No16 SUMMER 2016 A member publication of the Georgia Center for Nonprofits
IDEAS 2016 GEORGIA NONPROFIT INNOVATION AT WORK
OPENING
In the era of startup artists and venture capitalists all hunting for the next big thing, there’s growing hunger for new ideas, and increasing support for those with the greatest potential. Nonprofits have always been dynamic social innovators and, of late, a growing number are benefitting from new opportunities to participate in accelerators, launch venture-backed initiatives, and form alternative corporate structures.
Designing ideas that succeed. GCN has always been a part of promoting, exploring, and experimenting with new constructs, as in our annual IDEAS issue, where we’re excited to highlight dozens of our community’s innovation successes. At the same time, we are piloting a business accelerator for women- and minority-led organizations looking to scale new revenue-generating strategies; we’re leading a third cohort of organizations to re-imagine collaborative work using the Design Thinking method; and we’ve launched Work for Good – our own social enterprise – to connect purpose-driven people and organizations. So how do we design ideas to maximize their community impact? Even for the most wellintended and well-funded new endeavors, success can be hard to achieve. But rather than let risk dampen the imperative to innovate, consider how we might head off disappointing outcomes by starting strong, using these three principles of successful design: Ideas must be desirable. Stakeholders, clients, staff, and constituents must want or need your idea, and the most common misstep is failing to understand them: Effective ideas come from deep empathy with, or market research into, the people involved. This goes for any successful nonprofit output: A park, way of counseling, hospital room, or publication often result from recognizing a human need and crafting a thoughtful response. Ideas must be feasible. This means securing the technical infrastructure—possessing, creating, or customizing technology—to support the idea. This infrastructure may consist of partners, staff, and internal processes like education, each of which should be seen as a kind of “software” with many potential applications. Ideas must be viable. From a business perspective, an idea needs the ability to sustain itself. This means having the funding, processes, and skills—by way of staff or contractors— to keep the work going, and enough bandwidth to analyze results and respond to needs and changes. Temper the creative impulse with these foundational tenets, and you’ll generate the kind of ideas that break new ground and build dependable, long-haul solutions for the community. Beginning with desire, feasibility, and viability, your design process will help you beat the odds and keep any new initiative from coming up short. Happy designing! Karen Beavor President and CEO
Contents
Read aboout Georgia Conservancy’s IDEA on page 10.
4 INNOVATION
IDEAS 2016: Georgia nonprofit innovation at work
The third installment of our annual innovation roundup features dozens of our members and partners, each with an inspiring new way they’ve deepened, broadened, or advanced their impact.
19 LEADERSHIP
The powers that be (and how they are used) If you want to lead, you’ve got to understand the sources, strengths, and limitations of your power style, and how to step up your abilities through interpersonal skills and professional expertise.
21 SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
26 PARTNERSHIPS
A call for collaborative solutions Working alongside The Home Depot Foundation, our investment in Design Thinking is bringing nonprofits together to share strengths and pilot creative joint programs that serve two missions at once.
28 RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
Thinking like an entrepreneur
Your road map for Georgia Gives Day 2016
In this roundtable discussion, the Nonprofit Consulting Group team experts conducting our freshly-launched business accelerator reveal how sector leaders can benefit from a more entrepreneurial mindset.
The earlier you prepare, the more you can net on our state’s fifth annual 24-hour celebration of giving—building on the $9 million raised so far and last year’s one-day fundraising record of $3.67 million.
23 INTERVIEW
Expectation, expansion, integration: A philanthropic program gets fully engaged
29 34
COMMUNITY The latest news from GCN and our members.
CALENDAR
Our schedule of upcoming member events and training opportunities.
Jackie Parker, the new head of global philanthropy for General Motors, discusses the evolution of a program that’s served generations of hometown families, and her goals for the company in both worldwide programs and corporate culture.
3 No16 | SUMMER 2016
IDEAS 2016 By Marc Schultz, Rachel Letcher, and David Terraso
GEORGIA NONPROFIT INNOVATION AT WORK Welcome to the third installment of our annual IDEAS roundup. We’ve reached a milestone with this issue, having amassed more than a hundred stories of creative solutions from across the GCN community. Among this year’s group, we’ve spotted some inspiring trends—an increase in the number and depth of partnerships, more sophisticated ways to tap new technology, breakthrough strategies, and imaginative outreach programs connecting with newcomers, supporters, policy-makers, and communities.
Beyond our annual call for IDEAS, the GCN editorial team is always pursuing stories of innovation. Let us know how your organization is taking its work to the next level, anytime, at NOW@gcn.org, and join the ongoing conversation in our Georgia Nonprofit Forum on LinkedIn and through @GAnonprofits on Facebook and Twitter.
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OUTREACH / PROGRAMS
A STAGE FOR THE ENTIRE COMMUNITY Committed to producing quality, professional theater for the Southeast, North Georgia, and their most devoted supporters in Gwinnett County, Aurora Theatre expanded their Teatro Aurora Spanish-language series with community engagement events, many free to the public, designed to build relationships and audiences. Celebrating the diverse Latin American cultures in Gwinnett County and Metro Atlanta, events range from festivals for Dia de los Muertos and Noche de Velas (a Colombian Christmastime tradition) to evenings of music and dance to critically acclaimed comedians and international guest artists. In just a year, those events have grown Teatro Aurora’s reach from 1,200 to more than 13,000. “Many of our audience members are relieved to find cultural experiences in their native tongue, and multiple generations of families often attend together,” said Director of Institutional Giving Liz Hartnett. A grant from The National Endowment for the Arts allowed Aurora to hire a full-time project manager, who has built strong connections with community partners and media outlets, and guided the project with an eye toward the future. In addition to programming more community events for the 2016-17 season, Teatro Aurora will launch a weeklong bilingual camp. Aurora has also programmed In the Heights, a story of Latin American identity and family written by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, as their main-stage season opener. “Our goal has always been to integrate Spanish-language and cross-cultural work,” said Hartnett. “We strive to be a theater that truly reflects our community onstage.”
PARTNERSHIPS / TECHNOLOGY
DELIVERING SUPPORT FOR SUPERHERO PATIENTS Last September, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta partnered with ride-sharing program Uber for Cape Day ATL, an annual city-wide celebration where thousands of people don capes to show support for the “superhero” patients at Children’s. Asking everyone in Atlanta to wear a cape for the day and share it online using the hashtag #CapeDayATL, Children’s sold capes ahead of time on their website, and also delivered them free of charge on Cape Day through Uber for those who still needed one. Not only did Uber deliver more than 200 capes in under three hours, they also made a $20 donation to Children’s for each cape delivered.
Superhero patient Hudson Lillystone was surprised by an Uber car full of superheroes, which took her to school and around Atlanta on Cape Day 2015. Photo by Aaron Coury
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PARTNERSHIPS / ADVOCACY
EXHIBITING THE EXPERIENCE OF NEW AMERICANS
PARTNERSHIPS / PROGRAMS
ONE-STOP SUPPORT FOR FARMERS SEEKING TO ACCEPT SNAP To build on their signature program doubling SNAP benefits at farmers markets, Wholesome Wave Georgia has taken a sidestep into the IT space with their EBT Technical Assistance program, setting up farmers markets and farmers to accept the State food stamp program. Until now, said Community Outreach Coordinator Rachael Kane, it’s been incumbent on markets and farmers to navigate the complex multi-agency sign-up process on their own, meaning only those with the highest capacity were able to qualify—leaving behind the very markets best positioned to reach SNAP users. As an organization in touch with all the agencies involved, Wholesome Wave decided to bridge the gap themselves. Their solution, said Kane, was to gather all the organizations that markets and farmers would need to go through for a one-stop-shop sign-up day. Rather than days or weeks of jumping through hoops and months of waiting to get an EBT machine, sign-up day registration takes two hours, and markets are typically accepting SNAP within four weeks. Kane calls the improvement for applicants “incredible,” and the USDA has taken notice: Their regional Food and Nutrition Services is spearheading an initiative to make EBT sign-up days a regular occurrence across eight states. (In partnership with Wholesome Wave, the Southeast Regional Office authorized 739 markets and farmers to accept EBT last year, outstripping the nation-wide USDA goal of 517.) “This program really completes the full circle of our work, which is breaking down barriers between people and healthy food,” said Kane. “We can’t stop with good prices for healthy food, we’ve got to make sure the people who need it have access.”
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Partnering with New American Pathways to locate stories and artifacts from the refugee community and other nonprofits serving them, the David J. Sencer CDC Museum mounted Resettling in America: Georgia’s Refugee Communities, an exhibit of photography, personal testimonies, and artwork exploring the challenges of resettlement and the resiliency of refugees. Focusing on Clarkston, a small Atlanta suburb boasting the area’s highest refugee resettlement rates, the six-month exhibit highlighted the work of ethnic communitybased organizations and local refugee service organizations like New American Pathways and Clarkston Community Center, who help facilitate effective integration. The goal of the exhibit was to communicate why and how refugees come to Georgia, the challenges they face upon arrival, and the Center for Disease Control’s commitment to protecting their health through front-line work and the philanthropic efforts of the CDC Foundation. “While making an honest presentation of some difficult dimensions of the refugee journey, this exhibition was not at all about hardship,” said Museum Curator Louise E. Shaw. “Instead, our goal was to celebrate the achievements and contributions of refugee families as they make new lives for themselves in America.”
IDEAS 2016
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE / PROGRAMS / PARTNERSHIPS
BUSINESS SERVICES THAT SERVE THE MISSION
Quantum, Inc. isn’t just a social enterprise bringing in revenue for the Coastal Center for Developmental Services (CCDS). It’s part of the nonprofit’s comprehensive efforts to empower their clients—adults with developmental disabilities—to become more independent, providing them with training where they can learn a range of vocational skills. It also turns satisfied corporate customers like Savannah Bee Company, Gulfstream Aerospace, and Dole into mission ambassadors, translating both to direct support—Quantum customers have become donors, volunteers, and word-ofmouth marketers—and greater opportunities for the CCDS service population. “Anytime we can make connections with people and organizations, it expands the world of those we serve,” said ED Kathy Thomson. With four separate service areas— catering, printing, specialized assembly, and packaging—Quantum gives CCDS clients a variety of training experiences and attracts a broad cross-section of businesses. “Because the variety of work available to our clients is just as wide as anyone’s, it’s critical to expose them to all the possibilities,” said Thomson, “and also to make sure that as many companies as possible realize the value they bring to a workplace.” PARTNERSHIPS / ADVOCACY / PROGRAMS
BRINGING NEIGHBORS TO MARKET, AND VICE-VERSA
Photo: Jenna Shea
As part of their efforts to better engage the communities their markets serve, Community Farmers Markets (CFM) developed a robust partnership with the Decatur Housing Authority that expands residents’ access to the local market and gives them new ways to incorporate farm-fresh produce into their diets. Shared goals like increasing health outcomes, along with the high number of residents qualifying for SNAP benefits (doubled at CFM-run markets through the statewide Wholesome Wave program), made the Decatur Housing Authority “a natural partner,” said CFM ED Katie Cash Hayes. With funding from the City of Decatur, the Blank Family Foundation, and others, CFM holds workshops and community events like cooking classes for seniors, weekly tastings for elementary schools students, and an annual Community Wellness Day celebration. They also provide round-trip market tours, complete with five dollars in market money for each participant. Building the program took several committed partners, said Hayes: Housing Authority staff takes care of marketing, the Wylde Center covers gardening education, and a team of “educational chefs” handles cooking classes. Feedback from participants and supporters has been entirely enthusiastic: “Decatur Housing staff always make time to stop by our classes and taste what we’ve been preparing,” said Hayes. “Class participants are always so proud—and sometimes in disbelief—over what they’ve made, and excited to share it.”
