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Sep 16

Innovative storytelling program aids young fathers

By Feature

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

For Anna Melodia, the process began in 2017 with a chance phone call from a friend in the nonprofit world. The alert colleague happened upon a grant request by Forward Promise, an initiative of the nationally respected Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

The foundation, the nation’s largest philanthropy dedicated solely to health, was seeking organizations to develop culturally responsive programs to buffer the effects of historic and systemic trauma on boys and young men of color. Its plan was to have nonprofits test innovative approaches to treating trauma.

As the grants manager for Indianapolis-based Father and Families Center, Melodia reviewed the request and was intrigued. So was Terrence Harper, the center’s health and wellness manager. Father and Families had an innovative idea to treat the problem of trauma. Perhaps, just perhaps, Forward Promise would be willing to give the local nonprofit the funds to implement it.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, historical and contemporary oppression, discrimination, and poverty have led to negative physical, mental and emotional health outcomes across life spans and generations. The Forward Promise initiative was designed to find culturally responsive healing solutions.  

At the time, the center, under Harper’s management, was primarily using cognitive behavioral therapy with clients. Staff members, however, wanted to test a new method. Harkening back to the African tradition of storytelling, their idea was simple – design a program to help young fathers of color find their voices through written, spoken or visual arts as an alternative to counseling.

Melodia said Forward Promise was not prescriptive in the application process.

“I think that freedom allowed us to be really creative in our approach and talk particularly about some of the strong African traditions that we continue to invest in,” said Melodia.

Even though Melodia and her staff believed they had a solid idea, they knew that securing a grant from the national foundation was a long shot. The process was competitive, and Forward Promise received over a thousand applications.  After Forward Promise whittled the pool to 50, Fathers and Families was still in the running. After each program was paid a visit by national staff, Fathers and Families was among the organizations asked to submit a full application.

“I was happy to be in the club,” Melodia said.

Ultimately, nine organizations received grants, and Fathers and Families Center was awarded $450,000 over two years.

The long shot made it to the finish line.

“The whole process was just amazing,” said Harper.

Grounded in oral traditions of storytelling, the project guides fathers or expectant fathers ages 16 to 24 through a process of self-discovery and reflection that can help them address trauma. These fathers have choices, and can tell their story through poetry, journals, letters, music, videography and other creative approaches.

The resource program for fathers originated at Wishard Hospital in the early 1990s, and moved to its current location on North Illinois Street in 2003. Its signature three-week Strong Fathers program helps fathers or expectant fathers prepare for their responsibilities. After three weeks and course completion, fathers may move to job search activities or participate in continued education and training programs.

According to Joseph Palus, the center’s director of programs and evaluation, the national grant complemented the center’s existing work. With a background of supporting nonprofits in program evaluation and research, Palus came on board shortly after the grant was awarded and is responsible for ensuring that the center hits its program targets.

According to Melodia, it took time to get the right people around the table to launch it properly. While the center isn’t a stranger to working with outside support, this opportunity allowed the center to create deeper connections with participants and develop some new relationships.

“The biggest thing is we don’t do this work alone,” said Palus. “We work with a range of partners. Those partnerships developed both organically and intentionally. Organically meaning we saw a need and found an organization to fill it, and intentionally meaning this is something we felt we should do based on best practice and evidence, and so we’re going to reach out and find somebody who will help us do it.”

The other eight awardees provide support, too. One organization, Drexel University’s Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice, is most similar to the Indianapolis-based nonprofit. Many had existing programs designed to heal from trauma, and used the grant to tweak their models. Unique to Fathers and Families is its narrow participant pool – it must be male and fathers or expectant fathers.

Among the other differences between programs, according to Melodia, is its length of intervention.

“Ours is more short term. It’s a transient population, they’re dads and their lives are complicated. So, we have to get them where we can, when we can, versus some of the other programs that had a nearly yearlong intervention and in some cases a captive audience,” Melodia said.

With the grant’s cycle ending in October, the center has applied for continued funding from Forward Promise, and will receive notification in November.

The center’s second proposal focuses on determining effective quantitative and qualitative measurements to compare those who receive cognitive behavioral therapy versus men who go through the narrative process and to learn how the outcomes differ. The center will investigate whether fathers are able to keep a job longer and earn higher wages than peers who have been traumatized but not gone through treatment. The center will also look at participant’s self-importance and possible increase in parenting time and quality.

“I actually identified a measurement instrument, but it was so painful, it was almost re-traumatizing. It would start with, ‘Here are the things I came here to address, here’s how I did it.’ When you look at it on a week-by-week basis, it can be very traumatizing, and so we dispensed with that and stuck with the model and our own observations just to how guys have been doing,” said Palus.

Melodia said Forward Promise is poised to learn how systems, like education, criminal justice or health care, can be affected by acknowledging trauma.  Many of the dads have trauma that was inflicted by these systems. One goal is to help participants interact with those systems and not be a victim to them.

“I think we’ve done a really good job doing that, and I think one of the other important measures is recidivism and criminal justice engagement. We actually have a very low recidivism rate, we’re very proud of that. Right now, it’s less than 7 percent,” she said.

The funding has also helped the center figure out ways to identify trauma, and to some extent, quantify.

“We never looked at trauma systematically before. This gave us a chance to look at that more closely and figure out what is actually going on,” said Palus. What they’ve learned over two years is that 50 percent had been physically assaulted and assaulted with a weapon, and 22 percent had experienced sudden accidental death, sudden violent death or death of someone close to them.

With the support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the center learned other things, including how to continue engagement with certain participants beyond the three-week program.

“It’s strengthened our systems for making sure that kind of relationship lasts longer, so we can continue to work with guys to continue to address issues that may be more long term,” said Palus.

“The second thing is that we’ve incorporated the storytelling aspects into the class. It is my hope is that we will continue that so that those stories get told, because you’ll see some of the things that guys have experienced, and some of the things that they’ve done themselves, that have affected them. Having that information helps us to tell the story, but it also helps the guys, at least in some way to process what happened to them.”

Through connections to other organizations and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, it helped the center realize it didn’t do advocacy well.

“One of the things that we have started to do is to take the men down to the Statehouse and have them understand that they have a vote and a voice, and they also have a responsibility to their community,” Melodia said. “And even to the point when we do a voter forum, we get the men registered to vote as well as prep them to meet the candidates.”

“Again, I think it’s really shifting their sense of worth and confidence and realizing that they are just passive participants in this process and walk. And I think that’s made a big difference as well.”

Sep 03

4 reasons why your board is disengaged and how to fix it

By Sponsor Insight

By Kara Harrison, consultant, Hedges

We’ve all experienced it, and we know exactly what it feels like. Having a disengaged board is disheartening and can be a strain on already limited resources. It takes precious time away from the reason why the organization exists.

Disengagement is hard to define, and it’s even harder to fix. It takes time and intentionality. Before we dig in to why your board may not be engaged, let’s first paint a picture of what a disengaged board might look like:

  • Board meetings are an update session where the board is being talked at and passively listening to reports.
  • Executive directors feel like they are managing up to the board.
  • Board meetings feel like a scene out of “Groundhog Day”, the same challenges being shared by staff and the same questions being asked by the board.  
  • The same two or three board members are doing everything, and they are exhausted. It’s likely you are ignoring term limits just to keep these board members, because you can’t imagine what would happen without them.
  • Board members only see each other in the board room. There are no social events for board and staff to get to know each other personally and build respect and connection.

Ignite your board

At Hedges, we hear about these and other challenging board scenarios from board and staff leadership on a weekly basis. Through our experience working with nonprofit boards, we have identified four specific reasons board members may not be engaged and clear actions you can take to ignite your board to provide what your organization needs.

  1. Your board does not know what they should be doing. They don’t understand their roles and responsibilities as either a board of directors or as independent board members. BoardSource (Ingram, 2015) published a comprehensive list of 10 basic responsibilities nonprofit boards should follow:
    • Determine the mission and purposes, and advocate for them.
    • Select the chief executive.
    • Support and evaluate the chief executive.
    • Ensure effective planning.
    • Monitor and strengthen programs and services.
    • Ensure adequate financial resources.
    • Protect assets and provide financial oversight.
    • Build and sustain a competent board.
    • Ensure legal and ethical integrity.
    • Enhance the organization’s public standing.

Additionally, board members are required to follow three legal duties also described by BoardSource; duty of care, duty of loyalty, and duty of obedience. Lastly, there should be several set expectations that are determined by the needs of the organization, such as:

  • Actively participating in board meetings and on committees, according to participation and attendance policies;
  • Understanding the organization’s mission and programming through program immersion opportunities like volunteering or shadowing;
  • Attending and actively promoting all organizational events; and
  • Contributing to the organization’s fund-development efforts through personal giving and fundraising.

