DATE: 10/14/05

CONTACT: Kerry Coffey, (864) 656-0312, kcoffey@clemson.edu

or Mark Small, msmall@clemson.edu

WRITER: Kerry Coffey, (864) 656-0312

Clemson University faculty member receives Czech Community Development Award

CLEMSON –- Mark Small, professor at the Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life (IFNL), a public service activity of Clemson University, has received an award for Community Development in the Czech Republic from the Czech Donors Forum.

In 2004, Small completed a term as a Fulbright Scholar in the Czech Republic at the University of South Bohemia in Ceska Budejovice.

As a direct outgrowth of his Fulbright experience, Small began the Palmetto Global Grantmakers Exchange Program in partnership with the Czech Donors Forum, the foremost organization in the Czech Republic responsible for the development of community foundations.

The two purposes of the exchange program are to provide local grantmakers with a global perspective on grant giving and community development and to allow foundation partners from around the world to benefit from the experiences and wisdom of grantmakers in South Carolina .

“The struggle to build a better community is a universal struggle, so the more we can learn from one another, the more of an impact we can make on the quality of peoples’ lives everywhere,” said Small. “The exchange program has brought fresh ideas on fundraising and sustaining community projects to both sides of the Atlantic .”

The Czech Donors Forum is a non-profit initiative, which provides support and leadership to the donor community in the Czech Republic . Its mission is to support the development of organized philanthropy and to serve the Czech donor community -- 360 foundations, 900 foundations without endowment, corporate and community donors. For more information on the forum, visit www.donorsforum.cz.

The IFNL’s mission is to generate, share and apply the knowledge needed to strengthen ties between families and communities. For more information on the Institute on Family and Neighborhood Life visit http://www.clemson.edu/ifnl.

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