For Immediate Release
Award-Winning Yum! IGNITES Louisville Challenge now accepting nonprofit projects for the Ignite Louisville Class of 2014
Louisville, Kentucky (July 29, 2013) – The Yum! IGNITES Louisville Challenge, the community service challenge of the Leadership Louisville Center’s Ignite Louisville program, received a national award for “Excellence in Innovation” from the Association of Leadership Programs this month.
Building on this honor, nonprofits interested in working with an Ignite Louisville team are invited to submit proposals via the Leadership Louisville Center website. Proposals are due Friday, September 13 by 5 p.m. An informational meeting will be held at the Leadership Louisville Center, 732 W. Main St., on Tuesday, August 13, from 8:30-9:30 a.m. All are welcome to attend, but please RSVP to jnicholson@leadershiplouisville.org.
Learn more about the Yum! IGNITES Louisville Challenge.
Find out everything you need to know to submit a proposal.
For questions, contact Aaron Miller at amiller@leadershiplouisville.org or (502) 561-5223.
The Challenge is an annual opportunity for teams of mid-level professionals from the Ignite Louisville program to undertake a project for a local nonprofit, gaining experience in community leadership, board involvement and teamwork. Participating nonprofits benefit from the expertise and energy of the teams, who each invest hundreds of hours with their nonprofit agency as they compete for donations made possible by the Yum! Brands Foundation.
“We’ve seen firsthand the caliber of work accomplished by the Ignite Louisville teams, and we’re thrilled to see the program receive this national recognition,” said Laura Melillo, Executive Director of Yum! Brands Foundation. “Innovative programs like the Yum! IGNITES Louisville Challenge make breakthrough impact in our community and we’re proud to be a partner.”
About the Yum! IGNITES Louisville Challenge
The Yum! IGNITES Louisville Challenge is the service learning component of the Leadership Louisville Center’s Ignite Louisville program. Each year, seven to eight nonprofits are selected from a pool of over 50 nonprofit agencies to work with an Ignite Louisville team. At the end of the program, a winning team (or teams) receives funds for their partner organization.
Since its inception in 2004, Ignite Louisville participants have worked with 62 area nonprofits to plan, execute and sustain new strategies for success. The 2013 Ignite Louisville teams invested over 4,000 hours in their partner organizations, averaging nearly 500 hours per team. In a recent survey, partner organizations stated that Ignite teams remarkably improved the productivity of operations, increased the organization’s outreach in the community and improved the strategic focus of the organization. The average value of each team’s work is over $35,000 in the most recent class and many Ignite Louisville graduates have joined the boards of directors of their adopted nonprofit, helping to accelerate a generational change in leadership. In 2013, Ignite Louisville’s challenge received a national award for “Excellence in Innovation” from the Association of Leadership Programs. In 2009, it was awarded the Center for Nonprofit Excellence’s Pyramid Award for the Art of Collaboration.
About Ignite Louisville:
Presented by Norton Healthcare, Ignite Louisville is a seven-month program that grows rising community leaders by developing the key components of leadership. In addition to the core curriculum, the class participates in the Yum! IGNITES Louisville Challenge and takes on a project proposed by a local nonprofit to gain hands-on experience performing on a team and serving the community. The 2014 class will learn cutting-edge leadership concepts from program partners including Norton Healthcare, Yum! Brands, Inc., Brown-Forman Corporation, Northwestern Mutual and the U.S. Army. Ignite Louisville was founded by the Leadership Louisville Center in 2003 in partnership with the Young Professionals Association of Louisville (YPAL) and the Louisville Urban League Young Professionals (LULYP).
About the Leadership Louisville Center:
Created in 1979, the Leadership Louisville Center is the region’s most valuable resource for leadership development and civic engagement. Its mission is to grow and connect a diverse network of leaders who serve as catalysts for a world-class community through dynamic programming and strong community connections. Over 6,000 community leaders have graduated from the Center’s programs that include Leadership Louisville, Focus Louisville, Ignite Louisville and Bingham Fellows. In 2011, the Leadership Louisville Center was recognized as one of the top seven community leadership programs in the U.S. in a benchmark study by the Center for Creative Leadership, the “gold standard” global provider of executive leadership education and research.
For more information, contact:
Holly Prather
Vice President – Marketing
Direct: (502) 753-6503 Main: (502) 561-0458
hprather@leadershiplouisville.org