While staff leadership might have a clear understanding of these roles, board members don’t automatically come to the board room knowing these things – roles need to be taught early and reiterated often. Board roles, responsibilities and expectations should be shared and echoed in the following ways, much like when an employee starts a new job:

  • In the board member application: Ensure potential board members know the full expectations and requirements, before joining the board.
  • In the board member job description: This tool not only sets expectations, but it can also be used as an accountability tool for board members
  • At board orientation: Just like an orientation for a new job, board orientation should include discussion about roles and responsibilities and include comprehensive training about the organization.
  • Through occasional board assessments: Organizations should consider conducting a board assessment every 2 to 3 years to measure current understandings and practices against set goals and best practices. Assessing the board can occur through electronic surveys or one-on-one interviews and may be conducted by a third party.

2. Board members don’t know why they are on the board.

We’re talking about two different whys here:

  • The why that fuels passion: This refers to the reason why each board member chooses your organization to invest his or her time. What is it about your organization’s mission, programs, and impact that inspires him or her to volunteer time and talents?
  • The why that fuels productivity: This refers to why the organization wants a specific individual to join the board. What specific skills or experiences of the individual will the organization be hoping to tap into that will best support and enhance the organization?

Determining these whys will help ensure your board is made up of the right people who are willing and excited to commit to your organization. Understanding why 1) someone wants to join the board and 2) why you want that person on the board requires intentionality and can be identified in different ways:

  • Utilize a board matrix: Use this tool to capture a snapshot of current board skills, demographics, experiences, etc. that are determined as a priority for the organization. Doing this will allow you to determine what gaps exist on the board and should inform how you are recruiting board members.
  • Interview potential board members: Spend time getting to know potential board members by conducting a meet-and-greet with the executive director and board chair. Ask the potential board member why he or she is interested in joining the board and share exactly why the organization needs him or her.
  • Ask intentional questions in the board application: Asking questions like: “Why do you want to serve on this board?” and “What interests you most about our mission?” is an important step to determine if the relationship will be best for the organization.
  • Schedule check-ins with each board member:  Have one-on-one meetings with board members annually to ensure all board members have a positive experience and feel utilized and valued. This conversation can be led by the executive director, a board member or a third party.
  • Keep board members connected to the mission: Every single board meeting should include a mission moment that reminds board members why they are investing in the organization. At a minimum, mission moments should include sharing program impact data or stories, hearing from program staff, or even better, hearing from someone immediately affected by the organization’s work.

3. Your board members don’t feel like they have what they need to be a successful board member. We often assume that because board members are successful professionals, they will automatically be successful board members. What we need to remember is that board members need to be taught how to be good board members by explaining the roles and responsibilities and giving them the resources they need to be successful. The resources board members need parallel the types of resources employees need to do their jobs:

Education: Board members can benefit from being educated on specific topics that would support their role as a board member. As an example, every board member should fundraise for the organization, but not every board member knows how to fundraise. For fundraising education, take the time to teach board members how to talk about the organization within their network, identify potential donors and steward current donors.

Tools: Do members of the board have what they need to get their jobs done? Do they have talking points, like impact data and stories? Do they have brochures, hand-outs, or the executive director’s business card? Do they have easy access to policies and procedures that they are required to follow? Ask your board what resources they need during the annual check-ins or board assessments.

Support: It’s important to set-up a strong support network for board members that will foster strong inter-connection and accountability. Some organizations have implemented a “board-buddy” system, pairing up new board members with seasoned members for information sharing and connection.

4. Your board is bored. Board membership is a serious responsibility, but it should be a fun experience. If board members are not having fun in their volunteer position, why should they continue to enthusiastically invest? If your board seems a little down, consider these three strategies to boost the board.

Encourage socializing: Board members should get together outside of the boardroom at least once a year. We’re talking about a strict “no business” policy at these gatherings. Board members need opportunities to get to know each other on a personal level to build respect and comradery that will hopefully result in robust discussions in the boardroom. Don’t assume relationships will automatically build at the organization’s annual fundraising event. Be intentional in planning social gatherings and consider opportunities that will also include your board’s family members. 

Shower them with gratitude: We get so caught up in the roles and responsibilities of board membership, we can forget to take a step back and remember board membership is a volunteer position, and might be one of the biggest investments anyone is making to your organization. Those volunteer hours are critical and should be appreciated like any donor. Treat your board members like major donors and show them they are appreciated by sending handwritten thank you notes, celebrating their successes and publicly praising their hard work.

Experience the impact: Keep the board motivated by giving them plenty of opportunities to see the impact of their work directly. Opportunities look different for each organization, but could include; having special volunteer times for board members, shadowing program staff and connecting with clients. Build as many personal connections between the organization’s impact and the board as possible to boost the board’s motivation and inspiration.

An engaged board is the foundation of the organization, giving strength and supporting the overall health of the organization. When the board is effective, the programs can efficiently change the lives of those they serve. When the board is supportive, the organization has a better chance of being financially healthy. When the board partners with the executive director, the organization’s staff and volunteers feel valued and fully supported. When the board is active, more people know about the organization’s impact. Every nonprofit deserves an engaged board that will propel the organization’s mission forward. 

Kara Harrison has a passion for activating conversations, decisions, and actions that result in great governance. She believes that having an engaged board can be the most important strategy to an organization’s success. Harrison has been a consultant with Hedges since 2017. As a former executive director, she approaches board services and strategic planning with both real experience and best practices.

Aug 26

Horizon House offers more than a roof

By Feature, Programming

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors
{see also: City has high hopes for housing-first strategy}

When it comes to fighting homelessness in Indianapolis, there’s a new mindset in town. And since early 2018, Lillian Herbers-Kelly and Horizon House have been on the front lines.

This intensive approach at Horizon House, for which there was no blueprint, involves a team assembled by Herbers-Kelly from the ground up.

“With Housing Trust Fund money, we have literally built it from scratch, which was kind of amazing to do,” said Herbers-Kelly, a trained social worker.

As supervisor, she leads a team of two housing navigators and six caseworkers. Each day, she and her team support chronically homeless individuals and families as they navigate the various issues that may seem trivial to the general public, but can be potential minefields for those more used to living in shelters or on the streets. It’s an example of the city’s housing-first strategy, and is one of three such programs in Indianapolis designed not only to find housing for people but to ensure that they are able to keep the roof over their heads. 

The approach actually begins when potential candidates for permanent housing complete a coordinated entry application. Before this coordinated system, there was a housing application, but each provider kept its own waiting list. Herbers-Kelly said it wasn’t efficient or fair and certainly not effective.

Candidates are helped with their applications by one of over 100 housing navigators at multiple agencies trained by the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention & Prevention (CHIP). These navigators’ work is different from those at Horizon House. Completing the application is complicated, so CHIP regularly trains and meets with these agency workers.

“If you’re doing those things in a system where you’re requiring a vulnerable resident to go find their own housing, fill out the application on their own and come back to you, that is not something that we can require our most vulnerable residents to do,” said Indianapolis Deputy Mayor Jeff Bennett.

After someone completes the application process and is deemed eligible for a rental assistance voucher, that’s when Horizon House gets involved.

Today, Horizon House works with 108 households, which include 155 people of which 20 percent are families. In the first year, the program worked with 60 people. Herbers-Kelly is proud of the fact that since the beginning, only one person has left the program.

Rodney Stockment, the city’s strategy director for the homeless, said it is a phenomenal success and cites national rates at more like 80 percent. Over time, the Indiana Housing Authority (IHA) has become more and more flexible, but he said just providing Housing Choice vouchers alone wouldn’t solve everything, the cultures had to mesh.

“Previously, IHA was about screening people out, and we managed to create a culture under Lillian’s leadership where the two cultures are learning to work together, and that’s why the vouchers have been so powerful,” he said.

“It’s just incredible to see that we now have a partnership with dedicated vouchers for people experiencing homelessness. It’s a beast to learn, and after a year and a half, we are still learning it,” said Herbers-Kelly. 

The housing navigators at Horizon House, according to Bennett, help cut through the bureaucratic red tape.

Alycia Broda and Danielle Washington serve as intermediaries at Horizon House for those approved for permanent housing. With the applicant, they help gather a long list of documents and complete voucher paperwork for an interview with the IHA. They hang on to the voucher until it is needed for a landlord.

Broda is Housing Quality Standard certified (HQS) and can also conduct housing inspections as a third party for IHA, which helps because the agency is overloaded with inspections.

Together with applicants, Horizon House navigators conduct placement searches and visit potential rentals. They help sign leases and do rental checklist walk-throughs and stay in regular communication with the IHA and landlords. They also spend time educating folks about leases, so they understand their rights, what they are agreeing to and understand IHA rules. This process takes anywhere from 30 to 90 days, with the goal of 30 days or less. All data is tracked on a CHIP dashboard to have ongoing data.

Another thing that Herbers-Kelly is proud of is that housing navigators do regular landlord check-ins.

“Landlords and property managers know we’re here, we’re not waiting for them to reach out to us if there’s a problem,” she said.

Horizon House communicates routinely with potential landlords about working in tandem with Horizon House’s services and benefits. In the past eight months, Horizon House has secured eight new landlords and property managers, which Herbers-Kelly said given the population’s previous eviction record is good.

“We try our best to develop new relationships so that people have more of a pool of options to choose from,” she said.

