organizing and impact investing, in support of three priorities: LGBTQ equality, higher education in prison, and environmental justice. In the service of its commitment to the redistribution of wealth, LGF plans to spend out its assets over the next 17 years. LGF’s strategic goals for its tenure include progress on the priority issues it supports, growth of progressive philanthropy in the US South, and sustenance of a vibrant learning community.
The foundation’s values guide how it carries out its philanthropic mission. The foundation is actively building its analysis of structural racism, and formalizing a racial equity lens in all of LGF’s work. LGF values building authentic relationships, supporting impact and sustainability, and holding a power analysis with humility. LGF honors the expertise of the leaders and organizations we support, and therefore prioritizes multi-year grantee relationships and general operating support whenever possible. The foundation’s organizational culture mirrors its values. LGF is a learning organization with a relational and engaged staff and board culture.
Laughing Gull Foundation was founded in 2012 and is based in Durham, North Carolina. LGF is led by an engaged and committed board of directors, all of whom are members of the founding family. LGF granted approximately $3.8 million in 2018, and plans to achieve an annual grantmaking budget of $6 million across all three grantmaking programs by 2022.
Opportunity
The Program Officer will manage the Higher Education in Prison (HEP) program which currently consists of 26 grantees. The HEP program centers around the goal of increasing access to and improving the delivery of credit-bearing college courses in prison as well as supporting students in successfully transitioning from college in prison to continuing their education. LGF’s intention is to affirm the humanity, capacity, and potential of currently incarcerated people while playing a role in reversing the trend of mass incarceration. Geographically, the HEP program focuses across the South.
The Program Officer will engage current grantees, identify new grantees, and support the learning and networking of higher education programs and connected stakeholders in the South. They will also play a critical role in working with other funders, both in the South and nationally, to increase support for higher education in prison programs in the South.
Currently a staff of four, LGF plans to grow to six staff members in the next two years. The Program Officer will be supervised by the Executive Director and will preferably work out of LGF’s office in Durham.
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About Us
Laughing Gull Foundation (LGF) is a progressive family foundation rooted in the US South. The foundation envisions healthy and sustainable communities where everyone can be their whole selves and live in balance with the earth. LGF works to create a world in which everyone is supported, included, embraced, and protected, especially those who have been pushed to the margins of our human family.
LGF’s mission is to honor our family’s evolving identity while proactively addressing broken systems that have created inequality and harmed our planet. The foundation leverages its resources to transform systems, institutions and relationships for the benefit of people and the environment. LGF works towards its mission through grantmaking, funder organizing and impact investing, in support of three priorities: LGBTQ equality, higher education in prison, and environmental justice. In the service of its commitment to the redistribution of wealth, LGF plans to spend out its assets over the next 17 years. LGF’s strategic goals for its tenure include progress on the priority issues it supports, growth of progressive philanthropy in the US South, and sustenance of a vibrant learning community.
The foundation’s values guide how it carries out its philanthropic mission. The foundation is actively building its analysis of structural racism, and formalizing a racial equity lens in all of LGF’s work. LGF values building authentic relationships, supporting impact and sustainability, and holding a power analysis with humility. LGF honors the expertise of the leaders and organizations we support, and therefore prioritizes multi-year grantee relationships and general operating support whenever possible. The foundation’s organizational culture mirrors its values. LGF is a learning organization with a relational and engaged staff and board culture.
Laughing Gull Foundation was founded in 2012 and is based in Durham, North Carolina. LGF is led by an engaged and committed board of directors, all of whom are members of the founding family. LGF granted approximately $3.8 million in 2018, and plans to achieve an annual grantmaking budget of $6 million across all three grantmaking programs by 2022.
Opportunity
The Program Officer will manage the LGTBQ Equality Program, which currently consists of 32 grantees. The program supports advocacy, organizing, direct services and the work of changing hearts and minds. LGF prioritizes organizations that are intersectional and/or committed to building their racial equity analysis and practices. Geographically, the LGBTQ Equality Program focuses specifically on Virginia and North Carolina, and also invests in work that supports the LGBTQ community across the South.
The Program Officer will engage current grantees, identify new grantees, and support the learning and networking of LGBTQ communities and movements in the South. They will also play a critical role in working with other funders, both in the South and nationally, to increase support for LGBTQ communities in the South.
Currently a staff of four, LGF plans to grow to six staff members in the next two years. The Program Officer will be supervised by the Executive Director and will preferably work out of LGF’s office in Durham.
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Organization
With its mission to promote language skills and literacy for children, beginning at birth, and to support parents as their babies’ first teachers, Read to Grow touches the lives of tens of thousands of families each year.
