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Fundraising News & Announcements
Starfinder Welcomes Ellen Freda, Chief Development Officer
January 27,2012
Starfinder is pleased to announce that Ellen Freda has joined the Starfinder team as Chief Development Officer. Ellen grew up in the local Philadelphia area and graduated from Harriton High School. She has an undergraduate English degree from Penn and a master’s degree in educational psychology from Temple. She began her development career at Schultz & Williams as part of a team that provided strategic development, management and marketing solutions to nonprofits.
Ellen spent seven years at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia in progressively more responsible positions including three years as development director. She was most recently the executive director of Dress for Success Philadelphia. Ellen’s experience, drive, and creativity will surely energize and accelerate all of Starfinder’s fundraising efforts. Starfinder is very excited to have Ellen come on board as the latest member of the Starfinder team.
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Thank You Vanguard Volunteers
January 27,2012
For the third year in a row we welcomed a group of energized volunteers from Vanguard in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service. Working alongside Starfinder’s teens and staff, the group helped us spiff up our building, raked our huge turf field, and worked on sections of the mosaic mural (to be installed this spring!).
We are delighted to partner with Vanguard and look forward to welcoming them back again next year.
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New Corporate Partners
January 27,2012
Our community of corporate supporters is growing! As mentioned earlier in this newsletter, Starfinder received a generous grant from the Walmart Foundation to support its new Eat Right, Get Fit, Grow Strong nutrition and fitness program. This program is also being supported by a grant from the Janssen Biotech, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company.
We are also delighted to welcome Dermody Properties as our newest Corporate Partner! In addition, we want to give a big shout out to Clif Bar, which has been sending truck loads of healthy nutritious snacks to power our kids for several years.
Thank you to all our corporate supporters for providing the necessary resources to strengthen and grow our programs!!
Become a Corporate Partner!
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Sprucing Up Starfinder!
Septmber 19, 2011
In July, Starfinder received a $10,000 grant from The Charter Foundation to make some much needed capital improvements to its facility. First up and now totally operational: state-of-the-art water fountains on the mezzanine and field levels, replacing ancient, poorly fuctioning fountains. Besides providing chilled, filtered water, the new fountains make it easy to fill personal water containers and thus reduce the use of plastic throw-away bottles. The counters on each fountain show that total water consumption already equals more than 2,300 disposable bottles!
Other improvements include the installation of new, more durable flooring on the main entrance stairs and landings and a new air conditioning unit. The new flooring, which replaced worn out carpeting, looks great and is easier to clean. A new energy efficient air conditioning unit in the computer lab will do a better job of cooling off all the hard working young brains and CPUs who fill the lab in the hottest months.
Coming this fall: all overhead fluorescent light fixtures will be replaced with more efficient lighting that will be brighter, last longer and bring down our electric bill.
Many thanks to The Charter Foundation for making Starfinder a greener and more cost effective organization!
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Recent Grants!
May 16, 2011
Starfinder is pleased to announce several recent grants:
The Patricia Kind Family Foundation awarded Starfinder a three-year grant totaling $45,000 in general support of our programs and mission.
The Samuel S. Fels Fund provided $10,000 in support of our key organizational priorities.
We received a second, smaller grant from the Samuel S. Fels Fund, through the Philadelphia Youth Sports Collaborative, to defray the cost of implementing a new database that will help us to more effectively track our participants and their progress.
The Northwest Fund granted $5,500 in support of our upcoming summer programs in two neighborhoods in northwest Philadelphia.
The Genuardi Family Foundation also provided $4,000 in support for our summer programs.
The Doc Cousounis Fund of The Philadelphia Foundation made two grants totaling $2,416 in support of our soccer programs that velop character and leadership.
THANK YOU!!
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Starfinder Obliterated its Annual Appeal Goal!
...And it's all thanks to you!
February 1, 2011
This year we set ourselves the challenge of raising $25,000 during our 2010 annual appeal campaign. This was an ambitious goal, considering that we had barely broken $10,000 in the past. But this year we had a secret weapon: you! In fact, we blasted right past our goal, thanks to the hard work of a group of our most dedicated friends (dubbed "Team Captains" for the campaign) who made personal appeals to their communities on Starfinder's behalf.
