By Shari Finnell, writer/editor Charitable Advisors
When Bryan Orander launched Not-for-Profit News in 2001, the internet had not yet reached its saturation point; only 52 percent of American adults reported using it at the time, according to the Pew Research Center. And Orander considered the e-newsletter as nothing more than a project to keep him busy while starting his consulting business, perhaps a tool that would help a few people find jobs, he recently said.
As NFPN celebrates its 20th anniversary year as an online weekly publication with more than 14,000 subscribers, Orander reflected on how the nonprofit sector of Central Indiana has navigated various changes during that period, including internet saturation, the economic recession of 2008, technology advances, evolving giving patterns, and, currently, the impact of a global pandemic and unprecedented racial equity protests.
Orander, founder and President of Charitable Advisors, a consulting firm, said no other period in the past 20 years fully matches the challenges faced by nonprofits today, but there were similarities during the economic downturn of 2008.
“From our vantage point — from 2008 to 2010, we saw job ads drop off, donations being directed to basic needs and away from the arts and the environment,” he said. “We’re now seeing a lot of the same things. Right now, at least, COVID-19 relief funds are being directed to human services and basic needs. That makes sense.”
Studies reveal that many nonprofits weathered the 2008 recession fairly well, Orander said, which gives him reason to hope that many of them will survive the current turbulent period. Here are some of Orander’s perspectives on the trends that continue to shape the nonprofit sector in Central Indiana.
Increasing dominance of the larger nonprofit: Orander said some of the same patterns that have dominated the B2B sector, including the decline of small businesses, seem to be playing out in the nonprofit sector.
“Looking at the bigger picture over the past 20 years, it appears that the nonprofit sector has evolved with more clearly defined, substantial nonprofits. It’s almost a case of the-haves and the have-nots,” he said. “The organizations that are able to hire the best people, invest in advanced technology and implement the best techniques are getting better and better at raising money and attracting donors. Meanwhile, a lot of other nonprofits are being left behind. And that gap is getting bigger.”
Changing profile of donors: Citing a 2019 report published by the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI, Orander noted that the number of people donating has decreased from two-thirds of U.S. households in 2000 to slightly over half in 2016. “While overall charitable donations continue to slowly increase, the number of people donating is decreasing. We have a donating class and the rest,” he said. “People with less means are giving less, while people of means are taking over a bigger share of the giving.”
While overall giving hasn’t declined, Orander said, nonprofits need to be more strategic about how to target wealthier donors. “You have to be sophisticated at soliciting donations, and that seems to leave smaller nonprofits in a tough position because most have not developed major donors.”
Models of charitable giving are evolving: During the past 20 years, Orander also has noticed changes in the giving model — with some donors moving from a focus on organizations that align with their values to a model that generally focuses on a donor’s loyalty to a cause. “There are continuing studies on this, but it appears that charity and cause in terms of giving are viewed differently among different generations,” Orander said.
For example, he said, younger people are more likely to be loyal to a cause, such as environmental concerns, while older people tend to support nonprofit organizations that align with their passions and beliefs. Since younger generations may be more passionate about a specific cause, they may decide to give through an engaging online campaign or work for a for-profit employer that is dedicated to their cause.
Crowdfunding also has changed the charitable giving model, Orander said. “There are so many ways that people can give online; there’s now a fuzziness between charity and giving. A lot of people don’t discern the difference between giving to a food bank or to a worthy person through an on-line crowdfunding platform.”
Businesses competing with nonprofits for new hires: As a professional recruiter, Orander also has some perspectives about how hiring trends are impacting nonprofits’ ability to compete for talent.
“A positive trend is that the younger generation wants to be involved in a worthy cause. They want to make a difference, so they would traditionally be more likely attracted to nonprofits,” Orander said. “However, for-profit businesses have realized that their prospective employees want to be part of a making a difference, so they often affiliate themselves with a cause.”
Socially responsible companies have become so mainstream, that “the lines are kind of blurry between working at a nonprofit with a cause or a for-profit that has a cause,” Orander said. “Employees may determine that, either way, it’s possible for you to make a positive difference. But with some employers, you can make more money and still make a difference.”
Impact of starting a new nonprofit: While it’s not impossible, it is much more difficult to start a nonprofit with real impact than it was 20 years — even without the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, Orander said. “It may not be difficult to create one, but it’s harder and harder to rally the people and the resources to do anything with it,” he said. Many new nonprofits are created in response to a personal or family tragedy or loss and not because the community doesn’t already offer those services, Orander has observed.
The Future: As Orander looks forward to continuing NFPN’s role in the Central Indiana nonprofit sector, he foresees developing more opportunities to connect people, organizations and resources, with a focus on informing and inspiring through the news and stories it delivers.
“When we first surpassed 10,000 subscribers, I knew we were really helping to connect and inform people in the local nonprofit community. We had become the go-to place for jobs and news,” Orander said. “It felt like we were making a difference. I feel the same way now. It’s been an interesting and humbling experience.”
Nonprofit organizations on the frontlines of supporting immigrants, refugees and other foreign-born residents have been regularly encountering challenges to ensure critical, sometimes life-saving, information is adequately relayed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to language barriers, these individuals are more likely to be employed in jobs that put them at higher risk for infection, are denied unemployment benefits, lack health insurance, and have fears about accessing medical care and resources — all factors that jeopardize their ability to navigate the pandemic, according to several local nonprofit organizations.
“Those of us who are fluent in English are struggling everyday to understand COVID-19,” said Dana Harrison, interim executive director of the Immigrant Welcome Center. “‘What did the governor say? What is going on with schools?’ It’s changing daily.” For foreign-born newcomers, those COVID-19 directives — from stay-at-home orders to how to protect themselves from the virus — can be extremely difficult to understand, Harrison said.
Rethinking the ceiling for grantmaking in a time of crisis
During the past 18 years, board members of The Clowes Fund have been invested in understanding the challenges facing immigrants and refugees as they shifted their focus to supporting those populations and workforce development initiatives.
When the pandemic hit the U.S., a subcommittee of Fund board members and staff immediately gathered to determine how it could best meet needs in the community. Realizing they didn’t have the resources of larger foundations, The Fund was intent on making a significant impact through a more concentrated effort.
“We used to be one of the largest foundations in Indianapolis,” said Elizabeth A. Casselman, executive director of The Clowes Fund, Inc. “That’s no longer the case. We work hard to find our lane. We were looking to find the gaps and then identifying the organizations that were working to fill those gaps.” The result was a plan to distribute unsolicited funds to current grantees, allow for more flexibility with an unrestricted grant format, and focus on program areas with the highest needs, including immigrant services and workforce development.
Just a few weeks later, the Fund awarded 21 small emergency grants totaling $220,000 to numerous organizations, including Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, the Undocumented Hoosiers Fund of the Indiana Undocumented Youth Alliance, administered by Broadway United Methodist Church, and other organizations that serve populations who may not be eligible for other types of relief funding.
The unexpected grants came as a welcome surprise for many of the organizations that received them — giving them the support to continue their mission in the midst of an uncertain and turbulent period.
However, the extent of the damage caused by the pandemic weighed heavily on the board members, who started questioning if they had done enough, Casselman said. “There was a strong sentiment among Clowes family members and non-family members that it does no good to sit on these assets when there’s such a great need. We were worried we would look back and say we took too safe of a position.”
They were already familiar with the math that guided decisions throughout the foundation’s 68-year history — across four generations of the Clowes family. “With a foundation, the only legal requirement is that we must distribute at least 5 percent each year,” said Casselman, referring to the value of net investment assets. “Yet, all too often it begins to be interpreted as the ceiling rather than the floor.”
From a strictly financial standpoint, a conservative approach — the 5 percent floor/ceiling — also would have been the most responsible decision for ensuring that the foundation exists into perpetuity, continuing to support the intent of the founders’ mission, Casselman said.
“If you have several years of 6 to 7 percent, you can pretty quickly erode your funds,” Casselman added. “We realized those policies served us well in the long run. But these are exceptional times. And exceptional times demand an exception response.”
As a result of that strong sentiment among the board, including family and non-family members, the Fund doubled its grantmaking commitment by spending an additional 5 percent more than its typical grantmaking through a $3.2 million draw from the corpus of its endowment in 2020. Through The Clowes Fund COVID-19 Plan, the board approved spending an additional $2 million in grantmaking for 2020 and reserved $1.2 million to supplement grantmaking in 2021.
“Failure to respond in an exceptional manner would likely cause the Fund board and staff to look back with regret,” said Edith Bowles, Clowes Fund vice president. Bowles said they believed it is possible to make an unprecedented decision without damaging the long-term fiscal health of the foundation.
Meeting needs in challenging times
As with its previous response, the Fund quickly distributed unsolicited and unrestricted grants in July — in amounts ranging from $50,000 to Exodus Refugee Immigration, Inc., to $150,000 to Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) for a comprehensive set of loans for minority-owned businesses. Median grant size was $40,000, significantly higher than Clowes Fund grants awarded in previous years.
