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Dear Email Alert Readers,
This free service by Florida Funding
Publications provides information critical to grant seekers and
fundraisers. Visit our website, www.floridafunding.com
for more information on the grantseeking world.
Remember each alert comes with several
HOT GRANTS due in a given month. Scroll below for 5 Hot Grants. PLEASE NOTE THAT FOUR HAVE MARCH
15, 2005 DUE
DATES!
***2005 FOUNDATION GUIDE
ANNOUNCEMENT***
For those of you who ordered the
Complete Guide to Florida Foundations, we again thank you for your
patience. The book is on schedule for a late March shipping. Below we
have compiled some of the statistics, numbers, and information about the
new book. We are sure you will be happy with the addition of more than
800 new Florida foundations as well as almost doubling the
amount of assets.
For those of you who haven’t ordered,
read the stats and order NOW (order form available on-line)
***Click
HERE for the Complete Guide Stats, including total number of foundations
and assets!***
Florida Funding Staff
In this update:
I. News
1) FUTURE OF FORESTS IN FLORIDA (with workshop dates throughout FL)
2) GROUPS UNITE AGAINST URBAN SPRAWL
3) TAX AWARENESS CAN SAVE TIME,
MONEY
II. Order The Complete Guide to Florida Foundations, 18th Edition, 2005
III. Hot Grants: March 2005, Part
II
I.
NEWS
BRONSON LAUNCHES PLANNING
EFFORT TO DETERMINE
FUTURE OF FORESTS IN FLORIDA
TALLAHASSEE - Florida Agriculture
and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson announced today
that his department is launching a major planning project to help shape
the future of forests in Florida.
"How are our forests going to continue to provide the wood, clean
water, recreation and diversity of wildlife 25 years from now?"
Bronson is asking. "And what do we want them to look like 25 years
from now?"
As a result of development, hurricanes, wildfires, insect and disease
outbreaks and the demand for forestry products, Florida's
forests today comprise only 14 million acres - down from more than 20
million acres in the 1930's. Officials estimate that the figure will
decline to 12 million acres by the year 2030.
The planning effort that is getting underway will focus on how the state
manages what are inevitable changes - rather than merely reacting
to those changes.
Division of Forestry (DOF) officials have already taken the first step,
assessing the present conditions of forests in Florida, and the public
can review that assessment by visiting DOF's website at www.fl-dof.com.
The public is encouraged to participate by attending one of a series of
six workshops that will be held around the state later this month to
solicit opinions on the future of forests in Florida
. The dates, cities and locations are as follows:
March 22nd - Milton - Pensacola
Junior College, University
of Florida Bldg, Room 4902.
March 23rd - Tallahassee -
Eyster Auditorium, Conner Bldg., 3125 Conner
Blvd.
March 24 - Lake City
- Columbia County
Extension Service, 164 SW Mary Ethel Lane.
March 29th - Tavares - Lake County Ag/Horticulture Ext. Service, 30205
State Road 19.
March 30 - Palmetto- Manatee County Ag Center/Fairgrounds, Kendrick
Auditorium, 1303 17th St. West.
March 31 - Lantana - Lantana Recreation
Center, 418
South Dixie Highway
The regional workshops will be held from 6
p.m. to 9 p.m. and
will be lead by a professional facilitator.
A draft plan on the future of forests in Florida
is expected to be posted on the DOF website next fall, and the
public will be asked to comment on
it.
-30-
FOR MORE
INFORMATION:
Charles
Maynard
(850)414-0843
Diverse groups unite against
sprawl
As developers push to extend the Urban Development Boundary,
environmental and community activists have broadened support for a
surprisingly effective opposition campaign.
BY CURTIS MORGAN
cmorgan@herald.com
Both live miles from where developers want to build thousands of new
homes, but Hattie Willis and Millie Herrera still fear they will feel the
impact in their own backyards.
