Yearly Archives

2019

Feb 25

Grants can help with capacity building, too

By Feature, Leadership

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

When Rev. Donovan Coley joined the board at the Fort Wayne Rescue Mission in 2006, he felt the organization had lost its way. The agency, established in 1903, was doing good work, he said, but its impact on the community was limited, and it didn’t have executive leadership.

“By the time I got into my second year on the board, I could see that we were spinning our wheels. There was no strategic direction. We were not addressing at a deep level the root causes of homelessness. We needed an executable plan of action to serve the clients in a way that’s truly transformational,” he said.

Coley wasn’t alone. The entire board realized it needed to do some serious work to competently lead the organization. Without a CEO, the board had taken on some day-to-day responsibilities, and it had gotten to point where it was often toxic.

So what did the board do about it? One of its first moves was to name Coley chief executive officer of the Rescue Mission and president of the Rescue Mission foundation. Another step was to look for financial assistance to help strengthen the organization from within. The nonprofit wanted to take a good, hard look at itself.

Enter the Fort Wayne-based Foellinger Foundation with a capacity-building grant. It was the first of five capacity grants the Fort Wayne Rescue Mission received from Foellinger.

“I think it was one of the best things that the Foellinger Foundation ever did was to come alongside the very heart and soul of an organization. It was their smallest grant, but yet, I believe it had the greatest impact because they focused on organizational health,” said Coley who became executive director in 2008. “The grant gave us that expanded capacity to really serve at a higher level.”

Four years ago, GrantCraft, a service of the New York-based Foundation Center, released the report “Supporting Grantee Capacity: Strengthening Effectiveness Together.” In the report, capacity building was defined as “fundamentally about improving effectiveness, often at the organizational level. The term is sometimes used interchangeably with other terms like organizational development, institution building and funding plus.”

Rev. Donovan Coley on capacity building. It is simply increasing an organization’s ability to maintain relevance, expand impact, enhance growth and affirm sustainability. So I would say, capacity building is when an organization takes seriously their mission and their vision and they are committed to doing what they do for the long term, and by having the right kind of leaders, right kind of strategic direction, the right kind of structure, the right kind of metrics and just having the right kind of tools to really guarantee that they’re people will be served at the optimum levels.

While not all foundations award capacity grants, both the Foellinger Foundation in the Fort Wayne area and Welborn Baptist Foundation in Evansville do. 

Cheryl Taylor, the Foellinger Foundation’s executive director since 2001, said that since 1992, the foundation has supported capacity building efforts in Allen County, but has not always used that term.

“Our theory of change is that the stronger and more effective the organization is, the better they’re going to be able to serve their clients, customers or consumers and that the stronger, more effective, more adaptive leaders are, the better they’re able to serve the people they’re targeting,” she said. “For us, capacity building is the focus on the internal development of the organization and how the organization itself get better.”

Last year, the foundation, which was 60years old, reviewed its capacity-building grants. In the last decade, it has awarded area nonprofits over $3.5 million as a part of a larger initiative. Part of what it wanted to learn was the impact these grants were having, and to assess how to improve the process.

“Evaluation is part of the foundation’s culture. Dollars are limited, and the question for ourselves was, ‘Why should we fund that?’” Taylor said.

Taylor also believes if a grant category is important, the foundation has an equal responsibility to explain why.

The Welborn Baptist Foundation has a similar focus on improvement. Both Welborn and Foellinger belong to a national organization, Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, which offers conferences and includes sessions about capacity building.

Two and a half years ago, Candice Perry was named Welborn’s nonprofit excellence officer. Perry’s position was added after Welborn staff members and board members had spent time evaluating the foundation’s three funding areas and long-term goals.

“We don’t call it capacity building because there are a lot of different entities using capacity building, and it means something different. What Welborn wants to see is more effective leaders creating lasting impact in their organizations within their service sector, the larger nonprofit sector and ultimately the community. We want to see a nonprofit achieve sustainability, impact and mission fulfillment by strengthening their leadership,” said Perry.

But it’s difficult. Foellinger’s Taylor believes that in order for a nonprofit to ask a program officer for help, there needs to be a level of trust.