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FUNDING A FIX FOR GEORGIA’S EDUCATIONAL AID GAP Knowing that every student in the Atlanta Public Schools (APS) system deserves the opportunity to get a college education, and that Georgia remains one of only two states that doesn’t provide need-based financial aid, the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta partnered with APS and the Joseph B. Whitehead Foundation to launch a new scholarship program called Achieve Atlanta. Over 10 years, said Achieve Atlanta ED Tina Fernandez, their goal is to drive a 100 percent increase in the number of low-income APS students who earn a degree after high school: “We don’t know how many students fail to attend college purely for financial reasons, but we know from our research that financial barriers are a major obstacle.” Launched in July 2015, Achieve Atlanta recently handed out its first round of scholarships, totaling approximately $3.7 million, for students attending college this fall. “We estimate that about 70 percent of APS graduates going to college this year will do so with an Achieve Atlanta scholarship,” said Fernandez. More than $13 million has been set aside for those students to renew their scholarships over the next five years, and the plan going forward is to award as many scholarships as they can: “There’s no annual limit.”
PROGRAMS / OUTREACH / RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
RAISING A CROP OF CAREER-READY KIDS
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Taking their young residents “from homelessness to hope” is a multi-faceted challenge that Covenant House Georgia (CHGA) tackles with a range of on-campus programs, including a longrunning gardening program that Development Coordinator Jillian Robinson calls “naturally good for the mind and body.” With a new program expansion called Help Us Grow, or HUG, it’s also become a natural platform for leadership development, vocational training, community outreach, and revenue-generation. Consisting of a social enterprise that sells naturally-grown seedlings and a gardening leadership academy, HUG gives participants lessons in “everything from soil composition and companion planting to product packaging and transactional skills,” said Robinson, broadening their horizons and readying them for jobs in a number of fields, including agriculture, customer service, and retail inventory management. In addition, HUG customers—many of whom are organizations that use seedlings for event giveaways— can often be counted on to spread the word of CHGA’s work. “Just participating in a farmers market—getting the chance to interact with customers and other vendors—is a great learning experience in itself,” said Robinson, who sees participants quickly warm to the work. Coupled with exposure to concepts like local food systems, sustainability, and healthy eating, added Robinson, and they’re putting participants on a path toward “self-sufficiency, independence, and a healthy lifestyle.” Georgia Nonprofit NOW
IDEAS 2016
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KICK-STARTING A MICROBUSINESS MOVEMENT OUTREACH / PARTNERSHIPS
AN ADULTSONLY COOKIE TASTING Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta (GSGATL) and SweetWater Brewery joined together to host a surprisingly sophisticated cookie party, tapping SweetWater’s staff expertise to pair a variety of Girl Scout cookies with complementary brews. Held in February, before cookies were available to the general public, the exclusive Girl Scout Cookies & Beer Pairing event drew more than 900 people, despite temperatures in the low 20s. In addition to promoting cookie sales—each guest took home a postcard listing cookiebeer pairings and a website for locating nearby cookie booths— GSGATL wanted to re-introduce Girl Scouts to Millennials, the parents of scouting’s next generation and a huge source of potential volunteers and donors. Along with on-site guests, the Cookies & Beer Pairing event attracted bloggers and media outlets, including popular social news website Buzzfeed, whose coverage attracted more than 12 million views nation-wide.
Because small businesses make a big difference in communities—providing jobs, economic stability, and needed services—East Lake Foundation has made supporting entrepreneurs a vital part of its “holistic model of revitalization” for Atlanta’s East Lake and Kirkwood neighborhoods. “Small businesses don’t just attract people and dollars, they provide a generational legacy for residents and their families,” said Director of Communications Catherine H. Woodling. According to Emory University research, 20 percent of all private sector jobs in the U.S. are created by enterprises with fewer than five employees, but those “microbusinesses” are seriously underrepresented in high-poverty neighborhoods. To close the gap, said Woodling, East Lake Foundation partnered with Emory’s Goizeuta Business School to launch the Start Micro-Entrepreneur Accelerator Program in East Lake (Start:ME), helping individuals with the vision to start their own businesses gain the know-how, networks, and funds they need. In its second year, the 14-week Start:ME program is equipping 17 entrepreneurs with training (through the Social Enterprise @ Goizueta program), mentorship (provided by local business-owners), and early-stage financing (through sources like PNC Bank, the Fuqua Foundation, and individual donors). Graduates from year one include Nicole Boney, who was able to turn her home kitchen into a full-time commercial bakery, and new art gallery owner Monica Tookes, who called the program “the most rewarding experience of my life.”
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BIG DATA / OUTREACH / PARTNERSHIPS
A SECOND ACT FOR GEORGIA’S FIRST EARLY EDUCATION RESOURCE MAP The groundbreaking Blueprint project from the Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students (GEEARS) has already helped policy-makers, funders, journalists, and parents get a clear look at Georgia’s early education landscape, said Director of Research Hanah Goldberg, by bringing together data sets from sources like the U.S. Census, Emory University, and a number of state agencies. Mapping “dozens of indicators” related to education readiness, including poverty rates and premature births, qualityrated childcare providers, and more, Blueprint was the first statewide initiative for Neighborhood Nexus, providing a proof-of-concept for the mapping project of Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta that’s lead to further data-sharing agreements. Now, the second version of Blueprint is set to boost the tool’s access and usability by bringing a streamlined version of the map to mobile devices. Going live in the fall, Blueprint 2.0 will include an app for phones and tablets featuring a select range of data points, including county-wide snapshots and legislative overlays that advocates can use to make a case anywhere they happen to be. In addition, said Goldberg, GEEARS is planning training sessions with community partners across Georgia “to get our data tools in the hands of stakeholders.”
OUTREACH / PROGRAMS / ADVOCACY
HOW MORE TRIPS MEAN MORE ADVOCATES (NATURALLY) Since it was founded on a group hike in 1967, Georgia Conservancy has lead excursions to explore the state’s natural wonders. In 2012, they realized that the trips program was taking up resources that might be better spent on advocacy. Rather than cut it, they saw its potential for outreach, education, and networking: “Above all, we’re in the business of conservation,” said the Conservancy’s Senior Director of Development and Marketing Bryan Schroeder. “But people want to protect the places they love: the places they bring their families, where they’ve made a real connection.” With funding from Solstice Foundation and REI, the Conservancy launched a more ambitious Service Weekend trip series that proved “explosively” popular, leading to further partnerships with outdoors organizations like The Georgia Canoe Association, who approached the Conservancy to manage and expand their paddling excursions, and individual supporters like Atlanta artist Kyle Brooks, whose friendly paintings have been touring the state with Conservancy hikers for a program called Bears Around Georgia. In four years, the trips program has grown from 10 events per year to 50, and from 200 yearly participants to more than 3,500, with a range of options that ensures anyone can participate. It’s also allowed the Conservancy to build a more complete statewide network of supporters: “Our big trips incorporate a lot of what we do policy-wise, in terms of research into what makes small towns vibrant,” said Schroeder. “That allows us to make meaningful connections with local officials who have been working for years to conserve local resources.”
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ADVOCACY / OUTREACH / TECHNOLOGY
HELPING PARENTS WITH THE POWER OF A TEXT ADVOCACY / OUTREACH / PROGRAMS
PERSONALIZING HIV POLICY FOR GEORGIA LAWMAKERS Though advocacy has led to millions of dollars in federal funding for HIV research, care, and prevention, Georgia continues to rank among the states most dramatically affected by the disease. To educate local elected officials on the epidemic, and how policy reform is essential to end it, Georgia Equality started a one-onone outreach program called Youth HIV Policy Advisors. Because Atlanta youth are much likelier than those in other major cities to become infected in their lifetime, said Field Organizer Emily Brown, Georgia Equality decided that those young people should be the ones taking the advocacy reins. Initially conceived as a presentation series, input from a young activist gave them the idea for a one-on-one model to better ensure policymaker accountability. “Matching each youth with an elected official provides them the opportunity to understand the experience of being HIV positive in a specific, personal way,” said Brown. Since 2015, Georgia Equality has recruited two classes of Youth HIV Policy Advisors through the network of youth service providers they oversee, the Atlanta Coalition for LGBTQ Youth. Recruiting elected officials for the program, said Brown, is a matter of targeting those likely to become ”champions” in their respective legislatures. So far, those officials have included State Senator Vincent Fort, Atlanta City Council Member Alex Wan, and Fulton County Chairman John Eaves. In addition to working directly with officials, youth advisors have crafted and presented a policy agenda, part of which was incorporated into Fulton County’s newly-released Strategy to End AIDS. Participants have also trained more than 100 others living with HIV to become advocates, said Brown, “truly re-igniting this work in Atlanta.”
Expanding on their work to improve childcare standards and access, Quality Care for Children launched the Georgia Parent Power texting program to give parents timely insight into their child’s development. Once parents text their child’s birthday to the system, they’ll receive two free text messages each month with helpful information specific to their child’s age, up to five years old. “We realize that staying informed is important to parents, but can often be overwhelming and time consuming,” said CEO Pam Tatum. “Georgia Parent Power was created to supply parents with a regular, reliable source of concise information specific to their child.” Covering a wide range of topics including developmental milestones, childcare quality indicators, and literacy tips, each text also links to a blog post with additional detail and resources. Since launching in late 2015, the program has already delivered more than 120,000 text messages to Georgia parents.
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POWERING THE NEXT GENERATION OF STEM SCHOLARS Having spent more than a hundred years providing energy to state residents, Georgia Power understands the value of investing in the next generation. To help prepare the leaders of “tomorrow’s highly-skilled workforce,” said Media Strategist Ashley Stukes, Georgia Power launched an education resource program for schools called Learning Power, providing free, customized curricula and materials centered around the STEM subjects of science, technology, engineering, and math. That support includes in-class, hands-on lessons from Georgia Power’s own education coordinators covering topics like simple circuits, electricity generation and distribution, achieving energy efficiency, and more. Since 2011, Learning Power has engaged nearly 360,000 students in 14,000 classrooms statewide, earning praise from 96 of participating teachers, who called it “very effective at educating students about energy efficiency.” Stukes said the program has become a highlight of Georgia Power’s history-spanning commitment to education, which also includes partnerships with Junior Achievement and annual assistance grants for new teachers.
