An Experiment in Scaling Impact: Assessing the Growth Capital Aggregation Pilot

This report presents an assessment of the Growth Capital Aggregation Pilot. It was commissioned by the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, founder and lead investor of the grantmaking initiative.Starting in 2000, The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation (Clark) adopted an investment approach to grantmaking that focused on providing growth capital to youth-serving organizations with demonstrated commitments to evaluation and measurable outcomes. For grantees, the strategy meant larger, longer-term, unrestricted investments, complemented by extensive access to consulting and technical assistance to strengthen their organizations.This approach helped Clark grantees across the portfolio increase the numbers of youth they served (for example, by 18 percent between 2005 and 2006) and achieve annual revenue gains (averaging 19 percent over the four years prior to the founding of GCAP). At the same time, the Foundation concluded that more capital would be required if its grantees and other promising youth-serving organizations were to realize their ultimate scale and sustainability potential

The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation's Youth Development Fund: Results and Lessons from the First Ten Years

In 1999, the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation (EMCF) began an experiment that would ultimately reinvent its grantmaking. Starting with three grantees, it tested an approach for improving the life prospects of disadvantaged young people by investing heavily in the capacity of nonprofits to "scale up" programs of proven effectiveness. For the past 10 years, conducting more than 150 confidential interviews with leaders of more than 40 grantees, we have provided the Foundation ongoing feedback about the effects -- intended and unintended -- of its grantmaking. For this paper, we returned to our archive of interviews and examined the Foundation's own performance data to consider two questions:Have the Foundation's grantees moved the needle -- with greater scale and impact -- in improving the life prospects of vulnerable youth? What lessons can be drawn from EMCF's experiences -- positive and negative -- to inform others in the field?This paper has three parts: 1 An overview of the grantmaking strategy the Foundation adopted in 1999; 2 A summary of grantee progress in achieving the scale and impact that are the goals of EMCF's grants; and 3 Lessons and reflections on key aspects of the Foundation's approach

Seasonality in Digestive-Gland Size and Metabolism in Relation to Reproduction in Haliotis kamtschatkana

A novel method of isolating digestive gland cells in abalone was used to provide information on the metabolic activity of this gland in Haliotis kamtschatkana. Activity, expressed as percent ·change in Vo2 of isolated cells before and after the addi­tion of glucose and amino acid substrates, was studied in relation to sex and to seasonal changes in gonad and digestive gland indices. At 3- to 4-mo intervals between May 1995 and July 1996, five collections of 10 adult abalone (equal sexes) were made from the West Coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Each animal\u27s live mass (without shell) was recorded, and its gonad was aspirated from the digestive gland into a known volume (and mass) of seawater. The digestive gland was sliced free of its attachment, weighed, and related to shell-less body mass as percent digestive gland index (DGI). The gonad live mass was determined from the mass of aspirated mix of gonad and seawater, and related to shell-less body mass to give a percent gonad index (GI). Digestive gland cells were prepared and maintained in a special buffer, and their Vo2 \u27s measured in microrespirometers. There was no sex effect on seasonal DGI, but significant seasonal differences in DGls correlated perfectly with metabolic activity of digestive-gland cells with glucose substrate. Thus, when digestive glands were largest relative to body size, metabolic activity of their cells was greatest. Gls were significantly higher for males than females. There was a significant seasonal effect on Gls, with values being high in springtime be­ fore spawning (April to May, 10-11%) and low in winter (December, 6%), but with statistical overlap between these and sum­mer values (July to August, 7-8%). Metabolic response of the digestive gland cells was highest with glucose substrate (75% increase over presubstrate resting levels as compared with 4% for amino acid substrate), reflecting the carbohydrate-based metabolism of abalone

Microcrustaceans (Branchiopoda and Copepoda) of Wetland Ponds and Impoundments on the Savannah River Site, Aiken, South Carolina

The United States Department of Energy's Savannah River Site (SRS) in Aiken, Allendale, and Barnwell Counties, South Carolina, contains an abundance of freshwater wetlands and impoundments. Four large impoundments, as well as several small, abandoned farm and mill ponds, and about 400 Carolina bays and other small, isolated depression wetland ponds are located within the 893 km2 area of the SRS. Crustaceans of the orders Branchiopoda and Copepoda are nearly ubiquitous in these water bodies. Although small in size, these organisms are often very abundant. They consequently play an important trophic role in freshwater food webs supporting fish, larval salamanders, larval insects, and numerous other animals, aquatic and terrestrial. This report provides an introduction to the free-living microcrustaceans of lentic water bodies on the SRS and a comprehensive list of species known to occur there. Occurrence patterns are summarized from three extensive survey studies, supplemented with other published and unpublished records. In lieu of a key, we provide a guide to taxonomic resources and notes on undescribed species. Taxa covered include the orders Cladocera, Anostraca, Laevicaudata, and Spinicaudata of the Subclass Branchiopoda and the Superorders Calanoida and Cyclopoida of Subclass Copepoda. Microcrustaceans of the Superorder Harpacticoida of the Subclass Copepoda and Subclass Ostracoda are also often present in lentic water bodies. They are excluded from this report because they have not received much study at the species level on the SRS

Long-term results of cyclosporine-steroid therapy in 131 non-matched cadaveric renal transplants.

One-hundred-and-twenty-eight recipients of 131 consecutive, non-matched cadaver renal allografts were treated with cyclosporine and steroids. They have been followed for 4 to 6 yr. Cumulative patient survival at 1-yr was 92.2% and at 6yr it is 77.8%. Cumulative graft survival at 1-yr was 79.4% and at 6 yr it is 50.0%. After the high-risk 1st yr, the rate of graft loss was even and similar to that reported after the 1st yr for grafts treated with azathioprine and steroids. This indicates that cyclosporine nephrotoxicity has not had an obvious adverse effect on the survival of chronically functioning grafts. The results were better with primary grafting versus retransplantation, but were not significantly influenced by age, diabetes mellitus, or a delayed switch in patients from cyclosporine to azathioprine. We have concluded that cyclosporine-steroid therapy is safe and effective for long-term use after cadaveric renal transplantation