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CharityWorks donating to 10 groups this year

Washington Business Journal
By Jonathan O'Connell Staff Reporter
03.13.08

CharityWorks, which typically focuses on helping one nonprofit per year, will make $100,000 in grants to 10 organizations this year, a first for the nine-year-old McLean-based charity.

By dedicating volunteers and proceeds from its two annual events - sometimes totaling $1 million or more - CharityWorks has traditionally given one nonprofit a huge boost each year. This year it selected Rockville-based Fisher House, which builds homes near military medical facilities, where families of injured service men and women can live while their loved ones get treatment.

Like the previous eight annual partners selected, Fisher House will benefit from the proceeds of two annual events, the 100 Point Wines event and its fall gala at the National Building Museum.

CharityWorks chief Miriam Pollin said the need for a place for temporary lodging near military medical facilities was particularly great given the numbers of injured and sick service personnel returning from war. "It's a huge, huge benefit to these families," she said.

But choosing among the 2008 applicants was so difficult, Pollin said, that it will give grants of $5,000 to $15,000 to 10 other organizations, to be announced March 18. They are Adoptions Together, Best Friends, Hoop Dreams, Menzfit, Our Military Kids, Northern Virginia Dental Clinic, Rebuilding Together of DC, See Forever Foundation/Maya Angelou Public Charter School, Starlight Starbright Childrens Foundation, and The Seed School.

Some of them could be annual partners down the road. "Many of them don't have the infrastructure yet," she said. "You have to be able to spend $1 million or more."

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