West Virginia Book Festival Research Paper
West Virginia Book Festival Paper
Comm/ 215
Beverly Ranzoff
Team D
Meriecha, Lara, Megan and Kranishia
July 27th, 2014
In organizations many challenges are faces that can cause financial and business problems. Understanding the need to work as a team and rely on outside sources can prove difficult for both for-profit and non-profit organizations. Ethics, morals and a standard code of practice is a basic foundation for success. In non-profit organizations the community relies on honest in both financial and physical donations. Organizing a nonprofit fundraiser can be a difficult and tedious task but, with the proper business model and financial resources any community based event can be successful.
The mission of the festival …show more content…
is to bring the community together to promote, celebrate books and literacy. To have a successful book fair the community that it takes place in has to be an active participant. The partnership with parents, organizations and schools needs to take place in order to plant the seed that reading is of the utmost importance in our youth. Teaming up with the parents and schools will actively involve the community for supporting higher education and that reading is beneficial in so many ways. The West Virginia Book festival is a 5 day event of mostly free literary events that are open to the public as the community honors book culture and promotes reading. The festival consists of book signings, Story time for children, authors reading portions of their work and storybook characters visits.
The importance of reading at an early age defines a child’s success in the basic fundamentals of development in language. The positive effects of reading helps develop the human brain and has been confirmed by psychologists from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. who used brain scans to see what happens inside our heads when we read. The mental stimulation that reading offers keeps the brain stimulated and exercises it to keep it strong and healthy. As you can see a couple examples of the importance of reading, now let’s talk about the benefits of hosting a book fair. Having a book fair is one of the easiest and promotable way to encourage reading at all levels and ages. Having the fair would offer a wide assortment of books and involves family which demonstrates that reading is important. The book fair gives children and adults of all ages to have a choice in what inspires them to read more. The variety of reading material provided encourages the importance of gaining knowledge. Knowledge is power that is gained through reading and exercising the mind. By funding a book fair it is a great opportunity to get the community involved and have fund raisers if the library cannot fund the festival completely. Coming together as a community in effort to campaign for more reading in our lives is a great opportunity.
Why West Virginia?
In a recent news clip, The Top Ten Dumbest States, (The Street, 2014) West Virginia was listed as the number 1 dumbest city in America. 17.3 percent of the population has their BA and a median household income of $40,196. The mass majority of the work force in West Virginia does not require a higher education. Many go straight from high school to the work environment without going into college. Educating the youth with how important it is to further your developments in reading will encourage them to seek out many different options in life. The more they read the more options that will unfold for their futures. To some this may seem unimportant and don’t realize how important and beneficial reading is, but with the book festival it will help educate and promote reading in the youth and adults. The book festival will offer and create many different options on education, benefits of reading and how can it better you as a …show more content…
person.
The funding of a book festival requires accurate steps a person should make, first you would have to find a place. Most book festivals are held at a local library. The purpose for book festivals is to raise money to help pay for more books or reading programs for children. There are many ways to receive funding for a book festival some include; federal and state funding, community, civic organizations, grants, and private trusts. In West Virginia book festivals are held at the Kanawha County Public Library, the library provides the bulk of staffing and organizational support for the festival. ("West Virginia Book Festival", n.d.).
The "Federal Funding" (n.d.) website states Libraries of all kinds need money. The amount of funding that a library receives directly influences the quality of its services. For a library to really qualify for federal funding or grants it has to show whether it is set up as an organization to promote reading and other educational development classes. Most book festivals persist of book signings, rare book exhibits, and reading programs. Another way for a library to receive the funds needed to fund a book festival is through community outreach. By going to the community and have a fundraiser, these could include a cook off, bake sale, book collection, and by applying for grants within the community. The WVPASS has a mission to “support West Virginia communities by providing them with training, technical support and resources for youth and community development”, (“WVPASS”, n.d.). This website provides organizations and communities the latest grant opportunities. Each grant is separated in a specific group, each group is of the Community, Education, Healthy Start, Literacy, Mentoring, and Non-Profit.