“There is an element of fear in this,” Taylor said.  She said nonprofit leaders may worry that it reflects poorly on them if they come to a foundation and say “I need help looking at staff training or I need help on financial sustainability.”

But that’s not how Foellinger views it.

“Foellinger has been vocal for years that that is not going to affect your request in its regular cycle. In many respects, it helps you, because it indicates that you care,” said Taylor.

Taylor knows that not all capacity grants will be successful. She cited several organizations that investigated mergers, and after a fair amount of time, determined it wasn’t right.

“I’m fine with that, you looked at it and made the decisions for your organization,” she said. “In my opinion, one of the distinct opportunities that private foundations have is to essentially serve as the research and development function for the nonprofit sector. They often can be a little bit more flexible.”

Foellinger’s yearlong review resulted in refinements of its capacity-building grant   framework. The foundation recognizes that it needs to provide ongoing education to potential grantees and consultants about the value and importance of strengthening an organization’s foundation (For more information, see Capacity building grants: a new process).

No longer will the foundation simply ask grant applicants if their organizations have done any infrastructure work, but now will ask how the efforts have impacted regular operations, and essentially how what was learned was applied.

Moreover, the actual application process was formalized. Unlike most of the foundation’s grants, application questions for capacity building are not posted on Foellinger’s website.

“If we’re going to have the investment, rather than us just saying, ‘Here, answer these three questions,’ we formalized the process to make it more personal and specific,” said Taylor.

Now, a single program officer fields all requests, and then after a conversation with the nonprofit, tailors application questions specific to the nonprofit’s desired use of the funds.

Foellinger believes that it’s important for a grantee to have some skin in the game, and nonprofits that agree to commit some of their own money to a certain project can make a stronger case for support, although there is flexibility on the amount and type of commitment. Its capacity-building grants are turned around within 60 days.

Coley, of the Fort Wayne Rescue Mission, said the initial grant was critical and helped focus the mission’s work. It has changed its model in the emergency shelter and removed the revolving door practice. It has expanded its mental health services and developed multiple programs, including a long-term program that currently serves 70 people and invests in individuals, that Coley says transforms their paths instead of just warehousing them.

“As the organization became healthier, the foundation provided an opportunity for us to nominate a board member and to talk about the impact of the capacity-building grant on the organization, and one board member, Imogene Nusbaum-Snyder, won a prestigious award and the organization won a Better Business Torch Award.

“So I would say we just continued to become healthier and then that positioned us for other foundations and other funders to say, ‘There’s something going on over there,’ and now we’re in the midst of a $23.1 million capital campaign, and of all the major foundations have actually stepped in to say, ‘We would like to invest in the Fort Wayne Rescue Mission.’

“I cannot imagine where Fort Wayne Rescue Mission would be without the capacity building grants. I would encourage any organization to focus on that which is most important – capacity building.”

In the Evansville area, Perry has seen organizations moving to deeper conversations between board and staff to create a culture of learning.

“They are learning to put focus on mission and vision and aligning their resources to that vision. They are starting to ask questions that they didn’t ask before concerning how to prepare, how to plan, how to develop themselves. I’m hearing more executive directors say ‘You know, I understand that we’re not being strategic about how we’re using evaluation. Their thought process is going deeper than just service provision,” said Perry, who was the executive director of the domestic abuse service agency for nearly eight years before her current role.

She’s also seen more synergy between executive directors and boards.

“Everything we do has an evaluation plan around it, so hopefully we can watch that needle move. What we also want to foster is collaboration among sectors. We want nonprofits to be invited to the table, where they can influence community change by sharing what the needs are,” she said.

Feb 11

Insights from 2017–2018 CEO/ED Leadership Transitions

By Sponsor Insight, Uncategorized

By Bryan Orander, president, Charitable Advisors

Every two years, we do a quick analysis of the nonprofit leadership transitions Charitable Advisors has supported. Our takeaway two years ago was that an increasing number of new ED/CEOs were coming from outwardly facing roles like fundraising and advocacy in contrast to the longstanding “program expert” being the primary leaders being considered.

