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Feb 24

How you doin’? Nonprofits benefit from formal evaluations

By Feature, Trends, Uncategorized

 
By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

Jodi Snell grew up in a small town. Under 20,000 people live in Jacksonville, Illinois, but Snell remembers her parents were always busy helping to make their tiny community a better place.

Like organizing a softball tournament to raise money for a young cancer patient and her family. Snell recalls personally delivering a Game Boy to the girl in the hospital and recalling that garidathe joy was clearly two-fold: on the girl’s part and hers.

Amanda Lopez had similar experiences in her hometown of Wabash, Indiana. Her mom and dad over the years were foster parents to more than 100 children.

In each case the message is the same. For those who do it, community work can be a rewarding. Most volunteers say it is time well spent and personally fulfilling, even if they can’t be sure they made a significance difference.

In the nonprofit world, where organizations depend on donations and grants, it’s a different story. Nonprofits must prove their worth to keep the operating cash flowing.

And how exactly do they do that? With a little help from folks like Snell and Lopez whose vocabularies these days are full of somewhat dry words as program evaluation, data collection, logic model, outputs and outcomes.

Lopez is the president and founder of Wabash-based Transform Consulting Company. She learned the importance of evaluating programs from her days at Purdue University. She was a member of a service-learning project team whose goal was to interest third graders in engineering and science. But without a tool to measure success, it was hard to know if the kids were really coming on board.

As the only non-engineering student in the group, Lopez had a double role: to ensure that activities were developmentally appropriate and to execute short- and long-term evaluations to provide data.

“That really opened my eyes up to evaluation and the opportunity there,” Lopez said.

“When I went to grad school, I focused on systems and evaluations. (How can we) collect the right data that tracks and reports the impact that (nonprofits are) having or gives them the data that they need to improve and strengthen,” she said. After a stint in the government and coastal agencies, in 2008, she returned to Indiana and formed her consulting company to help nonprofits do just that.

Snell moved to Indiana after college with plans to be a teacher. But at the time, Indiana was laying off teachers, so she stepped into a job in the nonprofit sector. She quickly realized it was her dream job. In those early years, she admits that while she did evaluation work, it wasn’t formalized. ln fact, she describes it as “scrappy.” But from the start, she understood the importance of assessment.

Now, one of her responsibilities at the Indianapolis-based Hedges & Associates is to lead the evaluation team’s work. Since beginning in 2002, the company has offered services to build nonprofits’ capacity and later help with evaluations.

In 2013, a widely circulated essay by Microsoft mogul Bill Gates extolled the role that measurement plays in improving the human condition, how it improved the delivery of vital services worldwide. But he also offered a rueful observation.

“This may seem basic,” he wrote, “but it is amazing how often it (measurement) is not done and how hard it is to get right.”

Perhaps in response to the essay, Snell said local nonprofits began requesting technical support, heavily focused on quantitative measurements. To that end, the company hired a technical evaluation expert to help develop stronger metrics and intentional strategy.

But in many cases, this was a bit disconnected from reality. Snell’s team learned that what should be done might not be what nonprofits had the ability or capacity to do.

“Nonprofits were all of a sudden expected to track certain metrics and do certain things with very little resources provided to do so. Evaluation work is not cheap. It is labor intensive, it takes a lot of time even when you think of just cleaning up data,” said Snell.

So, her team began asking to see a nonprofit’s data before it developed a proposal or entered into a contract.

“Before we develop a proposal, can we see what you’re working with? We will take a look at it, and if it’s not consistently collected or there’s not enough data to make a valid finding, we’ll say, ‘Don’t waste your time.’” Instead, in those cases, she said, they suggested qualitative collection, to determine where to improve and oftentimes the development of a logic model and evaluation foundational pieces, helping to put measurement tools in place.

“Many nonprofits didn’t have data or the right data to do thorough and meaningful evaluations. What they needed was support to determine what to collect as a precursor to evaluation,” Snell said. “Then a year or two years from now, we have something meaningful to evaluate.”

Snell said initially local foundations drove evaluations, but now more individuals and corporate donors have joined the ranks. More importantly, some nonprofits have tackled evaluation, not because of outside influence, but because the organization is committed to its outcomes.

Today, the use of data governs almost every aspect of our lives. This is particularly true for philanthropy, which relies on it to inform decision-making, define problems and measure impact. Lopez and Snell have seen this shift firsthand. Nonprofits understand that they must show qualitative and quantitative data, but the challenge for many nonprofits revolves around the “hows” – how to accomplish it, how to pay for it and how to help staff understand the correlation between collecting data and their day-to-day functions.

And nationally, that’s been the case. In a 2018 book, the authors of Engine of Impact: Essentials of Strategic Leadership in the Nonprofit Sector, 50 percent of the 3,000 nonprofit stakeholders surveyed struggle with impact evaluation. Respondents cited inadequate or unreliable measurement of impact and performance being a challenge, and of the group, 42 percent said that more than half of their major donors require impact evaluations, but only a fraction are willing to pay for it.

And that’s not all they worry about. Lopez said nonprofit staffs often have a palpable fear of not meeting targets and that that will have an adverse impact on funding.

“We really try to build a culture of ‘We do evaluation for the purpose of learning and growth and improvement.’ And it’s OK, if that means we’re not hitting those targets. Let’s figure out why and what to do differently. If we’re not studying and implementing an evaluation plan, we’re not going to learn,” she said.

Snell said she found that local funders are looking for the nonprofit that discovers what’s not working and changes it. While the funders want outcomes, they’re practical and know that it takes time to set up tracking procedures and measuring for some time before it can be attributed.

“I think you definitely have to be looking at which of your programs are producing outcomes, but I think the other side of that is we’re working with humans,” said Snell. “Most of our work is in the social services sector. Some of the evaluation pieces may not always feel ethical. When you’re thinking about a test group, would you deprive a certain group of the population from a certain service to see if it works? I think there will always be that challenge of how valid you can get the data.” said Snell.

Bottom line, Lopez believes that Central Indiana funders are more partner-oriented.

“Local funders have pushed grantees to get clear about outcomes and have strong metrics in place with quantitative data to demonstrate their impact,” Lopez said. “For them it is not a high-stakes test – meet the metrics or funding isn’t continued – but rather, ‘Let’s have an honest conversation around where you are or aren’t meeting those metrics and what kind of capacity support is needed. Accountability is a strong word, but in a way, they’re really pushing the grantees that they’re partnering with to get clear about their outcomes and have strong metrics in place with quantitative data to demonstrate their impact.”

“And that’s where typically, we’ll be asked to come in to help support these nonprofits,” said Lopez. “Organizations are collecting data, that’s really not the issue. When it comes to evaluation, it’s helping them to figure out: Are they collecting the right data? Is the data clean and accurate to reflect what they’re wanting to collect? And how are they using it to make meaning and inform their work. And That’s what we really come in to help them with.”

Oftentimes, federal and state funding requires an external evaluator. But she’s seen the tide change at the federal level, moving from compliance to quality improvement and looking beyond a checklist of accomplishments. They are asking the nonprofits to show how their work is moving the needle.

“In multiyear grants, they want to see how you’re choosing your data and show that you’re using that data from the first year to inform any changes for the next year of programming, professional development and other refinements,” Lopez said.

What most nonprofits struggle with is carving out the time to collect the data.

“So, we really try to help them understand the critical value and importance of building that into their schedule, just like they would build in the next level of programming or services that they would offer. There are really tremendous and helpful data tools out there,” said Lopez who uses a participatory evaluation framework.

“We really want to build their capacity and that sustainability beyond our engagement because we know that most of them cannot afford to hire us forever to do evaluation work. We really want it to become a part of their culture, not just something they outsource to the consultant when a grant report is due. That’s why we spend time building that capacity and knowledge, called data literacy, and evaluation literacy within the organization,” she said.

