Build It and They Will Come

New York, NY—- September 23, 2007—- Hundreds of nonprofit leaders and social entrepreneurs gathered together on Saturday, September 15th to participate in Craigslist Foundation’s 2nd Annual New York Tri-State Area Nonprofit Boot Camp. Participants spent the day learning strategies about how to put their plans to change the world into action.

Craigslist Foundation has been offering Nonprofit Boot Camps across the country to help educate, empower, and connect the next generation of nonprofit leaders and social entrepreneurs. This year’s event successfully brought together new and future nonprofit leaders with seasoned nonprofit professionals who were able to provide coaching and advice to these protégés.

In 2006, Craigslist Foundation brought the first annual Nonprofit Boot Camp to the New York Tri-State Area. The event was an instant success with over 700 attendees from New York area nonprofits in attendance. This year, an estimated 1000 people filled the halls of The Brooklyn Academy of Music, where the event was held. They had the chance to meet with and hear from over 100 coaches and presenters and more than 50 different exhibitors presenting a variety of nonprofit resources. The attendees gave this year’s Nonprofit Boot Camp a highly favorable 98% approval rating.

“We’re very excited about the growth we’ve seen from this year’s Nonprofit Boot Camp. The reaction from attendees and participants has been extremely positive,” said Darian Rodriguez Heyman, Executive Director of Craigslist Foundation, “ The diversity of the educational opportunities offered a tremendous wealth of resources, and is an encouragement for future events in the New York area.”

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Craigslist Foundation’s 2nd Annual New York Tri-State Area Nonprofit Boot Camp Stats:

* 48% of Attendees belong to Registered Nonprofits within the NYC Metro Area
* 25% of Attendees were CEO/Executive Director level Nonprofit Officers
* 25% of Attendees came to connect with nonprofit resources
* 43% of Attendees were in various stages of planning and developing new nonprofits in the NYC Metro Area
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The 2007 New York Tri-State Area Nonprofit Boot Camp also featured a Food Drive where volunteers and participants brought in 1000 pounds of food items to be taken to local New York City area soup kitchens. And, in an effort to teach participants to reduce environmental impact, Nonprofit Boot Camp was a green event that featured recycling for bottles, cans, paper, and cardboard as well as composting of discarded foods. Participants were also treated to tasty, healthy snacks and meals, courtesy of generous support from sponsors and partners.

Craigslist Foundation is positioned to support nonprofits by leveraging its global resources to provide free and low cost education opportunities to emerging nonprofit leaders and social entrepreneurs, thereby fulfilling the mission of providing knowledge, resources, and visibility to future nonprofit leaders.

ABOUT CRAIGSLIST FOUNDATION:
Craigslist Foundation (www.craigslistfoundation.org) is located in San Francisco, CA, and was founded by Craig Newmark, creator of the widely popular international social networking site, www.craigslist.org. Craigslist Foundation exists to provide knowledge, resources and visibility to the next generation of nonprofit leaders. The Foundation applies the spirit and values of Craigslist.org to the nonprofit world: Craigslist.org is about “people helping people”, while Craigslist Foundation is about “helping people help.” Craigslist Foundation is a publicly supported, non-endowed 501(c)3 operating foundation that focuses on producing events and resources that benefit as many nonprofits, causes, and people as possible.

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Media Contact:
Liane Worthington
Assistant Director of Public Relations
The Wakeman Agency
212-500-5953 ext. 118
lworthington@thewakemanagency.com
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