Harrison of the Immigrant Welcome Center, as well as those of other organizations supporting the immigrant, foreign-born and refugee population of Indiana, were immediately met with challenges in the midst of the pandemic. “The challenges were always there … language barriers, higher risks of infection, an inability to qualify for government resources, lack of health insurance,” Harrison said. “They intensified with the pandemic.”
Every day, the Center intervenes on behalf of immigrants, ensuring that they’re getting access to food pantries, and unemployment benefits, rental assistance and healthcare they’re entitled to but are afraid to access.
Language barriers are especially problematic in a state with inadequate language translation options.
“When the government first issued stay at home orders, some families would not open their front doors or leave their homes, endangering their lives because they were critically low on food,” Harrison said. “In their world, when the government says stay at home, they stay at home.”
Immigration status concerns also instill fear among individuals who are undocumented, Harrison said. With the public charge rule, there is also widespread concern that applying for social benefits could jeopardize any chance of being granted legal permanent resident status, Harrison pointed out. “It’s been very successful in putting absolute terror in our immigrant population,” she said.
The Clowes Fund grant, along with other grants from other foundations, came at a critical time, Harrison said.
“The size of the grant we received from the Clowes Fund gave us some critical breathing room — the freedom to keep on some temporary staff members on a more permanent basis. We did not have to operate in financial fear,” Harrison said. “We were absolutely stunned. It helped transform our year.
“If we had not received that money there would have been the prospect of very hard decisions on the horizon, including reducing positions to part time,” she added.
Cole Varga, executive director of Exodus Refugee Immigration, Inc., said the organization has been focused on meeting the needs of refugees who have been displaced from nations like Syria, Burma, and Yemen under troubling circumstances made even more challenging because of the pandemic. In addition to helping refugees get settled in apartments, schools and jobs, the organization regularly helps them understand basic living skills, such as writing a check, purchasing groceries and accessing health care and social services.
As the impact of COVID-19 intensified, the Exodus team ramped up their efforts to assist refugees in applying for unemployment, and rental and utility assistance. Those efforts were complicated because of language barriers, said Varga, noting that Exodus provided interpretation. “Different government agencies are a bit behind with equality in terms of language access,” he said.
“Unemployment in Indiana has a massive backlog, making it even more difficult to navigate if you don’t speak English,” Varga added. “Some of them didn’t even have WiFi. It would have been impossible if we had not helped them out.”
Because of the added complications of applying for benefits as a non-English speaking resident, unemployment benefits sometimes didn’t arrive for more than two months. As a result, some families were unable to buy food or pay rent and utilities during that time, Varga said.
Grants have helped refugees face difficult circumstances, especially during the period in which Congress has debated on how to move forward with unemployment benefits, Varga said. “The Clowes Fund helped remove those barriers.” he said. “When a single mom lost her job at a restaurant, we were able to stand in and help fill in the gap.”
As part of its mission, La Plaza, Inc., another Clowes Fund grant recipient, provides one-on-one counseling to Hispanic high students to improve their chances of graduating from high school and college. The team also provides support to the families of the students, ensuring that they receive healthcare, utility and rent assistance, and other resources.
The pandemic complicated the ability to deliver those services because most of the engagement had been in person, said Miriam Acevedo Davis, president and CEO of La Plaza, Inc.. Also, La Plaza was sensitive to the increased need for mental health counseling as well as helping families understand the signs of anxiety and depression.
“It was an enormously scary time,” Acevedo Davis recalled of the first several months of the pandemic. “We were serving an area that had been identified as a hotspot, based on a lot of the information we had.”
La Plaza team members initially worked from home, ensuring that the families they served were adequately protected with PPE, medical services, food, childcare and other resources. Additionally, they were sorting out the complications of working with some students who were trying to study from home without WiFi or had the responsibility of caring for younger siblings.
Acevedo Davis described the Clowes Fund grant as extraordinary for several reasons. Not only was the grant unsolicited, it was issued quickly and without restrictions.
Acevedo Davis said those factors were critical. “We did not have to worry about writing a report about what we’re going to do and anticipated outcomes, or spending a lot of time tracking it,” she said. While La Plaza has processes in place for reporting and tracking, additional restrictions would have been difficult to complete at a time when employees were working from home and working hard to meet the needs of the community they served, Acevedo Davis said.
“They (Clowes Fund) told us, ‘We want to get the money to you quickly. We know you’ll do a good job supporting the most vulnerable,’” Acevedo Davis said. “With those restrictions gone, we could move quickly so that students and their families could get the critical help they needed during a difficult time.”
Acevedo Davis said The Clowes Fund, along with other local funding sources, have provided critical support during an incredibly challenging time for nonprofits and the communities they serve.
“We are in awe of how quickly our funding community moved to provide funds to organizations,” she said.
The Clowes Fund COVID-19 Relief Grants recipients included: Broadway United Methodist Church (Undocumented Hoosier Support Fund); Exodus Refugee Immigration, Inc.; Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, Inc.; La Plaza, Inc.; Local Initiatives Support Corporation; Mary Rigg Neighborhood Center, Inc.; Second Helpings, Inc.; Shepherd Community Center, Inc.; The Immigrant Welcome Center, Inc; and RecycleForce. Other awards were granted to organizations in New England states, including Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire and New York, and other regions.
by Shari L. Finnell, editor/writer, Charitable Advisors
For School on Wheels, an Indianapolis nonprofit that provides tutoring for children facing homelessness, the potential loss of funds from its annual fundraiser in 2020 would have been devastating — a significant blow to its ability to carry out its mission in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Education Celebration generates 25 percent of School on Wheel’s annual budget, according to Amber Ewing Kostoff, CFRE, vice president of development. In 2019, it brought in more than $270,000 from sponsorships, live and silent auctions, ticket sales and a matching gift opportunity for about 400 attendees.
“It’s a big deal for us,” Ewing Kostoff said.
When Indiana started reporting its first cases of COVID19, School on Wheels event organizers immediately started considering alternative options for their 2020 Education Celebration. It was originally slated for April, just weeks after Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb started issuing statewide restrictions, including a shelter in place order, effective March 25.
“When all the news about the pandemic and the restrictions coming to fruition, we didn’t feel comfortable about having an event with more than 400 people in a room,” Ewing Kostoff said. At the time, we weren’t sure how things were going to look like going forward.”
As with hundreds of other nonprofits in Indiana, School on Wheels had invested a significant amount of time and resources into event planning because of multiple benefits. A successful fundraiser not only provides an avenue for generating funds, it gives nonprofits the opportunity to meet donors and volunteers face to face, showcase the mission, and recognize sponsors, volunteers and supporters.
While inclement weather always has posed a threat to plans for galas, 5Ks, parties and other event fundraisers in Indiana, COVID-19 has had an unprecedented impact — disrupting plans for nonprofit organizations of all sizes throughout the year.
Zoobilation, one of the most widely anticipated black-tie fundraising events in Indiana, was canceled for the first time in its 34-year history. Organizers originally had postponed the date, moving it from June 12 to August 14, in the hopes that it could be hosted in a safer environment for its 5,000 guests by that time. The fundraiser supports general operating expenses for the Indianapolis Zoo.
With COVID19 undergoing a resurgence, Zoobilation organizers last week announced its decision to cancel the event. “It was painful to cancel it but not difficult considering what was in the best interests of our guests and partners,” said Julie McDearmon, CFRE, director of Institutional Advancement at the Indianapolis Zoological Society.
Organizers of Rev Indy, an IU Health Foundation fundraiser that supports statewide trauma and critical care programs, also decided to forego its 2020 celebration because of the potential health risks, said Carol A. Howard, executive director of Rev.
“We spent months weighing all the options to safely hosting Rev this year,” Howard said. “Our number one goal as a leading healthcare organization is to safeguard the health, safety and well-being of all of our guests, vendors, chefs, entertainers and volunteers.”
The cancellation of these major fundraisers followed extensive research and planning, according to their organizers. Some of the questions that emerged included: Do you approach sponsors and ticket holders about maintaining their financial contribution — even in the face of their own potential economic hardships? What about investing in the logistics of planning an alternative virtual event? And, with cases of COVID19 resurging in Indiana, how do you plan for future events?
“There’s not a one-size-fits-all solution,” said Zoobilation’s McDearmon, who noted that she has previously worked at nonprofits of varying sizes and resources. “Ultimately, you have to do what’s best to protect your brand and reputation as well as those of your sponsors and partners. If you can’t host your event safely, then you need to weigh different options.”
McDearmon said it’s also important to include committee members in conversations about how to move forward.
Howard stressed the importance of being fluid with planning in the midst of a changing environment.. “We are in a time that ‘new’ event concepts can be born and executed safely during this time, which ultimately can create new opportunities for non-profits in the long term.”
As part of its planning in the wake of COVID-19 and social justice protests locally and nationally, Rev organizers announced that some of the proceeds from its canceled 2020 event would be directed to the Iu Health Foundation’s Racial Equity in Healthcare Fund.
Ewing Kostoff pointed out that virtual events may be a possibility. School on Wheels hosted an online option and, as a result of that event and the generosity of its donors, reached its fundraising goal. “Focus on what makes sense for your individual organization,” Ewing Kostoff said. “It has to make sense for what you’re trying to accomplish. Who is your audience? How do you get them engaged? What can your staff do in a short amount of time? Those are critical questions to ask.”