Through the WVPASS website they post different types of companies that provide funding for non-profit and other types of community programs. The qualifications for each company is different, some may require you to be non-profit, while others may require you to have reading or teaching programs for children. Some of the companies are; The Home Depot Community Impact Grants Program, Support Children’s Oral Health Programs, JP Morgan Chase, ING Foundation, State Farm Companies Grants Program, Toyota USA Foundation, Chesapeake Energy Corporate Giving Program, Draper Richards Foundation, and Barnes & Noble just to name a few (“WVPASS”, n.d.). These companies all provide some type of financial funding for the community of West Virginia. At the push of a button the community leaders or organizations are able to go and find all the funding needed for whatever program they may have organized.
There are many steps an organization can take to set up a book festival, first would have to be to establish the location of the book festival. By going into the library and asking if your organization is able to hold the festival there or if there is anything you could do to help organize or fund a book festival. Second step, walk through the options of funding whether it is a cook off, bake sale, book drive, or applying for community grants. The final step is to organize and promote the book festival, this could be by hanging fliers, and promoting it in the library.
There are a ten business models that a non-profit organization is able to utilize. According to the SSRI they are as follows, Heartfelt Connector, Beneficiary Builder, Member Motivator, Big Bettor, Public Provider, Policy Innovator, Beneficiary Broker, Resource Recycler, Market Maker and the Local Nationalizer. Each of these has a specific strength that plays to the way the company utilizes the particular model. The model that would best suit the West Virginia Book Festival is the Resource recycler. In this particular model the community is best benefited and the revenue is placed back into the communities appropriately. “Some nonprofits, such as AmeriCares Foundation, have grown large by collecting in-kind donations from corporations and individuals, and then distributing these donated goods to needy recipients who could not have purchased them on the market” (www.ssireview.org). We have the ability to obtain the goods as donations in return for advertisement in order to sell and market at a lower price to citizens in need of materials to help further educational success in the area.
With any organized event you will have pros and cons. With a non for profit event you will have more. Unlike for-profit organizations you where you have stock holder nonprofit do not. When you are trying to do an event as large as a book festival for a state you must understand how to go about obtaining then funds, legally and timely. By networking and having a proper business model you can ensure that you receive the necessary resources to ensure a successful event. With current business practices for non-profits focusing on a standards code of practice and morals it is important for this organization to do as well. In the article titled, “Principles, Practices, and Standards that Reflect Ethical and Accountable Conduct,” by the National Council for Non Profit it explains the importance of the policies, procedures and standards for nonprofit. The first sentence of the article makes a bold and valid statement. “…While there is no single definition of a “best practices” for each and every situation, or for every nonprofit organization, there are well-recognized legal, ethical, and accountability practices that govern the activities of charitable nonprofits”(www.councilofnonprofits.org). When it comes to ethical standards one much realize that in nonprofit you are attempting to earn the public’s trust. By having ethical standards or a code of conduct you set rules in place that protect both the public interest and the company and employees as a whole. According to the National Council for Non Profit website, “Donors will give to organizations they trust will use their contributions wisely. Volunteers will invest their time in causes when they trust that the nonprofit is acting ethically” (www.councilofnonprofits.org).
Many types of events have beneficial outcomes, but book festivals have educational ones as well. Grants will typically go to cultural institutions, such as museums, archives, libraries, colleges, universities, public television, and radio stations, and to individual scholars. This will aid the education growth and improve learning facilities for the community (National Endowment for the Humanities, 2014, Paragraph 3.) This will lead to both the community and the surrounding communities strengthening, strengthen teaching and learning in schools and colleges, it will facilitate research and originate scholarship, provide opportunities for lifelong learning, preserve and provide access to cultural and educational resources, and strengthen the institutional base of the humanities (National Endowment for the Humanities, 2014, Paragraph 3.) These books and resources will have an ongoing impact on the communities for many years.