OUTREACH / PROGRAMS
A NEW NETWORK FOR IN-DEMAND NAVIGATORS As an organization working to increase coverage and access to health care, Georgians for a Healthy Future has been exhilarated to see the state’s uninsured rate drop by 5.5 percent since the Affordable Care Act became law in 2014. They also knew, said ED Cindy Zeldin, “that there was more work to do to ensure that people could make sense of their coverage, access needed health care services, and know where to turn when they faced a problem.” In response, they created the Georgia Enrollment Assistance Resource (GEAR) Network, a program to connect and support the professionals who help consumers navigate the health care enrollment system. GEAR provides multiple opportunities yearly for enrollment assisters to gather and discuss new research, best practices, and lessons from the latest enrollment period. In addition to live events like luncheons, workshops, and a statewide summit debuting this August, GEAR also offers resources and networking opportunities online: “We work to facilitate information-sharing however possible,” said Zeldin. Besides unifying professionals and empowering them to best serve consumers, Zeldin added, GEAR has helped improve the system they rely on: “When we identified inaccuracies in provider directories, a tool many use, we successfully enacted state legislation to clean them up and establish standards of accuracy and usability.”
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MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS / OUTREACH / STRATEGY
THE CRAFT AND VALUE OF A UNIVERSAL MESSAGE As an organization housing youth in foster care on a campus remote from many of their potential supporters, Goshen Valley Boys Ranch needed a way to make instant connections with people anywhere. “Getting support means reaching your audience personally,” said CEO Zach Blend, “but not many people have experience with foster care, or can make it to Waleska for a visit.” With the help of a marketing firm, and an eye toward crafting a message that would be effective in any medium, they arrived at a new communications strategy captured in the phrase “Burden to Blessing,” which Blend said “draws out the deeper themes of what we do.” Rather than start with particulars, Burden to Blessing describes the internal transformation experienced by anyone who has struggled with trauma—including difficult emotions like fear, anger, and despair—and overcome it to achieve a sense of confidence, accomplishment, and peace. Blend found his staff eager to take the “simple but dynamic” message and run with it. A website makeover emphasizes the theme in bold, clear terms, and they’ve also found success communicating the message through emails, print materials, and even on merchandise. “Staff wear the t-shirts all the time,” said Blend. “We’ve all been energized by the ability to take our message everywhere we go.” Goshen Valley supporters have also been energized, Blend added, supplementing donations with renewed volunteer and outreach involvement.
OUTREACH / VOLUNTEERS
MAKING SERVICE A FAMILY AFFAIR With demand for kid-friendly volunteer opportunities on the rise, it made perfect sense for Jewish Family & Career Services (JF&CS)—an organization helping families overcome challenges and thrive—to find more ways to get families volunteering. Staff worked with a team of passionate volunteers interested in helping expand service opportunities, developing guidelines to make it easy for busy parents to sign on. The result is Families Inspired to Serve (FITS), featuring activities appropriate for parents and kids in terms of both skills and time required. A successful FITS activity, said Marketing Communications Coordinator Sheri Panovka, involves “a mix of education and hands-on fun, and often a simple reward like a snack.” Another key is thinking through the logistics for each age group: “How will a 6-year-old handle this transition compared with a 10-year-old? Will kids get the message, or do we need to explain it differently?” The coordinator and chair of the program, added Panovka, frequently use their own kids as “guinea pigs” for tasks and messaging. Since launching in February 2015, word-of-mouth and the marketing efforts of their volunteer planning team have created such interest that waiting lists are needed for most FITS activities, which have included sorting donated school supplies, delivering food for Passover, and stocking JF&CS’s Kosher Food Pantry. “We’re touched by parents’ excitement to share their passion for service with their children,” said Panovka. “Parents are even seeking ways to involve entire classrooms.” No16 | SUMMER 2016
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ANOTHER UNDERSERVED AUDIENCE, ANOTHER NEW EXPERIENCE
RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT / STRATEGY
REVENUE REMODELING To ensure the future of its work—distributing medical supplies to the places they’re needed most—MedShare took on a project unlike anything in its 17-year history: re-evaluating, and restructuring, their approach to fundraising. As part of their work in GCN and The Bridgespan Group’s Leading for Impact program, MedShare’s CEO, CFO, and development department staff spent half a year figuring out their greatest potential sources of support. The first stage, said Chief Development Officer Sue Brandt, was crafting initial hypotheses about the relative potential of various funding sources. Following that was a review of historic fundraising data and interviews with peer organizations, extrapolating results to predict the best donor types to focus on,” and discovering, “after hours of in-house data analysis,” that their hypotheses were incorrect. MedShare’s best bets turned out to be individuals who already supported them and several large foundations they didn’t realize would be open to supporting them. Taking a gradual approach to implementing the new funding model, MedShare has started with “task realignment” that frees gift officers to pursue the most promising leads. “We’ll be using an interim model to test our findings before we make the full change,” said Brandt. “In the meantime, the process has helped to solidify agreement between the administration and the Board of Trustees around a strategic, methodical approach to fundraising.”
The Morris Museum of Art has long welcomed organizations serving adults with special needs on an ad-hoc basis; in 2014, they decided to make a formal program, called Discovery, to better answer the demand. As the parent of a teenager with special needs, Curator of Education Michelle Schulte knows first-hand the importance of cultural opportunities for a population that becomes increasingly isolated as they get older: “There is very little to do for teens and adults with developmental disabilities,” said Schulte. “We wanted to offer them something more meaningful than a typical trip for groceries or clothes.” A successful Museum program for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients had already primed staff to work with people who think and behave differently, and with further training provided by Schulte, staff were ready to welcome Discovery audiences. “It’s an experience, not a tour,” said Schulte, in which groups of no more then five accompany a docent according to either a set theme or the group’s own interest: “If they’re particularly taken with one painting, our docents know the direction to take them in.” That’s followed by a hands-on activity like painting, sculpting, or weaving. With enough demand for four events a month—two organizations have standing monthly visits—Discovery has become another vital part of the Museum’s programcentric work bringing in visitors. “We really pride ourselves on our outreach,” said Schulte. “We like to say, ‘If they don’t find us, we’ll go find them.’”
COUNTRY Financial is proud to partner with the Georgia Center for Nonprofits in supporting the financial futures of GCN’s nonprofit members.
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MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS / OUTREACH / PARTNERSHIPS
BETTER ENGAGEMENT THROUGH EXPERIENTIAL DESIGN To get the most out of their season-ending show The Wonder Years, always the largest performance of the year, Moving in the Spirit teamed up with Atlanta’s trailblazing, internationallyrespected Portfolio Center design academy for a program that instantly connected new audience members to the organization, re-energized supporters, and pioneered outreach techniques brandnew to organization, which has been cultivating young leaders through dance for 30 years. A meeting between Moving in the Spirit’s new director of opportunity and the Center’s community relations manager led the Center to create a new course to answer the nonprofit’s design challenge: How do we maximize the impact of our biggest show? “Experiential Brand Design” engaged a dozen students in a quarter-long project to analyze the nonprofit’s work and design a show-lobby experience translating what makes Moving in the Spirit special into terms that both new and existing audiences can understand. “The program was designed to take a discrete event and push it outside the confines of one theater or one night,” said Director of Marketing and Communications Erin Weller Dalton. Digital installations and hands-on activities were planned to make online sharing easy, as well to get audience members talking one-on-one with people already affected by Moving in the Spirit. “Each station is run by a mix of parents, alumni, and long-time volunteers,” said Dalton. “What people get is an organic, personal introduction to the organization. It’s about creating relationships.”
PROGRAMS / VOLUNTEERS
DEFEATING HUNGER, SIX DOLLARS AT A TIME The Save It Forward program from MUST Ministries is giving supporters an easy, cost-conscious way to provide families with children in Cobb County and Marietta City schools with needed food and toiletries, distributing coupons and lists of items totaling no more than six dollars to area schools, churches, businesses, and civic organizations. Anyone who wants to can volunteer to pick up coupons, shop from a list, and drop off their purchases for donation. “We decided on a six dollar price point to allow the most people to participate,” said Director of Program Operations Rhonda Smith. “For less than the cost of a lunch outing, people can help us meet the needs of children.” Started at Alive Ministries in 2010, the program has been evolving ever since, adding three new food pantries following their merger with MUST Ministries last fall. This past April was Save it Forward’s biggest month yet, with more than 26,500 pounds of food distributed. Plans to expand the program are underway, aiming to cover more district schools and eventually reach other Metro Atlanta school systems.
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PARTNERSHIPS / PROGRAMS / TECHNOLOGY
TESTING OUT A MOBILITY REVOLUTION MANAGEMENT / TECHNOLOGY / PARTNERSHIPS
80 HOURS OF PLANNING, ONE QUICK SCRIPT As co-director of two yearly international academic conferences, Society of Biblical Literature Director of Programs Charles Haws is responsible for scheduling some 500 sessions at each, accounting for the needs of 2,000 unique participants. For years, said Haws, it took a week to construct an initial schedule, followed by another week of resolving the inevitable scheduling conflicts by hand. Researching solutions, Haws found an academic paper, “Scheduling Parallel Conference Sessions,” by a statistics professor at Trinity College Dublin, Dr. Brett Houlding. “I had no idea what some of the author’s terms meant, but I didn’t have anything to lose by contacting him,” said Haws. “He wrote back quickly to tell me how their school is set up to accept project proposals.” Soon, Haws was partnering with one of Houlding’s fourthyear students, largely over Skype and email. “He worked for nine months documenting requirements, then coding instructions and algorithms,” said Haws. The result is a one-hour process for a complete, conflict-free schedule: “I get four data files together, run a computer script, and then upload the file it creates to our database. Meeting scheduled!” Besides saving nearly two weeks of labor, said Haws, the computer program accounts for all the factors he can’t—like tracking 250 topic areas, ensuring attendees won’t have to choose between two sessions they find equally important: “By giving members the chance to attend sessions most relevant to them, the scheduling script puts us in a much better position to achieve our mission.”
For decades, the mobility options for people who have lost the ability to walk—due to spinal cord injury, stroke, or other conditions—have been limited to wheelchairs. With the completion of a landmark study at the Shepherd Center, that paradigm might be up-ended by a device called the Indego: a robotic “exoskeleton” that gives patients the ability to stand and walk on their own two legs. Overseeing more than 1,300 individual sessions with the Indego in its uptown Atlanta facilities, Shepherd proved that the motorized braces were effective and safe for patients with paralyzing spinal cord injuries, leading the FDA to clear it for rehabilitation and personal use in March. Shepherd’s involvement in the project started in 2010, when Indego was still under development at Vanderbilt University, said Casey Kandilakis, the project’s research coordinator. They were chosen not just because of their service population— patients with spinal cord injuries and brain injuries—but because of their experience testing treatments of all kinds: “We worked closely with them over the next two years to facilitate their engineering advances, provide clinician guidance into design and functionality, and trial it with individuals.” Shepherd became the lead clinical partner in 2012, when Parker Hannifin licensed the technology from Vanderbilt and contracted Shepherd for testing, training other test centers, and monitoring ongoing trials. The success of those trials means that patients across the country can begin using Indego, including in Shepherd’s own outpatient and Beyond Therapy programs. It also means that Shepherd will continue to lead trials aimed at expanding approval of Indego for a range of conditions. PARTNERSHIPS / PROGRAMS
GIVING VOICE TO ATLANTA’S TREES This spring, The Nature Conservancy in Georgia and Trees Atlanta worked together to bring the national program If Trees Could Sing to the Atlanta BeltLine Arboretum, an interactive program aiming to better connect people (and their smartphones) with nature. Tree-mounted signs equipped with scannable QR codes and text-to-view technology link participants to videos of musicians like Amy Grant, Kristian Bush, 8Ball, and Atlanta’s own Doria Roberts talking about their favorite trees and the benefits of each. The concept began with The Nature Conservancy in Tennessee, and was initiated locally when Trees Atlanta contacted the Georgia chapter to see if it could be brought to Atlanta. The two organizations are currently busy recording more videos for the series with a new slate of artists, and finding more opportunities to grow their partnership.