School on Wheels Hosts a Virtual Event
When event organizers for School on Wheels’ Education Celebration first understood the initial impact of COVID-19, they made plans to postpone the April event to June 25. “We hoped things were looking different by then,” said Ewing Kostoff. “We also wanted to try to get the event in before the end of our fiscal year..”
With uncertainty increasing about the viability of hosting the June 25 event, the team started exploring another Plan B, an option that would take them into unchartered territory. The Education Celebration committee members researched online for tutorials on how to host a virtual event. They also contacted other nonprofits that had switched to virtual events, including Second Helpings and St. Mary’s Child Center.
After making the decision to host a virtual event, the planning committee focused on several critical areas, including how to deliver value to sponsors. “By the time we got to March, we had already secured all of our sponsors,” Ewing Kostoff said. “We felt we had to deliver the benefits that we promised them from an in-person event, something creative and equitable.”
While the organization wasn’t able to offer sponsors tangible items like a table with dinner, they realized they could adhere to the idea of highlighting their brands in a program. In addition to featuring the sponsors on the homepage of the Education Celebration site, they featured them in an ad in the Indianapolis Business Journal, social media posts and other platforms. “We tagged them at every opportunity,” Ewing Kostoff said.
Another critical focus was the event’s auction, which relied on the donations of local businesses. Typically, organizers would approach businesses for gifts to sporting events, concerts, hotel stays and restaurants. “We felt we couldn’t go to those people and ask for those things,” Ewing Kostoff said. “We didn’t want to ask restaurants for donations at a time when they’re closing their doors. We never want anyone to feel pressured”
However, Ewing Kostoff said she did heed the advice of some of her fundraising peers:“It never hurts to ask. Give them an option.”
While the donated items were smaller in scale than in previous years, bidders paid more than they had anticipated. “They wanted to support what we’re doing,” Ewing Kostoff said. “We have the most amazing sponsors. They stuck with us and showed us, ‘We’re with you.’”
Promotion also was a key consideration as part of the event planning, Ewing Kostoff said. With an in-person event, organizers were focused on a limited number of people. That focus shifted significantly with an online event.
“We could widen the scope of our audience,” Ewing Kostoff said. “With an in-person event, you’re limited to the number of people you can put in the room. We reached out to all the supporters, sponsors and people who attended any of our events in the past. We let them know that we’re doing a virtual event and invited them to sign up to receive text messages.”
They also included online event details in newsletters and all of their social media channels, and encouraged their supporters to invite their friends to the online event.
When planning an online event for the first time, Ewing Kostoff said, it’s important to keep the right focus. “Focus on what makes sense for your individual organization, what you’re trying to accomplish and how to get your audience engaged,” she said. “And focus on it being the best virtual event you’ve ever done. Don’t try to compare it to what we’ve done in the past.
“That took the pressure off our team,” Ewing Kostoff added. “We’re really proud of what we were able to pull together. It was wonderful to see how many people came through that day and the next day.”
Another key takeaway from Ewing Kostoff was the importance of conveying the message of the nonprofit’s mission in the midst of the pandemic.
“We provide tutoring for children facing homelessness. We typically provide that tutoring onsite, in schools and in shelters,” she explained. “When things started to shift in March, we really did have to pivot. We had to figure out how to reach those students. One of the barriers for a lot of kids we work with is technology. We started having conversations with our partners about ways to get students the tools they need so they don’t fall behind.”
School on Wheels consistently explores different ways to convey the message behind its mission, Ewing Kostoff said. “Our mission doesn’t go away. The need for education never stops, We try to stay focused on the importance of what we’re doing and how to embrace new ways to talk about what we’re doing.”
Zoobilation Looks Ahead
While Zoobilation has an enviable reputation, selling out all of its 2019 tickets in less than 10 minutes, organizers don’t take its popularity for granted.
“We pretty much plan the next year before we even finish the current year,” said Julie McDearmon. “Before we decided to postpone, we were already planning Zoobilation 2021. We’re constantly having to look forward — even strategically looking five years out to determine how to keep it exciting. It’s a constant cycle.”
Before its cancellation, Zoobilation 2020 was projected to raise $2.5 million in support of the zoo’s mission of empowering people and communities, both locally and globally, to advance animal conservation. That amount represented approximately 8 percent of the Indianapolis Zoo’s annual operating revenue.
When making the decision to cancel Zoobilation, organizers prioritized the health of its supporters as well as the long-term reputation of Zoobilation and its partners, according to McDearmon.
They also considered the economic fallout caused by COVID-19. “Our restaurant partners and many sponsors have been hit hard this year and are struggling. That was another strong consideration in canceling Zoobilation,” she said.
McDearmon also said it was important to offer ticket holders various options in response to the cancellation of the event. They were given the opportunity to donate the cost of the tickets, ranging from $300 (general admission) to $600 (Premium Experience), as a charitable gift; repurpose the ticket for Zoobilation 2021 or request a refund.
“We know many people are struggling right now. All of us at the Indianapolis Zoo are grateful that people are being very generous and letting us keep their Zoobilation ticket fee or sponsorship as a full donation,” she said. “We also realize that there are some who aren’t able to do that.”
Early on, as Zoobilation committee members discussed options for the 2020 event, they considered the possibility of hosting a virtual event, McDearmon said. Their research included observing virtual events hosted by other zoos and aquariums.
At the end, they decided it was not a viable alternative for Zoobilation. “When you have a production that’s this big, you have to pay a lot to execute it well. You need to consider if you can give your guests the same experience they expect and pay for normally,” McDearmon said. “Virtual events may work for some nonprofits, but the Indianapolis Zoo decided the event execution wasn’t there for us.”
As in previous years, McDearmon, her events team, and other Zoobilation committee members are already looking ahead. Plans for Zoobilation 2021 are underway, including logo and other creative development and corporate partnerships.
With COVID-19 impacting all nonprofits in some way, it’s important to explore many options to determine the best path forward, McDearmon said.
“Every nonprofit organization has varying degrees of resources,” she said. “There isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for every nonprofit as they navigate the special events landscape during this challenging time. My advice would be to protect your brand, image and reputation, and that of your sponsors and partners, when you determine how to proceed.”
Rev Indy navigates a new path
For the past six years, Rev Indy has played a vital role in supporting IU Health’s mission.
“Our funding goals have been focused and deliberate to ensure no matter where you are injured in Indiana, you can access IU Health Trauma Care,” Howard said.
Funds raised from Rev 2019 were specifically directed to support 911 access trauma ESO integration, a new mobile critical care ambulance and trauma education.
Like other nonprofits, the discussions about what to do with Rev 2020 started early in the year, as COVID-19 cases were being reported in Indiana. The decision-making process involved several factors, Howard said.
“If we took a ‘show must go on’ perspective during a public health crisis, it may make our guests feel we are being irresponsible or inconsiderate of their health,” Howard said. “The long-term impact could be a significant loss in giving. Since we are a healthcare organization, our decision will be under a microscope.”
Also, since the serving of food and beverages is a significant part of Rev, many of the biggest contributors to Rev are facing economic challenges caused by the pandemic, she said. “Many restaurant partners have been facing months of lost revenue.”
“Another consideration was the safety of staff members and volunteers working during the event,” Howard said. “We had to ask ourselves, ‘How will this outbreak impact the safety of our team? Are we risking their well-being?’ These are questions we had to consider.”
After outlining their concerns, the Rev committee consulted with its legal team to navigate options as COVID-19 updates emerged. “They were extremely helpful in looking into all of our concerns,” Howard said.
With Rev attracting a large crowd of guests intermingling over food and drinks, the risks were clear, Howard said. “With large events, it is difficult to enforce social distancing and occasional bottlenecking of people in certain areas, such as entrances, egresses, and restrooms.”
While the Rev committee eventually decided to cancel the event, they also used it as an opportunity to expand its impact.
“Over the last year, we have been looking to expand Rev’s funding opportunities,” Howard said. “In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, a donor asked how he could help IU Health do something about the stark differences in health among racial and ethnic groups, which were brought to the forefront during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Howard said that IU Health had already been addressing these differences on many fronts, needed a focused fund through which donors could support a broad range of initiatives.
“The IU Health Foundation created the Racial Equity in Healthcare Fund to support IU Health’s work in advancing equitable care for all and we felt it was a perfect time to expand our funding opportunities,” she said. “This fund will support creative and effective initiatives addressing health inequities among Hoosiers.”
Rev ticket holders and sponsors were given the option to donate funds to the IU Health Foundation to reduce racial equity in healthcare or statewide trauma and critical care programs, or to transfer their tickets to Rev 2021.
Top sponsors who chose to donate their funds were invited to “Taste of Rev,” an Aug. 1 event that allows up to four cars from each company to drive around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, stopping at pit stop locations along the way for pre-packaged food and beverages and photo opportunities.
“We also accommodated everyone who requested a refund for this year’s event if either options did not work for them,” Howard said.