The communities’ educational resources are not the only ones being effected by the book festival. There are many other aspects that are affected in the cities as well as the state. There is an increase in exposure for the city and state which will lead to travel. This intern will help out the airlines, car rentals, gas industry, and impact jobs involved in those industries. This will also impact the hotels, restaurants, shops, and local businesses. All of this just by holding a book festival. It is amazing the impact an event can have on a community and state. This event can potentially highlight other events as well, and bring tourists back to the communities. An event of any kind will potentially give new life to a community and give the citizens a sense of pride.
By understanding the needs of the community and ensuring our resources are accurately defined a successful book festival is the only option that lie ahead. Like the SSRI article said, “In the current economic climate it is tempting for nonprofit leaders to seek money wherever they can find it, causing some nonprofits to veer off course. That would be a mistake. During tough times it is more important than ever for nonprofit leaders to examine their funding strategy closely and to be disciplined about the way that they raise money“(www.ssireview.org). Each non-profit organization requires a model to ensure proper success and the ability to be financially secure in successfully completing a large scale event like this one.
References:
West Virginia Book Festival (n.d.) Education Retrieved from http://www.wvbookfestival.org/index.html
Federal Funding (n.d.) Education Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/advocacy/libfunding/fed
Foster, W., Kim, P., & Christiansen, B.
(2009). Ten Nonprofit Funding Models. Stanford Social Innovation Review (Vol 7, P 18-19). Stanford, CA: Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society. Retrieved from: http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/ten_nonprofit_funding_models.
WVPASS (n.d.) Education Retrieved from http://www.wvpass.org/grants.html
National Endowment for the Humanities . (n.d.). About NEH. Retrieved from http://www.neh.gov/about
Umar, B. (5/ 2014). Top 10 Dumbest States in America, From Tennessee to West Virginia. Education Retrieved from http://www.thestreet.com/video/12727221/top-10-dumbest-states-in-america-from-tennessee-to-west-virginia.html
Grants.gov. (2014). Education Search Grants. Retrieved from http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-grants.html?keywords=nonprofit%20community%20book%20festival
Enoch Pratt Free Library. (2014). How to Find Grants for Your Nonprofit Organization. Retrieved from
http://www.prattlibrary.org/locations/ssh/?id=3130
Comm/ 215
Beverly Ranzoff
Team D
Meriecha, Lara, Megan and Kranishia
July 27th, 2014
In organizations many challenges are faces that can cause financial and business problems. Understanding the need to work as a team and rely on outside sources can prove difficult for both for-profit and non-profit organizations. Ethics, morals and a standard code of practice is a basic foundation for success. In non-profit organizations the community relies on honest in both financial and physical donations. Organizing a nonprofit fundraiser can be a difficult and tedious task but, with the proper business model and financial resources any community based event can be successful.
The mission of the festival …show more content…
is to bring the community together to promote, celebrate books and literacy. To have a successful book fair the community that it takes place in has to be an active participant. The partnership with parents, organizations and schools needs to take place in order to plant the seed that reading is of the utmost importance in our youth. Teaming up with the parents and schools will actively involve the community for supporting higher education and that reading is beneficial in so many ways. The West Virginia Book festival is a 5 day event of mostly free literary events that are open to the public as the community honors book culture and promotes reading. The festival consists of book signings, Story time for children, authors reading portions of their work and storybook characters visits.
The importance of reading at an early age defines a child’s success in the basic fundamentals of development in language. The positive effects of reading helps develop the human brain and has been confirmed by psychologists from Washington University in St. Louis, MO. who used brain scans to see what happens inside our heads when we read. The mental stimulation that reading offers keeps the brain stimulated and exercises it to keep it strong and healthy. As you can see a couple examples of the importance of reading, now let’s talk about the benefits of hosting a book fair. Having a book fair is one of the easiest and promotable way to encourage reading at all levels and ages. Having the fair would offer a wide assortment of books and involves family which demonstrates that reading is important. The book fair gives children and adults of all ages to have a choice in what inspires them to read more. The variety of reading material provided encourages the importance of gaining knowledge. Knowledge is power that is gained through reading and exercising the mind. By funding a book fair it is a great opportunity to get the community involved and have fund raisers if the library cannot fund the festival completely. Coming together as a community in effort to campaign for more reading in our lives is a great opportunity.