Over the two years, one thing that’s been learned, according to Chelsea Haring-Cozzi, CHIP’s executive director, is there isn’t a prescriptive model. When you are focused on the most vulnerable and chronic population, there has to be flexibility.

To that end, Horizon House doesn’t leave its clients. Along with permanent housing comes one of six case managers who ensure applicants are connected to service providers as needed.

It’s hard work and success is incremental. Herbers-Kelly shared an example of one client, a gentleman who has struggled with addiction. He is well-known in homeless circles and has worked with five or six agencies. His Horizon House team found him housing in a 55-and-up apartment complex. Initially, they struggled a bit with his placement because it removed him from the center of the city, but agreed that eliminating his external influences was a positive. Recently, he relapsed. But his case manager who was in touch regularly got him help and worked with the landlord to keep him housed.

After treatment, he returned to his apartment. “I know some people might not see that as a positive because he relapsed, but he has struggled with alcoholism so long. The fact that he didn’t lose his housing over the relapse is just a beautiful example of housing-first,” said Herbers-Kelly.

Another example was a female client who struggles with mental health issues and also lives with a special needs child. The family was staying with Family Promise, but couldn’t remain in the shelter because the child’s behaviors would put others at risk. Family Promise worked to temporarily house the family outside of the shelter. At her previous agency, this was one of Herbers-Kelly’s clients.

“It took a while to get her housed because she has several evictions, but I was in constant communication with Family Promise’s executive director explaining that we were close. She got housed, she’s done exceptionally well, and her child is engaged in services. We’ve had no complaints from the landlord.”

Horizon House has had the benefit of ongoing technical assistance from Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH), a national organization that provides housing-first training. Locally, the agency has access to an online training center, attended a summit and conference and received assistance to develop additional documents needed for the program. CSH also conducted an assessment to determine caseload maximums.

Herbers-Kelly said because of varying levels of need, intense criminal histories and landlords with strict rules, caseloads are capped at 20 in order to provide quality case management and ensure that people are kept housed.

“That’s the ratio we need. I think we’ve shown over the year and a half that that’s working, so I feel strongly to not budge on that. You have to have to have the combination of housing with supports, and I don’t mean required services, I mean like someone that’s going to just walk alongside you and offer support, however that looks. It really matters to have someone in your corner.”

Aug 26

City has high hopes for housing-first strategy

By Feature, Programming

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors  
{see also: Horizon House offers more than a roof}

Around the country, homelessness continues to be a chronic, complicated problem. Despite their best intentions, cities and agencies have struggled to find solutions to an issue for which there are no easy answers.

Rodney Stockment is well aware of the difficulty.

Since 1981, Stockment has immersed himself in federal housing rules and regulations. He has worked for nonprofits and government agencies at both the city and state levels. In Indiana,he’s helped craft five plans to reduce homelessness, all with varying degrees of success. Nationally, he has seen the community mental health system promised by the Kennedy administration never be adequately funded. He’s seen a sharp slowdown in the building of public housing.

So why now is Stockment excited?

For the past two years, he’s been the senior strategy director for homelessness for the city of Indianapolis. And despite a few starts and stops, he believes Indianapolis has a five-year plan that just might work.

Indianapolis’ Community Plan to End Homelessness, which was announced in 2017 and covers the period from 2018 to 2023, provides a checklist and demands action, Stockment said. If he has one frustration, it’s that it is a slow-moving process.

Indianapolis’ Community Plan to End Homelessness

The plan evolved as the result of a local funding crisis in 2016 that served as a wakeup call.

Since 1995, communities seeking homeless assistance grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) do so through a single application. In Indianapolis, the application is submitted by Continuum of Care (CoC), a regional or local planning body that coordinates housing and services funding for homeless families and individuals.

It was CoC’s 2015 submission that caused Indianapolis problems. In recent years, HUD has altered its priorities and requirements for how its grant money should be used. HUD’s priorities and requirements have evolved, but Indianapolis’ had not. As a result, the city’s homeless funding was cut by approximately 15 percent.

“It seems like that was probably due to the application just not measuring up to standards that the federal government had set. So the federal government (HUD) had been evolving in its funding priorities for years, and it seems like maybe our community was not responding to that evolution fast enough,” said Indianapolis Deputy Mayor Jeff Bennett.

Job number one that year was to work to get that funding back, said Bennett. First tasks were to dig into the application, the scoring criteria and the metrics that HUD uses. Then with support and funds from the Coalition of Homelessness Intervention and Prevention (CHIP), the city hired a grant writer with federal expertise who understood HUD’s requirements.  

“We just tried to put all the right people around the table over a period of months to turn in the best application we possibly could in that funding cycle. And that succeeded. We got a little bump, and the money back that we lost. And funding has increased steadily in each round since. It’s up 27 percent now over the last three years,” said Bennett, the deputy mayor of community development under Mayor Joe Hogsett. It also helped the CoC realize it had to diversify funding.

Chelsea Haring-Cozzi, who was named CHIP’s executive director last November, agreed.

“I think the reduction of funds did a lot of things, but one of the things is it helped us realize we cannot put all of our eggs in one basket. We cannot look to the federal government and HUD to be our sole funding source. We really have to build on our own local capacity and start to leverage local funding. I think that has helped kind of push collaboration and partnerships in new directions,” said Haring-Cozzi.

The bottom line, said Haring-Cozzi, is not just increasing the funding, but decreasing homelessness. One of HUD’s measurements is whether you are serving and housing more people.  

Strategic shift

Armed with a restoration of funding, the city has also made a strategic shift, said Bennett. By shifting to a housing-first strategy, and introducing technology to support data-informed decision-making and establishing a coordinated entry system, pieces are falling in place to get as many people housed permanently as quickly as possible. The goal is to get people off the streets and out of shelters. Housing-first is a coordinated-care approach that works to address the root causes of homelessness.

“We have never fully embraced housing-first as a community. But if you think about homelessness as a housing issue, then you can solve it with three pieces – housing, rental assistance and supportive services,” Bennett said.

Early in 2017, the mayor challenged the city to locate 400 additional housing units. Stockment, who was hired in June of that year, was assigned to help identify them.

What this did was to create a housing pipeline, and now the city requires developers who want the city’s support on applications for housing tax credits from the state or to use vouchers in affordable-housing developments to have a permanent supportive component.

“Not 100 percent of the units, but if you’re developing 100 units, can we get 10, 15, 20 of the 100? When we do that we can fulfill the pipeline and the commitments that we need for the five-year community plan. It’s roughly 200 units a year that we need to either continue to identify or to develop through new construction,” said Bennett.

In addition, there was a need to identify sources of long-term sustainable sources of rental assistance. In 2017, Alan Witchey, CHIP’s then executive director, worked with the Indianapolis Housing Agency (IHA) to identify ways to provide rental assistance not from HUD’s CoC grants, but mainly through housing vouchers that IHA oversees and deploys, Bennett said.

That led to the third part of the housing-first equation – with added housing, there was a significant lack of service-provider capacity. It was imperative to provide services for the hundreds more residents who had acute needs in order to stay housed.

Earlier this year, the Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF) announced that it would raise funds to provide supportive services for former homeless residents. Called the Housing to Recovery Fund, local service providers will receive funds in 2020 for outreach, housing navigation, help in getting benefits, negotiating with landlords and learning daily living skills.

“It’s $5.5 million over four years, and that’s going to enable us to create a flexible pool of service money where we’re doing a pay for success model where you don’t grant for activities, you pay for outcomes. And I think this money is going to allow service providers to have flexible money to do whatever it takes to keep people housed. It’s the most exciting thing that has happened to me in my career,” said Stockment. “We’ve got the bricks and sticks, the operating money from IHA for the first time in history, and now we’re getting the services lined up.”

Stockment said an RFP was issued for this pool in mid-July, with service provider responses due by the end of July. Right now these responses are being reviewed, and then service providers will be brought together to create a network.

“We will ask them, ‘Are you OK with us funding this network as opposed to you as individual agency?’ We will have this network of service providers that we can invest in. I’m really excited about this, it’s going to radically change the way we do work here. It’s going to really mix it up,” said Stockment.

“We’ve gotten largely out of the mindset of ‘This is my space, you cannot come into my space because this is what I do,’” said Bennett. “I think we have service providers who are now thinking differently about how they might partner with the housing provider or how the housing provider might now be willing to accept vouchers because there is a service provider attached to that residents. We were not as a community, forcing those connections,” said Bennett. 

In February, the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation announced a $74,900 grant to CHIP to fund the Street Reach Indy program. The grant will help nearly 150 people overcome the financial and health care barriers that often prevent them from finding permanent housing and provide financial assistance for security deposits, mental health or substance abuse treatment and other costs that are barriers that prevent individuals from obtaining permanent housing.

The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department has also played a role with its homeless unit, sometimes called FLEX. Four officers are based out of the downtown district.

“They’ve been huge in particularly in terms of street outreach. They meet people where they are and really try to understand the complexities of the issues people are dealing with and work in true partnership with our homeless service provider community,” said Haring-Cozzi. When there have been problems with panhandling or increased homelessness downtown, they’ve been a pretty great resource.”