For this assessment, we analyzed the 26 organizations that we worked with through the entire transition process in 2017-2018. Internally, we found this exercise helpful to not only celebrate success, but also to set goals for the future.  

Here’s a brief summary of what we’re seeing from the frontlines.

Number of leadership transitions – In total, we supported 12 organizations in 2017 and 17 in 2018. Of that number, we were engaged in only the search-preparation work with several clients. For purposes of this analysis that brings the two-year total to 26.

The increase in transitions from 2017 to 2018 means this trend of retirements and turnover is continuing to impact our sector. We are already working with three organizations planning leadership retirements in late 2019 or early 2020.

First-time executive directors and CEOs – For 69 percent of the 2017/2018 hires, this was their first ED/CEO position. Of that number, 19 percent were internal promotions. In general, board members seem to have a preference for capable internal candidates, but many have limited knowledge of the staff leaders reporting to the ED/CEO.

Recruiting sectors: In total, 73 percent of the new leaders came from the nonprofit sector and 19 percent previously held business roles. We expect nonprofit backgrounds to continue to dominate but board members are sometimes open to business leaders who bring specific expertise or broad networks.

Age/generation: We debated whether to divide hires by generation or age group. We don’t track birthdays, so we estimated age and generation. It is a good sign that early and mid-career professionals are stepping up into the ED/CEO roles. On the downside, it may be getting harder for older leaders to find their next roles and that likely means we are underutilizing experienced people from our sector.  

Gender: The past two years have been a tale of two streaks. In 2017, our clients overwhelmingly hired female ED/CEOs. In 2018, there was an extended stretch that was heavily male. For the two years, overall, the mix was 65 percent female and 35 percent male. This overall mix is close to the national statistic but shows how small samples can skew perceptions.

Race/Ethnicity: I am pleased to be able to say that board leaders are becoming much more vocal about their desires to recruit diverse candidates who are often underrepresented on their leadership teams. We are also focused on improving this metric and can report that 19 percent (5) of our ED/CEO hires over this two-year period were leaders of color, including three of our last 10. With each search, we are working to expand our reach and visibility with the pool of capable diverse leaders. Our goal is to present a diverse slate of qualified candidates to every search committee.

To help support our effort, we encourage candidates to provide their information to our Executive Candidate pool even if current open searches are not of interest. Please submit at: https://charitableadvisors.hirecentric.com/jobs/133773.html

Looking ahead: As we look to 2019 and beyond, we anticipate a continuing flow of boomer retirements and natural leadership turnover that will provide opportunities for next generation leaders. It is our goal to continue to improve our processes and networks to make a positive contribution to the changes in nonprofit leadership.

We are excited about our reputation for being an affordable and effective alternative to board members taking on the search themselves in this tight labor market. Please contact Bryan Orander at Bryan@CharitableAdvisors.com or Don Gulbrandsen at Don@CharitableAdvisors.com with questions or comments about affordable, effective executive search or succession planning support.

Feb 04

United Way and Salesforce.org: Teaming up to change giving

By Feature, Technology

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

We live in an era where technology seemingly changes by the minute. What’s new today is old tomorrow. The trend is not lost on nonprofits, which continually seek how to best incorporate technology into their fundraising efforts.

With figures showing recent declines in charitable giving, the quest remains: Is there a digital platform that could reframe how nonprofits connect with donors and really transform philanthropy?

Chris Herndon, chief marketing and engagement officer at United Way of Central Indiana, believes that its partnership with Salesforce.org, the foundation arm of the national cloud-based software company, has the opportunity to do just that.  

“It’s kind of a big deal,” said Herndon about the product that is now available to Indiana companies from United Way.

It is certainly a platform for nonprofits to keep tabs on.

Three years ago, United Way chapters in major markets pooled their resources to invest in digital strategies. At the time, Salesforce was one of their selected companies and the 10 United Way chapters began using the company’s marketing cloud software, receiving Salesforce’s expertise and guidance in the process.

The relationship transformed about a year ago, when the United Way chapters became colleagues with Salesforce to create an app called the Philanthropy Cloud, Herndon said. Launched in late 2018, the platform was designed by Salesforce’s foundation in partnership with United Way.

