Casa de Venezuela, held its annual board retreat on Saturday July 17 at the William Penn Board room of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Philadelphia.

A group of members of the board of directors and volunteers including  Emilio Buitrago, Rubén Reyes, Liselotte Harrity, Arturo Guillen, Carolina Bittar, Nilsa Laya, Luis M. Colmenares, Lina García, Nicolás Real, Luz Marina Foglietta y Jairo Medina gathered from 8:00am until 3:00pm. The session was facilitated by Jason Alexander, consultant of the Nonprofit Center of La Salle and president of Capacity for a Change.

During seven hours the group evaluated the current status of Casa de Venezuela including achievements and failures up to date, strengths and weaknesses of the organization, programs, operational capacity, succession plan, membership as well as strategic and operational aspects vital to ensure the growth and strengthening of the organization. The discussion was an initial step in the strategic plan development process scheduled for this fall, and the execution of the recently developed marketing plan.

This board retreat is very important because it also allowed the evaluation of the roles and responsibilities of the board members and volunteers, as well as, the next steps, goals and objectives, including the establishment and launching of working committees for specific tasks, the search for a physical location (project currently in process in cooperation with Raíces Culturales Latinoamericanas and Acción Colombia) and the possibility of hiring the first part time staff.

It is important to mention that the retreat was possible thanks to a grant from Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP- www.hiponline.org). HIP grants funds for the internal development, increase of the operational capacity and strengthening of Latino nonprofit organizations.

Soon a report will be distributed with the description of the vacant board positions and also positions at the different committees including: finance, culture, membership, fundraising, programs and specific projects.

If you would like to become a volunteer of Casa de Venezuela, please send an email to info@casadevenezuela.net and include how you think you would like to help the organization efficiently and effectively.

Good News

The Samuel Fels Funds (www.samfels.org) recently granted an award to Casa de Venezuela for the amount of $3,000, to be used for general operations and strengthening of the cultural and educational programs.  Samuel Fels Fund makes grants in the categories of Arts and Humanities, Education, Community Programs, and Health, all in the city of Philadelphia, particularly to organization addressing positive social change.

This is the second time that Casa de Venezuela receives funds from the Samuel Fels Fund, this is a prove of truth and support to the programs, projects and work done with ethics and professionalism by the board of directors and volunteers of the organization.