By Abby Rolland, former communications project manager, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy
As states slowly resume operations and the U.S. tries to return to normalcy in the wake of a devastating health and economic crisis, nonprofits continue to serve on the frontlines.
To learn what is happening on the frontlines, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy reached out to alumni working in nine charitable subsectors. Classified by the National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities (NTEE) Code: religion, health, education, human services, public society benefit, international affairs, foundations, animals and the environment, and arts, culture and the humanities, these graduates provided insight about how their organizations responded to COVID-19 and what they are learning.
Insights
In the religion subsector, Winterbourne Harrison-Jones serves as a senior pastor at Witherspoon Presbyterian Church on the city’s westside. He explained that the old models of worship have been challenged, and the church has had to find new ways to connect, show care and form community.
Winterbourne Harrison-Jones
“We’ve had to create virtual spaces for spiritual development and social engagement. The coronavirus has challenged many congregations to think quickly and creatively to stay true to teachings of the church, while also navigating a new environment.”
Harrison-Jones shared videos of services, messages, and music on the church’s Facebook page in order to connect with church attendees.
In the education field, Richard Trollinger works as a senior philanthropy advisor to Centre College in Danville, Ky. In March, the college created a relief fund for students needing immediate assistance during the spring semester. Now, it’s shifting its focus to discuss the ongoing needs for students long-term.
Trollinger also serves as the coordinator of a group of 21 chief development officers at liberal arts colleges in the Southeast.
Richard Trollinger
“We have had Zoom meetings to discuss when and how to reboot our overall fundraising programs, especially major gifts. We want to examine all angles in major gift fundraising and learn from each other before moving forward.”
The subsector public society benefit includes organizations such as United Way. Lisa Busse serves as the engagement senior manager at United Way of Central Indiana (UWCI), which rapidly developed a response to the virus crisis by working with other funders to launch the Central Indiana COVID-19 Community Economic Relief Fund. Busse leads a team that is not only raising funds for the needs in the community during the pandemic, but for UWCI’s regular programming as well.
Lisa Busse
Those fundraisers meet with donors online, openly sharing the challenges of the global pandemic while also illustrating the need for United Way and the impact it has had for over 100 years. Combined with three prior rounds of grants made since March 24, C-CERF has granted $21.5 million to 186 organizations in Central Indiana that serve individuals and families affected directly and indirectly by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Working in human services arena at Gleaners Food Bank, Bethany Watson, director of grants and foundation relations, has seen the number of food-insecure Hoosiers rise dramatically as a result of COVID-19. In April, the nonprofit distributed more than twice the amount of food as it had in April 2019. Gleaners and other nonprofits that are focused on food insecurity have rapidly adapted their services to feed more hungry individuals.
Bethany Watson
Watson said her degree in philanthropic studies has helped her navigate the challenges of a new environment, including writing grants and mananging relationships with funders to help Gleaners make a difference for those facing food insecurity and hunger.
At The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Erin Crowther serves as the donor relations manager. The environment- and animals-focused nonprofit has found new ways to creatively adapt to the new environment and engage with its constituents and the conservation community.
Erin Crowther
“We’ve developed ‘TNC TV’ episodes featuring different aspects of our mission, we held an online board meeting, and we celebrated the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day from all corners of the globe,” Crowther said. “We recognize the comfort our natural world can bring to those who engage with it.”
International affairs organizations based in the U.S. have implemented innovative fundraising campaigns, participated in global giving days, and developed their own emergency responses to COVID-19, according to Lilly Family School of Philanthropy visiting research associate Kinga Horvath, a Fulbright Scholar from Hungary.
“Pooled funds and collaboratives have also become an innovative vehicle to leverage donors’ resources and common interests in order to tackle global societal challenges, locally and globally,” she explained.
Kinga Horvath
Horvath and the rest of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy research team have worked on collecting data about giving and COVID-19 from around the U.S. and the world in order to assess its national and international impact.
Some foundations, such as Ball Brothers Foundation (BBF) in Muncie, have developed a rapid grant program that is designed to pay out small grants quickly, according to BBF president and COO Jud Fisher. The program assists with immediate needs, and allows BBF to respond quickly without changing many of their systems. In addition, Fisher noted that the foundation is also continuing its general grantmaking cycle.
Michelle Turchan of Riley Children’s Foundation urged nonprofits to be nimble and to ask constituents, volunteers, and donors how they are impacted by the crisis and can best be served.
Michelle Turchan
“We’ve developed a relief fund that allows the hospital to serve the specific needs of families impacted by this health crisis,” said Turchan, regional gift officer. “We know that many of our constituents are in a particularly heightened state of stress, and we want to be sure that we are continually able to best serve them.”
Arts, culture, and humanities organizations face a tough road ahead.
“During previous disasters, sharing space and taking solace in the healing power of the arts has allowed us to grieve together and heal together,” explained Tania Castroverde Moskalenko, executive director of the Miami City Ballet.
Tania Castroverde Moskalenko
“The nature of this pandemic hasn’t allowed us to do that. The current situation has forced many of us to pivot to virtual presentations via digital platforms and social media channels,” she said. “Most of us are planning, creating, and producing content in order to stay connected to our audiences. We are determined to continue impacting lives through our work.”
Lessons
What are some of the takeaways that nonprofit practitioners can learn from peers in the philanthropic sector?
Use a virtual learning/community environment to your advantage. Discover new ways to connect with stakeholders and those passionate about your mission. How can you use online platforms to connect in virtual ways that you weren’t able to or hadn’t tried before?
Be creative in communicating and engaging with your donors. Host regular Zoom meetings. Invite donors on tours of your organization, implementing your community’s recommendations for social distancing. Share stories about recipients or beneficiaries of your organization. Find ways to continually engage with your donors.
Identify ways to regularly meet with your board. Although the virus has altered programs and schedules, it’s important to keep in touch with your board to discuss the ever-changing situation. Keep them involved and engaged, and use their expertise and connections to continue to demonstrate your nonprofit’s case and mission.
Collaborate with others. Search for opportunities to collaborate with other nonprofits, and with businesses and government entities. Much can be accomplished if individuals and organizations work together to better serve their communities.
Listen and respond accordingly. If you’re a public charity, listen to your beneficiaries and the community to see where your mission matches need. Be open and nimble to adjusting plans if you find that your constituents need something different from you. If you are part of a foundation, listen to your grantees and find ways to be flexible in order to quickly respond to community needs. In addition, deliver on your previously-made awarded grants in order to help nonprofits as much as possible during this time.
Since June 2020, Abby Rolland has served as a fellow at The Patterson Foundation in Sarasota, Fla. She holds a master’s degree in philanthropic studies from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and an undergraduate degree from Gettysburg College.
Through a collaboration with the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, The Patterson Foundation created the Fellows Program. Through this effort, the foundation aspires to create a network of future leaders aligned in its innovative approach to philanthropy.
With questions still lingering about the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Flexibility Act, the Small Business Administration (SBA) recently released revisions that clarify guidelines for loan forgiveness, payroll requirements, exemptions and other basic aspects of the program. For the record, this is the SBA’s 18th “interim final rules.”
Nonprofit organizations also should be aware that $129 billion of funds still remain available, although the deadline for the program was June 30. Legislators are expected to determine whether to extend the PPP application deadline as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, but some lenders have closed their portals.
The updates for the PPP Flexibility Act include:
Extended period for loan forgiveness: The loan forgiveness covered period — the timeframe for which the borrower needed the PPP loan proceeds as they tried to continue operations, was originally set for eight weeks. However, the SBA has extended the allowable covered period time frame to 24 weeks. In other words, organizations now have the flexibility to use the PPP loan proceeds with a specific 24-week time frame instead of an 8-week time frame.
A more flexible payroll requirement: Under the new guidelines, a minimum of 60 percent of the PPP loan proceeds must be utilized by payroll to be eligible for full forgiveness. The original PPP guidelines required that 75 percent of the PPP loan proceeds must be utilized for payroll expenses. The rest must be spent on rent, utilities, and other business-related expenses.
Safe Harbor provisions for loan forgiveness: The original CARES Act stated that the PPP loan proceeds had to be used to maintain employment and wages at the previous levels. However, the PPP Flexibility Act has added a Safe Harbor provision in case the organization was impacted by state or national restrictions and, as a result, was unable to return to normal economic activity, or was not able to re-hire previously furloughed employees or fill vacant positions despite efforts to do so.
Process for loan forgiveness: The borrower must complete and submit to the lender a form called the Loan Forgiveness Application. Two forms exist: SBA Form 3508 and SBA Form 3508EZ. These must be supported by documentation to substantiate the eligibility and utilization of the loan funds. Within 60 days, the lender must review the Loan Forgiveness Application and make a recommendation to the SBA about forgiveness and the forgiveness amount. Within 90 days, the SBA will provide the forgiveness amount to the lender.
It’s also important to know that as part of the general loan forgiveness process, the SBA will review the loan for compliance with:
the CARES Act
SBA rules or guidance applicable at the time of the borrower’s application
Terms of the borrower’s PPP loan application; e.g., borrower lacked an adequate basis for the certification made on its application
If the SBA determines that the borrower was ineligible for the PPP Loan, the loan will not be eligible for forgiveness.