Initially, the goal was to better engage current donors and potential donors. Nationally, the trend was fewer people giving after the recession, particularly middle-class Americans who had less discretionary income.

That trend is support by the Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, which reported that the share of households contributing to charity has dropped from 67 percent in 2004 to 55.5 percent in 2014, the latest year for which figures are available.

But according to Herndon, the United Way-Salesforce working group also knew that the next generation of employees wants to work for an employer that will enable them to engage with their communities. And they knew that incorporating technology was key to delivering a personal, customizable way that could be scaled.

The concept for the platform first introduced at Salesforce’s 2017 Dreamforce, and then rolled out at last fall’s Dreamforce conference.

Herndon said the term philanthropy implies a more strategic approach, and that there’s been a shift to think increasingly about corporate social responsibility and the goals each company wants to achieve.

Herndon likens the Philanthropy Cloud to a financial account where you can log in, see your investments, your volunteer activity and get a tax statement.

“This gives them a better tool to roll up all that employee giving, volunteering, and achieved community impact outcomes. It allows them to manage their matches, communicate their company’s philosophy and specific goals,” said Herndon.

On a local level, United Way began its marketing the product to its current business partners, which included an invitation-only event a couple of weeks ago. The plan is to do more of those. Currently there are about 50 United Way chapters nationally that are involved.

Ashley Furois, United Way of Central Indiana’s senior director of fundraising, said there is an annual standard per-employee fee based on the employee size per company.

“Standard would be $2 per user per month. A user is an employee, so anybody who has access to the site, if they use it or not,” she said. First Financial Bank based in Cincinnati with 170 employees in Indianapolis is the first area user.

“I think, it complements how we were already changing how we work with our current corporate partners. We’ve been changing our fundraising focus to be from that annual campaign perspective to really a year-round supportive perspective. And this is just another tool that allows us to help do that,” she said.

Nonprofits that populate employees’ profile pages pull from two different databases – Guidestar and United Way. In the short term, United Way is banking on companies and nonprofits that have relationships with companies to help populate the volunteer opportunities.

“Long term, we hope to have a portal or a way for a database to be set up so that some of these opportunities are easily accessible to the companies even if there isn’t already a relationship established,” said Furois.

For area nonprofits, it is important to make sure that their Guidestar profiles are up to date, said Herndon. When an employee accesses a nonprofit’s information, not only can they learn about the mission, but its federal tax ID and nonprofit rating appears. The platform provides the ability to make a donation or easily volunteer.

Serve Indiana’s Executive Director Marc McAleavey sees lots of possibilities. On a state level, he and his team are developing ways to engage employers to strengthen or develop volunteer programming for Indiana companies. He is excited by the opportunities for a user to create his or her philanthropic profile.

“When I saw the demonstration, I saw so many possibilities. It will help not only the company see the impact their employees are making, but also each employee can understand their circle of influence and how they’re making an impact in their communities. It’s a win-win.”  McAleavey pointed out that the Independent Sector publishes a volunteer wage value and updates it regularly. Last year, the volunteer hour was $24.60, up 2.2 percent from the previous year.

McAleavey sees future applications, too.

“Right now, it is about engaging employers. But I think that the power of the Philanthropy Cloud is you can tell an individual’s philanthropic story for a long period of time. I would love to help think through how they can open it up a little bit bigger, so that young adults or even kids start accessing the Philanthropy Cloud so it follows the person no matter where they work,” he said.

Another example, he sees for future use is vetting potential nonprofit board members. An executive committee could request it to use as a resume to learn more about an individual’s philanthropic history. 

The new platform has generated interest from companies that don’t have existing relationships with United Way of Central Indiana.

“It’s been interesting that some assumptions that some companies may have with United Way and just seeing us in a different light in terms of being progressive and innovation,” said Herndon.

According to Furois, nationally there are 40 companies who have purchased the product.

It also helps keep employees engaged by providing customized content based on the individual’s interests with content changing in real time.

