On Monday I wrote a post about how nonprofit organizations, community leaders and foundations are collaborating to reach hard-to-count populations and ensure that their constituents participate in Census 2010. Several important campaigns are taking place in the Bay Area with the financial support of The San Fransisco Foundation, The California Endowment, Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Foundation, James Irvine Foundation and other local foundations. In addition to grant funds, The San Francisco Foundation and The California Endowment are helping grantees to collaborate, strategize and track their efforts.

Yesterday, National Public Radio reported on how major national foundations have also launched intensive campaigns to reach the hard-to-count including the homeless and those who might be uncomfortable participating based on immigration status. National funders of Census 2010 initiatives include The Open Society Institute, Ford Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

As the NPR story reports, Voto Latino came up with innovative ways that link the popularity of the iPhone with young Latinos and incentives for filling out the census form. They developed an iPhone application for Los Angeles County that gives users the opportunity to win music and possibly a free concert if they learn about the census.

Listen to the NPR story:

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Any day you should receive notice in the mail about the 2010 Census. The official questionnaire will follow the initial announcement one week later in mid-March.

The federal government distributes more than $400 billion a year to state, tribal and local governments based on the decennial Census count. And every ten years some states gain seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and some lose, depending on what the Census numbers say about the relative sizes of their populations. The changing numbers require states to redraw Congressional District boundaries.

Yet to the despair of social justice advocates, populations that are most in need of community services, resources and civil rights enforcement have also been the hardest to count. In the Bay Area a number of foundations have helped to mobilize outreach in historically undercounted populations by awarding grants to grassroots organizations with extensive reach in their communities.

When it comes to filling out box #9 with regards to race, advocacy organizations will also play a critical educational role to show how individuals can “self-select” by choosing more than one race or “some other race” to identify as multi-racial or by national origin. For example, some might choose to enter Afghan, Sikh, Maya or Haitian. This widely-syndicated article by the Associated Press describes how some Caribbean-American leaders are urging their communities to write their nationalities on the line under “some other race” on the forms, along with checking the racial categories they feel identify them best.

While the way race is counted is an important evolution in the Census, it remains to be seen how the Census Bureau will tabulate the write-in selections in 2011.

Articles and Resources on Census 2010

• Nonprofits Count!: A project of the Nonprofit Voter Engagement Network, this website provides information, including best practices, on how nonprofit organizations and human services agencies can help produce an accurate count of hard-to-count populations.
• Mapping Hard-to-Count Communities: Hard-to-Count (HTC) populations are groups that may have a higher non-response rate on the 2010 Census. With support from The California Endowment, Healthy Cities has generated a portal through which Census stakeholders may locate communities at risk for undercounting in California.
• Justice Department Confirms Confidentiality of Census Information – March 5, 2010 article by the Washington Post
• The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
• Census History: Counting Hispanics – March 3, 2010 article by the Pew Hispanic Center
• Census: Battleground for Money and Justice – February 17, 2010 by Blue Avocado
• Most View Census Positively, But Some Have Doubts - February 12, 2010 by The Pew Research Center for the People & The Press
• California Complete Count Committee
• The Census Project Blog: A collaboration of state and local governments, civil rights and labor groups, housing and child advocates, businesses, professional societies, and research organizations interested in a fair and accurate Census 2010
• Brookings Institution Census Information

Grantmaker Initiatives

• Census 2010 Grants Will Bring Visibility to Hard-to-Count Populations – The San Francisco Foundation
• New York Foundations Push to Get Accurate Census Count – Philanthropy News Digest
• Private foundations offer millions to ensure accurate census count – Contra Costa Times
• The California Endowment has awarded nearly 11,000 grants across California totaling more than $1.9 billion.

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If you have not discovered the Live Chats with The Chronicle of Philanthropy, you will not want to miss checking out some of their informative expert-led discussions on many subjects of interest to nonprofits – from fundraising and marketing to social media and media outreach.

The next topic is: Getting Good News Coverage: How to Persuade Journalists to Cover Your Cause on December 1, 9 a.m. Pacific Time.

For many nonprofits, a good way to get the attention of prospective donors, volunteers, public officials, clients and constituents is by building visibility through the media.

The moderator, Peter Panepento, and experts plan to cover:

• How to get the attention of journalists in a competitive landscape
• The most effective pitches
• The most common errors nonprofit groups make when they approach reporters and editors
• How to build productive relationships with reporters and editors

For the chats you can submit your questions in advance or follow along on with the conversation.

The Chronicle also maintains transcripts of past discussions. A few of my favorites include:

• Creating Effective Marketing Messages with Nancy E. Schwartz, author of the Getting Attention blog
• The Philosophy of Giving with Karen Ansara, co-founder of The Ansara Family Fund, a donor-advised fund at the Boston Foundation, and Anne Ellinger, co-director of Bolder Giving
• Building Meaningful Alliances With Other Nonprofit Groups with Clara Miller and Thomas A. McLaughlin of the Nonprofit Finance Fund and Elizabeth Boone, artistic and executive director of Miami Light Project
• Foundation Giving: What Might the Future Hold? with Bradford K. Smith, president of the Foundation Center
• Shaking Up Journalism and Philanthropy with Alberto Ibargüen, president of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation
• What’s the Payoff? How Charities Can Figure Out How Much Time and Money to Invest in Social Networking with Beth Kanter, social media guru

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Each year the San Francisco Foundation awards $10,000 to individual leaders and $20,000 awards to organizations to showcase individuals and organizations that take outstanding initiative to create community impact and inspire others to follow their lead in service.

This year’s award celebration will be next Tuesday, September 22, 2009 at the Herbst Theatre. The 2009 Community Leadership Award Winners are Mary Lou Breslin, co-founder of the Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund; Michael Franti, artist, activist, founder of Spearhead; Eugene Rodriguez, founder of Los Cenzontles Mexican Cultural Arts Center; Children’s Book Press, the first independent, nonprofit publisher of bilingual, multicultural books and stories for children; and National Center for Lesbian Rights. The Foundation will also present the Koshland Young Leader Awards to recognize eight high school students serving as leaders in their communities.

Last year’s award winners included Van Jones, co-founder and Board Member of the Ella Baker Center; Malcolm Margolin, Writer, Publisher, and Founder of Heyday Books; Elizabeth “Betita” Martinez, Organizer, Educator, Writer; and Asian Women’s Shelter.

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