Snell said it needs to be part of staff’s job responsibilities, not an afterthought.

“Nonprofit professionals typically didn’t start in their career wanting to be evaluators. Right? They started because they are caring and passionate about the program,” said Snell. “However, we owe it to the individuals we’re signing up to serve to know if what we’re doing really matters. This is a step to get there, and it’s not as scary as what people think.”

The opportunity and responsibility are there to utilize the results for planning and decision-making.

“That’s when you see the transformation really occur. And when we see it, it gets us excited.” Citing an example of a local Head Start organization that her company trained, agency staff reached out after it reviewed its data. The staff called because they wanted to go deeper and look at how dads are engaged.

“They felt like that’s an area of concern and stopped to really use their data and to dig into ‘What is happening with dads and where are the gaps and opportunities?’ before they just went to program changes. We’re like ‘Yay, this is so exciting.’ We didn’t have to remind them. They got it.” said Lopez.

Snell cited similar experiences.

“We’ve seen some really great success stories from organizations that have utilized research to inform and change their programming decisions,” she said. “We had one client who was able to secure funding for a whole new curriculum to be developed based on what we learned about the outcomes they weren’t able to get to with the current curriculum.”

Another local organization, she said, did the full evaluation gamut and learned that their collection measurements weren’t telling the entire story.

“We were able to reset how they were evaluating and now their story will be even stronger. I sat in hours and hours of interviews with their participants, and (through) the collection process (learned), we just weren’t getting to that same data,” said Snell who’s hopeful that both the qualitative and quantitative information will tell the same story in the next year.

Lopez believes that if a nonprofit is struggling with fund development, enrollment or retention, evaluation can help solve those problems.

“A lot of the issues that we hear a nonprofit is struggling with, usually evaluation can help solve. A lot of times, individual donors are becoming more sophisticated and want to see the impact that their dollars will have. Your evaluation can help tell that story of how (a donor’s) funding goes to support the cause and furthering its mission. It goes back to using your data.”

Not every organization is ready to jump into impact evaluation, there is a continuum. Some nonprofits begin with number counts. But as nonprofits become more sophisticated, here is some advice from Snell and Lopez.

• Meet your staff where they are. Hedges offers a workshop called “Love your Logic Model” and Transform offers “Evaluation 101.” Both companies believe in starting staffs with the basics. With turnover rate in the sector high, implementing standard operating procedures with internal systems and procedures in place is key to continuing the effort.

• Involve programming staff early in the impact strategy, helping to see the entire picture.

• Start by including metrics in job descriptions and take time to explain to potential candidates how data collection is part of the culture.

• Create a work-flow chart with a clear understanding of how evaluation fits into the day-to-day work plans to ensure the effort is not an addition, but a daily expectation.

• Continuously refine how data is collected.

• Reinforce that if data indicates a programming isn’t working, the focus needs to be on readjustment, not blame.

• Design pilot or innovative programs with research. There are multiple evaluation methods and numerous processes nonprofits can use to match desired outcomes.

• If resources are tight, interviewing participants should top the list to inform your program with the voices of those you are serving.

• Share what you are learning with two audiences – internal and external. Internally can be a powerful affirmation or enlighten staff, board and volunteers about targets not hit.

• Research to locate best tool, particularly with the more “social side” like self-efficacy there are tried-and-true evaluation tools that have been validated to test those specifically.

Evaluation Resources

If you’re interested in keeping up-to-date on evaluation, Amanda Lopez and Jodi Snell recommend two membership organizations that offer top-notch resources, webinars and conferences and share the ethics of evaluation and trends.

These are:
Indiana Evaluation Association that meets quarterly and every other year hosts a conference and
American Evaluation Association on the national level.

If you are looking for further reading, Snell recommends the 2011 publication “Leap of Reason” by Mario Morino. The author focuses on integrating evaluation into regular work.

“It’s the expectation that everyone is driven by those outcomes. What I really like is that nonprofit evaluation is not being driven by an outside force, but it’s the responsibility to the community you signed up to serve to make sure that what you’re doing works. If you’re not making sure it works than what are you doing. Why would we keep doing what we’re doing?”

Lopez has several tool recommendations.

• Data-informed decision-making toolkit : Transform Consulting worked with the Indiana Early Learning Advisory Committee (ELAC) data workgroup to create this material, but the resource could be utilized by any organization. Some highlights: The data visual is a good overview tool and follows the 4-step evaluation process. It also includes a list of publicly available data by category and data visualization tips and strategies.

• Data Playbook: A helpful resource for organizations to guide the evaluation process and plan. Lopez’s team used it to help develop the Indiana Early Learning Advisory Committee’s data toolkit.

• National Head Start Association (NHSA) launched its own Data Playbook resource for how to use data to inform programmatic changes (CQI process). Even if an organization is not in the early childhood education industry, this site provides an example of how organizations are using data to drive change and how applicable it is.

Feb 17

Nonprofit-governance course helps graduates improve boards and organizations

By Sponsor Insight

By Leslie Wells, assistant director of communications, O’Neill School at IUPUI

In 2017, Nigena Livingston was building Urban Act Academy, a K to 8 charter school in Indianapolis, from the ground up. She had worked as an educator for more than 15 years, but launching a charter school was unfamiliar territory.

She was beginning to write the school’s charter and establish its founding board, but she lacked clear direction.

“I had been a principal but felt like a novice when it came to being a CEO,” Livingston says. “I needed more information about boards and board management. I wanted to know how to support my board so that we would know we were on track and doing right by our students.”

So she enrolled in IU Executive Education’s Effective Nonprofit Governance certificate course through the O’Neill School. The six-session program includes lessons on the responsibilities of board members, the evolution of a board, how members help with fundraising, and how to best hold CEOs accountable for advancing the organization’s mission.

“The board is essential to any organization’s success,” says Livingston. “If it’s not treated as essential, your organization won’t thrive. This course included all the information I needed to ensure I was recruiting board members who could participate in meaningful ways and advance our organization.”

Shortly before Livingston began her journey, Amanda Leffler — a nursing education consultant who serves on various boards — was elected board president for the Indiana League for Nursing. She says that election aligned perfectly with the Effective Nonprofit Governance program.

“Enrolling in the program was a strategic decision on my part,” she recalls. “This was an opportunity to learn how to govern a board of directors and grow into a new role.”

Leffler says the classes help participants better understand a nonprofit board’s purpose, how it should operate and how board members can help an organization fulfill its mission.

“Understanding the fundamentals taught in this course is critical to knowing where your organization is, where you want it to go, and how to get there,” Leffler adds.

In addition to content, Leffler and Livingston agree that the diversity of their cohorts provided a deeper understanding and context to the lessons they were learning.

“It was helpful to have non-educators in the room with organizations that face similar challenges to us,” Livingston says. “That helped us turn other organizations’ missteps into teachable moments.”

One critical takeaway for both Leffler and Livingston was gaining a better understanding of the various stages of board development and how to help boards progress — or take steps back — to grow alongside the nonprofit.

“I remember when our board was being nice but not being critical,” Livingston says. “Because of this course, I was able to provide leadership about how they should push me. Rather than just talking about what we want to do, we’re now becoming more evidence-based and developing policies.”

Leffler says that learning the five stages of the nonprofit organization lifecycle has given her “an immense advantage” over her colleagues.

“I approach each of the boards on which I serve in a different way depending on where they are in their life cycle,” she says.

She uses that knowledge to mentor her fellow board members and her nursing students.

“This course trains the trainer,” she says. “I took what I learned and pass it on to help others with whom I work grow, as well. I teach my students how to craft an elevator speech because that is something they need to know, no matter where they are.”

