Monday, June 28, 2004: Volume #2, Issue #35
The VERB Weekly Email Digest
Edited by Sophy Pich, VERB Project Associate

Note: Documents on this page or in this section may be in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. In order to read them, you require Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is downloadable free from Adobe.

In This Week's Issue

1. Announcements
• National Voice Nonprofit Legal Call
• AOL Tech Corps
• 65th Hoa Hao Buddhist Founder's Day Celebration
2. Promising Practices
• How Charities Can Set Up Ethical Guidelines
3. News
• Key Senators Plan to Propose Charity Legislation This Year
• Vietnamese Honor Fallen Soldiers
• Hmong Refugee Group Leaves Thailand for Us
• Temple Temptations
• U.S. to Give Minnesota, Other States, Money to Resettle Hmong
• Cambodian Rapper Succeeds Mixing Memories Into Hip Hop Poetry
• 2nd Guilty Plea in Case of Cambodian Baby Adoptions
• Hmong Funeral Home in St. Paul Ordered Closed
• Hmong Refugees Begin Journey to United States
• Hmong Voice Relief, Hope on Arriving in U.S.
• Guilty Plea Entered in Adoptions Fraud
• Vietnamese Pay Visit to Durham
• US Man Sentenced to 8 Years for Sex with Cambodian Boys
• Hmong Funeral Halted by Police
• Laotians Find Freedom in U.S., Home in Polk
• Activism Beckons a New Generation of Cambodians
4. Funding Opportunities
• Department of Human Health Services
• Bank of America
5. Resources
• Center for Faith and Service
• Leadership Development/Aguirre International

I. Announcements

NATIONAL VOICE NON-PROFIT LEGAL CALL

Join National Voice for a conference call with lawyer Holly Schadler on legal issues related to non profit organizations engaged in election and civic participation work. Holly will give a brief overview presentation followed by Q & A. If your organization has specific questions/issues that you'd like to have addressed, please forward that information to Crystal (crystal@nationalvoice.org) by July 1.

Feel free to share this invitation with others you think would be interested. We appreciate RSVP's to confirm the number of lines we need to have available.

DATE: Wednesday, July 07, 2004

TIME: 1:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time
2:00 Eastern Daylight Time

DIAL-IN NUMBER: 1-661-705-2000 (Santa Clarita, CA)

PARTICIPANT ACCESS CODE: 82723

If you have questions or need more information—email Alyssa Burhans at alyssa@nationalvoice.org

National Voice is a coalition of nonprofit and community groups working to maximize public participation in our nation's democratic process. A key activity of National Voice is helping local groups incorporate voter education and registration activities into their work. (www.nationalvoice.org)

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AOL Tech Corps—Technology Volunteers Helping Nonprofits

The AOL Tech Corps program matches skilled AOL employee volunteers with nonprofit organizations lacking technical support and funding.

NPower Greater DC Region is currently looking for small nonprofits to participate in a pilot project beginning in the end of June and to be carried out during the summer. AOL volunteers will conduct technology audits for area nonprofits and identify those that qualify for future projects. Eligible organizations should have an annual budget under $750K.

The program is a great opportunity for nonprofits to evaluate what their most important technology needs are and learn how to integrate technology into delivering on their missions.

If you are selected for the project, there is no charge to you all you need to do is set up a time for the volunteers to come out and conduct the audit.

Please contact megan@npowergdcr.org with any questions. or For more information, go to www.npowergdcr.org/dcaoltechcorps.htm.

***

65th Hoa Hao Buddhist Founder's Day Celebration

Date: July 4, 2004 Time: 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM

Place: Hilton Hotel Arlington 950 N. Stafford Street Arlington, Virginia (next to Ballston Metro Stop)

Featuring:

• Health Fair
• Hoa Hao Buddhist Ceremony
• Entertainment from the Hai Dang Band and famous Vietnamese singers (Phi Nhung & Manh Quynh)
• Vegetarian Dinner.

For more information please visit, www.pghh.org

***

Anyone who lost loved ones during the Killing Fields era is welcome to submit their names for etching on the Wall of Remembrance, which is the heart of the Killing Fields Memorial and Cambodian American Heritage Museum. Names that are received by June 30th will be included in the Memorial and Museum once it opens to the public on October 7, 2004.

June 30, 2004 is the first deadline for names to be submitted for the Wall of Remembrance.

Applications are available on the Cambodian Association of Illinois' website at www.cambodian-association.org

For more information, please contact Mr. Sophoan Khoeun at (773) 878-7090 ext. 201 or via email at sophoan@cambodian-association.org

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II. Promising Practices

How Charities Can Set Up Ethical Guidelines in an Era of Increased Scrutiny

By Peter Panepento

From the Chronicle in Philanthropy

Rand Wentworth, president of the Land Trust Alliance, has always been proud of his group's statement of ethical guidelines. But in the wake of a spate of charity scandals, the alliance knew it could do better. The document, which includes 15 standards ranging from board activity to the accurate valuing of property, has guided the Washington organization's activities for 15 years and has established the ethical ground rules for the 1,200 nonprofit groups it represents nationwide.