“(An individual) can go in and set his or her interests, but also using Artificial Intelligence, it will see what articles you’re clicking on and looking at, and it starts to serve content that is most relevant to you. So hopefully, you get that personal experience, that customized experience, and you are going to get more deeply involved.”

Herndon said there is a multiyear plan to continue to develop the platform. The ability to volunteer for nonprofits will roll out this spring. Additionally employees that want to make an impact on a cause but do not know local nonprofits working in that specific arena can learn about organizations doing the type of work they want to support.

“If I were to oversimplify, it solves how we better connect people who want to help with people who are in need. And then as I think as we learn more about the people who want to help, we can be a bridge between what people care about and what the community needs.

“It is also creating a better experience for people. When you think about how technology has transformed every other area of our life and made it more convenient and allowed us to better engage with things we care about, it should happen in this space as well. So it’s been pretty cool at bringing this to life,” said Herndon.

Furois who has worked for United Way of Central Indiana for 10 years, is excited for many reasons.

“For me, I think the fact that we’re taking an organization that is over 100 years old and introducing something that’s new, unique and different it is exciting to me. It has possibilities for our donors and volunteers, but also for us as an organization,” she said.

Features of the Philanthropy Cloud

A company may purchase the platform from United Way of Central Indiana and then make it available to its employees.

To see a demo of the platform, click here.

  • An employee may create an individual profile, after which the platform will hone content and include what is most relevant to an employee based on interactions with the site. At anytime, an employee can edit his or her causes. For example, an employee is at lunch and hears that a colleague just had a great volunteer opportunity at an organization that deals with food and hunger. An employee can change his or her causes and save that information.
  • An individual’s profile page gives his or her giving history, if it’s recurring or a one-time gift.  Similar to Amazon, the individual can easily donate again and make the same donation. He or she can also get a tax receipt. It provides a snapshot of how the individual is giving. Based on an individual’s giving, it populates pages with articles about the causes he or she supports.
  • Locally, United Way staff will create content to add to the site.
  • On the volunteer portal, which will launch in the spring, employees have the chance to share their talents. Employees can locate and sign up to volunteer for local nonprofits and employee can also post volunteer opportunities for others in the company. Through a peer-to-peer connection, it can increase the visibility of lesser-known organizations.
  • Employees can see specific details about volunteer opportunities – their location, when they start and how to sign up. After signing up, an automatic confirmation and thank-you email is sent directly to the employee.
  • Businesses can see how their employees are giving, either by cause or in a geographic region.
  • If a company has a corporate social responsibility cause, it can highlight opportunities. Companies are asking employees what philanthropic causes they want their employers to invest in. The platform can help employers see if the causes they’ve chosen are actually where employees are investing their time and talent.
  • Future iterations will have portable profiles, so if an employee leaves a company, his or her profile can too.

United Way’s beginnings are rooted in problem solving.

In 1887, Denver had a burgeoning population that put a strain on human services. A large migration to Colorado was caused by the outbreak of tuberculosis. In order to reduce their risk of illness, individuals sought higher elevation and cleaner air.

In Denver, faith leaders partnered and created a united campaign that benefitted health and welfare agencies. They founded the Charity Organization Society to collect the funds for local charities, to coordinate relief services, to counsel and refer clients to cooperating agencies, and to make emergency assistance grants for cases that could not be referred.

Indianapolis entered the picture in 1918 during the war and was more like a war chest.

Herndon said, “There’s some iconic photos literal war chest of cash on Monument Circle and again it was the leaders of the community wanting to rally everybody together.”

The name Community Chest was widely used for United Way organizations until the 1950s.

Since 1946, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and United Way Worldwide have enjoyed a cooperative relationship. Workplace giving was introduced about 40 or 50 years ago, and that was through the labor unions working with United Way to co-create the concept of workplace giving and payroll deduction.

It sees the Philanthropy Cloud and its technology as its next innovation.

Jan 14

Big App: Big Brothers Big Sisters tech solution

By Feature

Editor’s note: January is National Mentoring Month celebrating mentoring and the positive effect it can have on young lives.

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

In 2010, Darcey Palmer-Shultz and Amy Pomeranz Essley had a significant problem to tackle. During their combined nearly 30 years of working for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana (BBBSCI), they had taken on many issues, but this particular challenge gave them pause.