The SBA also provides a specific calculation for the loan forgiveness amount, which equals payroll costs (details to be considered) plus non-payroll costs.
Details about payroll costs: For the employer, compensation must be paid to employees who principally reside in the United States. Compensation is defined as salary, cash tips, payment for vacation and parental, family, medical or sick leave. It also includes allowance for separation or dismissal payment for retirement benefits and payment of state or local taxes assessed for an employee’s compensation.
Non-payroll costs include interest payments, lease payments, and utility payments. The eligible non-payroll costs cannot exceed 40% of the total forgiveness amount.
Notwithstanding the Forgiveness Application, the nonprofit organization must be prepared to provide supporting documentation to the lender outlined as follows:
Payroll: Documentation of verifying eligible cash compensation and non-cash benefit payments for the covered or alternative covered period including data such as bank statements or other payroll reports. Such reports must document the amount of cash compensation paid to employees, payment receipts and the average number of FTE employees on payroll employed by borrower on Jan. 1, 2020 and the end of the covered period.
Non-payroll: The requirement for supporting documentation includes verifying the existence of the obligations/services prior to Feb. 15, 2020 and eligible payments from the covered period. Eligible non-payroll includes business mortgage interest payments, business rent or lease payments and business utility payments. Applicants may need to provide cancelled checks or online banking activity to prove payments.
Notwithstanding some recent news from the Small Business Administration, you should talk with your relationship bank for details about its specific processes. In addition, the SBA also provides readily accessible materials from the following URL: https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/cares/assistance-for-small-businesses
John Haggarty, vice president, Gail Bradley, vice president, and Dave Voris, region manager, Treasury Management, represent many years of experience in understanding the unique needs of nonprofit organizations. They focus on wrapping specially designed depository products, Treasury Management, and Funds Management together to help each nonprofit organization manage their cash flows in the most economical way.
By Sara Johnson, director, IU Executive Education, O’Neill School
Unprecedented times. It’s the phrase we keep hearing over and over from leaders around the world to describe the major shifts we’re seeing across all sectors due to the COVID-19 global pandemic.
And in these unprecedented times, we must provide unprecedented leadership.
IU Executive Education at the O’Neill School’s faculty — including Mary Anna Weber, Tom DeCoster and myself — have led teams through crises before. Our experiences can help leaders learn to do the same, starting with five key concepts to form the foundation.
Authenticity
Be authentic. You are going through this crisis just like your team. Be real about how this situation is challenging you, just as you want your employees to share how they are handling things. Don’t vent, though. Save sharing those frustrations for your peers, your family, or someone in a similar role.
Clarity
Be clear about your expectations and your messages. Rich communication channels involve reading body language and being face-to-face with a person. Having face-to-face meetings on Zoom or Skype is better than not seeing someone at all; however, it’s still not the same. People may be distracted physically — working on their sofa and trying to balance a laptop — or emotionally by their current situation. Be sure you clarify your messages at the end of virtual meetings. We know this is an important way to end any meeting, but it’s even more important now.
Empathy
Be empathetic. Lead with grace, focus, and understanding, while being patient and forgiving when everyone is trying to adapt to a “new normal.” Some people have never worked in their home environment before. They may be trying to find ways to work there at the same time their partners are also working from home or while their kids are doing homework. They may also be trying to figure out how technology, like how to log on to the office system remotely. Recognize that all of this can be a challenge.
Expect productivity to dip a bit as people adjust. If you have extremely high standards of performance, you need to relax that a bit or your own frustration will rise. That helps no one at this point. A boss once reminded me, “No one gets up in the morning and decides they are going to go to work and do a really bad job.” If you hired the right people in the first place, their performance will come back. Good people want their leader to succeed, too.
Consistency
Be consistent. Be the person your team knows you to be. Don’t take on behaviors that are inconsistent with who you are. You are a leader and when things are in an upheaval there is a tendency to get into the operations where you can be in greater control. There is no greater time for you to be leading rather than focusing on operations. Keep the sights set ahead and point the way for your team, even if the future is a bit muddied in your own mind. Leaders never have total clarity when leading. Don’t let a little fog stop you from ensuring your team is still moving forward.
Intentionality
Be intentional. Make it a point to communicate regularly and with purpose. There is a balance between inundating people with multiple communications to the point they get overwhelmed and even confused. Know what you specifically want to inform people about, even if it’s simply what you know and don’t know at a given point. People appreciate hearing from you even if it’s just that you don’t have information yet. This builds trust and lets them know you are still there, monitoring developments.
Keep in mind that right now you are helping your team make sense of this new and unpredictable journey. One thing that helps in sensemaking is consistent leadership and being a leader who can be trusted. If you lead with these behaviors, you will ensure your team can trust you to be that same person who looks out for and leads them on the average “day at the office.”
Sara Johnson is clinical assistant professor for the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs and Director of IU Executive Education. Professor Johnson teaches graduate and executive education courses. She is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives (FACHE) and recently served the College as the Indiana Regent. As Director of Indiana University Executive Education, Professor Johnson leads a team of over 40 faculty and staff who are engaged in providing the highest level of leadership development and strategic organizational consulting.
Last year, nearly 10,500 adults were released from Indiana Department of Correction’s custody. In Marion County alone, 2,485 adults, of which 203 were females, rejoined the community.
While some find programs that help with their re-entry, other former inmates struggle. According to research, however, adults who find immediate, comprehensive support that focuses on transitioning ex-offenders back into society, have dramatic reduced rates of recidivism.
In Marion County, the Re-entry Coalition run by Community Solutions provides a connection and network for county re-entry programs. Lena Hackett, president and founder of Community Solutions, a community development consulting firm, has worked with well-established nonprofits that do this type of work, but has seen start-ups get in the game in the past several years. The coalition convenes monthly working groups and a two-part, large-group quarterly meeting that opens with work groups sharing results, and then sharing information and providing education.
“I know that there are people who have different beliefs or different values, but we’re still all working, using our resources, our networks, to say, ‘How do we make this change?’ It’s pretty exciting,” said Elizabeth (Liz) Wallin, founder of Project Lia, which supports women exiting the correctional system.
Wallin is one of several founders of start-up efforts. Ericka Sanders works with dads inside Putnamville Correctional Facility and founded YouYesYou! to keep dads and daughters connected. Nick Greven is interim director of FOCUS Initiatives, which began as a correspondence project in Bloomington and is just getting started in Indianapolis. His group, which is not yet a part of the Marion County Re-entry Coalition, will provide former inmates with a range of services and eventually will be run by the four inmates instrumental in getting the program off the ground. All believe in the importance of building trust.
Project Lia
Wallin, who grew up in Queens, New York, came to Indianapolis in 2016 for an internship at Mundell and Associates. Her quest was to learn about the Irvington company’s profit-sharing model. As a member of the Economy of Communion network, the environmental company divides its profits in thirds, a portion going to the community, a portion back into the business and the remainder to a general global fund. During her time in Indianapolis, she also volunteered with a group involved in a mosquito netting project at the Indiana Women’s Prison.
As a result of that connection, she started doing research into the root causes of female incarceration. She also started mapping the re-entry programs available in Indianapolis for women.
“I was very much looking at it like an analysis and trying to dig for data (to determine) would that be a sustainable project to take outside of the prison walls, so that when individuals return to the community, they would have that skill set and could plug right in as they gained some sort of stability. I was looking at it purely in a data-driven way.”
And that’s when the idea of Project Lia developed, said Wallin, founder and executive director. When her internship finished, Wallin stayed in the city, and with some of Economy of Communion funding, jumpstarted the program which is named for an Argentinian woman who dedicated her life to building bridges between races, cultures and religions.
Just under 10 percent of America’s prisoners are women. While men and women returning face some common challenges, some other barriers vary by gender. Women are statistically more likely to be expected to care for children or other family members. The basic premise is to help women rebuild their lives after incarceration.
The program’s length is designed to be six months to a year. As advancements are made through technical skills and the life skills program, job titles and pay can also advance. The goal is to make a successful transition to a long-term career opportunity. Along the way, program participants receive instruction in financial literacy, communication, business ethics, and health and wellness, and receive support for a future job search. As part of the process of rebuilding their lives, the women reuse discarded materials to design and build furniture and other items that contribute to the nonprofit’s revenues.
Word of the program is shared at the Women’s Prison, and last fall, “New America” produced a piece for the Atlantic that shared its mission and plans for scaling.
“It’s a pretty exciting moment. I think it also helps us in building our credibility as an organization and the work that we do. Because many times, it’s a hard sell — that very emotional, relational work that happens in community organizing and community development,” said Wallin.
“We’re creating taxpaying individuals, productive individuals, but that work only is sustained through relationships. It only really changes a long-term impact if you build those relationships and invest in the other. And that story’s hard to sell because it can be expensive and it’s messy. It doesn’t look like what you want it to look like, it looks like what it looks like.”
Besides funding from Economy of Communion, the nonprofit has received funding from the Plus Program, and is working with the Department of Correction to determine if a grant is feasible. Revenue from products and projects has been another source of income.
