The First Cut: Cabrini Madness

The first cut for Cabrini Madness 2011 took place last night at 11:59 pm (long after all of the NCAA games were over for the night--I guess we now know which tournament is more intense!).

Due to some confusion regarding tournament policies for matching donations, Commissioners EL Da'Sheon Nix and Bradley Troast have decided to advance 9 teams this week.

The following teams are advancing to the next round:
1. $2,161..... Cabrini Allstars
2. $2,118 ... The Dream Team
3. $1,561..... Boom Goes the Dynamite
4. $1,385 ..... The Kids Are All Bright
5. $1,338 ....... The Golden Stars
6. $1,285 ..... Team High5ive
7. $1,265 ... Change Makers
8. $1,215 ..... The Green Team
9. $1,208 ..... Cabrini Loyalty

The following teams didn't make the first cut, but still raised a combined $1,828 for Cabrini Connections:
10. $785 ... The Blue Chips
11. $600 ....... The Free Agents
12. $330 ....... Team 5Dragons
13. $113 ..... Running for Cabrini

Teams have demonstrated a lot of creativity thus far in the tournament. We've seen teams raise money through bowling nights, wii tournaments, wing eating contests (see an action shot to the left), chili cook-offs, pizza sales, and online giving campaigns. I look forward to seeing what teams do in the final few weeks of competition!

I'd like to take a moment to thank my family and friends who have supported my team, The Kids Are All Bright, and have helped us move to the second round standing strong at #4. My personal competitive side and desire to win the tournament aside, your generosity helps us keep the doors open to a really amazing program!

As many readers know, it has been a challenging financial year for Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection. However, our organization is not alone in facing ongoing financial obstacles. A study was released just today by the Nonprofit Financial Fund which indicates that 87% of nonprofits feel "the recession is not over." The study also found that while 85% of nonprofits anticipate an increased demand for their services in 2011, only 46% of organizations expect to be able to meet this need.

While this study reinforces the challenging landscape faced by nonprofits such as Cabrini Connections, Cabrini Madness is a really positive reminder that we have a lot of people willing to support the program and advocate on its behalf.

Congratulations to all teams, and good luck in the rest of the tournament. For all tournament fans, stay on top of tournament news, media updates, and standings on the official Cabrini Madness site.

Please support your favorite team before the next cut on Sunday, March 27th!

Enjoy Watching Sports on TV?

....if the answer to this question is YES, then you might recall the commercial featuring Michael Jordan called "Maybe." (For a refresher, you can watch it out at the bottom of this post).

Recently, Bradley Troast and EL Da'Sheon Nix remade this video to promote the Cabrini Madness tournament. Check it out below, and I hope it inspires you donate to your favorite team.

The Kids Are All Bright (my team), is sadly trailing in the tourney in 13th place. Help us climb the leader board before the first cut on March 20th!

Thanks for your support!

First, the MJ original:



And now the Cabrini Madness remake starring our own, EL Da'Sheon Nix:

Maybe from Cabrini Connections on Vimeo.

Cabrini Madness: Game On!

The Super Bowl is now behind us, which means another tournament has begun:

Cabrini Madness 2011!

Be sure to watch the first 2011 Cabrini Madness promo video, "Training Days."

Training Days from Cabrini Connections on Vimeo.

Visit each team's page to view their roster of volunteers, staff, students, board members, and outside supporters:

• The Kids Are All Bright (Shameless Plug: This is my team! Donations are much appreciated!)
• Team 5Ds
• The Blue Chips
• Boom Goes the Dynamite
  
• Cabrini Allstars
• Cabrini Loyalty
  
• The Change Makers
• The Dream Team (defending champions)
• The Free Agents
  
• The Golden Stars
  
• The Green Team
  
• Running for Cabrini
• Team high5ive
  

You can also keep track of tournament news and updates via the main Cabrini Madness page.

Even if you aren't able to donate, you can help out by promoting your favorite team (or Cabrini Madness in general) through your Facebook page, Twitter account, or (gasp) even talking to people in person. Cabrini Madness isn't just about raising money. It's about giving people an opportunity to introduce the program and the organization to those in their networks. The more people that know about us, the more supporters we will have for the kids in our program and for the work that Tutor/Mentor Connection does throughout the city of Chicago.

