Kauffman in Kansas City, March 2015

March 2015 / Vol. 3, No. 3 INDEX: The number of continental breakfasts with sliced fruit consumed last year by community groups meeting in the Kauffman Foundation Conference Center. FEATURE Kauffman School by the Numbers Charting the Course of Student Achievement The Ewing Marion Kauffman School is telling its story in a unique and memorable way. A new infographic displays numbers that offer an interesting look at the school’s approach, teacher enrichment, demographics, and early academic results. Founded in 2011 by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, this tuition-free, public charter school offers a rigorous college-preparatory education. The Kauffman School mission is to prepare students to excel academically, graduate from college, and apply their unique talents in the world to create economically independent and personally fulfilling lives. The school’s design is based on inspiring examples of charter schools throughout the country that are helping urban students achieve at very high academic levels in preparation for success beyond high school and throughout their lives. See the Kauffman School Infographic  NEWS Cracking the Code for Entrepreneurial Success Author Amy Wilkinson will share the fundamental strategies leading entrepreneurs have in common from her book, The Creator's Code: The Six Essential Skills of Extraordinary Entrepreneurs,at the Plaza Branch of the Kansas City Public Library on Tuesday, March 3, at 6:30 p.m. The event is open to the public, including a reception beginning at 6 p.m. The Kauffman Foundation funded research for the book, which is based on personal interviews with today's leading entrepreneurs, including the founders of LinkedIn, Chipotle, eBay, Under Armour, Tesla Motors, SpaceX, Spanx, Airbnb, PayPal, Jetblue, Gilt Groupe, Theranos, and Dropbox. Wilkinson is a strategic advisor, entrepreneur, and lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She has served as a White House fellow and special assistant to the United States Trade Representative and as a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. Learn More  Nonprofit Connect to Explore See-Through Philanthropy Nonprofit Connect will examine transparency in the charitable sector to help organizations consider what information they will release to the public on April 1 at 8:30 a.m. Kauffman Foundation General Counsel John Tyler will discuss the benefits and costs of transparency for the nonprofit sector. John has argued against additional legally imposed requirements and suggests a voluntary and measured transparency that can help make the case for the value an organization brings to the community. This approach to transparency takes into account the mission of the organization and the potential costs that would go along with disclosure. Learn More  Kansas City Welcomes Third Ronald McDonald House Kansas City’s new Ronald McDonald House, the third in the area, has opened its doors at 25th and Cherry Streets. The 21,000-square-foot Wylie House has room for twenty families overnight and about 900 families each year. On any given night, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Kansas City serves sixty-seven families at houses and the Family Room in Children's Mercy Hospital. The Kauffman Foundation has joined a number of public and private donor institutions and individuals to support Ronald McDonald House Charities. Learn More  PARTNER PROFILE Documentary to Premiere Locally on KCPT Kingdom Come: The Making of Casavant Opus 3875 — a feature-length documentary film that goes behind the scenes to chronicle the design, manufacture, and unveiling of a pipe organ for the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts— will have its broadcast premiere March 16 at 9 p.m. on KCPT. The film traces the complex task to create a powerful custom-built pipe organ, known as “The King of Instruments,” for a modern concert hall. It records the artistry and craftwork of the men and women at the Casavant Frères workshop in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, and documents history in the making as world-renowned organist James David Christie took the stage at Helzberg Hall to play the organ for the first time. Produced and directed by the Kauffman Foundation, the documentary project began in 2009 and has been presented as a gift to Julia Irene Kauffman, the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation, the Kauffman Center staff, and the Kansas City artistic community, on behalf of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s associates and board of trustees. Ultimately, the film celebrates a city’s commitment to the arts and the imagination, invention, and careful human touch that inspires a creative legacy for musical artists and audiences to admire for generations to come. Watch the Kingdom ComeTrailer  CIVIC SPOTLIGHT The Kauffman Foundation is proud to support the following events in March: Rose Brooks Center – Cabaret:An Evening With Jason Alexander and His Hair March 1 Learn More  Guadalupe Centers – Shareholders Luncheon March 26 Learn More  Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Kansas City – Kids Night Out 2015 with Keith Urban March 28 Learn More  THIS MONTH IN KAUFFMAN HISTORY On March 15-17, 2007, teams from fifty-two high schools rolled into town for the first Greater Kansas City FIRST Robotics Regional Competition. Held at Hale Arena, the inaugural event drew teams from around the Midwest and a visit from famed inventor and FIRST founder Dean Kamen. Kauffman Foundation support for FIRST in Kansas City seeded one of the nation’s highest concentrations of Robotics teams and established the regional competition to showcase students’ knowledge of math, engineering, technology, and science, and to boost their self-confidence and life skills.