The Delta Grassroots Caucus (DGC) is a broad coalition of grassroots leaders in the eight-state Delta region. DGC is also a founding partner of the Economic Equality Caucus,
which advocates for economic equality across the USA.

TOPPS Nonprofit in Pine Bluff, Sharemeister, and Other Nonprofits in the Delta

Posted on June 04, 2014 at 01:52 PM

The Delta Grassroots Caucus would like to encourage all of our partners across the region to make charitable donations to nonprofit organizations working on many constructive subjects such as nutrition, health care, job creation, workforce development, housing, Delta heritage tourism, disaster relief and many other vital issues.

This will be part of our program for the June 12-13 Delta conference on “Jobs, Health, Women & Children’s Issues” at the Clinton Library Great Hall.

Please remember to give to the good cause of your choice, and remember that large numbers of small contributions add up–even modest amounts help.

President Bill Clinton worked with both the elder President George H. W. Bush and the younger President George W. Bush on notable fundraising efforts after Hurricane Katrina and for other good causes, and these were among the most notable cases of bipartisan, philanthropic collaboration in recent years. President Clinton devoted an entire book to the importance of supporting charitable organizations.

We need to do more than just issue a generalized, vague call to “give more,” so we will make two strictly optional suggestions, with absolutely no sense of obligation or pressure on anyone to contribute through these two organizations:

One is to visit the website of the new Sharemeister company at www.sharemeister.com to learn of their promotion of giving and make a contribution to the charity of your choice through their completely secure site, which lists a very large number of nonprofits (the information on how to do that is on the website);

Secondly, as a strictly optional suggestion, one worthy nonprofit in the Pine Bluff area is the nonprofit TOPPS led by Annette Dove, one of our speakers at the conference.

Please give to the nonprofit of your choice. These are just a couple of suggestions, so that we are not just making a generalized call to “give more.” It’s always better to practice what you preach.

Revolving program of recognizing excellent nonprofits over the years: One activity that we have done on a couple of occasions in the past and now are going to make a regular part of our year-round cycle of activities is to give recognition to an exemplary small nonprofit organization in the region at the spring and fall regional conferences.

For the June 12-13 Delta conference, we would like to recognize Annette Dove, executive director of the exemplary TOPPS (Targeting Our People’s Priorities with Service) nonprofit in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. We will recognize a nonprofit at each conference and cover many nonprofits and parts of the region over the years.

TOPPS engages in a wide variety of constructive activities in nutrition, mentoring of young people, job creation, job training and other beneficial activities. Annette Dove will be one of our luncheon speakers at the Friday, June 13 session of the Delta conference at the Clinton Library Great Hall.

Role model for replication for small nonprofits in other areas: Annette Dove’s TOPPS organization is a role model for best practices in the region, and when people learn of her activities at the Delta conference they may wish to follow some of her activities in other areas across the region.

We can recognize an excellent nonprofit each year and over the years cover a number of them across the region. Please feel free to give to the good cause of your choice and there is no obligation or pressure at all to give to TOPPS–this is merely one of our suggestions.

If you would like to make a contribution to TOPPS, please remember that large numbers of modest contributions of even $10, $15 or $25 add up to a substantial amount when we are talking about a large regional coalition.

You can give contributions at the June 12-13 Delta conference where Sharemeister and TOPPS will have an information table, or at the Sharemeister website at www.sharemeister.com.

As another suggestion with a much more general scope, the new Sharemeister company exists for the sole purpose of engineering more charitable contributions. Their social giving platform at www.sharemeister.com includes huge numbers of good causes across the country and develops innovative, entertaining ways to encourage charitable giving.

Sharemeister is national in scope, but their CEO, Marlon Henderson, is originally from Jonesboro in northeast Arkansas, so they naturally devote substantial attention to the eight-state Delta region.

Marlon Henderson will have an information table at the June 12-13 Delta conference for people to come by and learn about his innovative new organization.

Please see the website of Sharemeister at www.sharemeister.com.

We would like to encourage people to get into the habit of visiting the Sharemeister website, and if you choose to use your Visa or other card to make contributions, please do so.

Among the Sharemeister promotions are events and challenges, in which certain areas of the region or certain institutions engage in a friendly competition to see who can raise the most money for a good cause.