Cabrini Madness is a great example of how programs can use innovative, interactive, and fun strategies for fundraising. The idea for the tournament was developed last year over a dinnertime conversation between EL Da'Sheon Nix and Bradley Troast. Now, after a successful first season, the tournament is in its second year.

Cabrini Madness also exemplifies how outside events, holidays, and even sports tournaments can be leveraged in creative ways to draw attention to nonprofits. Although most small tutoring and mentoring programs do not have the budget to advertise on a grand scale if at all, using widely recognized events to pull people to programs is a great strategy for catching people's attention and interest. For an easy reference, see this article on national events that might be creatively geared toward supporting tutoring and mentoring programs.

You can read more about the "annual calendar" that Tutor/Mentor Connection has developed in Dan Bassill's recent blog article about T/MC's strategy to engage businesses throughout the year with continual investment.

Thanks for your support and good luck to all of the teams in this season of Cabrini Madness!

2011 Cabrini Madness Sign-Ups Starting!!

The Second Annual CABRINI MADNESS Tournament is about to start! Beginning this week, teams are forming to take part in the 2011 tournament.

This is my first year participating in Cabrini Madness, and it sounds like a lot of fun. Cabrini Madness is a fund-raising team challenge that involves students, volunteers, board members, staff, and outside supporters in a competition to see who can raise the most money to support Cabrini Connections. Teams find a wide variety of creative ways to raise donations ranging from bake sales to pizza/game parties to social events. All teams on the roster are part of a bracket, and teams are gradually eliminated to the elite eight, final four, and so on until the champion is determined (sound like March Madness at all?).

Each week of the tournament, videos will be posted updating the fans of Cabrini Connections about how their favorite teams are fairing. Below, you can watch a video on the 2010 first draft pick (and be sure to stay tuned for the week of February 1st when we'll have our first video for 2011).

Cabrini Madness Episode 2 from Cabrini Connections on Vimeo.

Last year, the tournament was a huge success with 13 teams and 114 players together raising over $23,000!!! We hope 2011 will bring in even more support. This is a really unique and dynamic fund-raiser because it involves so many different people within our program. Everyone from board members to students to community members are encouraged to get involved in this friendly (but from what I understand, also quite heated) competition.

How to create a team: Teams are made up of 5-10 members. Each team must include at least (1) current or former student, (1) current or former volunteer, (1) current or former staff member, volunteer coordinator, club leader, or board member, and (1) person that is not a current member of the program such as a close friend, spouse, or co-worker. Each team must also create an online fund-raising page using platforms such as GiveForward, Razoo, or FirstGiving.

If you're interested in joining the tournament, I can help place you on a team! I will be working with team captains to fill their rosters, so be sure to contact me if you are interested in being part of a team. This is a great way to get involved (and as you'll notice, there is a special spot on each team for those not currently involved in the program--meaning anyone can join!).

TIMELINE:

• February 6 - Deadline for entry
• February 6 - Deadline for fundraising page
• March 20 - First cut (Top 8 advance)
• March 27 - Second cut (Top 4 advance)
• April 2 - Third cut (Top 2 advance)
• April 4 - Final cut (Winner chosen)
• April 6/7 - Awards at tutoring

You can read a full recap of the 2010 tournament on Cabriniblog here.

What is a Beard Worth?

The answer to this question is A LOT if you're part of Beards for Kids, a fundraiser launched by Gabe Chapman, a Cabrini Connections mentor. This is just one example of a slew of fundraisers that have been started by volunteers, alumni, staff members, and Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection supporters in the past few weeks to try to help us through this holiday season.

Beards For Kids "This holiday season I’m participating in the Beards For Kids 2010 Challenge. I’ll be growing a beard from now until the end of the holidays and have a goal of raising $10 per day for Cabrini Connections. Please help me reach my goal by donating here today: http://beardsforkids.org" -Gabriel Chapman

Santa's Naughty or Nice Charity Pub Crawl "HO HO HO - What better way to feel the joy of the season than to fill yourself with HOLIDAY SPIRITS and give a little something back to the community? For a donation of $10 (or more), you will get the company of some very fine individuals and a big red Santa hat (first 45 attendees)." -Elena Lugo and Melanie Munsey

Matt Golden's Fundraising Page "I have asked family and friends to help me raise $2,000 for Cabrini Connections in the month of December. I have set up a website on FirstGiving and have already raised $270! Hopefully, our contributions can help Charles Hill and other students continue to succeed at Cabrini Connections. http://www.firstgiving.com/mattgolden" -Matt Golden