Just before the shelter-in-place order, Timesia Keys was hired as the full-time operations manager. During the pandemic, Wallin said it has not added any participants to the program, but applied for and received assistance from the Paycheck Protection Program through LISC and its landlord has provided some rent relief.
Some of the ways Wallin said the program measures success is to look at savings and checking accounts and financial management before and after the program.
“The career pathway we take is on a very individual basis. It’s like: ‘Where do you want to go? What do you want to be doing?’ and then we work on that,” Wallin said. Wallin also tries to connect women to community resources.
Joyce (using only her first name here) has been in the program for about six months and found it through PACE. Besides upholstering, she’s learned to fix windows, since a revenue generator for Project Lia is repairing all the transom windows in the Circle City Industrial Complex where the program is housed. But at her core, Joyce is a true leader. She is hungry for knowledge about the administrative side of a nonprofit, because she wants to start a transitional home for former women inmates.
Wallin said the program’s first employee is now a manager at a Bloomington beauty salon and has just purchased her first house.
“It’s exciting to be part of her life. She was at that point in the program helping us, more than we were helping her, it felt like. Love her story.”
But at the core, Wallin, who has grown up with people investing in her development, believes it is about social justice.
“I believe strongly in our ability to create a united world and peaceful communities. In loving the other, it is hard and simple at the same time — simple concept, radical implementation. So that’s sort of what’s my guiding post and how do we fight for equity for all,” she said.
Project Lia
WHO SERVED: Women over 18 who have been incarcerated.
WHAT: Social enterprise, started in 2017, working to address economic barriers to re-entry success. Participants develop workforce skills by repurposing discarded material into furnishings and accessories. Participants are paid $10 an hour to start, and after a three-month evaluation, earn $11, and eventually top at $12, and get help opening savings and checking accounts. The John Boner Neighborhood Center offers participants financial literacy and management support.
PROGRAM GOAL: Help women become self-sufficient, build a resume and. According to Project Lia’s mission statement: “We exemplify an inclusive local economy and ultimately help our participants become self-sufficient and valued members of society. We aim to create a space of understanding and mutual respect – a space where transforming material, transforms lives. Using excess materials growing the business and organization step-by-step.”
LOCATION: 1125 Brookside Avenue, Suite C1, Indianapolis, IN 46202.
Before Covid-19, purchasing items designed and made by the women were available in a small shop onsite during the week, and at area farmers’ markets and festivals. In the interim, online shopping is available.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: Volunteers have shared skills, like woodworking and sewing, donated building materials like lumber, tools and fabric and glass jars.
Every year, Ericka Sanders and her husband start their year setting goals. But 2014 was different. That year, she decided this would be her year to “to do something.”
A friend read a story about a father-daughter dance at a Virginia prison. That project idea didn’t go away. Sanders had grown up without her father actively in her life and was driven by a desire to help daughters have an experience that she didn’t have. She decided that a father-daughter dance could be her “do something.” According to a 2017 Incarceration to Reentry study in Indiana, 70 percent of people coming out of prison are parents, and the collateral consequences are often intergenerational.
By November, she had pulled together a first event at the Indianapolis Re-Entry Educational Facility on the Near Eastside. At that dance, 26 estranged fathers got the chance to reconnect with 37 daughters, as young as 2 and as old as 29.
By 2016, Sanders established a nonprofit, YouYesYou!, and began building relationships between incarcerated fathers and their daughters, which now includes programming inside prison facilities. A former Indianapolis Recorder reporter, now working full time for Simon Property Group, she has found the time to grow the program beyond the dance.
Besides the father-daughter annual dance, there are Halloween parties for families and their dads, monthly book clubs and workshops designed for the incarcerated fathers that introduce them to organizations focused on re-entry, rehabilitation and other activities. Additionally, on the outside, families build relationships by attending events like basketball games.
Those monthly Saturday book clubs allow time for the dads to talk and learn to build relationships with each other. She arrives with three or four questions about the book and inspirations that can be drawn from the text and asks if the inmates see themselves in the book’s characters.
“A lot of the times, the stories that we read are stories of triumph. Stories of people who have been dealt the most terrible hand but somehow, some way, they made it through. We talk a lot about the future and about dreaming. They don’t like to think much about that. But I kind of force them to do that because it’s important,” Sanders said.
But mostly she said, they just talk and learn a lot about each other.
“They’re pretty vulnerable at this point. By the time they’re in book club, they know me and they trust me. We know what each other is going through, so when we’re reading these books, we’re drawing from all of those different things.”
Sanders also encourages participants to thank whoever is taking care of their kids while the participants are incarcerated and to advocate for each other. Many guys, she said, are so much closer and are friends who hold each other accountable to stay out of trouble.
“The fathers in my program have made terrible, terrible decisions, multiple, multiple times. But they are human beings, and they are people, and sometimes if you just sit and you listen to their stories and you listen to their life and the brokenness that they come from and the things that they’ve had to deal with, you can kind of understand why they made some of the terrible decisions that they made.
“I really think that connecting them with their kids is the push that they need to be on good behavior and the push that they need that when they’re released, they will not come back. That is the basis of what we do.”
“A YouYesYou! father who getting out of prison has confidence, they believe in themselves. They’ve healed some relationships. They’re just different people. I hear that all the time. Basically, it’s just believing in them. It is so important that I get across that what we do is that we just believe in them,” Sanders said.
Earlier this year, she received a $50,000 United Way’s Innovation Award and is using part of the funds to hire a consultant to strengthen and grow her board. Plans are also underway to grow the program with the addition of the program at Plainfield, but the Department of Correction requires programs to be similar. So Sanders started her year honing the activity specifics, re-entry organizations’ workshops and the book club. Christamore House has plans to add a re-entry program, and YouYesYou! will collaborate and handle the family-engagement workshops to keep families of incarcerated engaged and connected.
She is still in communication with the Plainfield facility and Christamore House, but with the pandemic, expansion plans are on hold. The time has afforded her the opportunity to recruit a three-member working board which is scouting for additional members, and fine-tuning the program’s syllabus.
“Families of incarceration are often forgotten about. I think often people don’t realize the impact that incarceration has on families. What I’ve found, just the communication that the kids have with their dads, it helps the family all the way around,” Sanders said.
In five years, she sees the program expanding to more facilities and doing more family engagement activities in community centers.
“(The key is) to be able to just keep those families connected,” Sanders said. “The easy part is being in jail, if you want to be real about it. You know some guys are terrified to come out of prison. I would love to be able to share my blueprint with other individuals in Indiana and with other prison facilities and other states. It doesn’t have to be me running this program, it can be done anywhere, everywhere.”
She doesn’t want anything in return, she just wants them to be great dads. “Because by being a great dad, you’re not only helping yourself and your kids, but you’re helping their future.”
YouYesYou!
WHO SERVED: Fathers at Putnamville Correctional Facility, a medium security correctional facility. First father-daughter dance in 2014. Started at Putnamville in 2018 with 20 dads and ended up with 10; in 2019, 23 dads in the program, ended up with 21; and in 2020, the prison had 225 applications and selected 30. Those 30 are still involved. To date, eight have been released from prison and have not returned.
WHAT: Two-year project. Features workshops provided by re-entry organizations, like PACE, Recycle Force, EmployIndy, Goodwill’s New Beginnings and CareSource, which provide connections on the outside to employment and services. Fun activities with kids – father-daughter dance, Halloween party for daughters and sons and a family back-to-school event in August to maintain connections to family. A monthly book club that begins in November. When the program wraps up, the majority of dads are either out or on their way out when the program wraps up.
PROGRAM GOAL: To support the relationships between incarcerated fathers and their children by offering fun and engaging programs inside prison walls.
LOCATION: Putnamville Correctional Facility, 1946 W. U.S. Hwy 40, Greencastle, IN
Nick Greven has had firsthand experience with prisoners who struggle outside prison walls. His involvement started five years ago when he helped start IDOC-Watch. It’s a watchdog group that corresponds with inmates, particularly those who have been incarcerated for lengthy periods of time. While IDOC-Watch started in Bloomington, it now has about 50 people involved in chapters in Indianapolis, Gary, South Bend, Evansville and Fort Wayne.
Through contact, the group came to a greater understanding of incarcerated life and potential need for increased support. And what it also learned was that for individuals who have been incarcerated for decades, there are enormous challenges to reacclimate to life outside prison walls. Often, they have lost contact with their prior support systems, particularly if they were incarcerated at a young age. For those with little experience outside of prison, navigating the world is new and finding stable housing and employment are among their significant hurdles.
The urgency of creating FOCUS Initiatives became clear when Faheem Shabazz (formerly Jerry Smith), incarcerated as a teen, was released from prison in 2018, and efforts were made to help him navigate the hardships of re-entry. He had been corresponding with IDOC-Watch.
“I was trying to help him get on his feet,” Greven said. “He was locked up in adult prisons when he was 14, and been in prison for 20 years, actually growing up in prison. He was ill.
“It was just really hard for him to get on his feet. Impossible to find a place to rent and was really hard to find a job. Unable to find consistent work, he was staying with his mom, and it wasn’t going well. He just didn’t really know how to exist in the world.”