The lessons learned in the program extend well beyond the boardroom. Leffler says not only did she learn to be a better board member and leader, she also learned how to apply what she was learning to her everyday life.

“The knowledge and experiences I gained throughout the program are truly invaluable, especially for anyone looking to serve in the nonprofit sector,” Leffler says. “The tools are practical and simple to implement into everyday practice.”

Leslie Wells joined the O’Neill School at IUPUI as its assistant director of communications in 2018. She previously spent more than a decade in broadcast news and three years as media relations manager at the Indiana Youth Institute.

Feb 03

Beyond large donations

By Sponsor Insight

By Genevieve Shaker, associate professor of philanthropic studies, and Abby Rolland, communications project manager, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

Small gifts do matter

Nowadays, it’s easy to assume that small gifts* don’t matter. The U.S.’s biggest 50 individual donors gave $7.8 billion to nonprofits in 2018. The percentage of households that give is declining, even though total donations are increasing because major donors are giving more money.

However, small gifts still matter for at least three, important reasons.

First, when combined, small gifts can make a big difference for a cause.

In 2017, Hurricane Harvey struck the U.S. Gulf Coast. After disasters strike, the American Red Cross funds shelter, here food and relief items, basic health and mental health services, and other support. In the wake of Harvey, the Red Cross received over one million donations of gifts under $100. These gifts totaled over $35 million. Small gifts and funded immediate relief and long-term recovery efforts for hundreds of thousands of displaced Americans.

Second, small gifts matter to the nonprofit sector as a whole.

In 2016, 53.09% of households gave to charity. While this percentage declined from 2000 to 2016, it illustrates that the majority of American households do donate. These donor households gave an average amount of $2,763, supporting all kinds of nonprofit organizations. Individual donations (including bequests) totaled $331.8 billion in 2018, or 77% of charitable giving. Even though large donations are crucial, many, many small gifts also contributed to this total.

Third, small gifts matter because donors typically begin modestly, giving larger gifts.

World Vision US (WVUS) received its first donations from Dave and Dana Dornsife in the 1980s, when the Dornsifes click began contributing $20 to cover a monthly child sponsorship. Thirty years of continued donations later, and the Dornsifes gave $35 million in matching fund donations from 2011-2015. The match inspired over $256 million in donations, bringing clean water, sanitation and hygiene to 8.6 million people. Good stewardship and donor capacity can combine, leading to larger gifts and inspiring other donors to make contributions.

How can nonprofits and fundraisers build support for and sustain small gifts?

1.) Craft a strategy and fundraising plan that matches the audience at the given gift level.

It’s not sustainable to use the same strategy for a major donor as you would use for an annual fund donor. Tailor targeted approaches for each gift level and population that you’re soliciting and stewarding.

2.) Once you create a strategy, map out a plan and be sure to evaluate it.

Make sure that the strategies you’re using to earn those small gifts are cost-effective for your organization. Always evaluate the solicitation effort and consider what needs to be done differently if necessary. Implement new goals and tactics if previous efforts didn’t work.

3.) Once you identify new donors, create a plan to effectively engage with them.

Invest in communications and donor engagement. Craft a holistic strategy that not only considers the acquisition of a first gift but creates a good experience after the gift is made. Thanks to new technologies, nonprofits now have a range of tools for personalizing donor experiences at all levels.

4.) Show all donors that you know who they are.

Thank them. Spell their names correctly. Recognize donors in communications. Not only does it encourage them to give to your organization again, but nonprofits also have an ethical responsibility to document and demonstrate that their donor information is correct.

5.) Make sure to communicate the impact of giving on the cause.

Overall, donors expect information that tells them about the good they are doing. Not only will this help steward donors appropriately, showing what gifts achieve makes the case for future contributions (and involvement) at various levels.

Every donor should feel valued and know that they and their gift matter. Stewarding gifts properly is a part of our ethical responsibility … and a key to ensuring nonprofits’ financial futures.

*Small gifts may be defined as under $100 but the definition varies depending on the organization.

Genevieve G. Shaker, Ph.D., is associate professor of philanthropic studies at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI. Her research focuses on fundraising, higher education advancement, philanthropy in the workplace, and philanthropy, public good, and faculty work. She is associate editor of the journal Philanthropy & Education.

Abby Rolland serves as the communications project manager at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, and is also working towards a master’s degree in philanthropic studies. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Gettysburg College.

Jan 27

5 methods for improving employee work-life balance

By Sponsor Insight

By Barry Newman, senior human resources representative, Synergy

It might be obvious that severely overworked employees will burn out, but what about the harder-to-spot cases of employees who shoulder a little bit too much stress each day?

Improving work-life balance for your employees has been proven to create a more loyal and more productive workforce. While change can’t happen overnight, there are several methods for encouraging a healthier balance and preventing employee burn out.

Retire the nine-to-five mentality

As long as your industry and work product allow for it, try to provide more tailored scheduling for your workforce. This can make a huge impact, since 89% of surveyed professionals stated the number one thing that would improve their work-life balance would be flexible working hours. Look at each position and consider: why must this here employee be here for these exact hours? In many cases there will be certain meetings that need attending, but outside of that, allowing employees to come in early so they can finish their workday early or shift hours in another way can provide a huge boost to morale.

Offer remote working options

Today’s world is a digital one. Just as with business hours that are more flexible than ever, so too is the location from which employees work. Once again, look at each position and ask: ‘Why click does this employee have to physically be here every single day?’ If all they need is an Internet connection and computer to complete the majority of their job, there should be the potential to allow them to work remotely at least one day per month. In fact, the most engaged workers are those working remotely about 60% of the time, indicating a healthy work-life balance is critical to business success. Best yet, offering remote working options can be a great way to increase attractive benefits without adding any cost.

Tweak the office environment

People are products of their environments. Sterile, fluorescent office interiors are no longer in vogue. Employees desire to walk into a warmer workplace, one that is more vibrant and comfortable. While complete overhauls and construction from scratch can cost thousands, even small tweaks to your environment make a big difference. After all, employees spend a great deal of time at work. Think about the minor but impactful changes you can make, such as adding a new couch and TV to the breakroom, providing an unlimited supply of energy drinks and snacks, or putting a picnic table outside during the summer months.

Promote physical and mental health

An employer looking to improve their organization’s work-life balance must also consider physical and mental health, as psychological and physical problems stemming from burned-out employees cost between $125 and $190 billion per year in healthcare in the U.S.

Encourage employees to be active by enacting a step-counting contest or offering a discounted membership to a local gym. Bring in an exercise instructor once per week or month and have a yoga or other class outside at lunch or after work. Grant employees up to a $20 reimbursement for the purchase of well-being apps that can help them meditate or deal with stress in positive ways. Whatever the form it takes, promoting physical and mental health is an essential duty as an employer.

Adopt paid sick leave

Laws requiring paid sick leave are spreading, but even if it’s not a law in your area currently, it’s something that can go a long way to improving employee work-life balance. Many professionals force themselves to come into work when sick simply because they don’t want to take PTO that they’ve planned to use for their vacation or for an activity with loved ones. This is a dangerous trend since that employee who won’t likely match their normal work rate anyway can get co-workers sick. Build a sick leave policy into the employee handbook and benefits package so employees aren’t put in that situation. They will get healthy faster and appreciate their employer more.

5 ways to improve employee work-life balance

Improving employee work-life balance is more than just offering ample vacation time. While discretion will vary depending on the type and size of your organization, boosting employee morale is the duty of all managers, HR employees, and senior staff. Working together to determine what works best for your employees and implementing those strategies is the key to turning your employee experience from a seesaw to a balance beam.

Provide a boost to your HR and make your employees happier.