That's why Willis, a Little Haiti activist, and Herrera, an East
Kendall community council member, have joined the fight
against expanding the Urban Development Boundary, which would open Miami-Dade
County's western and southern
fringes to a wave of growth.
Willis believes her blighted neighborhood ought to get basic
necessities before tax dollars go to sparkling new communities.
''We have streets over here that don't have pavement,'' she said. ``We
have streets that don't have curbs and sidewalks. We have people over
here who don't have lights.''
For Herrera, the prospect of more cars streaming onto Kendall's
choked roads looms as a nightmare.
''Anywhere you go in this town, it's gridlock,'' she said. ``This
needs to be looked at as an environmental issue, but more importantly,
for quality of life and economic impact.''
The two are among the newest recruits in a campaign that has added
diversity to the usual list of suspects opposing suburban sprawl. Along
with the Sierra Clubs and Audubons are the Haitian Women of Miami and the
Venetian Causeway Neighborhood Alliance.
BROADENING RANKS
Nancy Liebman, president of the Urban Environment League, which is
paying for and helped organize the Hold the Line campaign, said the
environmental and community activists who typically lead such fights
recognized they needed to broaden ranks.
''This couldn't be just another environmentalists versus developers
argument,'' she said. ``It had to show the power of all the people
opposed to it.''
While the fight is only beginning and likely to last for years, a
campaign formally launched only two weeks ago already has proved
effective, bolstered by support from two formidable political voices.
Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez and Gov. Jeb Bush have both questioned
moving the line.
The development industry, which wields significant political clout of
its own in Miami-Dade, is paying close attention and planning strategies
to counter what some acknowledge has been a surprisingly sophisticated
offensive.
''They're out in front,'' said Jeff Bercow, a veteran land-use
attorney with clients hoping to develop property currently outside the
UDB. ``I don't agree with their position, but they have gotten their
stories out effectively so far.''
Because only one house can be built on five acres outside the UDB,
which snakes along the county's western and southern fringe, the line has
long acted as a buffer between suburbs on the east and farm fields and
the Everglades on the west. While largely intact
since the late 1980s, it was moved in 2002 for developer Armando Codina's
Beacon Lakes
warehouse project west of Dolphin Mall.
At least two other developers are pursuing large projects beyond the
line.
Near Florida City,
Atlantic Civil wants to build 6,000 homes, movie theaters and shops.
Lennar, a major developer, has an option on the land.
In West Miami-Dade, Texas
builder D.R. Horton hopes to build 5,000 homes and condos along Krome
Avenue near Kendall
Drive. Other proposals are expected.
Environmental groups began strategizing more than a year ago -- before
either project had made much progress through agencies.
''I think we thought of this as the new Homestead Air Force Base,''
said Cynthia Guerra, executive director of the Tropical Audubon Society.
Working with the Urban Environment League, they modeled the UDB
campaign on the effort that finally killed plans to turn the air base
into a commercial jetport.
With a modest budget -- Liebman said the campaign has cost about
$10,000 to date -- they hired a young but experienced grass-roots
organizer. Gilberto Osario, 23, fresh off the John Kerry presidential
campaign, began cold-calling community groups.
They commissioned a survey showing that residents were fed up with
traffic and spiraling taxes. They set up a website. They put on
PowerPoint presentations detailing ripple effects on everything from
traffic to drinking water and -- oh, yeah -- efforts to restore Biscayne
Bay and the Everglades.
'It was funny, somebody came up after a meeting and said, `You didn't
even mention the environment,' '' Guerra laughed.
JOINING THE CAMPAIGN
So far, 29 groups have signed on, from homeowner associations,
affordable housing advocates and garden clubs to city groups such as
Willis' Communities United. Less than 10 are groups whose agendas
typically include environmental issues.
Developers say the campaign is trading on distortions and
fear-mongering.
Miami-Dade planners have said there is enough room inside the UDB to
accommodate projected population growth for at least a decade. But
developers argue there is a pressing need for more homes, particularly
''affordable'' ones, as prices soar and open land within the UDB
disappears.