Big Brothers Big Sisters, which pairs adult mentors with kids in need of role models, had a match-retention rate they wanted to improve.  Palmer-Shultz and Pomeranz Essley knew that could be higher. But how to go about it?

Simultaneously, and perhaps serendipitously, Cummins, the Columbus-based engine company, entered the picture and made the nonprofit a unique offer.

BBBSCI could apply to train side by side with Cummins employees in the Six Sigma methodology, a series of techniques and tools for process improvement developed by Motorola in the 1980s.  Many manufacturing companies now use the method.

“It’s a lot more uncommon for nonprofits to use it, but Cummins had an opportunity where they would allow nonprofit partners to have somebody go through training and work with their team,” said Palmer-Shultz, the CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters  who enrolled in the 2010 training.

For the Six Sigma study, Palmer-Shultz focused on how to improve the organization’s 12-month match retention rate. She was the only nonprofit leader in the room and found the process invigorating. She said the study resulted in defining 24 improvements that helped keep more of its matches together.

But this study led to other innovations, said Pomeranz Essley, who serves as chief program officer.

“While we were doing that research, we heard from Bigs (the organization’s nickname for its mentors) that they really wanted ideas of additional things to do with their Littles. So that’s kind of how we came up with the second study,” said Pomeranz Essley. At the time, Big Brothers Big Sisters was providing advance tickets for events and discounts, and the Bigs wanted more of this type of help. She enrolled in Cummins training in 2013 to learn the process and begin planning how to tackle the request.

Like the first training, this was another in-kind contribution from Cummins.

The result of the second study was a useful, but a somewhat unwieldy list of 200 different activity ideas outlined on an Excel spreadsheet.

“And we were like ‘Now, what do we do?’ We had to have some way to communicate this list out to Big volunteers,” said Pomeranz Essley. 

Palmer-Shultz said they assumed they would simply post a list of activities on BBBSCI’s website – – pages and pages of them — but they quickly came to the conclusion there had to be a better way.                              

That realization was sparked by the fact that nearly 50 percent of the organization’s volunteers are under the age of 30.

“Again, we were thinking fairly small in the beginning, and then we got to the point, ‘If people are going to use this, it’s going to have to be what people are using now. It cannot be a piece of paper or whatever we might be able to come up with,’” said Palmer-Shultz.

So they reached out to a BBBSCI board member who had helped develop a web application for a one-day Giving Tuesday fundraiser to see if he might have ideas or questions for them.

That board member, Drew Linn, is the chief strategy office of Counterpart. Counterpart, formerly WDD Software, first used a web-based fundraising application platform in 2014 for Big Brothers Big Sisters’ inaugural #GivingTuesday campaign, called AppToGive.

According to Linn, the Cummins studies established the “whys” but together they determined that an app was the best solution.

Counterpart was able to develop the software for the administrative side for BBBSCI’s match-support specialists and others who manage the portal, but brought in another company, Crafted, as a partner because mobile is its expertise.

Development took place between August and December of 2015, with the launch in early 2016. The app cost about $60,000 to build with funding coming from Cummins, The Glick Fund, Opus Community Foundation, Midland Atlantic Properties and Lilly Endowment.

“We had some unique funding that paid for this, so we weren’t pulling from anything and definitely that made it possible. We had in-kind from our partners, which made a huge difference as well, significantly reducing the expense,” said Palmer-Shultz. Without partners who were invested in it, she said, they probably would have had to scale back what they were able to implement.

Called the Big App, it provides adult volunteers with a constant reminder of their training. Today, there are over 123 intentional-match activities and events that align with the 12 Indicators of Thriving. The tool helps Bigs find different opportunities and keep track on a pie chart of what they’ve done with their Littles.

“Each activity is linked to an Indicator of Thriving, which includes developing things like emotional competence. Scrolling over the indicator provides a definition, which is a helpful reminder. So as Bigs are using it and tracking activities, it shows them over time areas they are addressing,” said Pomeranz Essley. The hope is that having exposure to activities in the 12 areas will help staff see increased youth outcomes and growth.