Barry Newman is a human-resources professional with nearly 50 years of experience in all facets of HR in a variety of industries. For the last 25 of which have been with The Synergy Companies, a leading Professional Employer Organization providing Midwest-based clients with outsourced human resources management, payroll and benefits.

Reach out to Synergy today.

Jan 13

Could your organization become a victim of lifestyle fraud?

By Sponsor Insight

By Chris Mennel, CPA, senior audit manager, Alerding CPA Group

Sometimes it begins with “borrowing” a small amount of money, as a temporary loan from an employer. He or she may be thinking, “I really need this money and I’ll put it back when I get my paycheck,” or “I just can’t afford to lose everything – my home, car, everything.” Or the employee is living beyond his or her means and wants to support an extravagant lifestyle.

Regardless of the rationale, lifestyle fraud is very real. And small businesses and nonprofit organizations are especially vulnerable.

For example, an employee was involved in an accident resulting in several injuries while also experiencing here marital troubles at home. As a result of the injuries, the individual was prescribed narcotics for pain management. She became dependent on the narcotics as a way to relieve her pain and escape her marital troubles. The employee began spending a large amount of money in order to obtain narcotics, which lead her to steal from her employer in order to make ends meet, resulting in a six-figure loss to the organization.

It’s easy to point the finger at this individual and cite statistics about fraud, but what if we could rewind the clock and encourage management to identify this individual as a potential fraud risk. click The organization’s management could have then reviewed internal controls making sure that stealing wasn’t an option. It sounds difficult to do, but the personal stresses mentioned above were well-known by management.

Don’t be a victim

In 2018, according to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), 28 percent of employee fraud happened in small organizations, the highest number among all employer categories. Small organizations, less than 100 employees, are the most susceptible, because they lack the resources to implement complete systems of internal controls and properly segregate accounting duties among their limited staff.

The types of frauds include corruption, check tampering, skimming, billing and expense reimbursement fraud. Nearly half of the perpetrators were trusted employees who had been with the company from four to five years, worked in the accounting area and were first-time offenders. The median financial loss to these smaller companies was $200,000, the largest among victimized organizations of all sizes.

How to identify lifestyle fraud
Could lifestyle fraud happen to your company or organization?
Here are some signs:

1) Expensive purchases, which were previously out-of-the ordinary for this employee
2) Personal debt and credit problems
3) Behavioral changes indicating drug or alcohol abuse
4) Refusal to take vacation or sick time and refusing promotions for fear of detection
5) Carrying large amounts of money
6) Unwillingness to share accounting responsibilities
7) Uneasiness when being questioned about accounting records

How to stop it before it starts
There are many ways to prevent lifestyle fraud in your organization or business. Here are some strategies:

1) Review your financial process and tighten controls
2) Make sure more than one person has complete control over an entire cash receipts or cash disbursement process
3) Approve every transaction by someone other than bookkeeping
4) Review bank statements by someone other than bookkeeping

Chris Mennel, senior audit manager at Alerding CPA group, oversees audit and accounting services, nonprofit and consulting services. Since joining Alerding CPA Group in 2006, Mennel’s clientele has grown to include several of the firm’s larger for-profit clients as well as approximately 20 nonprofits located throughout Central Indiana. He also prepares financial statement projections and other financial analyses to assist clients with their financing needs.

Lifestyle Fraud can be prevented with the proper controls and processes. If you need help setting them up or would like to discuss a specific concern within your organization, contact Alerding CPA Group at (317) 569-4181 or www.alerdingcpagroup.com

Jan 13

Nonprofits added depth to mission of outgoing drug czar

By Feature, Programming

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

For more information about Indiana’s Next Level Recovery Initiative, visit: https://www.in.gov/recovery/

Jim McClelland first tried to retire five years ago after leading Goodwill of Central Indiana for 41 years. He planned to travel a bit with his wife, Jane, and maybe write a book.

Those plans changed in 2017 when Gov. Eric Holcomb called on McClelland to spearhead Indiana’s Next Level Recovery initiative, a statewide effort to address substance abuse. McClelland became known as the state’s “drug czar” and wore the mantle with gusto.

Last week, a reflective McClelland retired again, and was quick to credit his experience in the nonprofit sector for some of his successes in the state’s response to the growing opioid crisis.

Goodwill’s focus was on poverty, but the nonprofit found it could not just tackle it internally. Poverty wasn’t a stand-alone problem, but rather it was intertwined with multiple health issues, and a collaborative effort with other nonprofits and community groups was needed.

“Just like at Goodwill, social problems are interrelated,” McClelland said. “They tend to reinforce and compound each other. But as a society, we have tended to treat them individually, in isolation from the others. We’ve been lousy at connecting the pieces. We don’t solve the problems, if we don’t address all of them.”

But addressing them all would be a daunting task. It wasn’t the magnitude of the opioid crisis that was a surprise, but its complexity.

“There were hundred different things we needed to be doing all at once. It was extraordinarily complex,” McClelland said.

During his tenure as drug czar, McClelland spoke with over 150 groups across the state — including a number of nonprofits — and encouraged public and private groups to work collectively. In response, he has seen communities step up and form substance use disorder coalitions (SUD) to bring people together and focus on prevention, treatment and recovery.

“They’re bringing people together from business, education and health care, local government, law enforcement agencies, the courts, philanthropy, faith-based organizations, community-based organizations,” McClelland said. “They get to know each other, they get to learn from each other, and they can sometimes begin to see is how they can work together, leveraging their resources and their capabilities to help cause some good things to happen that otherwise wouldn’t happen.”

“They also gain an appreciation for different perspectives. You know, public safety typically has have a different perspective from the medical side, but they need to understand each other’s perspectives and have some respect for each other, and I’ve seen a lot of that developing.”

McClelland has been not only these groups’ cheerleaders, but he helped secure state funds for 10 coalitions. In early 2019, Indiana awarded 10 groups one-year $75,000 grants to support efforts locally to combat the drug crisis. The organizations were in Bartholomew, Cass, Clark, Dearborn, Hancock, Howard, Knox, Marion, Scott and St. Joseph counties. Recipients were selected from applications received in response to a request-for-funding announcement from the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration.

In Howard County, Paul Wyman, a county commissioner, saw the problem and decided to do something about it. In 2017, after the number of overdose deaths in Howard County spiked to a record high of 44, he organized a summit of community leaders and the nonprofit resource center Turning Point Systems of Care was born.

“Wyman had the ability to get a lot of people to come together. He brought about 100 people together and said, ‘We need to organize ourselves, and we need to attack this.’ He led it, and is still leading it, along with everything else that he does,” said McClelland.

As a result, the Howard County coalition hired two staff members — a coordinator and a navigator who connect people with services and provides continuity in the relationship. The group recognized that so many people needed help and wanted help but had no idea where to go.

“Everywhere in a local community where you see some really good things happening, there’s always strong local leadership, and it comes from different places,” said McClelland. “To me the coalitions are (one area) where we need to continue a strong emphasis.”

Bill Corley, a coach/consultant with Integrity Health Strategies, has led the INSTEP coalition, a nonprofit which coordinates the resources of 75 providers in the Greater Indianapolis area and serves as a hub for resources. Corley, who served for 25 years as president and CEO of Community Health Network in Indianapolis, said McClelland was the communicator in chief.

While McClelland would be the first to say he is not a health care guy, not only was he a great communicator, but he asked good questions, said Corley.

“That’s just a wonderful characteristic to have. He didn’t go into the job thinking that he knew everything, because he knew that he did not know everything,” said Corley. “When he communicated, he explained the why. The ‘why are we doing this.’ It should be obvious that people were trying to save people’s lives, but it’s more than that, it’s a social problem and people needed to understand why he was doing things.”

McClelland is also a great connector, never missing an opportunity to share what was going on in another part of the state.

“And that is extremely valuable to the rest of the state,” said Corley.