Why West Virginia?
In a recent news clip, The Top Ten Dumbest States, (The Street, 2014) West Virginia was listed as the number 1 dumbest city in America. 17.3 percent of the population has their BA and a median household income of $40,196. The mass majority of the work force in West Virginia does not require a higher education. Many go straight from high school to the work environment without going into college. Educating the youth with how important it is to further your developments in reading will encourage them to seek out many different options in life. The more they read the more options that will unfold for their futures. To some this may seem unimportant and don’t realize how important and beneficial reading is, but with the book festival it will help educate and promote reading in the youth and adults. The book festival will offer and create many different options on education, benefits of reading and how can it better you as a …show more content…
person.
The funding of a book festival requires accurate steps a person should make, first you would have to find a place. Most book festivals are held at a local library. The purpose for book festivals is to raise money to help pay for more books or reading programs for children. There are many ways to receive funding for a book festival some include; federal and state funding, community, civic organizations, grants, and private trusts. In West Virginia book festivals are held at the Kanawha County Public Library, the library provides the bulk of staffing and organizational support for the festival. ("West Virginia Book Festival", n.d.).
The "Federal Funding" (n.d.) website states Libraries of all kinds need money. The amount of funding that a library receives directly influences the quality of its services. For a library to really qualify for federal funding or grants it has to show whether it is set up as an organization to promote reading and other educational development classes. Most book festivals persist of book signings, rare book exhibits, and reading programs. Another way for a library to receive the funds needed to fund a book festival is through community outreach. By going to the community and have a fundraiser, these could include a cook off, bake sale, book collection, and by applying for grants within the community. The WVPASS has a mission to “support West Virginia communities by providing them with training, technical support and resources for youth and community development”, (“WVPASS”, n.d.). This website provides organizations and communities the latest grant opportunities. Each grant is separated in a specific group, each group is of the Community, Education, Healthy Start, Literacy, Mentoring, and Non-Profit.
Through the WVPASS website they post different types of companies that provide funding for non-profit and other types of community programs. The qualifications for each company is different, some may require you to be non-profit, while others may require you to have reading or teaching programs for children. Some of the companies are; The Home Depot Community Impact Grants Program, Support Children’s Oral Health Programs, JP Morgan Chase, ING Foundation, State Farm Companies Grants Program, Toyota USA Foundation, Chesapeake Energy Corporate Giving Program, Draper Richards Foundation, and Barnes & Noble just to name a few (“WVPASS”, n.d.). These companies all provide some type of financial funding for the community of West Virginia. At the push of a button the community leaders or organizations are able to go and find all the funding needed for whatever program they may have organized.
There are many steps an organization can take to set up a book festival, first would have to be to establish the location of the book festival. By going into the library and asking if your organization is able to hold the festival there or if there is anything you could do to help organize or fund a book festival. Second step, walk through the options of funding whether it is a cook off, bake sale, book drive, or applying for community grants. The final step is to organize and promote the book festival, this could be by hanging fliers, and promoting it in the library.
There are a ten business models that a non-profit organization is able to utilize. According to the SSRI they are as follows, Heartfelt Connector, Beneficiary Builder, Member Motivator, Big Bettor, Public Provider, Policy Innovator, Beneficiary Broker, Resource Recycler, Market Maker and the Local Nationalizer. Each of these has a specific strength that plays to the way the company utilizes the particular model. The model that would best suit the West Virginia Book Festival is the Resource recycler. In this particular model the community is best benefited and the revenue is placed back into the communities appropriately. “Some nonprofits, such as AmeriCares Foundation, have grown large by collecting in-kind donations from corporations and individuals, and then distributing these donated goods to needy recipients who could not have purchased them on the market” (www.ssireview.org). We have the ability to obtain the goods as donations in return for advertisement in order to sell and market at a lower price to citizens in need of materials to help further educational success in the area.