“Basically, it allows a Big to more deliberately engage with his or her Little. As a tool, it organizes information about things to do,” said Linn, who’s also a Big. “It used to be email hell. Literally, it was an avalanche.”

The tool has streamlined communications between staff and volunteers, reduced internal printing costs and it allows the nonprofit to do ‘push notifications.’ For example, when BBBSCI has ticket opportunities that are relevant only for high school kids, they can target a segmented audience.

Since launching over two years ago, 98 percent of BBBSCI’s matches use the app.

“It was a change for them, but they really started to see the benefits of it,” said Pomeranz Essley. When the nonprofit implemented the first project, its goal was to get to 75 percent retention. Retention now exceeds and is sustained at over 80 percent.

In hindsight, there are other reasons why is the app is helpful, said Palmer-Shultz. The organization knows that what they ask of volunteers is a high threshold – overall length of commitment, frequency and responsibility to do it independently.

“Even though we support, coach and offer quite a bit, trying to make it as doable, rewarding and as simple as possible to be effective is really important,” she said.

While Counterpart provides two spreadsheets monthly, it collects and stores all the data. Linn said together they are now figuring out what is valuable and prioritizing the metrics. Ultimately, his company envisions providing an administrative dashboard to look at specific match engagements. The BBBSCI’s match specialist would already know what activities a Big and Little did, and be able to spend more time on the relationship and even helping to plan for the next one.

“So I feel like those are the things that are going to come next which not only saves the Big time, it saves the match support specialist’s time and now you’re focused on outcomes instead,” said Linn.

During the building stage, there was conversation about whether it was exclusive or if it should be built to have the capability to add agencies. Early on, the decision was the latter.

In the summer of 2016, the team presented at Big Brothers Big Sisters national conference, and since then, nine Big Brothers Big Sisters agencies have signed on: Lexington, Ky., Omaha, Neb./Council Bluffs, Iowa; Louisville, Ky.; Madison, Wis.; Appleton, Wis.; Minneapolis/St.Paul; Salt Lake City; Orange County, Calif., and Columbus, Ohio.

Agencies pay an annual fee, which helps cover maintenance costs and keeps the app fresh and up-to-date, including updating the organization’s new brand. Several agencies have paid to add features. Each, however, must receive Central Indiana’s approval first. BBBSCI owns the app code. 

“Technology changes fast. This last year, we used (the fees) to upgrade just the behind-the-scenes engine because it was running slower and not as efficient. And it’s only three years old. And so, that didn’t get them any of the other ‘I-cannot-wait-for-this-upgrade stuff,’” said Linn. 

Currently BBBSCI and the agency partners are in discussions about what this will look like in three to five years.

“It’s figuring out what we want this to do and how we want to keep using it in the future.”

Essentially Central Indiana designed the first round based on what it needed.

“But we have all these partners who have really good ideas and we are starting figure out together what the next step is,” said Palmer-Shultz.

 Centric Innovation Award

This past fall, the Big App won a Centric award. 

The Indianapolis-based network of resources brings together hundreds of leaders and practioners for a full-day event.

At the gathering, the Indiana Innovation Awards are given to individuals and organizations that are leading innovation in the state. This year, the Big App and its partners — Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana, Counterpart, Crafted — were recognized for this tech application.

Advice to other nonprofits

Counterpart’s Linn provided some advice to nonprofits.

It is important to remember that sometimes the nonprofit and the tech company speak two different languages.

“It’s an education process for both sides,” he said. It was often that when the nonprofit asked a question, the tech company thought there was a problem. :In a sense you’re not even prepared for the question.

Pomeranz Essley said she didn’t even know the questions to ask.

It’s important to keep it simple.

“Our firm is nearly 25 years old, and we’ve learned over those years that you need to focus on the most minimal scope that provides value so it will engage the users.

“You can build a Cadillac but do you actually need power windows if you’re in Alaska. You and I can sit here all day, and we could dream and some of the stuff won’t be used. Remember for most nonprofits, you’re talking about a limited budget and no body wants to waste money. It needed to be very intentional.”