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IDEAS 2016
PROGRAMS / TECHNOLOGY
AN APP FOR DISEASE ELIMINATION Long a pioneer in its field, the Decatur-based Task Force for Global Health developed a smartphone-based data collection application called LINKS that informs efforts to control and eliminate neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) currently affecting more than a billion people. Using the LINKS system, The Task Force and its partners recently completed the largest disease mapping project ever undertaken, giving them the means to eliminate a 30,000-year-old NTD called blinding trachoma that threatens people in 51 countries. “In order to implement a comprehensive strategy to eliminate trachoma, we need to know exactly which communities are affected by the disease,” said Data Analyst Beck Willis. Previously, infection data was gathered village-to-village using paper surveys—not just cumbersome, but slow enough that finalized data was often no longer accurate. Powered by LINKS, said Willis, the Global Trachoma Mapping Project took just three years to complete, “the fastest any disease has ever been mapped globally.” The mobile technology platform has given The Task Force and its partners in Pfizer, the World Health Organization, and dozens of other implementing agencies the means to end blinding trachoma by 2020. The Task Force is also using mobile technology for in-the-field diagnostics, analyzing blood samples for another NTD called lymphatic filariasis. “As mobile technologies develop,” said Willis, “they can be further harnessed to improve the health of populations living in developing countries.”
PARTNERSHIPS / PROGRAMS
SERVING FOUR MISSIONS WITH ONE WELL-CONNECTED SERIES As a nonprofit serving other nonprofits, Atlanta Community ToolBank is positioned to make innovative sector connections. One case in point is Tables for Vets, a program advancing the goals of four different nonprofits. It began with a request from CHRIS Kids, a frequent tool borrower, who were seeking opportunities to train their kids in basic home repair and landscaping. “We were starting a new Tool Trainings program, and told them to bring the kids to us,” said ToolBank ED Patty Russart. To engage their young trainees, said Russart, program designers knew training needed to result in something participants could see and touch: “It made perfect sense to make an end-product they could use at the Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta. They’ve long borrowed tools to build tables for their clients—it’s one item they never have enough to give out.” The final puzzle pieces came from long-time ToolBank supporter The Home Depot Foundation, who supplied trainers in the form of Team Depot volunteers. “They already wanted to get involved in the Tool Trainings program, and loved the idea of working with kids,” said Russart. The Foundation also added another level of beneficiaries: Because their top priority is serving veterans, the Furniture Bank made sure vets received the tables built and donated by trainees. The first Tables for Vets project was modest in terms of numbers—four Team Depot volunteers worked with six CHRIS Kids teenagers to produce four tables—but outsized in terms of its effect on participants. “It was actually quite emotional for the volunteers, and exciting for the kids, some of whom had never even held a tool before,” said Russart. “Both the Foundation and Chris KIDS are looking forward to another round.”
IDEAS 2016
ADVOCACY / OUTREACH / PARTNERSHIPS / PROGRAMS / TECHNOLOGY
ACTIVATING NEIGHBORHOODS WITH BIG DATA DISCUSSIONS Building on a City-commissioned project analyzing satellite data of Atlanta’s vegetation cover, Trees Atlanta secured a gift from Google’s Community Grant Fund of Tides Foundation to turn the new database into an interactive online map and an on-the-ground discussion series that make the data relevant and actionable for individual neighborhoods. With help from the original project’s research team at Georgia Tech’s Center for Geographic Information Systems, Trees Atlanta launched Atlanta’s Tree Canopy Tool online, and chartered its first community-based Canopy Conversations. “Based on the current state of their canopy, different neighborhoods have unique priorities,” said Co-Executive Director and COO Connie Veates. “Communities with healthy coverage may focus on conservation, while those learning that coverage in their tree-lined neighborhoods is actually below average, or suffering development-related tree removal, might think about new plantings.” After four Canopy Conversations, Trees Atlanta has learned that the most effective meetings are audience-led, and organized within the community, rather than for it. By 2020, Canopy Conversations plans to reach 45 neighborhoods—every community that touches the Atlanta BeltLine—promoting city-wide ownership of the issues Trees Atlanta fights for. “We’re creating relationships, increasing education, and opening channels of communication,” said Veates. “Our intention is to activate residents, giving them the resources to make an immediate impact on the ground and in local legislatures.”
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LEADERSHIP
THE POWERS THAT BE (AND HOW THEY ARE USED) By Sir José Bright
Power: It’s a word that often brings to mind force, military might, or compelling people to do things they don’t want to do. But power has many attributes other than position and coercion. If you think about power in terms of teachers and students, it’s easy to remember those you obeyed because you feared what would happen if you didn’t, and those you didn’t mind, or even enjoyed, taking direction from. No matter who you’re leading—an organization, a team, or a group of volunteers—it’s important to recognize different types of power, as well as their consequences, and understand when to use each type. In general, there are five styles of power that leaders use in their relationships with others: 1. Positional power 2. Coercive power 3. Reward power 4. Expert power 5. Personal power THE FIRST TIER: POSITIONAL, COERCIVE, AND REWARD POWER Positional power is the authority that comes from your place in an organization. For example, the CEO has positional power over everyone at the nonprofit by virtue of her role. This type of power depends mostly on facts: If someone doesn’t report to you, then you don’t have positional power over them. In that case, you have to use another type of power. In the absence of (or in addition to) positional power, you can use coercive
power to lead: applying force, the threat of force, or manipulation to get others to act on your agenda. The boss can coerce subordinates to take specific action by reminding them they could be fired if they don’t. On a team project, members can put pressure on an individual opposed to the general consensus by threatening to report them to higher-ups, or refusing to do their own parts. Taking a staff member out to lunch for a job well done, giving them a bonus, or promising them a raise are examples of reward power. Of course, not everyone can dole out rewards, and doing so too frequently can lead people to expect a reward and become upset if they don’t get one. THE SECOND TIER: EXPERT AND PERSONAL POWER Using coercion breeds resistance, while using positional power and reward power encourages mere compliance. If you want to inspire
SOME QUESTIONS TO HELP YOU REFLECT ON YOUR POWER AND POWER POTENTIAL: 1. What kinds of power am I currently using? 2. How effective are those powers in terms of productive people and goals met? 3. What other forms of power should I be applying to improve results? 4. What kind of skills do I need to develop to more effectively exercise different types of power? 5. Who can help me develop the kinds of power I need?
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LEADERSHIP
commitment and dedication, you need to develop and rely on your personal power and your expert power. People with expert power are sought after because they are knowledgeable. They understand the way things work and how to get things done. People seek them out because they possess experience, qualifications, and the will to make themselves useful to others. In general, there are two kinds of people with expert power. There are those who have a set of skills or understanding
TIPS ON DEVELOPING PERSONAL POWER 1. Take an interest in people personally, and socialize with them. 2. Minimize your use of domination, manipulation, and other kinds of coercive power. 3. Don’t allow your emotions to dictate your behaviors. 4. Listen!
in a specific area like finance, law, or marketing. Then there are those who may not have formal knowledge, but rather the intelligence and experience to navigate issues, processes, or communities. Both kinds of people are vital for nonprofit success, and it’s important that everyone in an organization learn how to identify and use their expert power. People with personal power are those you just want to work for, often because they’re smart, exciting, or truly appreciate their staff. A leader with personal power knows how to align the desires of others with her own, motivating people to want what she wants. Personal power can embolden people to do things they’ve never done, and see that they can be successful in almost any endeavor. Some people are born with personal power, but it can also be developed through genuine efforts to develop healthy, enabling relationships with others. That means being interested in people beyond their organizational position and what they can do for you in the workplace, and treating them the way you want to be treated: with dignity and respect. People with personal power try to help coworkers and subordinates
be all they can be. They start by giving others information, meaningful work, and opportunities to take corrective action, while avoiding being negative or getting outwardly upset. Once you develop personal power, making people feel valuable and acknowledged, they will open up to you, trust you, and go the extra mile for you. BE THE POWER YOU WANT TO SEE Naturally, people tend to practice the kinds of power that were practiced on them during their formative years. While positional power, coercive power, and reward power have their places, overreliance on them can lead not only to an unhappy workplace, but one that’s less successful in meeting goals. Fortunately, anyone can learn to use more of their expert and personal power with practice, patience, and the desire to succeed. Sir José Bright is vice president of GCN’s Nonprofit Consulting Group.
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20 Georgia Nonprofit NOW
SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
THINKING LIKE AN ENTREPRENEUR Nonprofit funding traditionally comes from foundations, grants, or individual donors. But more and more, nonprofits are looking to fill out their portfolios with earned revenue—that is, a social enterprise that acts like a for-profit business in support of the mission. To help nonprofits learn to think and operate like entrepreneurs, GCN piloted its Nonprofit Entrepreneurial Accelerator program this spring, in partnership with The Coca-Cola Foundation. The Accelerator facilitators, Nonprofit Consulting Group VP Sir José Bright, and Senior Consultants Karin Douglas and Jeanne Drake Ward, spoke recently about the concepts behind this endeavor, and how nonprofit leaders can broaden their economic outlook. What’s different about an entrepreneur’s mindset?
while entrepreneurs fulfill the mission by delivering new ways to look at things.
Sir José Bright: Entrepreneurs are different because they see a world filled with opportunities. Thinking like an entrepreneur means looking all around you for the opportunity to bring in financial resources by providing a product or service. It’s a hard transition for a nonprofit leader: Where a typical nonprofit mindset says, “Let’s go for funding,” an enterprising leader will think, “What can we do with our assets to bring money in?”
Earned revenue is a wonderful way of answering donors’ newest question, “How do you plan to be sustainable?”
Karin Douglas: Another part of entrepreneurship is the ability to generate ideas that solve a problem or answer a need. Nonprofits tend to think about fulfilling the mission by delivering programs,
Bright: Nonprofits need to consider a social enterprise as resources become more competitive and donors look for more self-sufficient prospects. Earned revenue
is a wonderful way of answering donors’ newest question, “How do you plan to be sustainable?” Earned revenue can also serve as the operational funding that’s hard to get from donors. Can you name a few of the Georgia nonprofits riding this entrepreneurial trend? Douglas: Lifecycle Building Center, a participant in GCN’s Momentum: Westside, takes building materials from tear-downs and donates some of them to nonprofits that need renovation supplies. The rest they sell to the public and use in building workshops that people pay to attend. They’re grabbing stuff that someone has cast off, and are using it not just for the mission and for education, but also for revenue.
