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charitableadvisors

Oct 20

Reviewing your organization’s board governance model

By Sponsor Insight

By Annmarie Novotney, senior audit manager, Blue & Co.

A strong board of directors will oversee implementation of strategic objectives for the organization, but also has ultimate responsibility and liability. Building a strong board is challenging, yet crucial to setting the right tone for success of your organization.

Have you assessed your organization’s overall governance model recently? Generally, it’s best practice to review governance policies regularly but at least every three to five years. For newer organizations, this time period may be shorter as circumstances and strategic positioning may change more frequently.

As you review your organization’s governance model, consider the following:

Board size: The IRS generally requires a minimum of three board members but does not have requirements on term limits. Many organizations have at least five members, with an average throughout our client base of 15. As you consider what board size is right for you, also consider if term limits are appropriate. If your review determines changes to board structure need to be made, be sure to amend your organization’s bylaws (for maximum board members and term limits).

Type of board: You may also consider whether your board is a working board or a governing board. Working boards have members that are heavily involved in the implementation of the mission, and often perform duties that paid staff would perform. Governing boards have a big-picture focus and work to delegate tasks to staff in an effort to govern the strategic mission, not implement it directly.

Skillsets needed: A diverse and skilled board of directors can serve its organization more effectively. In all areas, ensure that you are focused on nonprofit (NFP) expertise. Attorneys and accounting professionals are especially important in this regard as nonprofits are unique in many ways. Some examples of areas include:

  • Financial – This expert would be able to provide guidance on the creation of a budget, financial statements, and accounting policies and procedures, and insurance considerations.
  • Legal – As there are many requirements for a nonprofit organization, a legal expert can ensure the board stays up to date on all compliance requirements and provides guidance on any legal matters that may arise.
  • Marketing – Ensuring your organization is well-known throughout the community can provide significant growth opportunities for recognition and future funding. An expert in marketing can help accomplish this.
  • Technology – A technology expert can ensure the organization is doing its best to protect its assets and information from cybersecurity threats. Cybersecurity threats continue to plague NFP organizations of all sizes, so having an expert here could keep the organization up-to-date on security options and policy ideas.
  • Fundraising – An expert in fundraising is a must for any NFP board. This person should not only have connections in the community, but also know how and be willing to ask for donations in an effective manner.
  • Program/Industry– Having a board member familiar with your programs, or with industry knowledge that could assist in growing or expanding current programs, can be an asset to review plans for future programming within your organization. He or she can review and identify red flags in planning, as well as provide realistic expectations on how quickly a program can be started or expanded.

Board committees: Board committees are also an important part of a Board of Directors. The size and responsibilities of committees vary greatly between organizations based on their needs. For some committees, it may be best to have a committee chair, responsible for communicating decisions to the board and ensuring the committee remains focused on its goal. The following are suggested committees, but should be tailored to your current needs and long-term goals:

  • Executive – This group acts on behalf of the entire board as the steering committee and prioritizes agendas. They also manage urgent matters between meetings.
  • Finance – These individuals take on an expanded role of the financial expert mentioned above. Preparing or assisting with the budgeting process, reviewing internal financial statements, and presenting these items to the Board would be included in the responsibilities of the finance committee. This committee can also provide insight on whether goals are achievable based on the financial performance of the organization.
  • Audit – If an audit becomes necessary for the organization, having an audit committee can ensure it is clear who is responsible for staying current on financial requirements, chooses the audit firm, ensures there is no conflict of interest and has a clear understanding of the audit results.
  • Fundraising/program – This committee is focused on driving and monitoring the organization’s fundraising performance and can also track the effectiveness of specific programs to determine if any changes need to be made.
  • Governance/nominating – This group determines the requirements and qualifications of board members, nominates them, and ensures they receive proper training. This committee also drives board expectations and performs regular self-assessments of the board.

Annmarie Novotney is an audit senior manager in Blue & Co.’s Carmel, Indiana office. She’s been with the firm for over nine years and works exclusively with nonprofits, specializing in assurance and consulting services.

If you are considering a review of your governance policies, or if you have questions or need guidance on how to incorporate these suggestions, please contact Annmarie Novotney (anovotney@blueandco.com) or your local Blue & Co. advisor.