Embracing housing-first also meant that in 2017, the city launched a coordinated entry system with the goal to quickly move people from emergency shelters and match them with permanent housing. Two years in, CHIP is working to evaluate and then refine the process to shorten the time from when people first come into the system to get them connected with appropriate housing interventions.

In the last two years, there has been a reduction in the Point in Time (PIT) count number, which Haring-Cozzi said is the first barometer of success. Before the last count in January, based on what other cities were reporting, the city fully expected an increase. It’s actually has reached a five-year low, dipping below 1,600 with a 7 percent decrease from the previous year.  

“It was really eye-opening for us to see that what we’re doing is working. It’s been really encouraging because we can point to some real systemic changes in the last 18 months that we can attribute this to,” she said.

Bennett said the city is at a unique moment. The conversation has moved beyond scarcity of resources, and he believes it’s building trust with its follow-through and willingness to pivot when something hasn’t worked as planned.

“We have resources now. Now, it’s a challenge to deploy resources in as fast a time as we can. Let’s use everything that we’ve put on the menu over the last 30 years, and get more people housed permanently, as quickly as possible with high-quality services attached. Let’s just get better at the stuff that we’ve worked on in earnest over the last two to three years,” he said.

Aug 13

Two philanthropy alumni shed light on relationship building in their arena

By Sponsor Insight

By Abby Rolland, communications project manager, Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

Foundation giving represented about 18 percent of the estimated $427 billion Americans gave to charitable organizations in 2018, according to the Giving USA 2019 report recently released by Giving USA Foundation and the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. That is the largest share of total giving to come from foundations since 1954, the first year for which data is available. Giving by foundations increased by 7.3 percent (4.7 percent when adjusted for inflation) last year, growing to $75.86 billion – the highest dollar amount ever given, even after adjusting for inflation.

Rachel Hutchisson, chair of Giving Institute and vice president of corporate citizenship and philanthropy for Blackbaud said, “(This) highlights the importance of institutions to the philanthropic landscape, and serves as a reminder that different types of approaches to philanthropy are vital for strengthening and expanding the field.”

So how do nonprofits establish relationships with foundations, and what tips and ideas would assist them in fundraising from a foundation?

Two IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI alumni working in philanthropy shed some light on the process of establishing and maintaining relationships with foundations.

While Vice President of Programs at the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, Jeff Small has spent the past five years working on the grantmaking side of philanthropy, he didn’t begin his career in the foundation field. After serving for two years as an AmeriCorps member at Peace Learning Center and earning his master’s degree in philanthropic studies at the then-Center on Philanthropy, Small worked in a fundraising and program development role at the Boys & Girls Club of Indianapolis.

This experience, along with his subsequent work in neighborhood outreach, research, fundraising consulting, writing and grant management prepared him for his current role, where he oversees the programming team of the Trust in Indianapolis and Phoenix. His past and current experiences have taught him about the importance of seeing both sides of institutional fundraising and grantmaking.

For Small, fundraisers need to think in terms of relationships.

“We want to invest in organizations to increase impact. Nonprofits have ideas, expertise and access, which foundations need. Foundations have to give away money, so working with partners that provide boots-on-the-ground knowledge and work is necessary.”

Small also believes that foundations can do more to be transparent to nonprofits and potential grantees.

“At the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust, we try to be as open as possible. Our website lists deadlines and other information about the grant application process, as well as clearly defining our funding priorities and past grant decisions. We’re always happy to take phone calls with fundraisers interested in the Trust’s work to see if we would be a potential good match for funding.”

Cassandra Tice views fundraising from foundations from a different perspective. The grants officer for the IU Health Foundation also began her career in AmeriCorps, as a VISTA at Indiana Youth Institute, where she learned the basics of proposal writing and grants management. Her career led her to a development position at Jameson Camp and then a grant proposal writing position at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, during which she began taking classes at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

Recently, she began working at the IU Health Foundation, which was established in 2018 to grow and expand philanthropic support for IU Health — to amplify its already impressive impact on individual and community health. Gifts help Hoosiers gain expanded access to the latest healthcare treatments and technologies.

Tice encourages fundraisers to learn about the environment and various roles of foundations in the community.

“Sit down and meet with your peers. Even if you don’t work at the same institution, it’s helpful to learn as much as you can about the environment you’re working in, as well as personal experiences with foundations whose missions may align with yours.

“Also, think about joining professional grantwriting and other philanthropy-focused organizations. It helps build your network and learn more about the field in a certain area as well.”

Both Small and Tice emphasized that both foundations and nonprofits share a common goal: they are seeking to make a difference.

“We rely on smart, dedicated, nonprofits to use Trust money to better the world,” Small explained.

Tice added, “Never be afraid to ask questions – we’re all working to build a better community and better world.”

Small’s advice for fundraisers

  • Reorient your thinking.

“Nonprofits have something foundations need. Understand going into a conversation that it’s a dialogue of equals.”

  • On that note, think of yourself as an equal.

“When you’re engaging with foundations, consider yourself an equal. You’re offering the foundation an opportunity to engage with you and make a difference in this space.”

  • Don’t chase dollars.

“Chasing dollars can result in adapting your mission or goals to fit with the foundation’s, which may lead to mission drift or not trusting the programming that you already have.”  

  • Focus on the relationship.

“We want to enter into authentic, long-term relationships with smart, dedicated, strategic nonprofits where we can tap into their skills and scale up great ideas.”

Tice’s advice for fundraisers

  • Be as professional as possible.

“Even if foundations operate in a more relaxed environment, it’s important to maintain professionalism with them, whether you’re first establishing a relationship with them or trying to even out a real or perceived power imbalance.”  

  • Utilize your connections.

“If you have no prior relationship with a foundation, find someone on your staff or board who may have a connection in some way. A personal approach, rather than a cold call, may open the door for you more easily.”

  • Be aware of current trends or practices in the field.

“Be aware of online applications, their due dates, how the application is structured, etc. Even if you apply for a grant from the same foundation year after year, you never know when or how they may change the structure of accepting applications.”

  • Focus on the relationship.

“Communicating with foundations effectively and building those relationships is incredibly important in this field.”

Want to learn more about how to establish relationships with and fundraise from foundations? Check out The Fund Raising School’s webinar “Advice from the Funders,” featuring Small and program officer Jenna Wachtmann of the Ball Brothers Foundation.

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.

Aug 05

Getting your retirement account compliant: A burden and a blessing

By Sponsor Insight

By Kevin Kidwell, vice president national tax-exempt sales, OneAmerica®

If your organization offers a 403 (b) retirement plan, then you may have already received — or should be receiving — a notice from your plan provider regarding a new Internal Revenue Service (IRS) document requirement.

For the first time, the IRS has pre-approved prototype plan documents for your type of retirement plans, typically sponsored by 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations. This IRS plan restatement requirement is happening now as a long-overdue need to mesh plans with operations. The IRS’ goal is simple — to get a certified, model blueprint similar to what protects 401(k) plans and has been available to 401(k) plans for decades. It doesn’t mean if you have a 403(b) plan that your plan is changing or was poorly planned; it just means there will be guardrails.

But time is limited. Retirement plan sponsors have until March 31, 2020 to adopt plan amendments and self-correct their organization’s retirement plan provisions that violate the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 403(b) written plan rules. (You might ask about how many violations there are. When we take over a plan, we typically put them on our document.  During the review process with these new clients we typically see that most (more than 50%) have some sort of compliance issue.  Based on this experience we would expect the same percentage of plans to discover issues as they work through this required restatement.)

As an employer, it’s likely gratifying for you to look out for the welfare of your employees, particularly when it comes to helping them build a retirement. Less enjoyable though may be the administration and compliance of your nonprofit’s retirement plan. As an employer, you have responsibility, however, to work to address the IRS and Department of Labor requirements. It’ll also get you ahead in case of any unexpected audits. Additionally, from a talent recruitment perspective, we think it’ll set you apart as a more desirable company to work for.

Recently I spoke about all these issues as part of a 403(b) panel held at a national industry conference. The panel’s purpose was for attendees, many of whom run or work for organizations like yours, to review and pick panelists’ brains for information and suggestions on how to best deal with the 403 (b) plan remedial amendment period due dates, individually designed plans, and what it means to you all as a plan sponsor.

As I told that group, some employers just don’t have the time to work with their hired advisor. They’re incredibly thin in terms of their human resources staff. But during this remedial amendment period, or restatement period, understanding how your plan is operating, versus how the plan was written and designed, is a required conversation.

Let me give you an example. I was talking with an executive with a large health care organization about the things they go through. She politely didn’t admit that its retirement plan had issues. However, if you don’t have issues, my guess is you haven’t really paid close enough attention to your document or plan.

Most of these plans have some issues. What you’re DOING must match up with your written plan, and in many cases over time, actual practice has strayed from the original draft.  Most plans have some sort of defect they need to clean up.