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SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
Bright: The Atlanta Center for Self Sufficiency runs Cafe 458 here in town. Part of their work with homeless people is workforce development, so Cafe 458 serves their clients with training in hospitality and food service while generating revenue.
Douglas: If you’re going to start a business, you have to be willing to invest in it, but you have to be realistic about what it’s going to cost and what you can afford. Marketing and PR are also critical: You have to let people know what you are doing.
When approaching new ideas for creating revenue, how can nonprofit leaders think more like entrepreneurs?
Bright: And because nonprofits often don’t have the budget to go on television or radio, you’re going to have to be entrepreneurial in looking for other opportunities to get the word out—online and on the ground.
Douglas: Because all earned revenue is business, you have to treat it like a business. Bright: That means you need a business plan. First, conduct a feasibility study that asks, “Will this idea fit within the organization? Do we have the people, resources, and space to tackle it? Have we done the research to see if there’s a demand for this particular product or service?” Next, assess the existing providers for that product or service, knowing it’s going to be more challenging to compete with brands that already have loyal customers. Jeanne Drake Ward: Make sure you have access to people with the expertise you need. For example, The Giving Kitchen is made up of people in the restaurant industry, so they clearly had the expertise to open the restaurant, Staplehouse, that’s currently bringing money in to the nonprofit. Bright: If you don’t have the operational expertise in-house, it’s important to get it from either an advisor or a strategic partnership. Ward: A good example of that is Moving in the Spirit, who is working on a line of dance wear through our Accelerator. To supplement their in-house knowledge, they recruited a technical designer from Spanx, a former buyer for Macy’s, and a digital marketing director with his own firm.
How can nonprofits learn entrepreneurial skills? Ward: There are plenty of resources available, including our Accelerator. We also have consultants to provide hands-on guidance and Nonprofit University courses that can help. Resources are also available through Coursera online classes; SCORE, a mentoring service for young entrepreneurs; and the Social Enterprise Alliance. Douglas: Those in the nonprofit world can benefit by developing relationships with people outside of their particular area, and outside the sector altogether. You don’t know what’s going to spark that revenuegenerating idea.
Too often, we don’t look at a failed venture as something to be understood and re-attempted. …An entrepreneur understands that an idea you believe in is worth another try.
Is it useful for a nonprofit to think like an entrepreneur, even if it doesn’t have a product or service to sell? Ward: Absolutely. All nonprofits are in the business of selling solutions, and they all have a target market beyond their service population: the people they rely on to fund those solutions. To reach them, nonprofits need to use many of the same prospecting and pitching techniques as entrepreneurs. Bright: Entrepreneurial skills are required for nonprofits to remain relevant and competitive in their ability to harness resources. Given increasing competition for funding, donors’ interest in sustainability alone should push nonprofit leadership to start thinking more entrepreneurially. The nonprofits that survived the great recession adopted entrepreneurial skills to become more sustainable and push themselves to the next stage in their development. One example of that is investing in technology like apps and social media. If nonprofits stuck with 20th century communication methods, they’d find it challenging just to reach people. Douglas: All nonprofits would benefit from another way entrepreneurs think differently: being willing to fail. Ward: And to learn from it! Douglas: Too often in the nonprofit world, we don’t look at a failed venture as something to be understood and re-attempted. Maybe the issue was the wrong market, or the wrong time of year, or another factor—an entrepreneur understands that an idea you believe in is worth another try. Facilitated by David Terraso, communications director for GCN.
We at Mauldin & Jenkins believe nonprofits are the heart of Georgia’s communities. Thank you for your passion and mission.
INTERVIEW
EXPECTATION, EXPANSION, INTEGRATION: A PHILANTHROPIC PROGRAM GETS FULLY ENGAGED
At our annual GCN Corporate Community Breakfast in May, we welcomed corporate philanthropy veteran Jackie Parker—currently director of global philanthropy and corporate giving at General Motors (GM) in Detroit, and formerly head of philanthropic and diversity programs for Atlanta-based Newell Rubbermaid—to speak about the changes corporate grantmakers are undergoing to accommodate a more competitive and interconnected nonprofit market. In a follow-up conversation with GCN President and CEO Karen Beavor, Parker discussed the process of adapting GM’s philanthropic goals to better meet needs locally and globally, and how both methods and mindsets must change if companies, nonprofits, and communities want to meet tomorrow’s challenges. Karen Beavor: How does a large, international company like GM or Newell Rubbermaid approach its CSR and philanthropic efforts in their home communities? Jackie Parker: GM is taking a new journey to expand corporate giving beyond their largely hometown-based strategy. My initial approach was to understand how we’ve been making grants in Southeast Michigan, and analyze the types of grants, the relationships, and the historical context of giving in this community. Detroit is different from Atlanta, in that the auto industry is driven by union workers. With bonds formed over generations, a union community has a family-like sense
of connection, leading to tight relationships and a large degree of legacy giving: 94 percent of our giving was annual, involving the same events and the same activities every year. That dynamic makes it particularly challenging to introduce flexibility or innovation into the system. Talking to stakeholders gave me the perspective to turn the atmosphere of expectation into engagement, by way of a cohesive strategy that embraces innovation—which of course might change or end some of those legacy relationships, but replaces them with more effective and expansive grantmaking. The overall goal for our charitable giving is to deliver more value and to do so in ways that are clear, demonstrable, and measurable.
Everyone is making an independent contribution, but there are too many issues—from housing to education to employment—for one company to do it all.
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INTERVIEW
Beavor: How have you changed the company’s philanthropic priorities to better align Southeast Michigan’s particular needs with GM’s capacity to help? Parker: It is CSR’s responsibility to help solve social issues where our corporate headquarters are, but the Detroit city system has a history of troubles—in terms of finances and leadership—that means corporations have had to step up and play a more vital role. The problem is that those efforts are not collaborative: Everyone is making an independent contribution, but there are too many issues—from housing to education to employment—for one company to do it all. GM is headquartered smack dab in the middle of the city, and we want to lead. I sum up our new service areas by saying we are driving social impact to fuel communities—including Detroit—to become more safe, to become smarter, and to become more empowered. The way I solidified our focus areas was by looking internally at our core competencies—What is it that GM uniquely does? What are some of the business opportunities that impact our company?—and then at what our peers are focusing on socially. Considering how we can align opportunities, core competencies, and social issues—the intersection of all that insight led us to a focus on vehicle and road safety, STEM education, and economic empowerment. Detroit is a city coming back from bankruptcy with a school system that continues to fail its students. We want to effect change through urban revitalization, career readiness, and workforce development, with work that will go beyond grant dollars and utilize the time and talents of our thousands of employees located in Southeast Michigan. Our skill in innovation—we were first to invest in ridesharing programs Lyft and Maven, and leveraging technology is a sweet spot for us—leads us to support education in STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and math), which also dovetails with our workforce development goals. Investing in STEM education is also important because about a third of our workforce will be retiring soon, and we’ll have a workforce shortage unless we introduce more students to science. We believe early exposure to STEM means a higher chance kids will enroll in postsecondary universities and become the hires we’ll need. That’s why we are investing in “access programs” that pique their interest with science fairs, competitions, and fun topics like robotics. Our participation also
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matters because, even when students do earn a degree in technology, they tend to go to an Apple, and not an automotive company. Beavor: It reminds me of the nursing profession, where there is also a shortage: Despite what people think, it’s become a high-tech profession. There will always be hands-on patient care, but at this point it’s also delivered through amazing devices. The industry has to redefine itself. Parker: Exactly. We have locations everywhere, so it’s not just about leveling the playing field for Detroit kids: We’re investing in programs that will prepare kids to enter the workforce and succeed in the jobs of the
It’s not just about leveling the playing field for Detroit kids: We’re investing in programs that will prepare kids to enter the workforce and succeed in the jobs of the future.
INTERVIEW
future. There’s a reason the White House has an initiative to enroll more kids in STEM. We want more students to have the combined skillset needed to innovate for tomorrow. Beavor: How do you find the partners or investments to take that mission globally? What’s a country that GM would approach, and how? Parker: For example, let’s think about India: There is much revitalization needed in some of their townships, so we’re looking at helping empower those communities. In the more industrialized areas, there are so many cars on the road at any one time, and kids aren’t constrained in car seats, so enhancing vehicle and road safety will also be key. Go to South Africa, and you’ll see issues around workforce readiness similar to the problems we’re facing in America, with an automotive industry that’s now dependent on technology. We have to localize the strategy, but the overarching objectives and goals are transferrable. For road safety globally, it might be making sure that children are protected in their seats. Domestically, it would be eliminating distracted driving among teens. Beavor: Research is so important to figuring out what the issues are. Is the hardest part picking partners? Parker: My plans are to partner with an intermediary organization headquartered in the US to vet local organizations that could identify the right NGOs to work with, like the role played by the Community Foundation for grantmakers: You earmarkwhere you want your funding to go, and they help you manage and administer your grants.
My audacious goal is to integrate philanthropic giving potential from every corner of the company… We want everyone— finance, supply chain, operations, procurement— to ask, how can I help solve a social issue? Beavor: What are some innovative methods or strategies you’ve pursued? Are there any new practices that you’ve seen in your space making an impact?
Parker: One innovative competency we do well in is repurposing our waste: Around 80 percent of our waste, especially plastics and aluminum, are put back into our vehicles. That’s a skillset that I can take into a developing country, and show them how the same concept or the same framework can apply: Here’s what you are throwing away, let me show you where you could re-use it to solve some of your cost and sustainability issues. My audacious goal is to integrate philanthropic giving potential from every corner of the company. Remember when diversity was launching as a priority? People had to start shifting their mindsets to prioritize inclusion in everything they did: Hiring, recruitment, management, retention, and everything else required this new lens of inclusion. For me, social investment strategy is the same: We want everyone—finance, supply chain, operations, procurement—to ask, how can I help solve a social issue?
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PARTNERSHIPS
A CALL FOR COLLABORATIVE SOLUTIONS By Betsy Reid
Since 2007, The Home Depot Foundation has invested more than $3 million in 200 of Atlanta’s highest-performing nonprofits through its Building Community Network (BCN). Presented in partnership with GCN, the program strengthens organizations by building peer networks, providing information and resources on pertinent trends, and investing in vital operational support.
