As she hands out $10,000 donations to various nonprofits, PowerOptions chief executive Cindy Arcate wants you think about Newman’s Own.
Salad dressing and New England’s energy market don’t have much in common. But Arcate sees a kinship with the late actor Paul Newman’s namesake food company, which is known for distributing its profits to charities.
“My new mantra is, ‘We’re the Newman’s Own of the energy business,’ ’’ Arcate says. “We still have to make sure our salad dressing tastes good but we also have to diversify our product line and go into popcorn and tomato sauce. We’re giving back to our members, and we’re still very much a business.’’
Boston-based PowerOptions celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, the energy-buying cooperative is donating $10,000 to 20 organizations and electric vehicle chargers to another 20. The festivities kick off on Tuesday at the Charles River Center, a Needham organization that serves developmentally disabled individuals and is one of the winners.
Arcate will be joined by US Representative Joe Kennedy and Charles River Center CEO Anne-Marie Bajwa. Other recipients are located all over the state, from the Animal Rescue League in Boston, to the Ecotarium in Worcester, to Bay Path University in Longmeadow.
In at least one important way, PowerOptions has been giving back to its nonprofit and public agency clients since its inception around the time the Legislature deregulated the electricity market two decades ago. PowerOptions uses the combined purchasing power of its membership — which includes a number of big universities and hospitals — to negotiate good deals on electricity.
Since Arcate joined PowerOptions in 2009, the organization’s budget has grown from less than $1 million to $2.5 million, and its staff grew from three to 10 employees. (Arcate joined when PowerOptions was being spun off — it was once a program run by a now-defunct quasi-public agency — to become a standalone nonprofit.) She has helped expand its offerings, including introducing a successful solar program for members. — JON CHESTO
Bureau more diverse
The Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau has added three people of color to its 13-member, all-white, strategic planning committee.
Carole Copeland Thomas, Rafael Torres, and Robin Parker were appointed last week.
Their appointments come after the bureau was forced to restart a search process for a new leader when the Globe began reporting that no people of color had made the short list. The strategic committee played a role in the search process.
Thomas, Torres, and Parker sit on the bureau’s board, and all three are also members of the bureau’s multicultural committee, which works to attract minority conventions and meetings to Boston. Thomas is a diversity consultant and speaker; Torres is owner of Don Quijote Tours; and Parker is from Harvard University’s Office of Public Affairs.
Thomas, who chairs the multicultural committee, said the new strategic committee members plan to make their voices heard.
“We are not going to be tokens,’’ said Thomas. “We’re going to be actively participating.’’ — SHIRLEY LEUNG
Aid for CJP building
By his own admission, Robert Kraft is not one to spend money sticking his family’s name on buildings. As far as philanthropy goes, he says he prefers to pay for direct services to help people in need.
Kraft says he makes an exception when a particular building has ties to spirituality. His latest endeavor fits that description — and also helps people in need.
The renovated Combined Jewish Philanthropies building on High Street will now be known as the Kraft Family Building.
On Friday the New England Patriots owner took an oversized pair of scissors to a ribbon in front of the building, which underwent a $17 million modernization. He was joined by two of his sons, Jonathan and Dan, Dan’s wife, Wendy, and departing CJP president Barry Shrage.
Kraft was the largest donor, with a $10 million gift. Among the new features: the Myra Kraft Boardroom, named after Kraft’s late wife, a regular visitor to the nine-story building that CJP acquired in 1994.
Kraft briefly met with reporters before heading inside. They were asked to keep questions to the CJP project. “We need more spirituality in this country at this time,’’ Kraft said.
He grew wistful as he talked about how he thought of his wife, as he toured the remodeled space. “I saw her everywhere,’’ Kraft said. “I hope she’s with us today.’’ — JON CHESTO
Honoring the Kings
Coretta Scott King last visited the New England Conservatory, her alma mater, to give the commencement address in 2004. She died two years later.
Her impact on the school, however, has been permanent. NEC last week unveiled a donor-funded bronze sculpture of the civil rights activist, who met future husband Martin Luther King Jr. while both were studying in Boston. (MLK was at Boston University, earning his doctorate in theology.)
The goal of the sculpture: to recognize her longstanding efforts towards diversity, inclusion, and equality.
“The presence of her bust at the library, in a prominent location, [shows] that these kinds of things are important for us to be talking about,’’ says Tom Novak, the conservatory’s interim president.
The sculpture’s arrival coincides with a more ambitious project, initiated by entrepreneur Paul English, to honor the Kings and their time in Boston. English has already committed $1 million to the initiative and hopes to raise at least another $4 million. He says interest has grown and the project may involve more than one location in the city.
English says he’s excited about the NEC sculpture. “It is impossible to tell the MLK story without mentioning Coretta. She was not only his number one supporter during his life, but she continued his work in the decades after his death.’’
Novak says NEC officials didn’t know about English’s project when they began planning their own. The timing, he says, is fortuitous.
“To many of our students, the 1960s seem like a very long time ago,’’ Novak says, “and yet we are still facing some of the same issues today.’’ — JON CHESTO
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