Here are some examples, borne out of OneAmerica’s experience:

  • Your plan document says you’re going to make a 5 percent employer contribution, but you’ve only been investing 4%. Seems simple, but failure to make correct contributions is a common or repeat issue. And if it has happened to an individual worker, it’s likely happened to others in the workforce.
  • Despite it being a requirement, there is often no effective notice provided to employees that they are eligible to defer part of their salary to invest in an organization-sponsored retirement plan.
  • There is a provision under 403(b) that says if an employee expects to work less than 20 hours a week, he or she can be excluded. However, the challenge is if they go over 1,000 hours annually, the HR professional needs to provide notice of eligibility to the worker. However, that required communication rarely occurs.
  • We have seen nonprofits that fail to file its 990, and it lost its 501(c)(3) status. So, it now maintains a plan that it’s ineligible for.

If you receive a restated plan document that says ‘please sign here’ and return it, that may not be sufficient. 

It takes us on average about 15 hours to work through just the conversations about ‘Here’s what’s your current plan documents say, explain how you’re operating your plan today. Explain to any changes you would like to make.’

For us steeped in these plans, if it takes15 hours, my guess is that you’re going to have at least that much, if not more time, involved in the process.

There’s a lot of behind the scenes operational and compliance detail that you may not be aware of, but you should be concerned about. That gets back to how you want to operate your plan, versus the way you are operating your plan. Additionally, everyone who ‘touches’ the plan needs to be included, from the HR representative to the payroll department. They need to read the document, talk through the plan provisions, and most importantly, know what it means and how to properly operate the plan.

In Kevin Kidwell’s role as vice president of national tax exempt sales, he works to provide ideas, knowledge, information – both technical and practical – in an effort to facilitate improved plan and participant outcomes. Kidwell has held various positions within the Retirement Services division since 1988. Beginning in 2000, his exclusive focus has been on healthcare and tax-exempt organizations.

What can we answer for you?

About the companies of OneAmerica: Tax-exempt retirement plans have been in our DNA since 1964. Of 26 tax-exempt providers profiled in the 2018 PLANSPONSOR 403(b) Buyers Guide in terms of plans served by industry, OneAmerica nationally ranked:

  • 1st in social and community service organizations
  • 4th in charitable organizations
  • 6th in religious organizations
  • 6th in hospital/healthcare

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 as tax, legal, fiduciary, or investment advice. • Registered Representative of and securities offered through OneAmerica Securities, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisor, Member FINRA, SIPC.

Aug 05

What’s covered in the Undoing Racism workshop

By Programming

The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond was founded in 1980 by longtime community organizers Ronald Chisom of New Orleans, and Dr. Jim Dunn of Yellow Springs, Ohio. It is located in New Orleans.

Undoing Racism® is its signature workshop and is designed to understand the foundation of race and racism and the barriers they create. According to its website, through dialogue, reflection, role-playing, strategic planning and presentations, the two-day session challenges participants to analyze the structures of power and privilege that hinder social equity.

In Indianapolis in 2010, Child Advocates began a partnership with The People’s Institute to begin to address the disproportionate percentage of African American children in the Marion County Juvenile Court system.

Using the goals of the workshop, here’s Cindy Booth, CEO of Child Advocates, Jill English, co-director of Child Advocates, and Judge Geoffrey Gaither responding to the trainings they attended.

Goal: Develop a common definition of racism and an understanding of its different forms: individual, institutional, linguistic, and cultural.

GAITHER: You have to cleanse yourself of pre-existing notions of race and racial attitudes before you can really have a meaningful discussion about what is the full impact. You have to have working definitions of topics that make sense.

Goal: Develop a common language and analysis for examining racism in the United States.

BOOTH: They do an exercise where everybody talks about their definition of race and racism and there are so many, they just keep listing them and listing them. And then they say, “Ok, so how can we talk about it, if we each have a different definition.” So, let’s have this definition and then we’ll go from there.

Goal: Understand the historical context for how racial classifications in the United States came to be and how and why they are maintained.

GAITHER: There are things that you just should know, and it’s always amazing to me what people don’t know and they should know. Even the concept of black history, it’s not really black history, it’s American history. But it’s history that’s not talked about in schools, it’s not written so much in textbooks, but it’s still history.

ENGLISH: One area that attendees find impactful is the deconstruction of history. Before arriving at a common definition of race, there is a history lesson. Oftentimes, participants’ reaction is surprise to learn all the history that was left out. So that’s usually pretty powerful as to how the country was constructed, and then the next day when we check in with people and see how they’re doing, we usually get something like “I’m pissed, I’m hurt, this is ridiculous.”

Goal: Understand why people are poor and the role of institutions in exacerbating institutional racism, particularly for people and communities of color.

GAITHER: I was recently in Denver for a restorative justice conference and there was a Juneteenth celebration going on in a section called Five Points. Five Points is predominately where African Americans settled in the Denver area. And I was with a group that was going to go, and there were many people in the group that didn’t know what Juneteenth was and had never heard the term. I just gave them a five-minute talk and a couple of them apologized for not knowing.

Goal: Understand how all of us, including white people, are adversely impacted by racism every day, everywhere.

BOOTH: I remember sitting in a certain exercise. It was, “What do you like about being white or what do you like about being black?” I couldn’t think of a thing. The person next to me was about my age and a judicial officer. We both wanted to be good students, and we both couldn’t think of a thing. And then when we went around the circle and there was a black caseworker who said, “I think about race every day. At work, and then I have a teenage son and daughter and have to talk to them every day.” And I thought, “I don’t”, and that was my aha moment. The gratefulness that people have that they may not have understood something whether they’re white or black and just having that space to be able to express that or understand that. It’s pretty powerful.

Goal: Gain knowledge about how to be more effective in the work you do with your constituencies, your organizations, your communities, your families.

GAITHER: There are many challenges that remain. It’s one thing to talk about race in a pristine institutional way. The real challenge is what happens when you go home. Do you talk about race when you go home? Do you talk about race in your places of worship or your places of recreation? In your fraternal, civic organizations? What do you say about that when there are no black people around? What do you say about race when your brother-in-law or cousin or somebody makes a joke about race? Do you stand up or silently shake your head? Silence is complicity.

Additional goals:

  • Understand one’s own connection to institutional racism and its impact on his/her work.
  • Address surface assumptions about how your work is (or is not) affected by racism.
  • Develop awareness and understanding about ways to begin understanding race and how to undo racism.
  • Understand the role of community organizing and building effective multiracial coalitions as a means for understanding race and undoing racism.   
  • Understand the historical context for how U.S. institutions came to be and whom they have been designed to serve.
Aug 05

Workshop offers fresh look at issues of race

By Programming

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

A decade ago, Marilyn A. Moores, then a presiding judge of the Marion County Juvenile Court, was concerned about the disproportionate number of children of color coming before her.

She wasn’t the only one. Cindy Booth, the chief executive officer of Child Advocates, felt the same way. She recognized that the percentage of African American children served by her agency was nearly double to that of the overall African American population in Marion County.

At the time, the same concerns were being expressed on the state and national levels. In Indiana, a disproportionality summit was commissioned by General Assembly, and nationally, the Annie E. Casey Foundation was championing court-based training, research and reform initiatives to combat the problem.

At the direction of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court judges, Moores opted to go a step further and formed the Courts Catalyzing Change Committee, and charged it with a simple agenda – to do something. She appointed Geoffrey Gaither, a magistrate in the Marion County Juvenile Court system, and Jennifer Hubartt, then the director/regional manager for Department of Child Services-Marion County, to chair the 31-person group.

One member of the group, Andrea Manning-Dudley, worked for Child Advocates as the guardian ad litem supervisor and attended a training given by People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond. Emboldened by what she learned, she told Booth that this powerful training might be perfect for DCS staff. By coincidence, Booth and Gregg Ellis, the Child Advocates chief program officer, attended a national CASA conference and an overview of the same workshop that Manning-Dudley was talking about.

Suddenly, pieces were beginning to fall into place.

Booth decided Child Advocates could take the lead and serve as the catalyst for change, and so she approached Moores.

“I went to Judge Moores, and I said, ‘You want to do something with the courts to catalyze change. I’ve just been introduced to this workshop. If you let me raise the money, will you tell people they have to come to this? If I tell them, they’ll just go ‘thank you, but no.’ But if you tell them as a judge, they’ll come.’”

“This was like a godsend because as a committee we were struggling about how to institute change,” said Gaither, who has presided in Marion County Juvenile Court since 1995 and was introduced to disproportionality in an article that Judge James Payne shared on the topic in the late 1990s.

That first workshop was offered 10 years ago and would be one of four convened that first year.

What’s covered in the
Undoing Racism Workshop

Gaither’s reaction to the training was similar.  

“I used to consider myself an expert on being a black man, but I was blown away by what I did not know and what I learned on those two days. I thought the information was explosive, powerful and life-changing. At the end of the two days, once your eyes are open they can never be closed again, at least in theory,” said Gaither, who speaks at the beginning of most workshops.

Now, nearly 65 Undoing Racism trainings later, the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond has trained over 2,800 Indiana DCS employees, judges, police, teachers and others. Officials considered the differences in treatment of blacks, whites and Latinos so serious that Booth said they’ve invested roughly $600,000 in grants and donations to train people who work in those systems.