26 Georgia Nonprofit NOW
In 2014, BCN began a strategic shift towards nonprofit collaborations, aiming to amplify community impact by leveraging Design Thinking, a proven method for crafting creative solutions to difficult problems. This intensive process employs active exploration, ideation, prototyping, and testing. Critical to the process is distilling the challenge at hand into a single, provocative “How might we…?” design question that prompts out-of-the-box thinking and spurs innovation. The BCN team began by asking its own design question: How might we catalyze collaborative action among Atlanta’s top nonprofit organizations? Last year, BCN piloted a collaborative design grant process in which the Foundation put forth nearly $300,000 to fund the initiatives of six nonprofit teams. The project has since expanded with a “speed dating” event to help nonprofits spark potential collaborative ideas, and a June Design Thinking workshop helping 40 new teams turn their ideas into solution prototypes. This fall, those teams will have the opportunity to compete
for funding through The Home Depot Foundation’s 2016 Collaborative Design Challenge. At a May panel discussion, representatives from some of the six original collaborative teams reflected on the Design Thinking experience, reported on their progress in developing and structuring joint initiatives, and shared on-the-ground insight about the work of collaboration-building. “The Home Depot Foundation is proud to provide seed funding and the opportunity for these innovative collaborations to grow and thrive into epicenters of collective impact.” said Catherine Stodola, Atlanta Giving, The Home Depot Foundation. “We believe strongly in the collaborative atmosphere of Atlanta’s nonprofit community, and are honored to have hosted and partnered with the organizations in Building Community Network over the past decade.” Betsy Reid is vice president, marketing and communications at GCN.
PARTNERSHIPS
How might we…?
Six pairs of Building Community Network organizations have projects underway, with more to come. In brief, here are their design challenges, collaborative solutions, and some on-the-ground insight about the work involved in putting them together: How might we fill gaps in sex trafficking services for LGBTQ youth?
This collaborative solution pairs youthSpark’s new Youth Services Center with Georgia Equality’s Atlanta Coalition for LGBTQ Youth, using case management to connect sexually-exploited LGBTQ youth with a wide range of services, and training to teach service providers how to modify existing programs to meet these youths’ unique needs. “Our partnership is founded on a shared vision—to enhance access to services for an oft-overlooked segment of trafficking victims. By keeping our focus on the outcomes associated with achieving that shared vision, we’re able to work as a single team despite being in different organizations.” —Alex Trouteaud, Ph.D., Executive Director, youthSpark
How might we increase employment opportunities for homeless individuals?
This collaborative solution led to a formal partnership between Atlanta Center for Self Sufficiency and City of Refuge to enhance vocational training in culinary and auto tech fields with life skills instruction and hands-on experience. “Both of our agencies share a mission of transformation and self-sufficiency for those who are homeless and living in poverty. Our partnership has worked well because it builds on the strengths of each agency and reduces the need to duplicate programs and services.” —Dana Johnson, President and CEO, Atlanta Center for Self Sufficiency
How might we provide meaningful work for disabled adults?
How might we provide support to help overcome the trauma of homelessness?
Truly Living Well Center and the Frazer To empower individuals with the hope they Center have designed a cooperative need to move forward in changing their program, “Soul to Soil,” combining urban circumstances, CHRIS Kids therapists offer agriculture with pre-vocational training for individual counseling and a weekly support adults with disabilities, aiming to plant hope, group for the residents of Rainbow Village, grow abilities, and harvest opportunity.” a transitional housing community for Training leads to employment and supports homeless families with children. a social enterprise selling naturally- and “Working together has enabled us to organically-grown produce. empower these individuals with the hope “Gardening is a metaphor for building good they need to move forward in changing partnerships. Breaking new ground to sow their circumstances.” seed requires commitment and hard work. —Violetta Ardoin, Chief Programs Each partner must invest time and resources Officer, Rainbow Village to cultivate the relationship. In the end, the harvest yields far more than the seed.” How might we work together —Carol Hunter, Chief Administrative Officer, Truly Living Well to improve the high school
How might we enrich the summer camping experience of children with disabilities and health challenges through dance?
Camp Twin Lakes and Atlanta Ballet are collaborating to introduce a new dance program for the 2,500 campers served by Camp Twin Lakes at their Rutledge campsite. Debuting in summer 2016, a ballet instructor has joined specially-trained camp staff to create dance classes tailored to individual camper needs, based on their level of mobility and other differences. Campers are also educated in nutrition and healthy bodyimage awareness. “The art of dance provides something special, as a form of expression and as development for the mind and body. Even though camp has just begun, early indications show that this dance program is extremely beneficial to the students. Both partners have made a multi-year commitment in order to fully realize the potential and learn from the experience.” —Sharon Story, Centre for Dance Education Dean, Atlanta Ballet
graduation rate for lowperforming school clusters throughout Georgia?
Leveraging Future Foundation’s afterschool program and Communities In Schools of Atlanta’s case management expertise, this collaborative model was piloted in a south Atlanta community to target students in grades 8 to 12 at risk of dropping out, providing them with coordinated, comprehensive support to help them envision a successful future. Beginning engagement in middle school prevents students from dropping out in 9th grade, the most risky year, putting them on the path to graduate and matriculate to post-secondary education and employment. “Creating system-level change takes time, in-depth evaluation of outcomes and operational process, and the development of a strong communication plan. Collaborative work pushes organizations to think through and evolve their models to better account for dynamic environmental factors.” —Brittany Gray, Director of Planning and Strategic Initiatives, Future Foundation
27 No16 | SUMMER 2016
RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT
YOUR ROAD MAP FOR GEORGIA GIVES DAY 2016 By Rachel Letcher
We are excited to present our fifth annual Georgia Gives Day on Thursday, November 17, 2016. Join our online giving movement, fueled by a growing collaboration of nonprofits, companies, foundations, media outlets, and government partners, which has contributed $9.2 million so far to our state’s nonprofits. Start planning now to take full advantage of this unique opportunity to activate your cause champions, expand your circle of supporters, and join your sector colleagues in raising awareness of the many missions that are collectively making our state a better place to live, work, and play. Last year, Georgia Gives Day raised a record-breaking $3.67 million—up 60 percent over our 2014 tally—from close to 17,500 donations, all made in a single day. Nonprofits who saw the most outsized results were those that developed compelling, sustained campaigns and fully leveraged incentive programs, from power hour participation and golden ticket giveaways to fielding their own “Max My Gift” challenges. Georgia Gives Day has also proven a strategic opportunity to energize current donors and attract new ones. Our 2015 postevent survey found that 20 percent of Gives Day donors gave more than they’d initially planned, 14 percent gave to a nonprofit they’d never given to before, and 8 percent were making their first-ever nonprofit donation. With just four months until Georgia Gives Day, here’s a guide to get your campaign planning in motion. We’ll be rolling out additional, free-to-use support resources over the next few months to help you create a campaign that will benefit your organization, and help us smash records again this year! Rachel Letcher is communications coordinator at GCN.
28 Georgia Nonprofit NOW
FIRST: REGISTER If you’ve participated in years past, you’re already registered for Georgia Gives Day 2016. If this is your first time, visit GAgives.org, sign up your organization today—all Georgia nonprofits are eligible—and take advantage of our free online fundraising tools and training opportunities. (The deadline to register is Oct.1.)
NEXT: START PLANNING 1. ADD November 17, 2016 to all of your organization’s calendars—including those for development, communications, programmatic and executive staff, board members, and volunteers. 2. ASSEMBLE your Georgia Gives team and designate a campaign leader. If capacity is a problem for an area like promotion, consider a short-term partnership with a savvy student or skilled volunteer to support the initiative. 3. GET a specific fundraising goal for a specific project or need. 4. BUILD your Georgia Gives profile on GAgives.org. Finish your profile with photos, mission or impact statements, information on needs, client or volunteer testimonials, videos from the field, and anything else that will tell donors the story of your work. Be sure to personalize the thank-you email that donors will receive, explaining the impact they’ve made possible. (Our Guide to Building Your Profile can help you get started.) 5. JOIN the community conversation by connecting with @GAgives on Facebook and Twitter, and using #GAgivesday to tag all your posts. 6. FOLLOW GCN on Facebook, Twitter, and our gcn.org/blog, then look for our email campaign to start up this summer with the latest news, tips, event announcements, and resource opportunities. 7. CATCH UP on our resource collection, including on-demand webinars, toolkits, guides, FAQs, and articles to jumpstart your planning, all available for free at gcn.org/ GAgives/resources. 8. SEEK matching or challenge grants through foundations, regular donors, and your personal network. (Start with our Max My Gift Guide and on-demand webinar.) For more information, visit GAgives.org and gcn.org/GAgives/resources. Questions? Contact our team at info@GAgives.org.
COMMUNITY
Highlights at GCN
Sir José Bright has been named GCN’s new Vice President, Nonpofit Consulting Group. GCN welcomes to the staff David Terraso as Communications Director and Sarah Bigorowski as Association & Event Manager. On May 24, GCN launched Work for Good, our new vision for bringing together mission-driven organizations and talent across Georgia and nationwide. We’re excited to build on the 16-year legacy of our Opportunity Knocks job board—supporting 30,000 employers and engaging 400,000 professionals—by creating the next-generation hiring resource and career destination for the purpose-driven community. GCN members benefit from discounted job postings at workforgood.org.
In April, GCN launched the Nonprofit Entrepreneurial Accelerator, in partnership with The Coca-Cola Foundation, to help women- and minority-led nonprofits create social enterprises to support their mission. The program is taught and coached by Consulting Group VP Sir José Bright, Senior Consultants Jeanne Drake Ward and Karin Douglas, and Affiliate Consultants Clifford Yeldell and Robert Yeldell. The four participating nonprofits, along with their entrepreneurs and enterprises, are Community Assistance Center, with ED Tamara Carrera working on boutique expansion and redesign; GCAPP, with CEO Kim Nolte working on parent-education and sex-education products; Moving in the Spirit, with Director of Opportunity Heather Infantry working on private-label dancewear; and the Andrew J. Young Foundation, with ED Kathy J. White working on aquaponicsgrown food in urban “food deserts.”
29 No16 | SUMMER 2016
COMMUNITY
GCN and The Home Depot Foundation kicked off the 10th year of the Building Community Network with a breakfast event engaging 140 groups in a lively discussion of Design Thinking, followed in June by a full-day workshop helping 40 organizations distill and focus their ideas into proposals for the Network’s 2016 Collaborative Design Award competition. Over 100 corporate partners gathered for GCN’s Corporate Breakfast at Piedmont Park to hear Jackie Parker, head of global philanthropy and corporate giving at General Motors, speak on GM’s use of mission impact as a growth and innovation strategy.
GCN’s Momentum initiative is expanding with this spring’s Momentum: Atlanta cohort, engaging five metro nonprofits in GCN’s process to strengthen business strategies and leadership skills, thanks to our partnership with The Kendeda Fund and The Zeist Foundation. Participants include Dyslexia Resource Trust, WonderRoot, True Colors Theatre Company, Museum of Design Atlanta, and Georgia Interfaith Power & Light.
Recent member events focused on leadership, leadership transition, and financial services: Senior Consultant Mary Bear Hughes presented “How Prepared Are You for an Emergency? Planning for Leadership Succession;” Consulting Group VP Sir José Bright presented “Your Personal Leadership Brand” in April; and experts from Quattro led a webinar tour of essential tools and strategies for finance and accounting. Nonprofit University continued to roll out the Development Institute this spring, launching its first three Master Classes— Executive Leadership in Fundraising, Designing and Executing World-Class Fundraising Events, and Foundation Relations—each engaging a small group of seasoned development professionals in a five-month series that combines full-day seminars with long-term practicums, giving each participant the chance to put new knowledge into action for their organization under the guidance of a master practitioner.