Ed Swakon, a consulting engineering for Atlantic Civil, believes
critics have exaggerated the environmental value of land and outside
impacts.
Such large ''developments of regional impact'' face tougher standards
than hodgepodge projects, Swakon said. ``They have to do a much better
job of planning for traffic, for schools and for commercial projects
internally.''
Swakon said he recently registered a website with the aim of
countering the environmentalists' position. Both Bercow and Swakon agreed
the development community needed to do a better job of making the case to
the public.
Miguel DeGrandy, a lawyer and lobbyist for Horton Homes, said critics
were politicizing a decision that should be based on data. The UDB, he
argued, has never been intended as a ''line in the sand,'' but as
something to be adjusted as the county grows.
`RELIGIOUS FERVOR'
''They make it an issue of religious fervor,'' DeGrandy said. ``What I
have seen so far of Hold the Line is it's following that pattern of
creating the appearance of good guys and bad guys. They tell you that
anyone that seeks to disagree is necessarily trying to harm the
environment.''
Herrera, not a member of any environmental group, begs to differ.
For her, it's about learning from and fixing past mistakes that have
eroded daily life, such as inadequate roads that have doubled driving time
to clients, robbed time from family and multiplied stress. She knows she
is not alone.
''It's a growing and thriving community, but we need to take care of
these issues and not just grow because we want to grow,'' she said.
Tax awareness saves you time,
money
There
is no doubt about it; the tax code is very complicated, but time spent
thinking about taxes beforehand can ease the stress of filing a return.
BY
JOYCE M. ROSENBERG
Associated Press
Many small business owners find out at tax time that there's a direct
correlation between the amount of effort they put into keeping track of
their tax situation and the amount of difficulty they have in compiling
their returns.
In short, the more time they spend on record-keeping and understanding
the tax laws during the course of the year, the easier tax season will
be. And, of course, the opposite is painfully true.
Record-keeping is a problem for many owners. They lose receipts or
fail to record mileage and meals, and they often end up trying futilely
to reconstruct their entire year. In the process, they lose out on
deductions that could save them a lot of money.
''They're so busy trying to keep clients and customers happy, it's
kind of like the shoemaker's child who goes around with his shoes
unmade,'' Jeffrey Chazen, a tax partner at the accounting and consulting
firm Richard A. Eisner & Co. in New York, said of business owners.
Chazen said a common mistake small-business owners make is forgetting
about expenses they covered from their personal accounts -- for example,
a personal check used to pay for a business item because the company
checking account was running a little low.
Paul Gada, a senior tax analyst with CCH Business Owners Toolkit, a
service based in Riverwoods, Ill.,
said aversion to the entire tax process is often the problem.
''Some people are totally tax-phobic, don't want to hear about it,
don't want to know about it,'' he said.
The solution is to get help, either from a tax professional or from
business management software that can help you organize your finances.
ONGOING EXERCISE
''It's an ongoing planning exercise,'' Chazen said of handling tax
issues. ``You shouldn't be seeing your accountant [only] once a year.''
Software can also prompt you to think about your expenses and whether
they need to be recorded for tax purposes. Gada offered a caveat: ``Make
sure if it is something that's going to be used for record keeping and
tax preparation that you have the latest version.''
Being more vigilant as you go through the year will also make it easier
to decide which expenses can be deducted, which can't and which ones you
need to ask a tax advisor to help with. For example, if you have dinner
with a business acquaintance and both of you bring your spouses, the
spouses' meals might be deductible under some circumstances. If you deal
with this in June, right after having the dinner, you'll be less
time-pressed and more able to figure out the answer than you would in
late March, weeks before the April 15 filing deadline.
NEW LAWS
Year-round attention to taxes also means being aware of changes in
state and federal laws, Gada said. No one is expecting a small business
owner to know the minutiae of the Internal Revenue Code, but a general
knowledge of what's new this year -- which an accountant or other tax
preparer can help you with -- can make it easier along the way, and when
it comes to filing your return.