The New Orleans-based national organization’s two-day training analyzes the history and effects of the  racial divide in the U.S. in order to share how those translate into the disparities that exist today.

Last year as demand increased, Child Advocates upped its offerings, conducting 14 Undoing Racism workshops. While much of the training has remained the same, many of the attendees have changed. Now, Child Advocates service providers, as well as other nonprofit organizations, are among the participants. Last year, the entire staff of the Central Indiana Community Foundation invested time to attend. Based on its experience and with increased demand beyond the initial DCS audience, CICF offered a $100,000 grant to expand the program.

Child Advocates has continued to lead and added Jill English as the initiative’s co-director along with Diana Dunn. Dunn, the widow of the co-founder of the People’s Institute and a core trainer and organizer of the institute from its beginning in 1980, moved to Indianapolis last year to work with English.

“What we’ve seen happen is it’s branched out now to more service providers that touch the children that we serve. It can be the mentors, the therapists, it can be those doing the visitations for children, home-based counselors. The effect trickles down to the children we serve,” said English. “We also have been very surprised, we have been getting a lot of nonprofits in the community that have come through and continue, including organizations like the Indianapolis Symphony and multiple school districts.”

Last year as a refresher, DCS invited English and Dunn to present 90-minute intro sessions for DCS cohorts. And while DCS has been a constant supporter, the agency has considerable attrition, so those individuals trained 10 years ago may not still be employees. Typically, 10 DCS folks attend the 40-person trainings on a complimentary basis.

Along with other enhancements, Dunn and English are developing a cadre of 10 local trainers and working to revamp the local workshops based on feedback from participants, making it more interactive and the history more Indiana-centric.

By the end of the year, they plan to add Indiana history. “What was the history of the Klan in Indiana? When we talk about red-lining, we ask: What was happening in Indiana? We just had a case come down recently where somebody was still red-lining. What we are learning from our local community group advising us is that we really need to include a lot more Indiana history,” said Booth.

Child Advocates sees this work as core to its mission to better support the children it serves.  

Back in 2009, English said the staff at her agency was concerned about the number of children of color who were being removed from their homes or that Children in Need of Services (CHINS) filings were not in proportion to the African American population. Initially, she said the idea was to inform people how race affects the children that Child Advocates serves. Today, for example, she said while Marion County is about 28 percent African American, the percentage of children Child Advocates serves is about 48 percent African American.

“The organization hoped it would make a difference by creating awareness of their treatment in education, the courts and other agencies. I don’t think we knew as the ball started rolling that it would become so massive in terms of people understanding how race impacts the families in our community, which boils down to how it’s impacting our children,” said English.

“There are no studies that show that people because they’re male or female or because they’re Buddhist or Catholic abuse their children more. There are no studies that show that people of color abuse their children more, so why is this?

“If we’re the voice for children in this county, and we’re ignoring it, then we’re not doing our jobs. Our population of abused and neglected children that are represented by DCS in this county should represent our population, and race allows us not to see that.

“We are leaving white children in very dangerous situations because of race. And until we see it from all sides, then we’re going to continue to leave children in dangerous situations. That is what race has allowed us to do. Sometimes I refer to the Turpin case that was in the news last year. I say, ‘What African American family could have lived in middle America, multiple states and abused and neglected those children for decades and nobody EVER had alarm bells go off?’ That’s what race does.

“But I ask participants, do you ever do the flip and think that these are all of our children. We know that almost 70 percent of our county is white. Are you asking, where are those white children?”

With Dunn coming on board, the agency is able to offer debriefings and follow-ups for participants. She has helped them process the workshop information and share what companies and institutions have done in the past with her in-depth understanding of the organization’s roots and history.

Child Advocates also recognizes that many different fields send employees to training. One goal is to connect people in the similar fields, like health care providers, so the trainings can be more concise for, say RNs or epidemiologists, in order to be as productive as possible.

Adding more workshops for young people is another goal. This past spring break, Booth said that young people attended a session that included adults and youth, with some from group homes.

“It was wonderful and powerful. Youth held the adults accountable. I think it’s a natural extension of what we do to reach out to youth and have them participate,” she said. In a debriefing with the young attendees, their comments included: “We’ve never been listened to and given a platform to talk about this the way we were able to and adults actually listened.”

English said that one of People’s core trainers has worked with youth all over the country, and led the one over spring break. He’s kept in touch with several of the young people from the session.

The effect

Marion County Juvenile Court Judge Gaither said anecdotally, he’s seen improvement in the attitudes and understanding of officials. He attributes that to the training.

“I recall a couple of years ago, a case in front of another magistrate. The magistrate came to me and said there was a recommendation made for a child and the magistrate openly wondered if the child were another race, would that recommendation have been made. This was after we started doing the Undoing Racism. And I marked that as a ‘wow moment’ because I don’t believe that magistrate would have had that conversation five years ago or 10 years ago. These are issues that we openly talk about now, but we never talked about in court back in the 1990s. 

“So, there’s been change in how we look at what we do. The first rung of action is awareness. It’s not a problem to you until first there’s some awareness and then there’s acknowledgement. Then there’s responsibility, then there’s action. So, I think we are at the awareness and acknowledgement phase on this continuum. And I think this is systemwide,” said Gaither. “Participating in this workshop is step one. It will disavow you of all your previous thoughts and feelings about this issue.”

During the two-day workshop, there are regular check-ins to assess the climate. English recalls this summer when several participants said, “I looked at the debate last night completely differently. I never would have looked at it that way before. I didn’t know what I didn’t know.”

English, who worked for DCS in the late 1990s, said that she has also heard case workers say they can now read a report and before getting to the part that explains the family’s race, they can identify the child’s race by the language and words used to describe the family.

According to Booth, it achieved some things that she didn’t realize were going to happen, but it also changed her agency and helped staff be more vocal about race and racism.

For example, it has helped them question when they see two cases and the only difference is the color of the child’s skin to ask why one family is getting this service and the other not.

“Has it changed the work we do? We did a study of 550 some children,” Booth said. “We looked at when their advocate, whether it was a volunteer or staff person, had the race equity training and then looked at factors in the child’s permanency: Did they go back home? Were they adopted? Did they move less? Did they get placed with siblings? What we saw was that after the advocate had training, outcomes for all children improved, but particularly for African American children.

“I think that’s because those people were more aware of all issues surrounding the child,” said Booth.

“It also fit into my view that our organization should reflect the children whom we serve, not only in the staff that we have but also in the principles by which we do our work. So that really helps for accountability.”

Booth is encouraged by the effort and the change that has happened with over 100 organizations having taken the training.

“Whether it’s been somebody who’s been sent or volunteered to go from their organization, either nonprofit or for-profit, they are intrigued to learn more about race and racism. But I think what happens is they’re there for work, and then they realize they need to share this with somebody.”

The highest compliment she’s heard is “I’m going to tell my family about this. I cannot wait to go home and talk to my kids about this.”

For more information about Undoing Racism, contact Jill English at Child Advocates at jill@childadvocates.net.

Address: 8200 Haverstick Rd #240, Indianapolis, IN 46240
Phone: (317) 205-3055

Jul 15

Effective volunteer programs take effort, pay dividends

By Programming

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

Every day Chris Morehead and Sharon Holyoak have a common need: a dedicated corps of volunteers to help make their organizations successful. And both use terms like “delightful, devoted, extraordinary, passionate, fun and engaged,” to describe the folks who have taken on that role.  

For the past four and a half years, Morehead has been Newfields’ assistant director of volunteerism and community engagement, and for eight years, Holyoak has been Carmel’s Center for the Performing Arts volunteer coordinator. So, what have they learned that might assist a nonprofit looking to start a volunteer program?

Volunteerism has long been embedded in the Indianapolis Art Museum’s DNA but after the rebranding of the museum and its entire surroundings as Newfields, volunteers now support all assets of the 152-acre campus, not just the museum galleries.

“In our most recent history, we’ve really looked at expanding our volunteer programs to embrace all aspects of what we do here,” said Morehead. When Charles L. Venable took the helm in 2012 as director and CEO of Newfields, he was interested in growing the program.

“Our constellation of assets takes volunteers at the highest levels, across the entire spectrum to help support the institution in the way that we need. It’s a full team effort, and it really feels like we’ve got our little village pumping at full volume for the entire community at large,” said Morehead. “It’s been the joy of my life building this program, and having incredible volunteers and staff members to really cultivate what we’ve built together as a team. We couldn’t really do it without the volunteers that we engaged to help bring that experience for our guests.”

Image Courtesy of Newfields

Holyoak said the same is true at the Center for Performing Arts. With three venues on campus — the Palladium, a 1,600-seat concert hall; the Tarkington, a 500-seat proscenium theater; and the Studio Theater, a versatile black box locale with a seating capacity of 200 — there are scores of events each year.  A performance at the Palladium typically requires 40 volunteers on site.