Getting all the providers to work together resulted in INSTEP hosting the SUD (substance use disorders) coalition summit in August on behalf of FSSA. The summit provided and opportunity for SUD coalitions like INSTEP to compare similarities, differences and common challenges for how others are addressing SUD issues in their communities. Now, Corley said, there is a desire to do it again and involve other groups in the state.

As McClelland exits his position, he is proudest of the number of people who responded to the all-hands-on-deck request.

“It’s just been really gratifying to see so many people who are willing to contribute. Some of them in a big way, some of them in small ways, but there are so many people really.”

In addition to coalition work in counties, efforts from LaPorte to Redkey were driven by local individuals.

Take for example, Larry Smith, a recovering addict. He pulled together a recovery support group built around exercise and physical fitness. Now in four communities, he has worked with existing fitness facilities to establish programs in the LaPorte area.

In Jay County, Randy Davis, a retired United Methodist pastor, lost a member of his congregation (substance use disorder). In 2014, he decided to do something to help support people who were struggling and formed volunteer recovery support groups. According to McClelland, under Davis’ tutelage, there are now at least 35 groups in various towns in Indiana and Ohio. Manned by volunteers, Davis now has a paid staff to keep them going.

McClelland’s work will continue under new leadership. Douglas Huntsinger was named to the post last week. As deputy director for drug prevention, treatment and enforcement since 2017, he stepped right into the position.

McClelland’s message to Huntsinger is that the state is on a good path.

His advice? “Keep bringing the pieces together. Continue to support strong local coalitions. So much of what needs to be done on the prevention side and the recovery needs to be done on a local level.

“We also need a lot more recovery housing, that’s been a really tough nut to crack because of the lack of capital.

“Yes, we got a long way to go,” McClelland said. “We have also seen a resurgence in meth, it’s not the kind of meth that was made in the kitchens and bathrooms of people a few years ago. This stuff is mass produced in Mexico. It’s high impurity, it’s very low in price, and it’s everywhere. It’s all over the country. We need to make sure that our infrastructure is able to deal with addictions of other types.”

“I can look back over three years, and say, ‘My gosh. We put together the strategic approach.’ I look at it now, there’s not a whole lot about it I would change.”

Some Next Level Recovery highlights
By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

There’s not a whole lot about his work as “drug czar” that Jim McClelland would have changed, except to have quickened the pace.

“I’d love to see things move faster than they do, but I’m pretty much that way on everything,” McClelland said. “We have, I am told, compared with the usual pace in state government, moved with lightning speed. It’s kind of hard for me to believe sometimes, but we’ve gotten a lot done.”

In 2017, over 1,800 Hoosiers died of overdoses, and the number one priority of McClelland’s initiative, Next Level Recovery, was to keep people alive.

“Our death rate peaked in November of 2017, and then began a gradual decline. It is still declining, but much more gradually. We were down 12.9 percent last year, and nationally, it was down about 5.1 percent. So, we were like 2.5 times (better than) the national percentage. We are still declining greater than the national rate,” said McClelland.

Here are some highlights of the state’s efforts.

Legislation: McClelland credits the Indiana General Assembly with passing a series of drug-related bills. In 2017, he said, Indiana had the 10th highest opioid prescription rate in the country. In that year, the legislature limited first-time prescriptions to seven days for anyone under 18.

“We’ve had great legislative support. We’ve had a number of bills over these three years that passed both houses unanimously or maybe with one or two negative votes. The chief justice and all the other members of the Indiana Supreme Court have been incredibly helpful and supportive.”

Prescribing practices: Another tactic, undertaken by the Family and Social Services Agency (FSSA), was to provide doctors with comparisons of their prescribing practices. Awareness letters were sent to doctors who received payments through Medicaid. This effort resulted in a 26 percent drop in prescriptions from that group of doctors.

State-data base: Additionally, doctors are now required by law to check before prescribing an opioid. To aid this effort, the state paid for the integration of INSPECT with the electronic health record systems and pharmacy management systems around the state. That task is close to being completed.

“It has made it a really easy process that used to be laborious and time consuming,” McClelland said.

The Indiana Department of Health and the Indiana Hospital Association and Indiana Medical Association also developed new prescribing guidelines to manage acute pain. Basically, these guidelines suggest that doctors should attempt non-pharmacological approaches first, and if those don’t work, they should start with the lowest dosage for the shortest duration.

Disposal options: More safe disposal options have made it easier for people to get rid of excess meds.

“So, you take the lower prescribing rates, and a greater number of more convenient safe disposal options, and you have fewer pills available for non-medical use. That has helped,” McClelland said.

525 foundation launches Rx drop box effort South Bend-based Beacon Health System is taking steps to prevent unwanted prescriptions from falling into the wrong hands. The health system is partnering with the 525 Foundation, a national advocacy group based in St. Joseph County, to install drop boxes for unwanted or outdated medications at several hospitals and a supermarket chain in northern Indiana. Read More

Access to treatment: Timely access to treatment has been enormously important. To support this effort, the state invested in an interactive system to connect drug users with treatment facilities in order to make the process easier for drug users in desperate need of care. To support that effort, the and Indiana 211 streamlined the treatment search. The program, called OpenBeds, provides real-time data of beds available for facilities that cater to addictions.

Education: The Next Level Recovery website was launched and pulls together many of the programs and services at a one-stop site.

A new exhibit designed by the Indiana State Museum, FIX: Heartbreak and Hope Inside Our Opioid Crisis — the will share ways for Indiana communities to come together and shift the conversation and reduce the stigma surrounding opioid use disorder. Its goal is to show how all can play a role in finding solutions to this devastating crisis. Exhibit opens Feb. 1.

Jan 06

Bridging financial gaps for your nonprofit

By Sponsor Insight

By Dave Voris, Vice President and Regional Manager, Horizon Bank

If you’re an administrator working for a nonprofit organization, you understand the financial challenges behind finding support to do good work.

Big fundraising events or donation drives may bring in large amounts of money all at once, but spreading that money to meet monthly expenses can stress your resources.

For qualifying organizations, Horizon Bank can provide lines of credit (LOC) to help you through leaner times of the year to gap your cash flow needs – cash receipts in and cash payments out — until grants and other funding commitments are received.

It is not unusual for a nonprofit to incur substantial upfront expenses associated with delivering services. Ultimately these are funded by a third party, such as a government agency or a foundation, but the challenge is the lag between the expense on the front-end and the promised funding that may take weeks or even months to come.

Lines of credit have proven to be valuable resources and tool for nonprofits and allow organizations to continue to deliver vital services while awaiting receipt of grants or payments from contract work. After all, salaries, rent, marketing services and other expenses must be paid consistently and on time.

One important caution is that lines of credit should be used only to address a timing discrepancy between expenses payments and cash receipt. Even nonprofits that spend ample time on budgeting, and even have year-end surplus revenues may need to access a line of credit occasionally to fund general operating. When used appropriately, it can help solve the cash flow problem and allow an organization to borrow based revenue that is due and collectible.

Your nonprofit should prepare monthly or weekly cash flow forecasts and revise them over time to keep tabs on repayment of an LOC. Identify when cash will be received that will pay the LOC’s outstanding balance. Remember, borrowers pay interest and funds should be used judiciously, building payment amounts into your year-round budget.

A line of credit can give you access to the funds you need, when you need them — with a manageable payment to help spread those costs out over a longer period of time. This approach can help balance your cash flow, though, in the long run.

When to see us

If you already have a relationship with us, that’s great. We’ll be happy to sit down with you to review your financial trends from the past, discuss your challenges and determine the times of year when you might most benefit from a line of credit.

If you haven’t worked with us before, it’s a good idea to come in and discuss your year-round cash flow trends before you actually need help. That way we can assist you in getting an appropriate plan in place ahead of time.