Currently one of these entertaining efforts to increase interest in charitable giving is the Delta Nonprofit Challenge, in which we are having the western Delta states of Louisiana, Arkansas and Missouri compete with the eastern Delta states of Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois to see who can raise money for ToPPS from now through the June 12-13 Delta conference and on up to July 4, 2014.

Personally, as an Arkansan I believe that the western Delta team featuring the great Arkansas Razorbacks, LSU Tigers, Missouri Tigers, Grambling, Arkansas State University, UA Pine Bluff, UA Monticello, Mid-South Community College in West Memphis, Northeastern Arkansas College in Blytheville, Phllips Community College of the UA, and other great institutions will “whup up” on the Ole Miss Rebels, Mississippi State, Alabama Crimson Tide, Memphis Tigers, Tennessee Vols, Southern Illinois University, Murray State, and other great institutions from the east Delta by giving a lot more in charitable donations.

Oddly enough, my friend Alan Gumbel of the Workforce Investment Network in Memphis deludes himself into believing that the east Delta team will contribute more for this and other good causes.

This of course is all in fun, but it has proven to be an effective way for generating more giving to good causes.

The website displays this and other challenges and keeps track of funding levels. This is one among many ways Sharemeister uses internet technology to promote charitable giving.

Regarding TOPPS, the main benefit for recognizing her organization is for the recognition and favorable publicity. The amount of fundraising directed to TOPPS is expected to be small, but every little bit helps.

If anyone asks, “Why recognize this nonprofit when there are many deserving nonprofits?” the answer is that we recognize many nonprofits by giving them speaking slots, articles on our website and group newsletter and many other forms of recognition. For this particular honor, if we recognize 100 nonprofits at every conference it will be too much information and it will all be lost in the shuffle, and by doing it on a rotating basis we will cover different areas and exemplary nonprofits over time, along with our other forms of recognition on the website, newsletters and at conferences.

The main purpose is to keep the importance of charitable giving higher on everybody’s radar screen and remind them to do so, even for small amounts.

She is the recipient of the “Spring, 2014 Delta Nonprofit Leadership Award.” This award reads:

Spring, 2014 Delta Nonprofit Leadership Award

Presented to

Annette Dove, Executive Director of the TOPPS nonprofit organization in Pine Bluff, Arkansas

For many years of distinguished service for community and economic progress in the Pine Bluff area.

“Let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking for His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.”

President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, 1961

FALL REGIONAL DELTA CONFERENCE WILL BE IN NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA IN MID-OCTOBER: We would ask for suggestions for nonprofits worthy of recognition for the mid-October conference in New Orleans.

All of the nonprofits suggested will be noteworthy. It will be narrowed down to five nonprofits, all deserving, and then will be chosen by lot to avoid any appearance of showing favoritism to one nonprofit.

We will start that campaign in the summer on the websites, continue it on through the October New Orleans conference and through the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

Regarding TOPPS, the main benefit for recognizing her organization is for the recognition and favorable publicity. The amount of fundraising directed to TOPPS is expected to be small, but every little bit helps.

If anyone asks, “Why recognize this nonprofit when there are many deserving nonprofits?” the answer is that we recognize many nonprofits by giving them speaking slots, articles on our website and group newsletter and many other forms of recognition. For this particular honor, if we recognize 100 nonprofits at every conference it will be too much information and it will all be lost in the shuffle, and by doing it on a rotating basis we will cover different areas and exemplary nonprofits over time, along with our other forms of recognition on the website, newsletters and at conferences.

The main purpose is to keep the importance of charitable giving higher on everybody’s radar screen and remind them to do so, even for small amounts.

She is the recipient of the “Spring, 2014 Delta Nonprofit Leadership Award.” This award reads:

Spring, 2014 Delta Nonprofit Leadership Award

Presented to

Annette Dove, Executive Director of the TOPPS nonprofit organization in Pine Bluff, Arkansas

For many years of distinguished service for community and economic progress in the Pine Bluff area.

“Let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking for His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God’s work must truly be our own.”

President John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address, 1961

FALL REGIONAL DELTA CONFERENCE WILL BE IN NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA IN MID-OCTOBER: We would ask for suggestions for nonprofits worthy of recognition for the mid-October conference in New Orleans.

All of the nonprofits suggested will be noteworthy. It will be narrowed down to five nonprofits, all deserving, and then will be chosen by lot to avoid any appearance of showing favoritism to one nonprofit.

We will start that campaign in the summer on the websites, continue it on through the October New Orleans conference and through the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.