“I don’t think we could put on a show without the volunteers. It would be very difficult,” Holyoak said. Since the Center opened in 2011, it has relied on these extra hands. When Holyoak took over the reins from Doug Tatum, who now is vice president of programming, the Center was new and people were clamoring to offer their services. As the event numbers have increased, she has formalized programs and initiatives, adding such things as mentoring and systemizing recruiting, scheduling and tracking time. This year, internally, she created a video to share at orientation. “It’s not really about what they can do for us, but what we can do for them.”

Both have different approaches to recruiting, which is ongoing.

“We really are trying to provide a diverse and inclusive experience for volunteers, as well as our guests at Newfields, and in order to do that, we really need to go out to the communities,” Morehead said. This includes going to community fairs and festivals and including information in community bulletins; all to spread the word about volunteerism and designed to ensure that people can find information and connect.

Holyoak’s program is still new and most recruiting is done by word of mouth.

Getting volunteers aligned with the organization’s mission is an important aspect of all volunteer programs. The Center’s mission statement recently changed and Holyoak shares it often with volunteers. Additionally, she reminds her team that the Center is a nonprofit, which she said often gets lost.

Similarly, Newfields has developed a mission for its program — to increase the capacity of the institution to serve its core mission –  and that provides volunteers with a goal.

Volunteering in America 2018, a study by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), the federal agency that oversees AmeriCorps and Senior Corps, estimates that 77.3 million people volunteered in 2017. Although, volunteers’ time has value, individuals cannot claim a deduction or value of their personal services on personal income tax returns. Typically, volunteers are not provided remunerations, and according to Samantha Brickler, the marketing and communications manager at the Arts Council of Indianapolis, the council isn’t aware of any arts organizations that do pay volunteers.

Newfields currently has 760 active volunteers, who are regulars onsite at least once a month throughout the year. Their efforts are complemented by 900 individuals who help occasionally with events like Bulb-A-Palooza. Community teams, families and the FFA have helped with projects like planting and digging bulbs for the spring blooms display. Last year, the institution partnered with the FFA during its annual conference and will again this year. Morehead said, for example, it takes 18 volunteers daily for the eight weeks of Winterlights, the popular outdoor holiday display. For the fiscal year that ended June 30, total volunteer hours, including groups and individuals, exceeded 62,000 hours.

The Performing Arts Center has about 300 volunteers in its database, with applicants waiting in the wings for orientation.  Annually, there are four sessions and are timed to offer opportunities for applicants to sign up for events shortly after orientation. For its latest fiscal year, volunteers logged 19,154 hours and using the Independent Sector’s volunteer value rate of $25.43, this commitment equates to $487,086.22.

To manage their volunteer groups, both nonprofits use Volgistics, a management software. As Carmel’s program grew, Holyoak moved from a spreadsheet to cloud-based software. In her research, she learned was that many area venues use this option. Available since 2004, she said the software is pliable. It allows individual to submit applications, and then that information is automatically fed into the database. It allows scheduling, and has an easy interface for logging in and out. Analytics are easily accessible to managers.

“Because it’s cloud-based, our volunteers can sign up for events from home. It is easy for the volunteers who aren’t terribly computer savvy,” said Holyoak, who said the average volunteer for the Carmel-facility is in his or her 70s. Depending on an organization’s size, however, there are different platforms that may be a better match.

To ensure good fits for the organization and the volunteer, most nonprofits write position descriptions for each available area, helping volunteers know what they have signed up to accomplish. Both also provide handbooks that serve as reference material of policies and procedures.

Teams are large, and in Holyoak’s case, house managers in each venue help provide guidance for performances. At Newfields, Morehead has a team of 18 lead volunteers who help him manage, organize and provide direction.

“They help us design the protocols, which are the job descriptions, instructions for volunteers for what they’re going to do in any shift. They’re here strategically on the busy days, so Thursday through Sundays, we have someone here from the lead volunteer team; and then for things like Winterlights, we actually have two lead volunteers every single night of the entire event,” he said.

Morehead is in charge of building a holistic picture of volunteerism for the institution. He said it was never expected that he manage all 760 individuals.

“Building a program that could help support that and work with different departments to determine how they might be able to engage volunteers is absolutely part of my charge. So, for example, working with our librarian and figuring out what volunteers could help her with to increase her capacity to service guests is part of my job. We work together to define a plan, a job description and then help recruit the individuals for that.”

The Center’s needs are different and most of its aides serve as ushers for its events. There is a specialized role for two individuals who give tours every other Tuesday and on demand. After recently posting it on the website, that has started getting more traction.

With Newfields’ volunteers working on the entire campus, the needs are specific to the area, including serving as garden guides, docents in the galleries, tram drivers and guides, administrative office support, garden crews, frontline ambassadors and informational program guides. There are also affinity groups such as the fashion arts society, the horticultural society and contemporary arts. Its No. 1 volunteer with 2,000 hours helps the conservation science team. Morehead said if there’s an interest, they’ll find a fit.

Image Courtesy of Newfields

“That’s one thing that we’ve always embraced, especially in recent times. Why are we holding back volunteers in different areas, why not embrace these areas that these volunteers want to participate,” he said.

Finding ways to keep in touch is critical. Morehead sends a Monday newsletter, with an update of what’s going on around campus and within the program. Then every Thursday, he sends out a help wanted for pressing or immediate needs. While Holyoak doesn’t yet have a regular communication network, she keeps in touch by email and would spotlight individuals either on the Center’s website or another communication. 

Most nonprofits view volunteers as ambassadors, and Morehead said providing them with accurate information about programs and events is critical. Newfields provides talking points for just about everything it does, and particularly when it’s a new or unique program, and these are distributed to volunteers.

“Providing volunteers with the tools to be successful, not just here on campus, but we know that they’re going to carry that message forward to their community, their families, their friends beyond our walls, and that is incredibly important to us,” said Morehead.

Regularly celebrating the achievements and contributions of volunteers is paramount. Both have annual recognition programs.

“We have several volunteer appreciation events throughout the year, which all culminate in our annual volunteer appreciation and reception and awards event every February. We recognize volunteer contributions at receptions throughout the year. I think really any time we are launching a new big program, it is an opportunity we love to take to recognize volunteers’ efforts toward helping with the success metric,” he said.

The Center has an annual recognition program, which includes an award for the volunteer of the year. Ribbons that list an individual’s hours are distributed.

“That’s a fun thing because people say, ‘Oh, my gosh, you worked 2,000 hours? That’s crazy.’ They like that. Our CEO is wonderful; he thanks the volunteers from the stage at every major show we do. That’s been huge,” Holyoak said.  For every 60 hours a volunteer works, he or she receives a voucher. Currently she is working to refine this benefit to equalize it.

“Obviously the people who work the most hours get the most vouchers and get the prime shows and there’s limited seats depending on the show,” Holyoak said.

Both work continuously to refine their programs. Every fall, Newfields has an annual volunteer survey. Morehead said typically a third of the active volunteers respond. And he takes the responses seriously.

“It takes about 15 or 20 minutes depending on how much feedback they provide. We’ve been doing a survey even before I got here. We try to keep it as consistent as possible so we’re benchmarking ourselves from one year to the next.

“Then following every seasonal initiative, we launch what we call our three-question survey. The flash survey asks: How did you enjoy your experience? What would you do differently? What type of feedback do we need to hear that we’re missing. We do that after all seasonal initiatives, that was for Winterlights and Spring Bloom as well. We get around 75 to 100 responses.

“We like to say that this is a volunteer program that was built by volunteers for volunteers,” he said.

Some nonprofits have tried competition to motivate volunteers — most social media posts or likes on a Facebook page — but neither has tried this approach.

Combined, Holyoak and Morehead have worked over a dozen years with volunteers and have seen initiatives that worked and didn’t.

Morehead has one piece of advice.

“Make sure you know what you need help with. A lot of people don’t have well thought out plans. They don’t put time and thought into what to do and what do we really want to put out there that we need help with. I always challenge people to think: What is the volunteer’s function going to be? How are they going to get engaged in the space? Will they feel at the end of their shift like they had an impact? If not, that’s probably a sign.”

“Volunteers provide us with the ability to provide the exceptional experience that we hold ourselves to do for our guests. So as any nonprofit, I think in the world, we all tried to do as much as possible, while still being fiscally responsible with what we do. By engaging volunteerism in the way that we do, we expand our capacity to provide incredible experiences for our guests all year round,” he said.

Jun 17

Discovering the power of the podcast

By Technology

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

Just four short years ago, few people would have recognized the name – or the voice – of Sarah Koenig. Today, Koenig, an investigative journalist, engages millions of people and is among the world’s most-listened-to storytellers.

Koenig’s medium? The podcast, a once-humble and somewhat experimental method of delivering content to the general public.

Koenig is the host of “Serial,” a podcast that tells a nonfiction story over multiple episodes. Earlier this month, Koenig was in Indianapolis as part of WFYI’s Listen Up speakers’ series.

According to Slate magazine, the word “podcast” first appeared in a news story in 2005. But for years, podcasts remained on the fringes, unable to gain traction until smartphones and apps made information easily accessible and a lot more portable.

Matt Shafer Powell, WFYI’s chief content officer, produced his first podcast in 2005. He was working in Knoxville, Tennessee, and a university IT staff person read about podcasts and suggested using this platform to distribute content.

