Media/News > Articles

Workshops set on leadership
From staff reports
Ventura County Star, Jan. 27, 2012

The Center for Nonprofit Leadership at the Ventura County Community Foundation will present two workshops on leadership strategies...

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County schools chief named to local board
From staff reports
Ventura County Star, Jan. 10, 2012

County schools chief Stan Mantooth has joined the board of the Ventura County Community Foundation.

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Despite budget crunch, county’s community foundation awarding more scholarships
By Darleen Principe
Thousand Oaks Acorn, Jan. 5, 2012

Group plans to hand out $1.2 million to local students...

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Local foundation offering $1.2 million in scholarships
By Jean Cowden Moore
Ventura County Star, Dec. 31, 2011

The Ventura County Community Foundation is offering two new scholarships among the $1.2 million it will distribute this year to help students go to college.

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Foundation head donates to honor staff
Ventura County Star, Dec. 24, 2011

...Boss knows funds will go to good cause...

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Ventura County Civic Alliance aims to get young people involved in sustainability
By Katrina Maksimuk Eye on the Environment
Ventura County Star, Dec. 11, 2011

At the Ventura County Civic Alliance we asked ourselves: How can we engage Ventura County's next generation of leaders in a discussion about sustainability?

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Expert offers ideas on how to improve U.S. education
By Anne Kallas
Ventura County Star, Dec. 10, 2011

The decline in graduation rates in the United States comes not because the American education system has lost ground, but because the U.S. has stagnated, while other countries have surged ahead, according to Ronald F. Ferguson.

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Harvard expert on achievement gap to speak Friday in Camarillo
By Anne Kallas
Ventura County Star, Dec. 3, 2011

The educational and economic "achievement gap" between white and Asian students and their Latino and black counterparts will be the focus of a special conference Friday in Camarillo that will feature a prominent Harvard professor.

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Ralston: Ventura County heroine gave to help others
By Hugh Ralston
Ventura County Star, Nov. 12, 2011

When we think of America's great philanthropists, we name titans of industry such as Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Getty and Gates. Yet, here in Ventura County, a secretary has made one of the most generous donations to a local nonprofit.

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Philanthropy is caught in a game of politics
By Hugh Ralston
Pacific Coast Business Times, Nov. 11, 2011

Would Congress truly cap the charitable deduction as part of a "grand bargain" for deficit reduction and public investment?

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Agoura Hills resident with ALS sets up scholarship fund
Ventura County Star, October 13, 2011

Greg Merfeld knew something was wrong last year when he developed "foot drop," ...

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Kids' Music Education Alive and Well in Ventura County
KDB radio September 21, 2011

Save Our Kids' Music (SOKM) is a Ventura County non-profit dedicated to keeping music education alive for children.

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Volunteers feted with President's Award
Camarillo Acorn September 9, 2011

Thirteen volunteers recently received the Ventura County Community Foundation's President's Award for their efforts. The awards were presented at the ...

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Ventura County Together Summer Challenge
KDB radio August 29, 2011

For local residents hurt by the recession, there is no break this summer.

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Ventura County Together aims to raise $50,000 to help needy
Ventura County Star, August 27, 2011

Ventura County residents can double their giving power this week...

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Ralston: Time to get together and give together
By Hugh J. Ralston
Ventura County Star, August 27, 2011

...we can make a difference through the "Get Together/Give Together"challenge...

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Scholarships Are Music To Students’ Ears
Simi Valley Acorn, July 1, 2011

Two Santa Susana High School graduates have received the Ventura County Community Foundation’s Young Artists Scholarship...

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The Community Foundation
A Charitable Giving Vehicle for High-Net-Worth Individuals
By Christina Tucker and Diane Miller, May, 2011

It was a novel concept at the time...

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Jenson: New strategies propel nonprofits
By Dena Jenson
Ventura County Star, June 28, 2011

Irish playwright Brendan Behan quipped, "There is no such thing as bad publicity."...

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College Bound Students Honored With Arts Scholarships
The Sespe Sun, April 25, 2011

...Three local high school graduates were honored earlier this month...

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Editorial Shining Stars on Academic Stage
Ventura County Star, April 26, 2011

...educators, students, family and friends cheered Ventura County's top academic achievers...

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Rio Mesa student named top scholar
By Cheri Carlson
Ventura County Star, April 26, 2011

Sne Kanji tells her little brothers to work hard and not give up...

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Worth their weight
By Audrey Cortes
VCReporter Online, April 14, 2011

How nonprofits are transforming our communities...

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Superman is not coming to Ventura County
By Hugh Ralston
Pacific Coast Business Times, April 1-7, 2011

So this is what the revolution looks like...

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Teens Urged To Address Social Justice As Part Of Contest
Ventura County Star, March 18, 2011

The Social Justice Fund for Ventura County is accepting entries from teens, age 14 to 18, for its first Teen Multimedia Contest...

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It's Time for the 99 Percent to Step Up for Veterans
By Hugh Ralston
Ventura County Star, November 10, 2010

As our nation today honors veterans, we believe this is the opportunity for the 99 percent of us who are not serving our country in uniform to help...