One Month's Rent Campaign "Please support my cause by contributing an amount toward one month's rent for next year. We have a beautiful 4500-square foot space near downtown Chicago where all of our youth come to meet with their mentors. You can get a good sense of it here as I walk through in this video: http://vimeo.com/16755309." -Bradley Troast

Alumni Fund Page "I graduated from the program back in 1992 and I'm troubled to hear that it is in financial peril and there is the real possibility that it can close. This program was a key factor in my finally seeing what possibilities lay out there for me to be successful... They are currently doing that for so many of the Children of Cabrini and I'm not aware of many programs that do it in a grass root, no nonsense kind of a way." -Isaiah Brooms

Holiday Mapping For Justice Help Mike raise money to support the mapping project at Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection

Birthday Wish "I'll be 64 on Dec. 19th, and I hope you'll donate to help me celebrate." -Daniel Bassill

These are each excellent examples of creative, fun, and non-traditional avenues for fund-raising. The wide range of individuals involved in DESIGNING and LEADING fund-raising efforts is also a testament to the various people impacted by an organization like Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection. It is great to have so many people adding their voices, passion, and energy to the cause!

At the recent Tutor/Mentor Conference, I listened to a lot of conversations during workshops where staff and administrators of programs expressed that fund-raising wasn't necessarily their forte. A lot of energy needs to be put into fund-raising, but strapped for time and money to pay additional staff, many small nonprofits (like ours) do not have the capacity to have a paid person focusing solely on development.

It is exciting to see how the creative minds of a few individuals are turning everything from going out for drinks on a Saturday night to growing facial hair into both support for the organization's mission and a significant dollar amount to help keep the doors open.

Thanks to the exceptional individuals who are leading these efforts and to all those who are showing their support!

Treat Yourself to a Shopping Spree!

Do you ever shop online, book online airfare or hotels, or buy Groupon daily deals? Read on.

You can help Tutor Mentor Connection and Cabrini Connections through your regular online purchases (especially as the holiday season approaches!).

Just click this link to the Good Shop website then enter Cabrini Connections as your designated organization. From there you can search for your favorite store, be redirected to that store's website, and then the retailer will donate a small percentage of your purchase to Cabrini Connections (no extra charge to you!).

Many large online retailers and companies are eligible (including Amazon, Best Buy, Banana Republic, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Priceline, and even Groupon), so I encourage you to make your purchases through this website and urge others to do the same.

Although it may only generate a few cents through a single purchase, it could really add up if enough of us do this!

Thanks for your help and now go shop 'til you drop!

Special thanks to my mom for sharing this website with me!

Collaboration Success Story: October 9th Tutor Training Conference

On Saturday, October 9th while thousands of Chicagoans loaded up on carbs in preparation for the Chicago Marathon, volunteers and staff from Cabrini Connections, Chicago Lights Tutoring, and Cabrini Green Tutoring Program had a marathon day filled with great workshops and training sessions at the Fifth Annual Tutor Training Conference.

The conference took place at Fourth Presbyterian Church, home of Chicago Lights. The day was filled with a wide variety of skill-building workshops on topics such as tutoring students in reading, teaching math skills, and helping students in the college admissions process. There were also workshops that discussed the role of mentors during difficult times in a youth’s life and workshops that offered volunteers a view inside today’s schools.

I moderated a panel called “The Changing Faces of Cabrini Green” in which a mother who is a Cabrini Green Community Activist and her son discussed the history and present situation of Cabrini Green along with the realities—positive and negative—of living in that community.

The conference was a huge success and we had more volunteers from Cabrini Connections attend than ever before (not bad for a Saturday with 80 degree weather!). EL Da’Sheon Nix and Bradley Troast from Cabrini Connections played a large roll in motivating our volunteers to attend and in planning this conference—congratulations to both of them! (read EL’s blog entry for his account of the conference).

More than just a victory for the three programs involved, however, this training conference is a great example of how tutoring and mentoring programs can benefit through collaboration. Although the three programs that teamed up for the conference operate independently of one another, the leaders of each program realized that not only do all the programs serve a similar demographic by working with students from the Cabrini Green area, but the tutors/mentors from each program also need similar sets of skills and training. Rather than holding three separate volunteer training events (read: extra planning time, more money, and additional staff), the joint conference enabled each program to share the workload and the benefits of a tutor training conference. What's more, volunteers could pick up tips and ideas from representatives of all three programs not just their own.