Learn more about GCN's Momentum process and partners at GCN.ORG/ MOMENTUM
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COMMUNITY
Starting in July, Nonprofit University began the rollout of the Development Institute’s Introduction to Nonprofit Fundraising series, six courses designed to provide a comprehensive orientation to the practice. In September, we’ll launch 19 targeted intermediate courses and six curated mutli-course series that expand competencies across critical development practice areas.
Nonprofit University’s High Potential Diverse Leaders Class of 2016 is well underway, engaging 27 nonprofit upand-comers in an immersive, six-month experience that prepares them to assume executive roles in the sector.
NU faculty led custom courses this quarter including board retreat facilitation for Junior League of Dekalb County, led by Glenda Hicks; a human resources session for the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council by Charlene Fitzpatrick; and workshops at the national Disabled Sports USA Leadership Conference on human resources and volunteer management, led by Fitzpatrick and Beth Fenger. GCN’s Nonprofit Consulting Group team is facilitating strategic planning for Childkind, Together Georgia, GCAPP, Spruill Center for the Arts, Georgia Rehabilitation Institute’s Walton Foundation for Independence, The FultonDeKalb Hospital Authority, and The Giving Kitchen. Also underway: market research for Wholesome Wave Georgia and Together Georgia, executive transition for Computer Management Group, and executive coaching for the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, Southeast Region. Senior Consultant Jeanne Drake Ward and Consultant Tommy Pearce led the annual executive retreat for Together Georgia. GCN Development Director Justin Banta facilitated a development course for the Community Foundation of Northeast Georgia.
GCN Senior Consultant Elizabeth Runkle facilitated board training for Share Health Southeast Georgia and a training for Gulfstream Aerospace’s community partners, focused on board development for nonprofits. Senior Consultants Karin Douglas and Jeanne Drake Ward led trainings for MarketSource, including “Community Impact: Introduction to Board Service and Strategic Volunteering.” Senior Consultant Mary Bear Hughes led a panel discussion for Young Nonprofit Professionals Network Atlanta, “Your Path to the Corner Office,” an exploration of career stages, including how to recognize your current stage and how to prepare for the next. Panelists included two executive directors that GCN helped place, C5 Georgia’s Chandra Stephens-Albright and Emmaus House’s Joseph Mole.
Following last year’s successful pilot of Breakthrough: Strategies for Sustainable Funding on the Georgia coast, a second cohort of nonprofits began the program in April: Camden County CASA, Habitat for Humanity of Camden County, St. Marys Children’s Theater, and Quantum (a social enterprise of the Coastal Center for Developmental Services). This program is presented with the generous support of St. Marys United Methodist Church Foundation.
GCN Consulting Program Manager and Analyst Nicole Morado spoke at Wholesome Wave Georgia’s Picnic in the Park event on the impact of their benefits-doubling program for SNAP recipients, and facilitated a board training at the Atlanta Artists Center. The cohort for GCN’s Momentum for Early Childhood Success, 12 organizations and four state agencies serving the needs of young children and families in the Macon-Bibb County region, completed its yearlong program of training and coaching in June. In a continuing partnership with The Peyton Anderson Foundation, GCN is bringing several participants back together to explore and advance a vision for a collaborative, region-wide system of care.
31 No16 | SUMMER 2016
COMMUNITY
Member & Partner News More than 600 participants gathered to raise upwards of $250,000 for local wishes at the 12th Annual Walk For Wishes Atlanta, benefitting Make-A-Wish Georgia. Photo by Nicole Wood
ACHIEVEMENTS Celebrating anniversaries this year are The Georgia Conservancy (50 years), ToolBank USA (25 years), and Mary Hall Freedom House (20 years). Horizons Atlanta’s Giving Day raised nearly $65,000 for their 2016 summer programs through online donations, corporate sponsorships, national prizes, and the fundraising efforts of their eight metro Atlanta sites. The 12th Annual Choose Success Awards Dinner for Communities in Schools of Atlanta raised more than $530,000, setting a new record for the yearly fundraiser and celebration. The Food Bank of Northeast Georgia received a $150,000 grant from the Walmart Foundation’s State Giving Program to support its A Fresh Approach to Ending Hunger campaign.
PEOPLE Bobby Dodd Institute has named Larry Gluth as its next president and CEO, succeeding Wayne McMillan who is retiring after 16 years in the role. The Center for Puppetry Arts named John Moye and Jamie Pryor to its board of directors. Eric Robbins will become the next president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta in August, succeeding Michael Horowitz, who retired at the end of last year. Robbins currently serves as executive director of Camp Twin Lakes. Jon Copsey joins Chattahoochee Nature Center as marketing manager. Georgia Organics has appointed Sarah Bartlett as director of development and welcomed four new board members: Charlie Barnes IV, Louisa D’Antignac, Christopher Glover, and Sujit Sharma. Ellen Macht was elected board chair. Joining the board of Habitat for Humanity North Central
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Georgia are Susan Beers, Resa Kelley, and Brian Pounds.
Miller, Brian Moote, Jennifer Grant Warner, and Kristie Williams.
Lindsi Pearson is now vice president of corporate and event development at MakeA-Wish Georgia.
Jay Cranman is the new president and CEO of Hands On Atlanta, having previously served as the vice president of corporate partnerships at Points of Light.
Jekyll Island Foundation welcomed Eugene M. Rackley IV to the board. Cindy Bowden was appointed executive director at Clarkston Community Center. GEEARS welcomed Jackie Gingrich Cushman, Nancy Rafuse, and Sarah-Elizabeth Reed to its board. Joining Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta are Allison Mendel as project manager and Joel Abramson as senior development officer. The Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta has named Joel S. Arogeti board chair. Frazer Center has announced the election of eight new board members: Courtney Adler, Sharon Day, DJ Jeyaram, Bilal Malik, Jonathan
GCAPP welcomes to the board Dr. Taz Bhatia, Leslie Neland, and Brittany Padgett. Hal Clemmer joined the board of ToolBank USA. Fred Assaf, Joshua Wilson, Larry Patrick, Charisse Evans, Kevin Custis, and Ben Aune joined the board at Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta, and Stephanie V. Blank has been named chair.
HONORS Among Atlanta Magazine’s 13 Women Making a Mark honorees were Tara Stoinski of Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, Jen Hidinger of The Giving Kitchen, Kate Atwood of Kate’s Club, and Kristin Connor of CURE Childhood Cancer.
Hi-Hope Service Center was the recipient of the Nonprofit Award, and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta took home the Healthcare Award, at the Gwinnett Chamber’s 2016 IMPACT Regional Business Awards presentation. The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta has named as its 32nd annual Managing for Excellence Award winner Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta, which will receive a $75,000 award, along with an array of recognition opportunities and customized consulting services.
Twin Cedars Youth and Family Services was awarded $47,000 from this year’s Clays for a Cause sporting event, held by BatsonCook Construction. Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International received a €30,000 grant from the European Outdoor Conservation Association to
fund their gorilla protection work, including field staff at their Karisoke Research Center. Interfaith Community Initiatives and Jewish Community Relations Council of Atlanta packed 200 boxes of medical supplies to send to underserved people around the world. Volunteers from Jewish Family & Career Services of Atlanta sorted and packed more than 12,000 pounds of donated items to make 7,962 meals for the Atlanta Community Food Bank. STRIVE Primary School, part of the KIPP Metro Atlanta Schools network, celebrated becoming Georgia’s 1000th LEED-certified building. The Nissan Foundation made grants of $10,000 to Catholic Charities Atlanta for their Refugee Education and Engagement Project, and $20,000 to the National Center for Civil and Human Rights for their NCCHR Diversity and Multicultural Program.
IMPACT The Arby’s Foundation aims to end summer childhood hunger in Atlanta with their “School’s Out, Food’s In” program, which will provide
Among the honorees at the annual Womenetics POW! Awards luncheon, celebrating excellence in leadership, were incoming CDC Foundation President and CEO Judy Monroe and CURE Childhood Cancer ED Kristin Connor. Senior Connections spotlighted Dr. Donald and Mary Ellen Harp of Peachtree Road United Methodist Church as guests of honor at their 2016 Senior Prom, naming them co-recipients of this year’s Community Connections Award.
To celebrate National Women Build Week, Habitat for Humanity-North Central Georgia partnered with Lowe’s to take dozens of volunteers on a “Girls Night Out Build” in Woodstock.
COMMUNITY WELCOME NEW MEMBERS The Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta has announced its 2016 grant cycles and launched a new online portal for nonprofits. The Foundation has also aligned its grantmaking priorities around five impact areas, identified as critical to the success of the region: arts, community development, education, health and human services, and nonprofit effectiveness.
United Way of Greater Atlanta is kicking off its third annual “Silence the Growl” campaign, fighting summer hunger among children who receive federally-funded free and reduced meals during the school year. Last year, United Way and its partners provided more than 30,000 meals to children; they hope to double it this summer.
more than 285,000 meals to Atlanta-area school children this summer. More than 100 Clayton Countyarea volunteers, including 16 county jail inmates, distributed 35,000 pounds of donated items to Clayton residents in need, including fresh produce, chicken, canned goods, and bread provided by the Atlanta Community Food Bank, Midwest Food Bank’s Georgia division, and area grocers.
forces with Southface and Rabaut Design Associates to increase awareness of child safety, health, and well-being by designing a child-safe activity room for a home in the 2016 Southeastern Designer Showhouse & Gardens. The Coca-Cola Foundation awarded $1.8 million in grants for the Centennial Olympic Park District, including $50,000 to Atlanta Mission and $30,000 to Children’s Museum of Atlanta.
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and its accidentprevention outreach initiative, Safe Kids Georgia, have joined
Society of St. Andrew
Eyedrum Art & Music Gallery
Healing Women of Atlanta
Georgia Asylum and Immigration Network (GAIN)
Fulton County CASA
Christian Counseling Services of Georgia
Camp Horizon
Family Promise of North Fulton/Dekalb
Family Motivational Care
Augusta Warrior Project
Twin Cedars Youth and Family Services
Agape Women’s Ministry
Ashantilly Center Quest for Change
Warrior2Citizen
Lunches for Learning
Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International
The W-Underdogs
ARC International Ministries
Thomasville Community Resource Center
Georgia Debutantes and Masters Commission
The How Far Foundation
Yunus Creative Lab
Clayton County Community Services Authority
Restoration and Purpose for Women
Community Solutions KidBuilders
The UPS Foundation will award more than $7.4 million in global diversity and inclusion grants to 36 different organizations, including 100 Black Men of America. Welcoming America Deputy Director Rachel Peric moderated a discussion, “Opportunities for New Americans,” at the Clinton Global Initiative America 2016 held in Atlanta in June. SunTrust Bank will donate $2 million to Georgia State University for a first-ofits-kind Student Financial Management Center, part of an effort to prevent financial problems from forcing students to drop out of college.