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An excerpt from Bizz Buzz from the VC Reporter about VCCF
VCReporter Online, November 4, 2010

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Women’s Legacy Fund At Vccf Awards $76,500 To Nonprofits That Improve The Lives Of Ventura County Women
Ventura County Star, September 15, 2010

Women’s Legacy Fund Luncheon in Thousand Oaks on Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2010

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When “Art Lives”-local artists produce big from VCCF grants
By Linda Harmon
the ojai post, September 9, 2010

If you didn’t notice, Southern California got a whole lot richer and not just in dollars..

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Smith Foundation Awards $745,000 in 2010 Grants
Tri-County Sentry, August 10, 2010

The 2010 Martin V. & Martha K. Smith Foundation grants will help feed homebound, low-income seniors, build planters to beautify and attract more visitors to downtown Oxnard as well as cover enrollment fees for Ventura County high school graduates through the Ventura College Promise Program, to name a few…

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Community foundation grants scholarships
Moorpark Acorn, June 25, 2010

Young people who have been in foster care as well as students preparing for public-service careers received inaugural awards from two new scholarship funds during the Ventura County Community Foundation’s Scholarship Awards Reception in June…

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Oxnard Alive With The Arts
By Hugh Ralston
Ventura County Star, June 19, 2010

For the tourist driving across Ventura County from east to west, the arts might seem to bookend at our borders — from the Civic Arts Plaza in Thousand Oaks to Ventura, which calls itself “California’s newest art city…”

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Ventura County Community Foundation Expands Scholarships for Foster Children, Future Public Servants
Fillmore Gazette, June 16, 2010

Nearly $1 million awarded to local students at annual event…

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Arts Live Grants Benefit Ojai Artists
Santa Barbara Independent, June 15, 2010

What do an area hospital, at-risk youth, and threatened wildlife have in common? They will all benefit from the grants given by the Ventura County Arts Council last Thursday evening to eight local artists…

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Ojai Artists Win Grants from ArtsLIVE in Ventura
By linda Harmon
The Ojai Post, June 14, 2010

What do an area hospital, at-risk-youth, and threatened wildlife have in common? They will all benefit from grants given by the Ventura County Arts Council last Thursday evening to three of our very own Ojai artists…

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Museums Taught About Marketing, Lecture covers self-promotion
By Mark Storer
Ventura County Star, May 28, 2010

Local museum officials learned this week how to use their museums to boost tourism, customer traffic and marketing opportunities…

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The Healing Power of the Arts
By Barbara Hirsch
Ventura County Star, May 5, 2010

I was fortunate to live in Manhattan for four years in the 1960s, while raising three small children. During the middle of the day, I often was able to slip away and, as a special gift to myself, visit many art galleries…

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Spread the World on Local Artists
Ventura County Star, May 5, 2010

Back in 1999, my wife introduced me to her grandmother, Gertrude Smith, an 80-something visual artist from a small town deep in the middle of Mississippi…

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Most Deserving Academic Stars
Ventura County Star, April 29, 2010

It was the perfect hilltop setting to see some of the county’s brightest stars…

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Love of Learning Brought Teen Through Hard Times, Student overcame family strife, time on streets
By Marjorie Hernandez
Ventura County Star, April 28, 2010

For Cheyenne Summers, graduating and moving on to college means more than just improving her education. It’s a means of survival…

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Young Poets Will Read Their Works At Special Dinner
By Alicia Doyle
Ventura County Star, April 27, 2010

To celebrate National Poetry Month and the recent publication of an anthology of poems by Ventura County children called “They Speak the Names of the Mysterious Rainbow,” local elementary and middle school students will read their work during a dinner to benefit California Poets in the Schools/ArtsLIVE…

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Beyond the perfect storm
By Hugh Ralston
January 16-22, 2009

Sometimes the phrase "perfect storm" is not strong enough to describe the challenges.

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Tough times require priorities, focus on mission
By Hugh Ralston
November 13-19, 2009

I once read of a board chairman of a nonprofit who claimed his proudest achievement in his three-year term was to ensure every board member knew the mission of the organization so well that if awakened at 3 a.m. in a hotel fire, each could articulate the mission in the stairwell as they evacuated in their pajamas.

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Giving local students a helping hand on their next journey
By Mary L. Schwabauer
Thursday, December 11, 2008

We all have memories associated with the calendar — back to school in September, family gatherings at Thanksgiving and Christmas, heading to the beach to enjoy the warm weather of summer.

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Support of nonprofits continues
By Pierre Tada
Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Re: your Oct. 15 article, "Local nonprofits face huge losses — Demand for services grows as investments, donations dwindle."

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VCCF builds community
By Hugh J. Ralston
Tuesday, November 4, 2008

The old challenge "may you live in interesting times" has taken on more resonance this fall than ever before. We are living through historic times — financial panics, markets seizing up, institutions failing or consolidating and government interventions at unprecedented levels.

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