Read to Grow’s earliest activities date back to 1998, when a book collection project was launched by RJ Julia Booksellers of Branford, in collaboration with Connecticut shoreline schools and communities. The project collected more than 12,000 books for families receiving services at a New Haven health center. Roxanne Coady, the bookstore’s owner, convened an energized group of individuals and they established an ambitious goal: to provide every baby born in Connecticut with a new book.
Within the next two years, the fledgling organization distributed books to mothers giving birth at Yale New Haven Hospital and the name Read to Grow was adopted along with an expanded mission. In 2000, Read to Grow was incorporated as a nonprofit organization.
Now in its 20th year, Read to Grow has achieved dramatic success and works with more than 72 other nonprofits through formal collaborations. The organization has received numerous accolades, awards and testimonials, and has garnered broad recognition for its work.
Read to Grow envisions a day when every family understands the critical importance of early childhood literacy and takes an active role in their child’s reading development, and when all children in Connecticut have books of their own.
Annually, Read to Grow’s Books for Babies program distributes books to new mothers at 14 partner hospitals in Connecticut, reaching 64% of all newborns in the state. Also, through the distribution of its Literacy Packets and coordinating visits to new mothers by nurses or volunteers, Read to Grow teaches women about early brain development and the value of sharing books with their babies from birth.
Books for Kids, another Read to Grow program, is a literacy continuum, providing books across the state on request from families, childcare providers, doctors, teachers, community and service groups and other nonprofits. Formal collaborations have been forged with more than 40 other nonprofits to establish Book Places and Partnerships that offer children’s books and share Read to Grow’s message with more low-income and at-risk families.
In 2018, Read to Grow partnered with Save the Children to introduce in New Haven what had been a rural model of children’s language development and pre-literacy. Called Early Steps to School Success, the program combines staff-led home visits with school-based group gatherings that integrate schools, families and communities in a multi-faceted effort to promote and increase early childhood literacy.
Read to Grow is led by an engaged 10-member board of directors and has a dedicated staff of 12 and more than 80 volunteers. The organization’s annual budget is $1.0 million.
Active in locations across Connecticut, staff and volunteers work with an increasing number of families. Longstanding partnerships as well as new affiliations with schools are thriving and continue to grow. Through their work, Read to Grow not only impacts the lives of young children and adults, but also supports their schools and communities.
With its national partner, Save the Children, Read to Grow’s Early Steps to School Success (ESSS) program encourages the development of skills and the growth of self-confidence in young learners. The organization’s work is highly respected and replicable in other areas in Connecticut and beyond. Read to Grow has the opportunity to expand its impact in the years ahead.
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Location: Norfolk, Connecticut
Great Mountain Forest (GMF) encompasses more than 6,000 acres of contiguous forestland in the towns of Norfolk and Canaan, Connecticut. GMF promotes the working forest as a renewable resource, as a habitat for wildlife and as a classroom for training and education. GMF is committed to leaving the forest better than found, passing on all it learns to others, and providing a sanctuary for those who love the woods. GMF’s primary resource is its land, a unique working forest with a history of active management that dates to the early 20th century, and its long-serving and dedicated staff.
Overview of the Organization and Programs
GMF is owned and managed by The Great Mountain Forest Corporation, a not-for-profit 501(c)3 private operating foundation. It was established in 1962 by Edward and Elisabeth Childs to further their mission of promoting sustainable forestry and land management. In 2003, the land was permanently protected under the largest conservation easement in southern New England, when development rights were sold under the Forest Legacy Program of the U.S. Forest Service. GMF’s 6,300 acres are managed with several goals in mind: the production of a wide range of forest products; the conservation and protection of watersheds; creating and maintaining healthy populations of both game and non-game species; scientific research; and education.
GMF’s Board of Trustees recently completed a strategic plan that envisions taking on the challenge of advancing new forest management for southern New England. That vision recognizes the broad range of ecological and economic benefits provided by forests, and the broad diversity of interests of different forest landowners. The long history of silviculture and forestry research at GMF provides a foundation for exploration of a progressive new forestry in the region, with programs that include identifying new markets and sustainable forest products, promoting research and forestry demonstrations, and public outreach and education for both land owners and land managers.
GMF, which employs four full-time staff (including the Executive Director position), is overseen by a Board of Directors, currently comprised of fifteen civic and community leaders. Historically, the organization’s annual operating budget has been approximately $425,000. With the recent sale of more than 277,000 tons of forest offset carbon credits, GMF anticipates its endowment will grow from approximately $3.3 million to $6 million, and, as a result, the organization’s annual budget will likely increase by about 30%, to $550,000.
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About Connecticut Cannabis Innovation and Research Center (CT Can)
CT Can is a newly launched Connecticut-based research and innovation center supporting the medical and scientific study and application of Cannabis, its various applications, and cannabis-related technologies. CT Can seeks to develop a data-driven model to promote the best research and raise funds for new studies. It hopes to create a nexus for science-based collaboration across the world in the cannabis space. This exciting new Executive Director position is an opportunity for an entrepreneurial, energetic, collaborative, science and research savvy person to help launch the organization, raise funds, and begin the journey of reaching its interesting goals.