Share your news with the GCN community. Write to NOW@GCN.ORG
Last year, the Atlanta chapter of KPMG’s Family for Literacy program, established to combat childhood illiteracy, provided more than 6,300 new books to more than 2,500 Atlanta-area children; since 2007, the national program has donated 2.6 million books and contributed volunteer and financial support to First Book. The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation has committed nearly $7 million of its $15 million pledge to invest in improving Atlanta’s Westside communities, and hundreds of Blank associates have volunteered on seven different “Brush with Kindness” projects, including refreshing paint on six Atlanta Habitat for Humanity homes.
NONPROFITS
Georgia Music Foundation Candler Park Conservancy Movie Maker Mentors Vision Rehabilitation Services of Georgia The Venture PLUG Corporation 21st Century STEM Foundation The Grace House Flux Projects Kumasi Charitable Foundation PD Gladiators Covenant Care Services Safe Solutions Environmental Education Alliance of Georgia
The Generation Group
DDD Foundation
Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change
CareGivers 911 Life Care and Wisdom Center Primrose Schools
ASSOCIATES
Family Concern International
Kareem Hall
Postpartum Progress BUSINESSES
Gwinnett County Public Schools Foundation Fund
Same Page Technology
The Lotus Initiative
Quatrro FPO Solutions
American Community Gardening Association Hammonds House Museum
MEMBER MILESTONES CELEBRATING 20 YEARS
CELEBRATING 15 YEARS
CELEBRATING 10 YEARS
Special Olympics Georgia
Communities In Schools of Georgia
CARE USA
People Making Progress Friends of Disabled Adults and Children Senior Services North Fulton Cherokee Child Advocacy Council Healthy Mothers Healthy Babies Coalition of Georgia
Atlanta Opera
Atlanta History Center
Atlanta University Center Consortium
Southern Center for Human Rights
Child Development Association
Fulton County Arts & Culture Atlanta Pride Committee Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta The Health Initiative Atlanta Celebrates Photography Volunteer Macon Capitol City Opera Company
Community Farmers Markets, Next Generation Men, and GCN Nonprofit Entrepreneurial Accelerator participants GCAPP and Moving In The Spirit were chosen to participate in Philanthropitch Atlanta, a fast-pitch social-impact idea competition held in May, where each took home a share of the $61,500 in cash grants awarded.
Covenant Community
Prevent Child Abuse Gordon County Emmaus House
Noah’s Ark Animal Sanctuary SisterLove The Georgia Center for Child Advocacy The Drake House STAND United Way of Camden County Georgia Head Start Association Communities In Schools of Fitzgerald-Ben Hill County The Joseph Sams School
33 No16 | SUMMER 2016
Calendar
What’s ahead: Complimentary GCN member events and webinars, and a full year of Nonprofit University programs including certificate series, clinics, and the continuing rollout of our Development Institute.
Learn more and register online at GCN.ORG/EVENTS.
Beginning August 26 | Atlanta NONPROFIT UNIVERSITY Development Institute
Master Class: Designing and Executing World-Class Fundraising Events Exclusively for seasoned development pros: An advanced five-month program providing hands-on coaching and personalized learning to help you master the art of fundraising event management.
Beginning September 22 | Atlanta NONPROFIT UNIVERSITY Development Institute
Beginning September 12 | Atlanta NONPROFIT UNIVERSITY Development Institute
Help your leadership team fully embrace and enhance your organization’s fundraising efforts with a sixcourse series.
Master Class: Mastering the Art and Science of Capital Campaigns Exclusively for seasoned development pros: An advanced five-month program guiding the creation of a customized winning strategy that will position your organization to close its next capital campaign at or above goal. Beginning September 13 | Atlanta NONPROFIT UNIVERSITY
Certificate of Nonprofit Organization Management This 360-degree orientation to NPO program management, presented in five all-day sessions, will help you learn the sector inside and out.
Beginning August 4 | Atlanta NONPROFIT UNIVERSITY
September 16 MEMBER EVENT
Certificate of Nonprofit Facility Management
Max Your Georgia Gives Day 2016 Campaign
Learn how to plan, renovate, and maintain your facilities in this five-part series, presented by facilitators from the Atlanta Chapter of International Facility Management Association (IFMA).
Our annual campaign launch event brings together participating nonprofits with peers, experts, and GCN’s team for a morning of knowledge-sharing and camaraderie, featuring a panel discussion and breakouts.
August 11 | Atlanta MEMBER EVENT
September 16 | Brunswick COMMUNITY EVENT
A Fresh Look at Board Engagement Join GCN senior consultant Karin Douglas for a conversation about activating your board’s leadership capacity in fundraising, board recruitment and advocacy—by inspiring your most vital volunteers with vision. August 23 | St. Marys COMMUNITY EVENT
Nonprofit Financial Sustainability GCN senior consultant Elizabeth Runkle will share tools to help staff, board members, and volunteers prepare your organization for a strong financial future. August 24 | Atlanta MEMBER EVENT
Family 2 Family Nonprofit Media Summit Our third annual event, hosted by WSB, features an interactive exchange with top broadcast, radio, print and digital media veterans to empower your team with the tools to effectively pitch your message to the media.
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Explore the complete Development Institute curriculum at GCN.ORG/DI
Intermediate Series: Fundraising for Executives & Board
Beginning September 28 | Atlanta NONPROFIT UNIVERSITY Development Institute
Intermediate Series: Foundation Relations & Corporate Giving Learn strategies for cultivating foundation and corporate relationships that translate into maximum funding to fuel your organization’s mission. Beginning September 28 | Atlanta NONPROFIT UNIVERSITY Development Institute
Intermediate Series: Individual Donors Gain a deeper level of understanding of the motivations, practices, and policies of different donors, and how to develop a comprehensive engagement strategy, in this six-course series.
Collaboration: Tools and Strategies Join GCN senior consultant Elizabeth Runkle to learn about how to create successful collaborations that maximize your organization’s mission impact.
September 29 | Atlanta MEMBER WEBINAR
Beginning September 22 | Atlanta NONPROFIT UNIVERSITY Development Institute
Unemployment & HR Liability Control 101
Intermediate Series: Development Office Management
Join GCN partner Unemployment Services Trust (UST) to discover some of the most common unemployment & HR risks that can cost your nonprofit thousands of dollars and get your questions answered live by an expert advisor.
Learn how to structure your development department in a way that strategically supports your organizational goals in this six-course series.
October 11 | Atlanta MEMBER EVENT
CEO Forum Following up our spring kick-off event, our Fall CEO Forum will again bring member chief executives together for an interactive, peer-led exchange on managing talent in a multi-generational workforce.
Beginning October | Atlanta NONPROFIT UNIVERSITY Development Institute
November 1 and 15 | Coast COMMUNITY EVENT
Master Class: Foundation Relations
Coastal Funder Panel
Exclusively for seasoned development pros: An advanced five-month program experience equipping you with a deep understanding of foundation philosophy, including strategies for cultivating foundation relationships by becoming one of their go-to resources.
Join local funders and GCN staff to learn more about funder requirements and how to clearly articulate your mission and impact. Beginning November 1 | Atlanta NONPROFIT UNIVERSITY
Beginning October 5 | Atlanta NONPROFIT UNIVERSITY
Certificate of Nonprofit Human Resource Management
Certificate of Supervision & Management
Our four-course series delivers a comprehensive, practical foundation to strategic HR practices.
Prepare for a supervisory role with the knowledge and skills needed to be an effective manager and team leader. Beginning October 12 | Atlanta NONPROFIT UNIVERSITY
Certificate of Nonprofit Marketing Essentials Learn the tools for building a strong marketing and communications program from the ground up.
Beginning November 3 | Atlanta NONPROFIT UNIVERSITY Development Institute
Intermediate Series: Event Management Learn the tools and systems needed to create and execute successful fundraising events in this sixcourse series. November 17 | Online
GEORGIA GIVES DAY 2016 Beginning October 20 | Atlanta NONPROFIT UNIVERSITY Development Institute
Intermediate Series: Grant Management Go beyond the basics to learn how to not only write compelling proposals but create a powerful grant management system. October 22 | Atlanta (Saturday Session) NONPROFIT UNIVERSITY
Nonprofit Board Leadership Clinic A full-day forum for nonprofit executives and board members: explore the best practices that drive exceptional governance, and receive an individualized assessment of your board.
Particpate in our fifth annual “flash mob” of giving, which builds on more than $9 million raised to date from 54,000 donors supporting 2,400 participating nonprofits.
No16 SUMMER 2016 Georgia Nonprofit NOW is a quarterly publication of the Georgia Center for Nonprofits, distributed exclusively to our members and partners. Georgia Nonprofit NOW Publisher: Karen Beavor Editor-in-Chief: Betsy Reid Managing Editor: Marc Schultz Contributing Editor: David Terraso Community Editor: Rachel Letcher Contributing Writer: Sir José Bright Design: Liska + Associates Photography: Jenn Pierce | Monkey+Squirrel
December 6 | Atlanta MEMBER EVENT
Write to us at now@gcn.org
Taking Measure
Georgia Center for Nonprofits Karen Beavor, President and CEO Chris Allers, Ph.D., EVP, Programs Laurie Baas, Controller Justin Banta, Development Director ignite@gcn.org Sir José Bright, VP, Nonprofit Consulting Group Leslie Meulemans, Nonprofit University Director Betsy Reid, VP, Marketing & Communications Reggie Seay, Membership Director membership@gcn.org David Terraso, Communications Director
Join GCN and Georgia Grantmakers Alliance to explore findings from our third collaborative survey of grantmaking trends from the foundation and nonprofit perspectives.t December 14 | Atlanta MEMBER EVENT
Holiday Party
The Georgia Center for Nonprofits builds thriving communities by helping nonprofits succeed. Through a powerful mix of advocacy, solutions for nonprofit effectiveness, and insightbuilding tools, GCN provides nonprofits, board members, and donors with the tools they need to strengthen organizations that make a difference on important causes throughout Georgia. Georgia Center for Nonprofits 100 Peachtree St. NW, Suite 1500 Atlanta GA 30303 gcn.org | 678.916.3000 © Copyright 2016 by Georgia Center for Nonprofits. All rights reserved.
100 Peachtree Street NW, Suite 1500 Atlanta, GA 30303
Let Work for Good work for you. Two months in, GCN’s workforgood.org is bringing together the purpose-driven community—supporting 30,000 employers and engaging 400,000 professionals— here in Georgia and nationwide. With the launch of Work for Good, we’ve introduced new job-posting tools to help employers target, track, and communicate; an all-in-one “premium posting” option to supercharge your search for talent; and e-newsletters featuring insight from HR leaders, nonprofit pros, and sector experts. As a GCN member, enjoy benefits like 15 percent off every single-job posting, 5 percent off alreadydiscounted packages, and 25 percent off your first single-job post. Get started with a visit to workforgood.org, create an employer account, and set up your organization’s complimentary listing in our employer directory. Want to learn more? Reach out to Chelle Shell at chelle@workforgood.org.
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