Here’s what to bring when you come to talk about a line of credit.

  • Commentary about how the organization raises funds, including the identification of sustaining funds.
  • Discussion about what would likely cause or has caused the need for a line of credit.
  • Three years of prior financial statements, including the balance sheet and the cash flow statement so our bankers can review your history.
  • A 12-month cash flow forecast to show the bankers that, despite the request for a line of credit, the organization will continue its self-sustaining capability.

All of this information will help us better understand why you may need short-term financing, and that you’ll be able to repay any debt.

Dave Voris is a vice president in the Indianapolis market for Horizon Bank. As a senior treasury management officer, he works closely with middle market, nonprofits and small business companies in a broad span of industries. His 25 years of business experience have included treasury management, merchant services, and international banking including sales management, client service and implementation management, product management and electronic payment operations.

We also provide longer-term loans for asset purchases such as vehicles or equipment.  Visit one of our Commercial Banking Advisors today.

Dec 16

Pay-gap lessons help student negotiate better salary

By Sponsor Insight

By Leslie Wells, Associate Director of Communication, O’Neill School at IUPUI

Kennedy Jefferies is eight months into her first full-time job. The O’Neill Civic Leadership major accepted a position as the director of preschool ministries for a large church in Indianapolis.

She edits youth curriculum while recruiting and managing 30 to 50 volunteers who lead classes for hundreds of children, provide childcare at church events and work during youth functions.

Jefferies is passionate about her work with volunteers. It’s why she took Marshawn Wolley’s Managing Workforce Diversity class at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IUPUI.

“You miss out on opportunities if you don’t know how to leverage diversity,” says Wolley, director of community engagement and strategic initiatives for O’Neill. “Managers are responsible for creating inclusive environments that make everyone feel like they belong and allow their teams to leverage the culturally salient aspects of whoever they are to impact the work experience.”

Jefferies’ volunteers range in age from 8 years old to 82 years old. She’s even using her project from Wolley’s class to pair volunteers with mentors to develop relationships and bridge generational gaps.

“I think we can often be unintentionally exclusive,” Jefferies says. “To overcome that, I wanted to learn how to manage a workforce very different than me.”

That isn’t the only lesson she applied when interviewing for her current job. When the position first opened up, she nearly jumped at the opportunity. But before she jumped, she thought back to a class discussion about salary negotiation, the pay gap and why women earn 85 percent of what men earn. Jefferies learned that research has shown many women simply don’t negotiate.

That was a light-bulb moment for Jefferies.

“We may not understand our own worth,” she says. “We may take an offer because we just want a job. Men are often more willing to assert themselves in negotiations and ask for more. And as they continue to earn raises, women continue to be left behind.”

Wolley’s class helped Jefferies recognize there was something she could do to help close the gap.

“It’s a problem I am personally committed to addressing,” Wolley says. “I tell my students they are worth negotiating and that I expect them to negotiate.”

Jefferies couldn’t shake the discussion. She says the salary offer she received was fine but wasn’t what she really wanted.

“For me, I was so thankful to get an offer that the idea of asking for more seemed greedy,” she says. “But, remembering that class, I knew I should negotiate.”

She researched comparable positions and salaries. She knew she had the grounds to ask for more so she met with Wolley to discuss the offer and her options. He gave her the extra boost of confidence she needed to negotiate.

“Students need that push,” he says. “They need someone to tell them they can negotiate, they should negotiate, and they deserve to negotiate.” 

“(Wolley) really empowered me to do it,” she said. “He told me that — from a man’s perspective — it wouldn’t be a question of whether to negotiate and I should feel that way, too.”

He also provided her with a word of caution: she had to be willing to walk away if she didn’t get what she wanted.

“You aren’t negotiating unless you can walk away,” Wolley says. “Make your case, do your research, and, if they say no, move on to the next thing.”

“That was a really hard concept for me because I really wanted this job,” she recalls. “I didn’t want to walk away, but he told me I had to be willing to do that if I was going to negotiate.”

She picked up the phone and made the call. The woman on the other end told her to email them what she wanted.

Jefferies relied on her research and the cost-savings the church would receive from declining their health insurance. That, she said, should go toward her salary. She wanted extra paid time off, as well. She asked for what she really wanted and she got it — without any hesitation from the employer.

Wolley never had any doubts Jefferies would succeed in her negotiations — and can now use her experience as an example.

“Kennedy’s story provides a connection for other students to know that the things I’m talking about in class are real,” he says. “It’s affirming to see a student trust you, apply the lessons you’re teaching and succeed.”  

Because of those lessons, Wolley’s support, and her own courage to negotiate, Jefferies helped move the needle on the pay gap and change her own thinking in the process.

“I didn’t see the mentality of avoiding negotiation until it was pointed out to me,” Jefferies says. “Women have the ability to change the pay gap. So, why shouldn’t we?”

Leslie Wells joined the O’Neill School at IUPUI as its assistant director of communications in 2018. She previously spent more than a decade in broadcast news and three years as mediarelations manager at the Indiana Youth Institute.

Dec 02

Bold action rescues Joy’s House

By Feature, Fundraising

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

The warning signs were out there, the proverbial perfect storm brewing on the horizon. And Cayla Rosine, the vice president of finance and operations at Joy’s House in Indianapolis, was worried.

“We were drawing on our line of credit, and we’ve never done that before. This was serious,” said Rosine of a critical juncture last summer when Joy’s House found itself staring at a potential shortfall that threatened to shutter the organization just as it was approaching its 20th anniversary.

Joy’s House provides caregiver services for adults with life-altering diagnoses and like many nonprofits, relies on donations and traditional government funding sources. When those funding streams change quickly for the worse, nonprofits and social enterprises generally lack the extra funds on hand to make up the difference. Unlike traditional businesses, it’s hard for a small nonprofit to develop a rainy-day fund when donors and investors expect most of the money to go toward programming.

Joy’s House accepts Aged and Disabled (A&D) Medicaid waivers, the CHOICE program and long-term care insurance. But changes in Medicaid reimbursements, state funding and declines in donations put Joy’s House in a financial bind.

The potential shortfall, however, is only part of the Joy’s House story. The organization’s proactive approach and what it learned about itself and the community offers ideas for other nonprofits seeking to avert a crisis.

Rosine has worked at Joy’s House for 21/2 years and knows what it takes to run the organization: about $1.5 million a year. When the financial picture darkened, she had a hard conversation with Joy’s House founder and CEO/president Tina McIntosh.

The Joy’s House board was hoping things would get better based, Rosine said, on 2018 being better than 2017. Joy’s House has two sites, one in Broad Ripple on the Northside that opened in 2000, and a Southside center that opened in 2014 near the University of Indianapolis.

Joy’s House isn’t unlike many human services nonprofits facing financial challenges. Government contracts have not kept up with the cost of services. Many nonprofits reporting receiving roughly 70 percent of direct program costs, according to a 2018 report commissioned by the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities. Nearly one in eight organizations have liabilities that exceed their total assets.

Sarah Shadday, the center’s outreach coordinator, said according to AARP, Indiana ranks 46th in the nation when it comes to Medicaid and state-funded spending. The state also ranks 51st for long-term services and supports.

“Our society in general does a really poor job of caring for our aging adults. We’re not respecting the amazing people they are now, and the amazing things they have done with their lives. We have people here who have birthed 12 children, we have Ryan White’s primary care physician in this house right now. Just to cast them aside because of a diagnosis. It’s asking a really hard question of the community,” she said. 

Earlier this year, Joy’s House already had made some tough decisions. It reduced staff and eliminated its WIBC radio show, “Caregiver Crossing,” which was transitioned as a podcast in August.