For example, Gada said, he has heard owners say that certain sport
utility vehicles used for business purposes are fully deductible. Well,
they used to be. But after Oct.
22, 2004, the government limited the upfront deduction on
those SUVs to $25,000. An owner who doesn't make himself or herself
familiar with tax law changes can be in for an unpleasant surprise.
COMPLICATION GROWS
Gada concedes that ''the tax laws are getting more and more
complicated; it's more difficult to keep track of the changes going on.''
But he also said, ''if someone's trying to make the business work, you're
going to have to set aside some time'' to understand your company's
taxes.
There's another, possibly critical, reason to keep on top of your tax
situation -- you don't want April 15 to arrive and find you owe much more
in taxes than you expected, and perhaps more than you can afford. And, if
you plan to use a tax preparer to handle your return, the fee will be a
lot lower if you've got your papers and numbers in order.
Some owners might be wondering, does all this matter now? Absolutely.
It may be too late for your 2004 taxes, but this year is only about two
months old, so you have plenty of time to organize yourself and avoid
more misery 12 months from now.
II. ORDER THE COMPLETE GUIDE
NOW...Shipping MARCH 2005!
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ART & 
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The COMPLETE GUIDE to Florida
Foundations 2005
18th Edition ~ 2005
COMING MARCH `05
Orders filled in order of receipt. $90 +
S&H, Visa, Mastercard & AMX. Call 305-251-2203 to order.
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~More
than 4,400 Florida Foundations
~More than $1.5
Billion in Awarded Assets
~Detailed Profiles and
Indexes
~Improved Search
~An essential tool for
grant seekers since 1986
~Latest edition coming
2005!
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RESEARCH~SPORTS~COMMUNITY~SOCIAL
SERVICES~ENDOWMENTS~AND MORE!
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HOT
GRANTS
1)Philanthropy (March 15)
The Aspen Institute’s Nonprofit
Sector Research Fund is currently accepting applications.
The William Randolph Hearst
Scholarship benefits minority undergraduate or graduate students.
The successful applicant will serve
as a summer intern for up to 12 weeks at the Aspen Institute in Washington DC where he or she will learn about
non-profit organizations, philanthropy and volunteerism.
The student will also receive a
stipend of up to $5,000.
Who may apply: minority
undergraduate and graduate students attending accredited US institutions of higher education.
2) Radioshack Foundation grants (corporate support)
Grants Available: $500
Deadline: March 15, 2005
Contact:
corporate.citizenship@radioshack.com
3) The Community AIDS Partnership
Established through the National
AIDS Fund and local fenders to increase the availability of philanthropic
funds to support HIV prevention and education.
Grant Awards Made: End of May 2005
Grant Period: June 1st to May 30th
Guidelines Available: First week of
February 2005
Proposal Deadlines: Mid-March 2005
Grant Size: up to $30,000 for
projects involving a single organization; up to $60,000 for collaborative
projects in which organizations are sharing the funds.
4) Department
of Agriculture
Deadline: March 15, 2005
Foreign Agricultural Services
Scientific Cooperation Research
Program
5) Applications
are currently being accepted from the
Women’s Sports Foundation to support educational programs that fight
homophobia and other barriers to women’s participation in sports.
The grant maximum is $5,000.
Who may apply: Non-profit
organizations that focus on research or advocacy and that promote sports
and fitness programs for girls and women.
Deadline (open)
Contact: WSF, Eisenhower Park, East
Meadow, NY 11554; (800) 227-3988; wosport@aol.com; www.
womenssportsfoundation.org
_________________________________________________________
This Email Alert is a service of
Florida Funding Publications, authors of grants reference materials,
including the recently updated and widely used "Florida State Grant
Programs". For this and other grants reference materials, visit our
home page at www.floridafunding.com.
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