As of February 1st we have raised $41,991 from 211 gifts!!!
Wow.
We are humbled and deeply grateful for this outpouring of support!
Click here for the list of our annual appeal donors.
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Two Exciting Grants!
February 1, 2011
We are thrilled to announce the receipt of two important new grants:
- The Fund for Children of the Philadelphia Foundation recently awarded Starfinder $50,000 to support the Senior Leaders Program. Starfinder's athletic, educational and personal development programs help young people from underserved communities achieve success both on and off the soccer field. The Senior Leaders Program, in particular, encourages participants to graduate from high school and pursue college and career opportunities.
- Starfinder also received $10,400 from Olympique Lyonnais, the premier French soccer team, to support our Junior Leaders and Soccer Girls Rule programs for middle school age girls. Starfinder's programs for girls are specifically designed to address and overcome the barriers that frequently prevent urban girls from participating in sports and cultivating lifelong habits of exercise and athleticism.
We are grateful for these and all the grants we receive to sustain our programs for underserved urban youth.
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Come Celebrate at the Copa MondiALE!
March 8, 2010
Come celebrate the World Cup with Starfinder and TotalBRU Marketing in the Copa MondiALE! This event series combines soccer watching, beer drinking, and socializing as it follows the games leading up to and including the World Cup - all to benefit Starfinder. For just $20, participants get to sample a wide range of craft beers, participate in a raffle, and meet some local professional soccer talent. (Half of all proceeds go to Starfinder and donations are of course welcomed and encouraged!)
Our first Copa MondiALE event just took place on Wednesday, March 3rd at Tavern on Broad in Philadelphia. We were joined by Angel Rivillo of the Philadelphia Kixx and Chris Albright from the NY Red Bulls MLS team. Chris DePeppe of Beerheads kept the microbrews flowing as we watched the top ranked Netherlands beat the US (sadly, but not unexpectedly) in an international friendly. Big thanks to Tavern on Broad for hosting the event and supplying delicious snacks at half time.
Did you miss our first event? Don't worry, there will be several more. Stay tuned for announcements of future Copa MondiALE events around the Philly metro area.
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Parent/Guardian Association
March 8, 2010
Hey parents and guardians: you are an important part of the Starfinder community, and we want to get you more involved!
First step was our Parent Play Day, now we want to create a Parent/Guardian Association. We know that our students' parents and guardians are a vast untapped resource. We hope you'll get involved, share your ideas and feedback, and help spread the word about our programs. Who knows, maybe we can even develop activities for parent and guardians while your children are in the program. With your ideas, input and know-how so much is possible!
One of our parents has already stepped up to help move the P&G Association forward. Mrs. Karla Williams, whose son Julian is in our Future Leaders program, will serve as the group's first Coordinator. Details about how to register will be forthcoming. (And, while you're waiting to hear more, help us come up with a snappy name for this group!)
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Recent Program Grants
March 8, 2010
We are proud to announce the receipt of three recent grants to support our programs:
- The Fund for Children provided $50,000 to fund our growing Senior Leaders Program. Administered by The Philadelphia Foundation, the Fund for Children was created from contributions from the Philadelphia Eagles football and the Philadelphia Phillies baseball teams.
- The Albert M. Greenfield Foundation awarded Starfinder $15,000 for its Future Leaders Program.
- The Century Council awarded Starfinder $15,000 for general programming support.
We are grateful for this recognition of our work and excited about the impactful programming this support makes possible. Thank you to these funders and to all who contribute to Starfinder financially.
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Thank you for your support!
October, 2009
This month Starfinder received support from both the Fourjay Foundation and the Barra Foundation. The support that we received from these foundations are a great benefit to our programs and the youth that we serve. Thank you!!
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I-Site
October, 2009
On Thursday, October 15, 2009, our firends at I-Site held a fundraiser for Starfinder. The event included a friendly soccer match in Fairmont park followed by a post-match hapy hour event at National Mechanics bar on South 3rd Street in Old City.
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Summer Camp Nourishment
August, 2009
Both Glaceau Vitamin Water and Herr's Snack Foods generously donated their products to our soccer camps this summer. We thank them for providing our participants with healthy snacks (pretzels and baked snacks) and beverages while helping them learn about good nutrition and hydration.
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