Spring Newsletter

The Palette Fund’s first year has been a remarkable time of reflection and it is hard to believe that more than a year has passed since we launched The Palette Fund as a way to continue to honor and celebrate Rand’s life and legacy. From writing and creating our website and establishing Palette as a new Foundation, to developing lasting relationships with our diverse group of grantee partners, the scope of Palette’s work has been vast and meaningful.  We are very happy to report that by the end of 2010, we will have distributed more than $1 million to organizations near and dear to Rand’s heart.  We hope that The Palette Fund is shaping up to be just as Rand would have wanted, and we are delighted to share a few of the highlights with you.

We are happy to announce that Palette has joined forces with the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network to augment their successful Patient and Liaison Services program and launch The Patient Navigation Outreach Program in honor of Rand.  The Program aims to ensure that more patients and their caregivers have access to up-to-date information about the disease, are aware of and are connected to needed resources and services, and are equipped and empowered to make informed decisions about their care and treatment. The Palette Fund has agreed to fund 50% of the $1,036,000 initiative and will help to raise the additional funds necessary to support this critically important program helping others battling this devastating disease. If you would like to contribute and help to raise the remainder of the necessary funds, please contact us and join in the fight against Pancreatic Cancer.

2010 will mark the launch of The Rand Skolnick Point Scholarship that will exist in perpetuity at Point Foundation. Point Foundation is the nation’s largest scholarship-granting organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students of merit. Point provides financial support, leadership training, mentoring and hope to LGBT individuals who are marginalized because of their sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression.  We are also thrilled to announce our sponsorship of Point Foundation’s 2010 Internship Pilot Program. This program will provide Point Scholars with full-time career-related work experience in order to connect their academic preparation to their career aspirations. As part of this program, Palette will fund three non-profit internships, giving students who wish to work in the non-profit sector the opportunity and means to do so.

To further demonstrate our commitment to building the next generation of LGBT leadership, The Palette Fund will partner with The Stonewall Community Foundation to support Out In Front New York. Based on the successful Seattle model, Out In Front will develop an innovative board leadership program that will cultivate a new generation of diverse, strategic and high-impact leaders both on the front lines and around boardroom tables.  While there has been some investment in developing the leadership skills of young LGBT activists, this collaboration will be the first effort to cultivate a new generation of donors and activists working and learning together.

As ever, our commitment to nutrition and wellness as a healing modality remains strong. On January 20th, The Palette Fund and the Urban Zen Foundation together launched a series of six workshops called Food Solutions: A Whole Foods Approach to Wellness that teach how to navigate and restore health through food. The next workshop, “Navigating Cancer,” will take place on May 26th at the Urban Zen Center in Manhattan.

As the country is becoming increasingly more focused on youth and nutrition, Palette continues to expand our funding in this important arena.  One of our most recent partnerships is with The Sylvia Center at the Fort Greene Community Center with University Settlement in Brooklyn.  We are thrilled to be working together to teach children to establish lifelong positive eating habits that will in turn affect their wellbeing, productivity and overall health. Twice a week our health-supportive chefs will conduct food literacy and cooking classes at the Community Center for more than 100 children throughout the school year.  This program will also host a series of healthy cooking classes for both children and their parents with hopes to further integrate nutrition into their daily lives.

Peter and I are grateful for all of the good wishes and appreciate you joining us in this incredible adventure as we continue to honor and love the man who made all of this possible, Rand Harlan Skolnick. 

Tomorrow, April 10th, would have been Rand’s 52nd Birthday.  Thank you Rand for giving us the opportunity to spread your love and joy through The Palette Fund.  Happy Birthday…we miss you.

With love and light -


Terrence Meck
Executive Director