What he needed, the group realized, was sustainable support until he got to a position where he could take care of himself. This experience to help Shabazz resulted in FOCUS Initiatives that was designed by a team of current and former incarcerated individuals in collaboration with community allies. Not created in isolation, it drew on models like San Francisco-based Planting Justice and a Los Angles program for women, A New Way of Life. FOCUS Initiatives launched in 2019, and stands for Forever on Course United in Solidarity.
Shabazz is currently incarcerated on a technical parole violation at Westville Correction Facility in Westville, Indiana. Greven’s hope was that he would be more involved if he was released in March, but parole was denied.
“He’s been involved to the extent that he’s able to while incarcerated, but it’s pretty difficult. Anything that is time sensitive or detailed is pretty challenging,” said Greven, who is serving as interim director until the men are released from DOC custody.
“I’m the interim director until people are ready to take it over fiscally. We have people who are planning on doing that and get on their feet. Four people who are close collaborators on the project are getting out (of prison) between now and June,” said Greven.
“They have like some time to adjust, get their feet under themselves. A period of months to get used to be in a world outside of prison before there’s any financial pressures. The first step is getting people what they need to survive without having to be under a lot of stress when they first get out. And then also having a supportive community, especially of people who have been or had similar experiences around them to where they can consult with each other about what they are going through. There’s all kinds of PTSD and prison has all kinds of psychological effects. People who have not been in prison cannot understand how it affects someone,” said Greven.
The first phase is to buy a house that will be available for two to five former inmates. The house will have a group counseling space with a re-entry circle. It can also host formerly incarcerated or family members for get-togethers. It will be a place for several to live and work to organize the rest of the program. The group has been looking at the Eastside, east of Rural Street, to find affordable property that meets the program needs. The group has plans to start a business in the second phase.
“They’re going to establish a prototype or test run for the project to see what we need. It’s long term, and we’re trying to do it in a way so that we’re not dependent on big grants, so it’s an independent organization,” said Greven.
FOCUS Initiatives
WHO SERVED: Individuals returning to Marion County/Indianapolis from prison.
WHAT: Four-phase project that takes into account the underlying or “root” causes of mass incarceration.
PROGRAM GOAL: Launched in 2018 by a group of community allies and incarcerated individuals to build a Marion County community for former inmates. Plan is to include counseling services, a business, a legal clinic and medical services.
LOCATION: Seeking to purchase a house for two to five former inmates on the Eastside of Indianapolis.
By Jan Breiner Frazer, managing member, Planningplus, LLC
In this country, we have experienced a number of events during the last two decades that resulted in immediate impact on business and industry, beginning with 9/11, followed by the 2008 recession and the far-reaching Affordable Care Act.
But in those cases, we could somewhat foresee the horizon and plan accordingly – we had end goals in sight. But in this world of the global pandemic with various levels of quarantine, shifting guidelines and re-opening dates, and bombardment of news (often conflicting), we are not sure we can even plan on next month.
While strategic planning is still valid, it is not as we’ve always known it. Planning Plus’ expertise has long been in designing and facilitating strategic planning, generally for three-year periods. However, we are revising our methodology during this extraordinary time to remain flexible and adaptable.
As we enter the post-COVID office environment, we are shifting to assist our clients with 18-month micro-planning cycles accompanied by some of the following critical recommendations:
Break down the mission into priorities. One of the challenges in planning with nonprofit agencies is that, by their very nature, they want to help everyone within their sphere with multiple programs, multiple stakeholders, and the requisite multiple funding streams. We are encouraging our clients to focus on the top three priorities as dictated by their mission statements – and then prioritize those. Get very, very clear on what you do and for whom, with a sharper focus on funding options.
Build accountability checks into the plan. We need to keep as little as possible from slipping through the cracks, and following through on initiatives and meeting time deadlines is more critical than ever, particularly as funding sources are still fluid.
Place more emphasis on searching out alliances and partnerships. After the dust settles, if it ever does, there will most likely be fewer nonprofits standing, and those that survive must work closer together.
Build in scenario planning. While the global pandemic took many of us by surprise, there are possible scenarios we can begin discussing, particularly when facing funding reductions. Think through what could yet change and begin to create responses. For every goal or initiative, create a Plan A, Plan B and then Plan C along the lines of “if/then.”
Establish a cash reserve, even it that would mean scaling back on services and/or programs. It doesn’t help your stakeholders if you can’t weather any future storms and go out of business.
Tighten relationships with your board. This is the time when board members can no longer passively attend board and committee meetings. As staff has been trimmed, identify the skill sets the board can contribute to administrative and operational decision-making to make up for fewer staff members. We are certainly not condoning moving from a governance to a management role but boards need to increase help where they can.
Most importantly, build in and utilize formal channels to ensure consistent communication with internal teams and external stakeholders – particularly donors. While communication may appear to an operational rather than strategic initiative, everyone is trying to make sense of what has happened, how it affected them, and what may come. Staying close to those who make the organization successful is imperative.
If your head is spinning on how to move forward, we can help structure a focused, effective, and realistic plan to continue to move forward in a world of uncertainly and unknowns.
Jan Breiner Frazier, managing member of Planning Plus, has been a consulting professional since 1987. She has designed and facilitated strategic, annual, and operational planning sessions for a multitude of organizations, often bringing together diverse philosophies, opinions, and perspectives to help groups collectively meet stated objectives. Often, her planning projects have resulted in assisting with organizational design and process improvement initiatives. Her work with nonprofit boards and associations has ranged from strategic planning, board development and committee structure to identifying organizational competencies. She can be reached at jfrazier@planningplusllc.com.
By Sandy McCarthy, president of Retirement Services, OneAmerica
In the face of these uncertain times, we’ve seen new-found levels of appreciation and respect for the organizations providing vital assistance to our communities and citizens. As you know, hospitals and healthcare systems, social and community-service organizations, and religious institutions have stepped up to provide care, support and relief to those in need. These tax-exempt organizations are the foundations of our communities and have always been a top focus for OneAmerica®.
Though 2020 – with the SECURE Act, the COVID-19 pandemic and the CARES Act – has presented challenges for all plan sponsors, tax-exempt plans have some unique concerns and considerations. Here are a few things we’re urging tax-exempt employers to keep top-of-mind as they navigate the current environment.
Responding to the SECURE Act: This landmark legislation provides the most significant changes to the retirement industry in more than a decade and makes investing for retirement more accessible to millions of Americans. Though the most dramatic changes are for 401(k) plans, there are also provisions impacting 403(b) plans and participants. From tax credits to distributions and more, it’s important for your plan to work with a company that understands the ins and outs of this legislation.
Benefiting from the CARES Act: Aimed to provide relief in crisis, the CARES Act has a number of provisions that benefit tax-exempt organizations. Depending on each unique situation, organizations may want to take advantage of specific provisions – loan resources, employee retention credits or deferring employer payroll taxes. It’s beneficial to work with a company that understands your challenges and helps you best utilize available relief.
Providing for participants’ needs: These uncertain times are challenging organizations and individuals alike. Ensuring your employees have the resources they need to understand recent legislation, market volatility and financial wellness in general will help support them to make the decisions that best align with their needs. And, employee education should cover more than just financial wellness. We recently introduced materials to focus on employees’ emotional wellbeing – understanding that the two are deeply connected.
Complying with the 403(b) plan restatement requirement: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has extended the 403(b) restatement deadline from March 31 to June 30, 2020. By restating plan documents onto an IRS-approved document, the IRS is essentially putting a seal of approval on the plan – providing it the type of protection that 401(k) plans have had for decades. Restatement or transferring the existing plan provisions also gives plans a chance to fix errors proactively, and may be an optimal time to review the plan itself. You can learn more about plan restatement here.
Maximizing plan design: Plan design can be vital to achieving desired outcomes, and it’s necessary to keep a constant pulse on whether the plan is operating as intended. COVID-19 has caused many organizations to reassess elements of their plan, like employer contributions, and make difficult decisions on other issues, like temporarily eliminating matching contributions. Your plan’s service provider should be able to work with you to ensure your plan is designed in a way that meets your goals and aligns with your mission.
Ensuring your service is customized: We believe tax-exempt employers do best to work with a company that understands the nonprofit sector and can offer customized solutions that meet each plan’s unique needs. With a 55-plus-year history of serving tax-exempt plans, the companies of OneAmerica have taken a unique approach to offering guidance in the COVID-19 era. Combining industry research with findings from virtual client focus groups, we created materials for our nonprofit and healthcare clients to outline industry issues and hot topics, as well as action items to consider. It’s important to keep in mind that off-the-shelf, cookie cutter solutions aren’t always best-suited for tax-exempt plans, and these employers should ensure they’re getting the customized support that meets their needs.
Connecting with a financial professional: When compared to the for-profit market, many tax-exempt organizations are underserved in this area – with approximately 46% of plans not connected with a financial professional. Now more than ever, these plans may wish to work with a trusted professional who can help them understand and react to changing conditions and legislation.
In these truly unprecedented times, we’re seeing more reliance than ever on the hospitals and nonprofit organizations that exist to care for and support those in need. As the foundation of our communities, tax-exempt organizations continue to be essential. These vital organizations deserve the support and assistance they need to thrive.