Tutor/Mentor Connection actively encourages tutor/mentor programs throughout the city to collaborate in shared efforts. Rather than looking at similar organizations as mere competitors, they can be viewed as potential collaborative partners. The Program Locator is one way that T/MC helps programs identify other similar organizations existing in their geographical regions that they might reach out to for collaboration.

In addition, Mike Trakan,the T/MC GIS Mapping Specialist, makes a wide variety of maps relevant to tutoring/mentoring programs in Chicago. Many of these maps show how programs along with businesses and faith communities could work together to help youth in specific neighborhoods in Chicago. I encourage you to support Mike's work at the upcoming map gallery event, "Mapping Solutions" on November 17th at Webster's Wine Bar.

Thanks to all of the volunteers who attended the October 9th Conference--I look forward to seeing the payoff of the event during tutoring and mentoring sessions this year!

Get Ready for Martini Madness!

Join us tomorrow night for our 5^th annual Martini Madness fundraiser! This event celebrates the successful start of Cabrini Connections' year of tutoring and mentoring (read blog entries by EL and Bradley to learn about the "best start in years"). It also raises money for Tutor/Mentor Connection so we can continue to provide free training and support for tutor/mentor programs throughout the Greater Chicago Area.

The Details:

Martini Madness 2010

Friday, October 1^st

at The Store

2002 N. Halsted Street (map)

6:30pm – 9:30pm

$40 per person for open martini bar, appetizers, and sodas

Register online!

If you do not live in Chicago or if martinis aren't your thing, you can still participate! Raffle tickets are available online or at the door for $20 each or 3 for $50. More than twenty lucky winners will receive a variety of awesome prizes such as hotel stays, dinner packages, and sporting event tickets (see a full list here). Winners need not be present to win!

I am excited for a fun night of socializing with T/MC supporters!! I hope to see you there!

Celebrating a Successful Tutor/Mentor Jam!

Since my mom reads this blog, I better preface this post with a disclaimer: I don’t usually spend Sundays at a bar.

This past Sunday night, however, was a noteworthy exception.

The first annual Tutor/Mentor Jam at Darkroom, a music venue in Chicago’s West Town neighborhood, took place this past Sunday. The event served not only as a benefit concert for Tutor/Mentor Connection, but also as a means for entertainers, bands, and other community members to collectively draw visibility and support to volunteer-based tutor/mentor programs in high poverty neighborhoods throughout Chicago.

The night kicked off with a delicious barbecue provided by Man B Que who grilled up mouthwatering burgers, hot dogs, and mushroom burgers.

After everyone’s appetites were satiated, Alexander Webb, a former Northwestern quarterback, played a great acoustic set keeping the audience entranced with his beautiful melodies and soulful voice. His talent and passion for the cause made me proud to be a Northwestern Wildcat!

Soon, the Unusual Suspects went on stage and got everyone on their feet dancing! With fantastic vocals and an excellent horn section, they covered various blues artists that kept people singing and dancing along (the music helped me discover that several of my friends are good swing dancers—who knew?).

Afterward, Trakan took the stage with his band and gave a rock-solid and energizing performance. It was exciting to see Mike Trakan, the T/MC GIS Coordinator and the co-producer of the concert, on stage and in his element. Mike has been working for months to organize this event and he provides a great example of using his passion—music—and his networks—entertainers, musicians, and concert-goers—to draw support and visibility to tutor/mentor programs.

After Trakan, The Black Temple 21 played a lively hip-hop set, then No Hero finished off the night strong.

One of the highlights of the evening was when Brea Adams, a mentor at Cabrini Connections, spoke about her involvement with the program and what keeps her engaged as a volunteer. I got to know Brea’s mentee, Crystal Townsend, this summer so I was excited to hear from the person who Crystal enthusiastically referred to as “SO cool!”

The first Tutor/Mentor Jam was a success—not only because of the money raised, but also (and probably even more importantly) because of the new people that connected to T/MC through the event. I was touched by how many of my friends came out to support the event, and so many staff, board members, band members, and others brought out their networks to collectively show support for tutor/mentor programs for at-risk youth.

Thank you to all the volunteers, bands, auction donors, and event sponsors for making the first T/M Jam a success, and a special thanks to all of my friends who came!