With any organized event you will have pros and cons. With a non for profit event you will have more. Unlike for-profit organizations you where you have stock holder nonprofit do not. When you are trying to do an event as large as a book festival for a state you must understand how to go about obtaining then funds, legally and timely. By networking and having a proper business model you can ensure that you receive the necessary resources to ensure a successful event. With current business practices for non-profits focusing on a standards code of practice and morals it is important for this organization to do as well. In the article titled, “Principles, Practices, and Standards that Reflect Ethical and Accountable Conduct,” by the National Council for Non Profit it explains the importance of the policies, procedures and standards for nonprofit. The first sentence of the article makes a bold and valid statement. “…While there is no single definition of a “best practices” for each and every situation, or for every nonprofit organization, there are well-recognized legal, ethical, and accountability practices that govern the activities of charitable nonprofits”(www.councilofnonprofits.org). When it comes to ethical standards one much realize that in nonprofit you are attempting to earn the public’s trust. By having ethical standards or a code of conduct you set rules in place that protect both the public interest and the company and employees as a whole. According to the National Council for Non Profit website, “Donors will give to organizations they trust will use their contributions wisely. Volunteers will invest their time in causes when they trust that the nonprofit is acting ethically” (www.councilofnonprofits.org).
Many types of events have beneficial outcomes, but book festivals have educational ones as well. Grants will typically go to cultural institutions, such as museums, archives, libraries, colleges, universities, public television, and radio stations, and to individual scholars. This will aid the education growth and improve learning facilities for the community (National Endowment for the Humanities, 2014, Paragraph 3.) This will lead to both the community and the surrounding communities strengthening, strengthen teaching and learning in schools and colleges, it will facilitate research and originate scholarship, provide opportunities for lifelong learning, preserve and provide access to cultural and educational resources, and strengthen the institutional base of the humanities (National Endowment for the Humanities, 2014, Paragraph 3.) These books and resources will have an ongoing impact on the communities for many years.
The communities’ educational resources are not the only ones being effected by the book festival. There are many other aspects that are affected in the cities as well as the state. There is an increase in exposure for the city and state which will lead to travel. This intern will help out the airlines, car rentals, gas industry, and impact jobs involved in those industries. This will also impact the hotels, restaurants, shops, and local businesses. All of this just by holding a book festival. It is amazing the impact an event can have on a community and state. This event can potentially highlight other events as well, and bring tourists back to the communities. An event of any kind will potentially give new life to a community and give the citizens a sense of pride.
By understanding the needs of the community and ensuring our resources are accurately defined a successful book festival is the only option that lie ahead. Like the SSRI article said, “In the current economic climate it is tempting for nonprofit leaders to seek money wherever they can find it, causing some nonprofits to veer off course. That would be a mistake. During tough times it is more important than ever for nonprofit leaders to examine their funding strategy closely and to be disciplined about the way that they raise money“(www.ssireview.org). Each non-profit organization requires a model to ensure proper success and the ability to be financially secure in successfully completing a large scale event like this one.
References:
West Virginia Book Festival (n.d.) Education Retrieved from http://www.wvbookfestival.org/index.html
Federal Funding (n.d.) Education Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/advocacy/libfunding/fed
Foster, W., Kim, P., & Christiansen, B.
(2009). Ten Nonprofit Funding Models. Stanford Social Innovation Review (Vol 7, P 18-19). Stanford, CA: Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society. Retrieved from: http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/ten_nonprofit_funding_models.
WVPASS (n.d.) Education Retrieved from http://www.wvpass.org/grants.html
National Endowment for the Humanities . (n.d.). About NEH. Retrieved from http://www.neh.gov/about
Umar, B. (5/ 2014). Top 10 Dumbest States in America, From Tennessee to West Virginia. Education Retrieved from http://www.thestreet.com/video/12727221/top-10-dumbest-states-in-america-from-tennessee-to-west-virginia.html
Grants.gov. (2014). Education Search Grants. Retrieved from http://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-grants.html?keywords=nonprofit%20community%20book%20festival
Enoch Pratt Free Library. (2014). How to Find Grants for Your Nonprofit Organization. Retrieved from
http://www.prattlibrary.org/locations/ssh/?id=3130