Use Maps To Guide Where You Give

Next week, on November 29th, non profits throughout Illinois will be asking donors to support their organizations, as part of the #ILGive - #GivingTuesday event.

Visit this page on the #ILGive web site and you can find a list of education related non profits, including many of the tutor/mentor programs I point to on my own maps.  Visit this page, to find programs in the Youth category.

I've used maps since 1994 to try to show where non-school, volunteer-based tutoring, mentoring and learning programs are most needed, and where existing programs are located.  The graphic above shows a map I created in early 2016 of programs I include on this list.

With maps, donors, volunteers, media and political leaders can work to assure that youth in every high poverty neighborhood have assess to well-designed programs....which is only possible if donors provide a consistent flow of operating and innovation dollars....to every program.

I created the graphic below to show how important the last six weeks of the year are for attracting donations to non profits, and to show that this needs to be a year-round effort, and that programs in every high poverty neighborhood need funding, not just those with the best profile, the best marketing or the Mayor's endorsement.

I created this second graphic (below) a few years ago.  It emphasizes the need for a mix of constantly improving k-12 youth tutoring, mentoring and learning programs in every high poverty neighborhoods, and invites billionaires and millionaires to adopt neighborhoods with long-term commitments of flexible funding that helps organizations build strong infrastructures essential to providing outstanding service to youth, families and the volunteers who become part of these programs.

I've been posting stories like this on this blog since 2005 and have been writing stories like this since creating the Tutor/Mentor Connection in 1993. My voice is small, and sometimes less than a whisper, but I keep giving this message so others might pick it up and amplify it through their own leadership, putting these ideas to work in Chicago and every other major city in the world.

I created this graphic in 2011 to visualize what I've been doing since 1993, which is collecting, organizing and sharing information that resource providers and non profit leaders can use to build and sustain constantly improving youth serving programs in high poverty neighborhoods of big cities like Chicago.

I have not operated as a non-profit since 2011 so I won't be included in #ILGive.  However, I do depend on gifts from supporters to help me do this work.  I'll be 70 on December 19, so if you want to give a gift to support my birthday, click here.  If you just want to add your support to what I've been doing, click here.

Either way you help me continue to try to help tutor/mentor programs grow in all Chicago neighborhoods and in other cities as we  move into 2017.  Thank you to everyone who helps, myself, or any of the many other youth serving programs in Chicago.