As president of Retirement Services, Sandy McCarthy leads the OneAmerica® team offering defined contribution and defined benefits services with a strong focus on customized retirement plans through highly personalized administration and recordkeeping services. She brings more than 30 years of industry experience, including key leadership roles at Mercer, ING (now Voya), and CitiStreet.
Previously she spent seven years in leadership roles as a senior partner at Mercer, where she served as North America Region Benefits Administration Business Leader, following a position as CEO and board member Asia Pacific Outsourcing Business living in Melbourne, Australia.
McCarthy graduated with honors from Tufts University, earning both her undergraduate in sociology/education and Master of Arts degree in education, then completing an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
She currently serves on the boards of the American Red Cross of Indiana (ARC), Junior Achievement of Central Indiana (JACI), Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) and LIMRA LOMA Secure Retirement Institute (SRI).
OneAmerica is the marketing name for the companies of OneAmerica®. Products issued and underwritten by American United Life Insurance Company® (AUL), a OneAmerica company. Administrative and recordkeeping services provided by McCready and Keene, Inc. or OneAmerica Retirement Services LLC, companies of OneAmerica which are not broker/dealers or investment advisors. Provided content is for overview and informational purposes only and is not intended and should not be relied upon as individualized tax, legal, fiduciary, or investment advice.
By sheer numbers, very little good has come as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. In the U.S., there have been more than 2 million cases, more than 110,000 lives lost, nearly 40 million people unemployed and no clear signs that better times are close.
But for two Indiana nonprofits — Carey Services and Second Harvest Food Bank of East Indiana — the pandemic has forced them to rethink their operations. For the leaders of both organizations, resilience is a key word in their vocabularies.
And maybe … just maybe, they will be stronger when life resumes as normal.
Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana
Muncie-based Second Harvest Food Bank of East Central Indiana is a hunger-relief organization started in 1983 that provides food through a network of 96 agencies and 35 schools in eight counties.
Tim Kean has been its CEO/president since 2012. During the pandemic, he said the agency is finding new ways to reach people.
“I think when circumstances present themselves, you can push back and try to resist,” said Kean. “But if you have the perspective of leaning into the circumstance and using that force that you’re feeling in your favor, then I think you can leverage a lot of benefit (for) the people that you’re trying to serve.
“(Second Harvest) has moved to the place where we are leaning into this and looking at it on some level as being transformational.”
So, what has changed and how has the organization adapted?
Its food supply has been interrupted. Consequently, with donations not coming from its traditional sources, it has had to find alternative ways to procure food said Kean. As a Feeding America network member, it has leveraged national food opportunities, but the bottom line is it has had to purchase food in the marketplace to give it away.
With the high demand, food banks have been forced to quickly ramp up their efforts. In Indiana, news reports have depicted long car lines waiting for mobile food distributions. And while Second Harvest has used this delivery method for over 20 years, what is new is the volume. Nearly double, for each distribution it now uses two loaded semis and serves 2,000 to 3,000 families, up from 800 to 1,000 a year ago. During June, 32 mobile distributions are scheduled.
Volunteers have been a mainstay for the nonprofit, and in a typical year, it relies on 4,300 volunteers to assist with food distribution. But in March, the organization sought to eliminate risk and curtailed access to the warehouse and headquarters, forcing it to find alternative ways to distribute food.
Local organizations have helped fill the gap. Now, rented cargo vans loaded with food are picked up by community groups and driven to underserved areas for pop-up pantries. In the first six weeks of the pandemic, 15,000 pounds of food helped 750 families. In addition to food, diapers, an often-overlooked item, are part of this weekly distribution.
Activated citizen soldiers have been part of its new crew. When the governor activated the National Guard, Second Harvest Food Bank was assigned 30 men and women from a Brigade Support Battalion (BSB). Kean said they are assigned only until June 24 if funding is not approved to extend deployment. If not, Plan B is in place – to hire temporary workers to continue the activity at the current level.
“Quite honestly, I don’t anticipate the need diminishing during that time period. So, we’ve got to figure out how to get that done,” said Kean. “
“We’re not doing it, the community’s doing it. We’re finding that there are new opportunities. So, it’s that kind of thing that I think lends itself toward stepping into the change and embracing it and figuring out how you can become something bigger and stronger than you were in the past and more effective. It’s not just about being bigger, but it’s about being more effective,” said Kean.
Kean noted that there are internal changes as well.
“We are transforming our organization internally in our staff structure, in areas of emphasis. We’ve been hiring people, and we’re going to continue to hire people. We’ve been acquiring new equipment because we’re in a different place.
“I don’t see us looking in the rear-view mirror saying, ‘I hope we can get back to where we were some point soon.’ That is over. We’re at a new place and we’re embracing that, and we’re looking at ways we continue to facilitate growth.”
“I am not at all driven down by the circumstance, if anything I’m energized because this has given us an opportunity to go and find some diamonds. You have to push a lot of things out of the way to get those diamonds, and we’re willing to do that.”
Carey Services
Marion-based Carey Services has served people with disabilities since 1954 with the mission of helping people “turn abilities and barriers into opportunities.” Since 2013, Jim Allbaugh has been its CEO/president. During the pandemic, he said he’s been constantly reminded that the answers to challenges were close.
“It’s almost always members of our team, our staff, our families and the people who we serve who are the ones that have the right answers. So (it’s important to) listen, understand and get perspectives,” he said.
“As we came into the pandemic, there was a clear recognition, and it became more evident during this pandemic that we are individually focused on the people that we serve, and on our employees. So what we realized more and more each day was that need to be aware of what each individual that we serve and each employee would require of us during this pandemic,” said Allbaugh.
Among the agency’s services are group homes, an early Head Start program, workforce development and day services. Over the past five years, the agency has worked to integrate its clients into the community.
Roughly, 61 million Americans are living with a disability of some kind, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While the vast numbers are able to live at home, some live in residential placement. That is the case for 90 adults who live in Carey’s group homes that provide 24-hour supervision for six to eight people.
Allbaugh credits staff creativity for helping clients continue to make positive progress during the pandemic. Residents have struggled with understanding why their routines were being disrupted, and why going out in the community was curtailed, and why people are wearing masks.
“If you can imagine, people with intellectual development disabilities sometimes struggle to even say, ‘Why are you wearing this mask? I cannot see your lips, it just doesn’t make sense to me why you’re doing that,’” he said.
As they readied to reopen the main campus, one question drove their efforts: “How can we get back to whatever the new normal is to continue to maximize that level of independence for the folks that we serve? That’s kind of been the path or really the journey, if you will.”
On June 1, the facility reopened some of its services, and Allbaugh said his staff was pleased with the outcome.
“It is so great to see people engaging and turning abilities into opportunities back at our main campus. We look forward to next steps with our Phase II and Phase III, and in July, our Early Head Start classroom reopening,” he said.
During the pandemic employees in different departments advocated for alternative ways to deliver services to continue progress. When the agency furloughed the Employment Services team, Allbaugh said an employee challenged that decision. He presented a case for reinstating the team, using Zoom and other technologies to engage participants.
Allbaugh said his employee made a persuasive argument. “‘He said, ‘Jim, we’ve made too much progress with these high school-aged special needs kids who need to keep the momentum moving on their career goals. You need to let us come back and get back to work and do these things from a technology base.’
“The positive results from that effort are great. They’ve kept in contact, kept engaged, kept learning and growing,”Allbaugh said.
And while, staff were already investigating these methods, the pandemic jump started them. And Indiana officials have been open to learning what kind of alternative-service delivery is possible.
“One of our goals is figuring out how to tell the story to those that fund us in such a way to say, ‘You know we cannot go back. Here’s the success and certainly the data is proof.’ We’ve got to be able to figure out how to be allowed to continue to provide this kind of support,” Allbaugh said.
The internet has also helped in other ways. In 2016, the nonprofit started an arts program, Creative Hearts Art Studio. Besides individual expression and discovery, the project was also about integrating clients into the community. During the pandemic, however, that effort was thwarted, limiting the community’s access to the shop. So, plans to open an online store became a priority.
“Knowing that everybody was now on their computers and living virtual lives, our team got together and said ‘Now is the time. We’ve got to push this out because people are on their computers right now.’ This is another opportunity to tell our story in a world where folks are living in that online environment,” said Allbaugh.
Allbaugh said from the beginning of shelter-in-place, rather than wallowing in the challenges of the daily stresses, staff began planning for the “new normal.”
“Our team has not permitted that kind of culture to be here.”
A funder commented on the agency’s forward thinking, sharing feedback on an agency proposal that asked for dollars for plexiglass, duct tape and portal hand-sanitizing machines.
“On the surface those things are all kind of simplistic, but the thing the funder appreciated about those three simple tools is the sustainable nature of those items. Those are things that our team thought about that will be something that we may be using for years.
“We need to realize that we’re still in a situation where we still have the same virus, with the same risk, and what this last period has allowed us to do is build and learn and put together a toolbox of safe and health practices and build a sustainable behavior of our employees and the people that we serve,” said Allbaugh.
