Community Builders
Community Builders is a tuition-free program for rising 10th-12th grade students from Albuquerque Academy and other area schools. The program gives students an opportunity to learn the nuts and bolts of community philanthropy and nonprofit organizations, and includes a mix of site visits and meetings with community leaders. At the end of the program, students come together as a mock foundation to make decisions about how to support some of the nonprofits they studied, both financially and through volunteer work.
Through generous gifts from the Bonafair Fund for Community Leadership and Drs. Nancy Croker and Joseph Gorvetzian, participants are given $10,000 to allocate among the studied nonprofits.
Topics covered in this five-week program include:
- Types of nonprofits
- Legal and ethical issues in the nonprofit sector
- Grant writing and the role of umbrella nonprofit organizations (e.g., United Way)
- Community leadership
- The workings of governing boards
- Collaboration/collective impact
- Advocacy at both the individual and policy levels
Since its inception in 2003, more than 100 nonprofit organizations and community leaders have participated in the program, including Alta Mira, PB&J Family Services, Roadrunner Food Bank, Very Special Arts of New Mexico, ACCION, St. Martin’s Hospitality Center, Ronald McDonald House, Special Olympics, WESST, and MADD. So far, more than 200 student participants have allocated $120,000 to local nonprofits.
For more information about the Community Builders program, please contact Consuelo Gonzales (980-2139).
Past Recipients of Community Builders
Student Foundation Grants
IRRVA (Immigrant and Refugee Resource Village of Albuquerque); CLN Kids/Saranam (Joint Proposal); St. Martins Hospitality Center
Children’s Grief Center; Crossroads for Women; Mandy’s Farm; St. Martin’s Hospitality Center; North Fourth Art Center/VSA
APS Title I Homeless Project; Enlace Comunitario; Ronald McDonald House Charities of NM; North Fourth Art Center/VSA; Paws and Stripes
PB&J Family Services, Inc.; Alta Mira; North Fourth Art Center/VSA; Enlace Comunitario; Cuidando Los Niños; Children’s Grief Center; St. Martin’s Hospitality Center
Joint proposal from ACCION, PB&J Family Services, Inc., and Saranam, LLC; Alta Mira; North Fourth Art Center/VSA; Casa Esperanza, Inc.; NM Women’s Global Pathways
Cuidando Los Niños; North Fourth Art Center/VSA; St. Martin’s Hospitality Center; Ronald McDonald House Charities of NM; Saranam, LLC
Alta Mira; St. Martin’s Hospitality Center; ACCION-New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado; PB&J Family Services
St. Martin’s Hospitality Center; VAWA Immigration Project through Catholic Charities; All Faiths Receiving Home
Casa Esperanza, Inc.; PB&J Family Services, Inc.; Saranam, LLC; Special Olympics New Mexico; St. Martin’s Hospitality Center
APS Title I Homeless Project; ACCION; Roadrunner Food Bank; Saranam, LLC
ACCION; Animal Humane Association of New Mexico; Special Olympics New Mexico; APS Title I Homeless Project; VSA Arts of New Mexico
Albuquerque Healthcare for the Homeless–Harms Reduction Program; APS Title I Homeless Project-Bandelier; North Fourth Art Center/VSA; ACCION
Albuquerque Healthcare for the Homeless–Art Street; Albuquerque Opportunity Center; Comanche Elementary School Social Action Kids; PB&J Family Services, Inc.; St. Anthony’s Pharmacy; UNM CASA Runaway & Homeless Youth Program.
APS Title I Homeless Project-Bandelier; PB&J Family Services, Inc.; St. Anthony’s Pharmacy
All Faiths Receiving Home; APS Title I Homeless Project; Cuidando Los Niños; PB&J Family Services, Inc.
