ENDOWMENT GIFTS PASS $330,000 MARK
Thanks to a $200,000 challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, VCOG may soon realize its dream of a half-million-dollar endowment fund.
In recognition of VCOG’s open-government work, the Knight Foundation approved a 1:1 match, up to $200,000, to create the Coalition’s first endowment.
The fund-raising effort got off to a fast start last summer with a $20,000 lead gift from the family of Laurence and Catharine Richardson. Larry Richardson was a Charlottesville broadcaster, VCOG founder and strong First Amendment and Freedom of Information backer.
Another $145,000 has been raised since then, assuring the Coalition of at least $330,000 for the permanent endowment.
The fund-raising drive, VCOG’s first since its inception, will be capped with a 10th anniversary reception and dinner at the Library of Virginia on Nov. 16.
Early contributors and dinner sponsors include VCOG directors, Dominion Resources, the Virginia Association of Broadcasters, WTVR, Media General, Landmark Communications and the Virginia Press Association.
When the $400,000 endowment goal has been reached, an additional $100,000 will be transferred into the restricted fund. The Coalition’s reserves, dating from its birth in 1996, total about $175,000.
Investment income from the planned half-million-dollar endowment will enable VCOG to hire a full-time staff, improve its Internet services and broaden its effort to defend and promote open government in the Commonwealth.
PLAN NOW TO ATTEND OUR NOV. 16 GALA
Be sure to mark your calendar for our 10th anniversary gala, in the great hall of the Library of Virginia, just two blocks from the state Capitol.
Because of space limitations, seating will be limited to the first 200 registered guests. Tickets are available at $250 each, with sponsorship tables available for $5,000, $10,000 and $15,000. Dress is black tie optional.
All proceeds will go to the Coalition’s endowment fund, matched dollar for dollar by a special challenge grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
To order corporate tables or individual tickets, contact VCOG at 540-353-8264, or at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
The Library of Virginia is one of VCOG’s partner organizations. On Nov.17, it will host ACCESS 2006, the Coalition’s statewide conference.
VCOG is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization. All contributions for the gala dinner will be tax-deductible to the fullest extent permitted by IRS rules.
ALBRIGHT NAMED TO VCOG BOARD
The Virginia Coalition for Open Government welcomes its newest board member, Lee Albright.
Albright was named to a three-year term as one of 13 public members of VCOG’s board, succeeding Doug Henderson, director of Loudoun County libraries. (The other 10 members represent Virginia’s leading media organizations.)
Albright and his wife Paulette battled the state’s Department of Game and Inland Fisheries for more than two years, aggressively using the state’s Freedom of Information Act to try to obtain records of DGIF mismanagement, lawbreaking and wasted taxpayer dollars.
Judges in Nelson County awarded Albright a partial reimbursement of his legal fees after finding that DGIF illegally withheld public records and inflated search and copying fees.
The Albrights are retired and live in rural Nelson County.
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Making Your FOIA Life Easier
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Thursday, May 30, 2013
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May 20
FOIA Council Subcommittee on Rights & Responsibilities
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May 20
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May 30
Making Your FOIA Life Easier - a records management seminar
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