Already broken all your 2012 resolutions? Make a new resolution worth keeping at our first FuturoFund Happy Hour of 2012. Join us for a cold drink at one of Austin’s most storied watering holes, and learn about how you can resolve to make a difference in your community through FuturoFund Austin. This is going to be a great year and FuturoFund is going to make a huge impact in our community – join us!

*Stick around after happy hour to watch the Longhorns take on Iowa State Cyclones. Not a Horn’s fan? Don’t worry, we won’t hold it against you.

Are you tired of failed new year’s resolutions? Even with the best intentions, promises to lose weight or quit smoking can be hard to keep. In 2012, try a different approach. Pledge to do something meaningful, not just for yourself, but for others, too.

FuturoFund Austin invites you to join their unprecedented effort to make an impact in our community through philanthropy and leadership. The new year marks the beginning of FuturoFund’s membership cycle, and it is the perfect opportunity to make - and keep – a commitment to give back.

FuturoFund brings people together to support the needs of Austin’s rapidly growing Latino community. FuturoFunders are artists, nonprofit leaders, lawyers, elected officials, accountants, professors, social workers, graduate students and more. We are multi-ethnic and diverse in age, occupations and backgrounds. When you join FuturoFund, you become part of a network of talented and passionate leaders with a shared vision to be part of the solution and strengthen our community.

Every year, FuturoFund members collectively contribute to a charitable fund and together we decide which deserving organizations will receive our grants. Since 2008, FuturoFund has awarded $135,000 in grants, and developed more philanthropists and community leaders. Every dollar raised by FuturoFund goes directly back into our community to support incredible organizations like the Workers’ Defense Project, Literacy Coalition of Central Texas, Frameworks Community Development Corporation and Anthropos Arts. Most recently, FuturoFund awarded $40,000 in grants to AVANCE-Austin and the Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition to support their critical work in the Latino community.

This year, go ahead and join a gym, but make sure you also become involved in something that makes a difference in someone else’s life. It can be as easy as joining FuturoFund, and it just might be the secret to keeping this year’s resolutions.

*article originally published in January 2012 issue of TODO Austin

What an amazing and inspiring evening! FuturoFund members gathered this past Friday evening at City Hall for the culminating event of our year - FuturoFiesta. After months of hard work by the FuturoFund Grants Committee, our membership was presented with 6 finalists for our 2011 Grants. Finalists each had 5 minutes to convince FuturoFund members why we should invest our funds in their organization. Votes were cast, and after all votes were tallied, the following organizations stood out among their peers:

Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition will receive a $10,000 grant to strengthen and expand its Human Rights Leadership Development Program, which provides basic human rights education and promotes racial and social justice.

AVANCE-Austin will receive a $30,000 grant to expand its services to Latino families living in the North Austin area. Families will have the opportunity to participate in the Parent-Child Education program, an intensive 9 month program which includes sessions on parenting, educational toy-making, ESL, and accessing community resources.

One of the highlights of the event was the fantastic music by the recipient of our 2010 FuturoFund small grant, Anthropos Arts.

It was a wonderful evening of celebrating our coming together to make an impact in our community. We can do even more if YOU join us for 2012!

Thanks to our wonderful sponsors of FuturoFiesta 2011!

After a tremendous amount of work by the 12-member FuturoFund Grants Committee, all grant applications have been scored, and site visits have been conducted with semi-finalists. We are now excited to announce our 2011 grant finalists!

Small Grant Category ($10,000 grant):
- Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition
- International Education Fund

Large Grant Category ($30,000 grant):
- AVANCE-Austin
- Council on At-Risk Youth
- Manos de Cristo
- People's Community Clinic

Which of these outstanding organizations will receive a FuturoFund grant? It is all up to our FuturoFund members! FuturoFunders will gather on December 2 for our annual FuturoFiesta celebration to hear directly from these organizations and then vote on our grant recipients. It should be an amazing evening!

FuturoFund Austin is proud to announce its 2011 Grant Semi-finalists! Our 12-member Grants Committee scored and deliberated upon the merits of each grant application received, and the outstanding organizations below rose to the top of the list.

The Grants Committee will now conduct site visits with each semi-finalist to learn more about their work in our community and ultimately select our Grant Finalists from among this group. Our entire FuturoFund membership will then hear from each finalist organization and vote on which shall receive a FuturoFund grant at our annual FuturoFiesta event in December.

FuturoFund thanks all the wonderful organizations who applied for our grants in 2011. Please stay tuned for more information about our Grant feedback session in January.

2011 Grant Semifinalists

Small Grant:
• Austin Immigrant Rights Coalition
• International Education Fund

Large Grant:
• Avance-Austin
• Capital IDEA
• Con Mi MADRE
• Council on At-Risk Youth
• Economic Growth Business Incubator
• Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation
• Hispanic Scholarship Consortium/Latinitas
• Manos de Cristo
• Mexic-Arte Museum
• People's Community Clinic

Great thanks to the 2011 FuturoFund Grants Committee for all their work thus far:

Nadia Barrera, Committee Co-Chair
Carlos Romo, Committee Co-Chair
Perla Cavazos
John-Michael Cortez
Priscilla Cortez
Roger Garza
Veronica Briseno Lara
Judge Orlinda Naranjo
Amaury Nora
Pilar Sanchez
Rich Villa
Judge Celeste Villarreal