According to Powell, there was an initial flush of podcasting, and then growth seemed to die.

“We were actually kind of talking about it in terms of ‘Yeah, remember when podcasting was such an interesting idea. Boy, those days are gone.’

“And then all of a sudden, there came this wholesale embrace of podcasting from so many of the big players, like “This American Life,” and groups like that. It just exploded and then “Serial” came along.”

And just how has the medium grown? Earlier this year, Chartable, a company that provides podcast analytics and attribution tools, reported that there were 700,000 available podcasts, and that number is growing. Each month, 32 percent of Americans listen to a podcast.

But does that mean that nonprofits have embraced the format?

Bill Stanczykiewicz, the Fund Raising School’s director, knows firsthand what it takes to regularly produce a podcast. In late January 2018, the school launched “First Day,” a weekly 10-minute podcast to provide organizations with the latest information on fundraising and philanthropy.

“I would speculate that the format probably works best for intermediary-type nonprofit organizations. Many of our nonprofits are literally first responders who are meeting needs and making the world a better place as they serve children and victims of domestic violence, promote the arts, clean the environment, endorse animal welfare, all these things. That’s a lot of hard work on a day-to-day basis and to think about setting aside time for podcasts could be a challenge.”

So that’s why Stanczykiewicz’s team has kept the format short, and before the launch of “First Day,” identified its three strategic reasons.

“One is that we believe strongly that podcasts are the medium of now and definitely the medium of the future. More and more people are turning to podcasts for information. I think of college students who tell me they never read the New York Times, but they listen to the NYT podcast every day.”

The Fund Raising School had a multichannel marketing strategy, and a podcast was a seamless fit. It also ensured that the school’s information is accessible, including internationally, for fundraising and nonprofit professionals.

“We know you’re making the world a better place, so it’s 10 minutes in, out, done. Get practical information that you need and get back to work is another reason why we chose that format,” Stanczykiewicz said. In the year and a half of production, there have been only two occasions when the format deviated from the interview format. Typically, Stanczykiewicz said, he is the objective host, and there is a featured guest.

“We tell the guests in advance, this needs to be translated for practical application for frontline fundraisers. We cannot have our very talented faculty and researchers talking about research; it has to be what does this research means for practical fundraising. We wanted it to be quick, right to the point. If you want more information, you can go to our website. We know that fundraisers are busy people, we wanted to summarize, three big points, and then be done.”

And while WFYI’s Powell said he’s not an expert on podcasting, public radio had an early upper hand. In 2005, NPR emerged as a major player with a ready supply of content when it put out shows like “Fresh Air,” “Planet Money” and “Ted Radio Hour” online.

“We were on the air already doing in-depth reporting, and that kind of storytelling, so it was an easier fit to move it over to the podcast realm than maybe some other media entities. In a lot of ways, we’re learning right along with everybody else.

“I think it’s a really exciting time. It’s scary, but being in media has always been scary because it’s in a constant state of change. I think when it comes down to it, people still love, and will always love a good story,” said Powell.

He, like Stanczykiewicz, believes that audio-only content isn’t going away, because it allows the listener to engage in other activities, like jogging or cooking. He said the case for radio over 100 years ago was that it allowed an individual’s imagination to fill in the gaps, and that hasn’t changed.

“I believe that about audio-only content despite the fact that we are going through changes in how it’s delivered. We’ll continue to go through changes, but there’s always going to be a place for good content, good stories and the human voice,” said Powell.

Stanczykiewicz said the format of the school’s podcasts works for them, and urges nonprofits or individuals to have a plan before launching any type of podcasts.

While he has a background in radio, he earned a leadership certificate on social media from the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University. One point that was stressed in that training was to release it on the same time and day or days of the week. So, because “First Day” is released on Mondays, it is aptly named, and while some people have suggested they produce a daily podcast, currently the school doesn’t have that capacity or a plan to increase production.

Powell urged potential podcasters to be realistic about whom you want to reach.

“There’s nothing wrong with doing a podcast that only reaches a small, but selective group of people. Be realistic about who your audience is and what you want from them: Do you want to entertain them, do you want to educate them, do you want to inspire them?” he said.

While the Fund Raising School does not have exact audience listeners, typically the week a podcast is released, Stanczykiewicz said there are 500 listeners. Each podcast is archived, and anecdotally, the school learned that people use the 10-minute segments at staff and board meetings. Over time, podcasts, which Stanczykiewicz said cost virtually nothing to produce, have achieved up to 1,000 listeners.

Powell recommends identifying resources as part of the initial planning, but said that equipment and hosting are not expensive. He cautions that it depends on the final product. From his experience, though, he said it takes 10 times longer than initial projections.

“If you’re talking about the kind of podcast where you’re going out and getting stories and editing these stories and getting music and doing all this other stuff, there’s going to be a pretty financial obligation there unless you got all the equipment and all the time in the world and can do it yourself,” said Powell.

And while podcast audiences are growing, some genres are more appealing. A 2018 report from Nielson examined the broadest popularity types for avid listeners.

The Fund Raising School’s format, for example, requires little editing. Guests are told it’s live to tape with just one take. Liz Jackson, the school’s associate director, manages the program, and this past school year, there was a graduate assistant who did the day-to-day work of scheduling, preparing the guests, uploading the podcasts and tracking usage data. Unlike most nonprofits, the school’s advantage is access to IUPUI’s facilities, which include a video- and audio-recording studio that is staffed. Topic ideas are a standing agenda item at bimonthly team meetings.

“We brainstorm what’s some of the latest research that has come from our faculty or research team, or as we teach, is there a predominate line of questioning that we’re hearing about, a topic that we’re hearing about, or is there something out in the news. For example, we might say there’s been some natural disasters, maybe we need to have something on natural disasters or how does that affect charitable giving or some change in tax policy,” he said.

Podcasts are recorded two to three months prior to air time to make sure there’s always enough in the pipeline, and typically the interviewees are solicited from the two-dozen faculty,10 researchers or external guests speaking at the school.

For WFYI, podcasts have typically been local radio shows that are available on-demand. That was until “The WorkAround” from “Side Effects.” Funding from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting provided the initial funding for “Side Effects,” and in the grant was a deliverable — a podcast. After extensive brainstorming, the team decided to produce 20- to-25-minute podcasts about the difficult and sometimes shocking things that people would do to work around the American health care system. Seven episodes were produced last year.

“It was a learning experience. We totally underestimated how much time and energy it would take. You’d think that that would be a great lesson for us, but we actually have another podcast in production right now called “Sick” that’s going to launch in September,” said Powell.

Some support for this new podcast is provided by Boston-based PRX.

“PRX had this program called “Catapult.” It was designed specifically to (support) public radio stations that had some ideas and some resources available for podcasts, but really didn’t know what they’re doing. I’m happy with “The WorkAround.” It’s good journalism, and I think it came out sounding good, but we had no clue what we were doing, we were totally flying without instruments. We also didn’t know how to market something like this or how do you get listeners?

“And then along comes PRX with its RFP saying, ‘Hey, if you have a podcast idea, we’d love to help you with it.’” WFYI was one of five stations named around the country to be part of the “Catapult” cohort. PRX provided some funding to help with the costs, but it is providing something more valuable.

“The important part is they’re putting us through extensive training on everything from the best way to produce a podcast, to the best way to write one, to the best way to market one. Really more than anything, it’s the intense training that we’re getting out of  ‘Catapult,’” said Powell, who’s been with the station for two years.

The reporting and production team are Jake Harper and Lauren Bavis, and they have traveled to Boston several times for boot camp training weeks. PRX has also been a constant editorial presence, offering suggestions to hone the product.

“I’m anxious to see what the output will be in terms of lessons for us going forward,” said Powell.

So if a nonprofit is thinking about tackling a podcast, Powell shared advice that Koenig provided her audience earlier this month — be your true self.

“If you’re just trying to create this podcast, and it’s not something that engages you, people are going to recognize that. It’s a heavy, heavy lift. Koenig, for example, had 42 hours of tape with Adnan Syed that had to be gone through. There’s a long process of editing and reediting and questioning and re-questioning. In that kind of storytelling podcast, you better be prepared to really work long and hard,” he said. “People say, ‘That sounds easy, I can do that.’ But they don’t know what’s involved.”

Stanczykiewicz said that if the philanthropic sector isn’t there yet, it needs to be.

“As more and more people are consuming information through their phones and other technological devices, they’re looking to podcasts now for information more than ever before. And that’s a trend in our opinion that’s only going to continue to increase. This is where the world is going,” he said.

“It will be very interesting to see this moving forward. You know when you write this story three years from now, I think they’ll be even much more extensive than what you’re finding now,” said the assistant dean for external relations.

Editor’s note: After this article ran, the Girl Scouts of Central Indiana shared news of its podcast. Since February, it has partnered with Veteran Strategies, a local public relations firm, to interview Hoosier community leaders. The inaugural “Leaders and Legends” podcast featured former Mayor of Indianapolis Greg Ballard. https://leadersandlegends.fireside.fm/