Unfortunately, the Joy’s House board realized, those cost-cutting measures weren’t enough and in late summer, the decision was made to start a critical fundraising campaign, a somewhat unusual move for a nonprofit.

“Tina (McIntosh) would talk about how when they were thinking about the idea of the critical fundraising campaign, she Googled it. There’s nothing out there. Nonprofits just don’t do the critical,” said Shadday.

“The decision to launch this campaign was not made lightly. A critical campaign is not something you can do multiple times in your organization’s existence; it was a one-time shot. It was a pivotal time for Joy’s House and the campaign would help make it or break it,” said board treasurer Lisa Curry, who is a director in Katz, Sapper & Miller’s Healthcare Resources Group, an Indianapolis-based accounting firm.

Board chair Corrine Walter said the board saw the incremental challenges facing the organization and asked three critical questions: Are we needed? Should it be us providing this service? Do people care?

The campaign was covered by local media and in September, the center launched a fundraising campaign. In multiple stories in the local press, headlines painted a bleak picture if the organization didn’t generate the necessary community support.

Stories that appeared in local media in the fall

IBJ: Broad Ripple not-for-profit launches emergency fundraising campaign

RTV 6: Money woes could force Joy’s House to close after 20 years

Indy Star: Joy’s House helps Charlene stay at home. It could close and send her into a nursing home.

Fox 59: Broad Ripple nonprofit needs to raise $559K to avoid closing

WISH: Broad Ripple nonprofit facing closure after 20 years

RTV6: Joy’s House receives $100,000 donation, inches closer to monetary goal to keep doors open

The response and results were overwhelming.

While the campaign’s goal was $559,000, Shadday said by the organization’s 20th anniversary on Nov. 1, it had actually raised $720,000, and that figure is still growing. But she said more importantly, it provided validation.  

“In a typical year we have 700 to 800 donors, which include foundations, donors and individual gifts from people. And in this eight-week time frame, we had over 1,000 donors and half of them were brand new,” she said.

Rosine said she hadn’t seen so much activity that saw even neighbors stepping up.

“There’s a church nearby that called and said, ‘You’re our neighbor. We cannot let this happen.’ The church members took up a special collection and sent a check. It was overwhelming in a good way. It made us emotional at times to see that people do care,” she said.  

Shadday had a similar story. After an article ran in The Indianapolis Star, an Eastside woman drove to Broad Ripple and announced her desire to help the effort. The center’s senior vice president of care services happened to be covering the front desk for the receptionist and talked with the woman who shared how much the organization’s mission spoke to her.

“When the woman left, they opened the envelope and found $1,000 in cash. This woman had never heard of Joy’s House, 24 hours before,” she said.

While the nonprofit has utilized social media, they witnessed its power and ripple effect. They also saw caregivers who already had so much on their plate become part of the army that spread the word.

While the campaign ran from Sept. 1 to Nov. 1, the Joy’s House lobby became a bit of a merchandise center. One local donor, Best Boy & Co., provided jars of whole grain mustard for Joy’s House to sell onsite, and the company sold it in other area retail shops to benefit the campaign. Another donor, Wood Warbler Coffee, provided 50 percent of the proceeds of coffee sold both at Joy’s House and online. There were other in-kind donations as well and local restaurants that provided a percentage of the day’s total sales to benefit the nonprofit.

As board chair, Walter, who is an assistant vice president at Capital Group, saw a positive community response to its internal questions.  

“Our answers to those (internal) questions were all ‘Yes,’” she said.

But it did more than that.

“The critical campaign was a means to shine a light on needs within our aging population, needs for those with a variety of diagnoses, and we wholeheartedly found out the community also said ‘Yes,’” Walter said. “They said ‘Yes’ in their words and in their incredible financial support. We cannot thank our community enough for their support during this campaign for the many years to come.”

According to Rosine, some of the campaign funds eliminated the center’s line-of-credit debt and got the checking account up to 60 days operating and beyond. Additionally, after a board vote this month, a portion will be set aside as a board-advised fund.  

“We’ll have an endowment light. We won’t touch the principal balance unless we absolutely have to, and we’ll have to go through the board for that approval. It’s kind of an emergency fund, if you will, but also the interest that we can generate on that will help us with our direct cost variable, so we have (dollars) to keep the lights on, heat on, things like that that don’t change whether we’re doing well financially or not. That’s the intention for those funds.”

McIntosh, who began a medical leave as the campaign wrapped up, wrote in a blog post: “This campaign has opened up conversations that needed to happen – about partnerships, opportunities, and how to do things better, not just at Joy’s House, but in our city and state. We are excited for the possibilities that will come in the near future. And we are grateful for the team that is being assembled to look at long-term sustainability for Joy’s House.”

What will change?

In Kim Klein’s book, Fundraising in Times of Crisis, she explains that an organization can survive a time of crisis, and even grow, if it addresses the changes that need to be made while not sacrificing its mission. The tendency for most nonprofit organizations is to determine how to cut corners rather than how to raise more money. She encourages the implementation of diverse fundraising techniques as the solution.

So, what are the changes are on the horizon?  

Improve marketing

For the past seven years, a large portion of the center’s marketing budget went toward producing the radio program. Transitioning that to a website-based podcast significantly reduced the cost, and going forward, it will refocus it. Some of its marketing budget will be for referral marketing to ensure the centers are at capacity.

“We really want to get the word out about what we do so that people will know we’re here, which leads to assessments and leads to guests,” said Sarah Shadday, Joy’s House outreach coordinator. “For me, it’s making it strong referral marketing and strong community outreach.”

“Part of what this campaign did and will continue to do is really is kick us in the butt a little bit about marketing – what is important, what are the best practices and how do we keep this campaign momentum that put us in front of all these people who had never even heard of Joy’s House.”

Tell a more relatable story

There is a perception that most of the nonprofit’s clients have dementia. Part of the work is to change that stereotype. In reality, the nonprofit hosts clients who cannot stay home alone because of health and safety concerns. While some are living with dementia, others have multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, are stroke patients or have other medical challenges.

“We are an adult-care facility. We have guests in their 20s and 30s. Yes, it’s your mom with dementia, but it’s also your brother with a traumatic brain injury or his sister with autism or an aunt with Down syndrome. So really highlighting those individual stories to show that we’re relatable,” said Shadday.

Ongoing fundraising

One of the things learned is that donors need to be cultivated on an ongoing basis. Getting the donors is part of the effort, but donor retention requires long-term engagement.

“We have to be really careful of making sure that people don’t see that campaign as the end all and be all. ‘Oh, now we’re great.’  The campaign helped us to continue, and in continuing, we need your help,” said Shadday.

“This might sound silly, but if we don’t ask people to help us, then they’re not going to. They’re not going to know that we need their support for this important work. I know that sounds really basic, but I feel like in the last few months, we had done so much better at just saying, ‘Hey, remember us, we want to still be here.’ Not in a critical campaign fundraising way, but in a more sustainable ongoing,” said Cayla Rosine, the vice president of finance and operations.

Develop network of other adult day cares

In 2014, the National Adult Day Services Association (NADSA) identified 5,685 day programs operating in the United States, up from 4,601 in 2010. This rapid growth is based on the increasing number of people who are getting older and require community-based solutions. Nearly 78% of these centers are operated on a nonprofit or public basis.

Joy’s House staff said other centers are not the competition and see banding together to support each other’s efforts. To that end, they have just started an internal discussion.

“These are our friends, how do we work together to make each other better?” said Rosine.

Nov 25

4 simple steps to help attract the right corporate partners

By Sponsor Insight

By Kate Brierty, Consultant, Hedges

It might sound like the makings of a great nonprofit fairy tale that out in communities right now there is a large group of people actively looking for causes to support and nonprofits to fund. These people are in every town, available across the country, and can even share your story with global audiences.