The Model
CT Can plans to build a clearinghouse of Cannabis-related medical and scientific research, as well as provide seed money, grants, and funding for medical and scientific cannabis research across the following (but not limited to) disciplines: agricultural research, medical effectiveness of cannabis, Cannabis as medication, the isolation of compounds in the cannabis plant, pain management, user addiction, Opioid addiction, strain testing, mechanisms for most effective delivery, and health and consistency product testing devices. It will consolidate and track patient and outcome data connected to cannabis and its use. Creating networks and synergies among researchers and innovators in the cannabis space is an important outcome as well.
Of note, CT Can is not a policy or advocacy group. It is explicitly not for or against the use of legal cannabis or its legalization, and it is a non-political and non-religious organization.
Private donations support CT-CAN’s launch. This position will be its first full time staff; administrative/fiscal support is available. The work is CT-based and offers flexibility in where the executive resides.
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Massachusetts Advocates for Children (MAC) began 50 years ago as the Task Force for Children Out of School, investigating the exclusion of large numbers of children from Boston’s public schools. An ensuing report led to the first bi-lingual education and first special education laws in the nation. Since then, MAC has established itself as an essential child advocacy and education reform organization within the state. Its roles include:
• Primary organization protecting the educational rights of children with disabilities and their families.
• Statewide and national leader in the growing movement to create trauma-sensitive and safe and supportive schools, benefitting all students.
• Leader of a statewide coalition to reform school discipline laws.
• Leading statewide advocate to expand educational opportunities for children on the autism spectrum.
• Lead advocate in creating access to higher education statewide for students with intellectual disabilities and autism.
• Statewide support center in the civil legal aid network for children’s rights.
Overview of the Organization and Programs
Since its inception as the Task Force on Children Out of School under the leadership of founder Hubie Jones, MAC has played a critical role in the enactment of Massachusetts’ first special education law, which, in turn, served as the model for the first federal special education law, passed in 1975. To this day, MAC still employs the unique multi-strategic approach to advocacy pioneered by Hubie. Strategies include case advocacy; administrative and legislative advocacy; generating and publicizing reports on high-impact issues; coalition building; fostering empowerment of families, youth and community leaders; technical assistance and training; and, when necessary, litigation. MAC acts to hold public institutions accountable and prioritizes systems change in order to achieve the greatest impact for the most children. Simultaneously, through its Helpline, case advocacy and trainings, MAC works to ensure that the needs of individual children are met.
MAC’s major projects include:
•The Autism Center– Launched in 2002, The Autism Center works with partners and elected officials to create laws and regulations to ensure that children and young adults with autism spectrum disorders obtain the services and resources they need in order to reach their full potential. The Center works to empower parents to be a voice for their children by providing legal services, advocating for their children, and providing community workshops and online resources to help parents understand their rights.
•Children’s Law Support Project (CLSP)– MAC throughCLSP identifies and addresses otherwise untended legal needs of Massachusetts children from low-income families, particularly those needs related to education. MAC through CLSP also serves as the statewide support center in the civil legal aid network for children’s rights.
•Racial Equity and Access Project (REAP)– The overarching goal of REAP is to eliminate gaps in opportunity and achievement for Black and Latinx students in Boston, including those living in poverty, immigrant students, English language learners, and students with disabilities. The project’s primary focus is to disrupt the “school to prison pipeline.”
•School Discipline Project– Rooted in the passage of the Education Reform Act of 1993 and Chapter 222 in 2012, MAC’s School Discipline project focuses on school exclusion and the effects of zero tolerance policies and practices, particularly among students of color and students with disabilities.
•Special Education– As the leading voice on behalf of children with disabilities within the State, MAC conducts effective legislative, administrative and case advocacy, develops training curricula to empower parents and youth, provides technical assistance and representation to low-income parents, convenes statewide coalitions, and mobilizes parents and advocates to defend special education.
•Trauma and Learning Policy Initiative (TLPI)– TLPI is a nationally-recognized collaboration between MAC and Harvard Law School. Its mission is to ensure that children affected by family violence and other adverse childhood experiences succeed in school.
•The Boston Special Education Transition Project (B-SET)– The goal of B-SET is to increase inclusive workforce and post-secondary education placements and opportunities for Boston youth with disabilities, of all types and severities, while enrolled in school and after exiting.
A 501(c)(3) nonprofit, MAC is overseen by a volunteer board of directors, currently comprised of 14 community, legal and education leaders. MAC’s annual revenue is approximately $1.6 million. The organization employs approximately 20 staff members, fellows and interns, who work from its headquarters on Kingston Street in Boston and in Cambridge at Harvard Law School.