But last year it decided to review its standards— partly, says Mr. Wentworth, in reaction to the controversy another environmental group, the Nature Conservancy, faced after The Washington Post published a series of articles about its land deals involving trustees and staff members. The result, says Mr. Wentworth, has been a massive and thorough process that has brought together representatives of the group's member organizations to debate the new guidelines. "There have been some heated sessions where very good people have gotten into intense arguments," he says. "I'm surprised, but in the end, pleased. It encourages us to think more deeply and broadly about the right and ethical things to do."

While most nonprofit organizations have long driven by strong values, many charity leaders are paying increased attention to ethics in light of the scandals that have gripped the nonprofit and for-profit worlds in recent years. Those incidents have also prompted lawmakers to create tougher ethics laws to govern businesses and nonprofit organizations (such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which focused largely on the governance of publicly traded companies, but may be applied broadly to nonprofit organizations). High-profile charity scandals have also pushed some donors to become more selective in their giving.

As a result, a growing number of charities are deciding it is time to review—and in some cases, create—ethics codes. "The entire nonprofit sector is being placed under more scrutiny than ever before," says David B. Mulvihill, vice president and general counsel of the Make-a-Wish Foundation of America, in Phoenix. "Nonprofits have a legal, moral, and ethical responsibility to do everything they can to make sure their assets are being managed responsibly."

Helping Small Charities

For the Make-a-Wish Foundation, the increased scrutiny has been the starting point for internal discussions on ethics and conflicts of interest—a discussion that will soon lead to the adoption of a new, more in-depth ethics code for employees and volunteers.

But for many other charities, particularly those with small budgets and time-strapped staff members, rewriting or creating a code of ethics is a difficult task. And enforcing those codes can be even tougher.

Read on: http://philanthropy.com/jobs/2004/06/24/20040624-101742.htm

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III. News

Key Senators Plan to Propose Charity Legislation This Year
June 22, 2004
The Chronicle of Philanthropy

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Vietnamese Honor Fallen Soldiers
June 20, 2004
News 14 Charlotte

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Hmong Refugee Group Leaves Thailand for Us
June 22, 2004
VOA

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Temple Temptations
June 23, 2004
Anchorage Daily News

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U.S. to Give Minnesota, Other States, Money to Resettle Hmong
June 23, 2004
Star Tribune

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Cambodian Rapper Succeeds Mixing Memories Into Hip Hop Poetry
June 23, 2004
NCM

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2nd Guilty Plea in Case of Cambodian Baby Adoptions
June 24, 2004
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

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Hmong Funeral Home in St. Paul Ordered Closed
June 24, 2004
In-Forum

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Hmong Refugees Begin Journey to United States
June 24, 2004
NPR

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Hmong Voice Relief, Hope on Arriving in U.S.
June 24, 2004
Radio Free Asia

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Guilty Plea Entered in Adoptions Fraud
June 24, 2004
The Honolulu Advertiser

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Vietnamese Pay Visit to Durham
June 26, 2004
The Herald Sun

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US Man Sentenced to 8 Years for Sex with Cambodian Boys
June 26, 2004
Channel News Asia

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Hmong Funeral Halted by Police
June 26, 2004
St. Paul Pioneer Press

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Laotians Find Freedom in U.S., Home in Polk
June 27, 2004
The Ledger

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Activism Beckons a New Generation of Cambodians
June 27, 2004
The Los Angeles Times

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IV. Grants

1. (National)
   Center for Faith and Service

   Purpose: To support organizations founded out of faith traditions to grow in their ability to effectively meet the needs of the people in their neighborhoods. In addition, the Center fosters cooperation among private, governmental, and nonprofit entities to support the contributions made by faith-based service in vitalizing America's communities.

   Corporation T/TA Manager
   Sachiko Goode (sgoode@cns.gov)
   Tel: 202/606-5000, ext. 202

2. (National)
   Leadership Development/Aguirre International

   Purpose: To provide leadership development for the staff of national and community service programs. Leadership training offered includes 3-4 day institutes focused on understanding and strengthening personal leadership abilities, leadership skills to increase program effectiveness, building collaborative teams, and exploring and forming partnerships with others in national service.

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V. Resources

Purpose: To support organizations founded out of faith traditions to grow in their ability to effectively meet the needs of the people in their neighborhoods. In addition, the Center fosters cooperation among private, governmental, and nonprofit entities to support the contributions made by faith-based service in vitalizing America's communities.

Corporation T/TA Manager
Sachiko Goode (sgoode@cns.gov)
Te: 202/606-5000, ext. 202

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Leadership Development/Aguirre International

Purpose: To provide leadership development for the staff of national and community service programs. Leadership training offered includes 3-4 day institutes focused on understanding and strengthening personal leadership abilities, leadership skills to increase program effectiveness, building collaborative teams, and exploring and forming partnerships with others in national service.

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If you wish to contribute to the VERB Weekly e-Digest, please send all materials to sophy@searac.org