subject matter expertise
Anna Taylor
What's your YES?

Each year, about 64 million Americans - one-fourth of the adult population - are invited to volunteer. For many, volunteerism is a source of great joy and satisfaction. In fact, the National Institutes of Health has found improved mental and physical health in folks who volunteer. April is National Volunteer Month, and nonprofit organizations across the US are celebrating their volunteers and asking more people to get involved with their causes. If you’ve found volunteering less joyful than you’d hoped, or even just an obligation, I’d like to have a word with you this month.

Anna Taylor
The Greater Sum Is Turning Four!

Four years ago, I could never have predicted that we’d have 65 deserving nonprofits growing today in sustainability and innovation through our incubator. Three years ago, I wouldn’t have guessed we’d have awarded $375,000 to deserving nonprofits by mid-2021. Two years ago, I couldn’t have known that our volunteer ranks would continue to swell, helping so many altruistic people contribute to world-changing nonprofit movements. And one year ago, as the pandemic raged, I would never have guessed that the forced migration to virtual competition pitch and incubation would push us to unimaginable tenfold growth in our first four years.

sight visit

Sight Visit: Digital Harbor Foundation

Hi! I’m Serena Hawtin, Communications Specialist for The Greater Sum Foundation. I recently visited Digital Harbor, a member of our 2018 Nonprofit Cohort, to learn how some of their makerspace innovations could be implemented by after-school programs in other communities. Come along with me on a Greater Sum Sight Visit - a look at how Digital Harbor introduces students to high tech, high demand career skills in a fun, engaging makerspace after school.

Sight Visit: UF's Center for Art in Medicine

Have you ever stumbled into the most perfect conversation, with someone who’s figured out the very puzzle that has you stumped? Our recent workshop at the Center for Art in Medicine at the University of Florida felt like that. We brought together arts and public health folks from the Greater Sum network to learn about what’s called the Fifth Wave of Public Health — the focus on culture’s role in health.

Key takeaways from the visit include:

  • Health communications are more effective when they are targeted and feature narratives.

  • Art is a powerful means of communication, and can be harnessed to cultivate empathy and facilitate understanding of important health messages.

  • The impact of the arts in healthcare is well established in the US. Many organizations are also using the arts to achieve public health outcomes, but there’s less organized study of those outcomes and methods.

Center Director Jill Sonke and her team have been convening practitioners in both the arts and public health for a series of planning sessions across the country. Now they’re hosting a conference to connect people working at the intersect of art, public health, and community development. Learn more here. Join their Facebook community here.

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