This isn’t just a nonprofit fantasy but the current reality of Corporate-Nonprofit partnerships in the United States. Having an effective Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy has been a clear priority for many businesses over the past few decades. Companies have developed volunteer programs, provided resources for community groups, helped sponsor events, provided pro-bono services in their field of expertise, and even given direct financial support.

Recent studies show that corporate participation in this wide range of CSR activities is only growing:

  • The vast majority of corporations are thinking about community impact.
  • Companies are being held accountable for “doing good.”
  • More corporations are becoming funders.
    • Giving by corporations totaled $20.05 billion in 2018, which is an estimated increase of 5.4% over the previous year (Giving USA 2019)

This growing focus on effective CSR strategy has solid logic behind it. Studies over the past decade have shown that a strong CSR program can increase employee engagement, decrease turnover, increase productivity, attract applicants, increase sales, boost company reputation and a lot more. And, lucky for nonprofits, the easiest way for a company to design that strong CSR program is to align itself with an organization already doing amazing work. Corporations seem to have noticed that pursuing a partnership program with a nonprofit makes good business sense.

For nonprofits, this means there is a pool of potential corporate partners looking for the right nonprofit for them. It also means that if you are not currently engaging with these corporations, you are missing a substantial opportunity for partnership that could potentially provide support through provided services, access to resources, financial sponsorship, and whole new audiences to serve as your future volunteers, donors, advocates, board members, or staff.

However, there is a caveat — not all partnerships are created equal and not all of them will lead to that long list of positive results for both parties.

With so much opportunity, it’s important to be discerning and strategic with who and where you choose to engage.

So, how do you engage in ways that maximize benefits and minimize risks for everyone involved? There is no perfect answer but taking these four simple steps at the start can set up for the type of successful partnership that creates a mutually beneficial relationship between your nonprofit and a corporation.

#1: Start with clarity on your brand and purpose

Corporations are looking for nonprofit partners that will be a good fit for their mission, brand’s reputation, and business interests. That means they are going to prioritize aligning themselves with organizations that have already demonstrated a strong value add to the community and have a history of results. In order to show them you are that perfect community partner, start by getting crystal clear about the importance of your work and how amazing you are at doing it.

Make the time to sit down with your team and talk about the concrete things you want to message to partners:

  • What makes your organization such an integral part of your community?
  • How you would describe your mission to potential partners?
  • What companies would also benefit from your vision being reached? How you would describe your work to each of them?

Then consider your own purpose in approaching corporate partnership.

  • Are you looking for volunteers to help expand your program reach? Then you might not be looking for a small startup without employee hours to spare.
  • Are you searching for a partner to sponsor a new pilot program? Then you might be looking for someone with technical expertise to lend their services or someone with the ability to fund big projects.
  • Are you trying to expand your own audience through their employees and customers? Then you’ll probably want to be thoughtful about approaching partners with mutual interests that are more likely to have an audience that is responsive to your message.

There are a lot of amazing things a corporate partnership can do for your organization, but your resources and time are far too important to be spent fully engaging with any partnership offer that comes your way. Get specific about why you are putting your energy into a partnership so everyone on your team can easily say “yes” to the right opportunity and “no” to the wrong fit.

#2: Take time to build the relationship

Once you have message clarity, decide who needs to hear it. Many organizations already have some relationships built with potential partners. Maybe you have a local business that is consistently a table sponsor at your annual gala or your board member’s firm has mentioned how they’re looking for new ways to give next year. That’s great, but don’t jump to the ask just yet.

Building a true partnership with a corporation requires a bit more of a commitment from both sides than an annual donation or a single event sponsorship. Your approach needs to reflect that deeper commitment. Being a strong partner means you are sharing the message of your vision, mission and goals with corporate partners. Let your potential partners know what you’re about, so they can decide if your particular brand and impact works for them right now.

Then ask them to answer similar questions to confirm it’s the right fit:

  • Why is the nonprofit partnership a priority for them?
  • What missions are attractive to them and how are they uniquely positioned to benefit those missions?
  • Get technical and ask about the benefits they want beyond the good feelings. Are they looking for employee engagement opportunities? Are they hoping to strengthen their connection in the local community? Are they looking to invest in an innovative new program that will highlight their name?

You can’t craft a strong partnership (or even choose a strong partner) without both parties openly sharing what motivates them and what goals they have for the relationship. Start here with every potential partner!

#3: Have an idea of what you want, but be open to co-creation

While you should enter into your partnership conversations with an idea of what type of benefits are worthwhile, you should not approach your partners with a rigid list of options and corresponding partnership levels. Partners want this process to feel easy and to feel like you have an idea of where they might fit. Most partners also want to feel like the plan is a co-creation that includes their insights and wishes. There needs to be a balance.  

You and your team should consider your full range of opportunities and specifically name where partnership could be a benefit.

For example, if your program involves providing a lot of community trainings consider how partners could help you expand your reach by: providing free space, sponsoring transportation for participants, volunteering as trainers in their expertise, or holding an employee fundraising campaign to cover participant costs.

This is the time to get creative and consider how partnership could help you pilot new programs, reduce the burden on your staff, or reach entire new audiences. Just be sure all the partnership options you are creating would push you closer to your goals without creating more of a burden than it is worth.

By the time you create a plan with an identified corporation, you should know them well enough to understand what type of work your partner is looking to do and what benefits they are hoping to receive. The proposal you bring them should feel tailored to their expressed desires and needs. Then together you can talk about what appeals to them and make edits or adaptations until the proposal is a perfect fit for both teams.

Important note: Proposal perfection is not possible unless the right people have a voice in the design and decision-making.

  • Is your partner trying to create a workplace-giving option that will increase employee engagement? Then there is definitely a need for employees to help design that experience.
  • Are you looking for partnership that will decrease your program staff’s workload? Someone from the program team should certainly be a part of preparing the plan.

Ensuring you have the diversity of perspectives from these beginning stages will help you craft a much stronger partnership plan that is inclusive of the very people that will be making it all happen.

#4: Know your worth

For any corporate-nonprofit partnership to be successful, there must be mutual benefit. As we already mentioned, nonprofit partnerships and CSR programs can have enormous benefits for corporations. They are not simply doing you a favor. Working with the right partners should feel like you’re doing business together in pursuit of a shared vision.

A few dos and don’ts to help ensure you are building an equal partnership:

  • DO get to know some of the statistics about the benefits of a strong CSR program, and share the relevant ones in your partnership conversation.
    • Are they worried about attracting top talent? Share that Cone research from 2016 found that 58% of all job candidates and 79% of millennial job candidates consider a company’s social and environmental commitments when deciding where to work.
    • Are they trying to increase employee engagement? Let them know in 2019, Boston College’s Center for Corporate Citizenship reported that 95% of companies with volunteer programs report a positive correlation between volunteer participation and employee engagement scores.
  • DON’T be shy about advertising the specific benefits your organization brings to the table.
    • Do you have a large number of community connections in the spaces where their employees live and work?
    • Are you a trustworthy connector for interns or future employees for their corporation?
    • Can you co-create social media content with them that will reach a wide audience?
  • DO ask for the specific benefits you are looking for from a corporate partner and DON’T be afraid to walk away if a partner isn’t a good fit.
    • Never design a partnership plan that won’t help you reach your goals.
    • Always avoid providing benefits that create more work than the benefits you receive in return.

The benefits for true partnerships between corporations and nonprofits are getting stronger every year. Once you find the right partner to work with you, both of your teams can start to see the real impact of those benefits. It’s not a fairy tale, it’s just good business.

Kate Brierty is passionate about asking the right questions to help individuals and groups have conversations and make decisions that will create real impact for the people they serve. In all her work as a consultant at Hedges, she is focused on pursuing meaningful results while keeping people at the center of her work.