Oct 14

Federal tax law raises concerns for nonprofits

By Sponsor Insight

By Ryan Olson, senior accountant and CPA, VonLehman

Passage of the federal income tax law in late December 2017 brought into reality a variety of concerns that nonprofits raised as the bill worked its way through Congress. In addition to the increased standard deduction that’s expected to depress charitable giving, the final Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) includes several other provisions that prompted objections from charities.

Calculating UBTI

The corporate tax rate under the TCJA is a flat 21%. This change will benefit some nonprofits paying unrelated business income tax, because the tax is imposed at the corporate rate.  Those nonprofits with unrelated business-taxable income of $50,000 or less have an increased tax rate. It has increased from 15% to 21%.  Those nonprofits with unrelated business-taxable income of $50,000 or more have a decreased tax rate from anywhere from 25-35% to 21%.

Under the TCJA, nonprofits must calculate their unrelated business taxable income (UBTI) separately for each unrelated business. As a result, they can’t use a loss from one unrelated business to offset income from another unrelated business for the same tax year. But they can use one year’s losses on an unrelated business to reduce their taxes for that business in a different year (subject to certain restrictions).

In addition, the law includes certain fringe benefits in UBTI. Nonprofits now must include certain expenses in UBTI incurred to provide employees with qualified transportation fringe benefits (for example, transit passes), a parking facility used in connection with qualified parking fringe benefits and any on-site athletic facility.

And under the TCJA, reimbursements to employees for moving expenses or any activity considered to be entertainment can’t be excluded from that employee’s taxable compensation.

Excise tax on excess compensation

The TCJA creates a 21% excise tax on nonprofit executives’ compensation (including most benefits and any payments from related organizations) in excess of $1 million considered paid to a covered employee plus certain large payments made to that employee when he or she leaves the organization (known as “excess parachute payments”). “Covered employees” refers to current or former employees who are among the five highest paid employees for the taxable year or who were covered employees in 2017 or later. Once considered a covered employee, an individual is always a covered employee.

A payment generally is considered an excess parachute payment if:

  • It’s contingent on the employee’s departure, and
  • The total present value of all such payments to the employee equals or exceeds three times his or her average annual compensation for the preceding five years.
  • The excise tax applies to the amount of the parachute payment, less the average annual compensation.

Reduced charitable-giving incentives

The near doubling of the standard deduction was expected to reduce the number of taxpayers who itemize their deductions and, therefore, the number who can deduct their charitable contributions. In fact, Charitable giving by U.S. individuals fell 1.1% to $292 billion in 2018, according to Giving USA.

The TCJA includes further disincentives to giving. The law could hurt major contributions because it increases the estate tax exemption to $10 million, annually indexed for inflation, through 2025. Some wealthy individuals make major gifts to reduce their taxable estates, and the larger exemption means they won’t need to shrink their estates as much to avoid the tax. The TCJA also repeals the deduction for donations made in exchange for the right to buy tickets to college athletic events.

While the TCJA raises the limit on cash donation deductions from 50% of adjusted gross income (AGI) to 60%, that change isn’t predicted to have much of an impact. Cash donations of even 50% of AGI are already uncommon.

Certain tax-exempt bond interest repealed

Tax-exempt bonds usually pay lower interest rates than other bonds. The tax-exempt nature of the interest makes such bonds attractive to investors despite the lower rates.

A bond that is issued to pay principal, interest or the redemption price on an earlier bond issue is called an “advance repayment bond.” The TCJA repeals the tax-exempt treatment for interest paid on advance repayment bonds that are issued to repay bonds with more than 90 days remaining before the redemption date.

For example, if you issue tax-exempt bonds at 5% interest but subsequently learn you can refinance the bonds at 4% interest, the interest payments on the 4% advance repayment bonds won’t be tax-exempt for investors. You’ll probably need to pay more interest to cover the investors’ increased tax liability.

Next steps

Although the final guidance and procedures have yet to be issued by the IRS, the TCJA may have some negative repercussions for your organization going forward. Consult with your CPA now to determine the best steps to minimize any potential damage to your bottom line — and your ability to accomplish your mission.

What didn’t make it into the Act

Some of the provisions that caused concern among nonprofits didn’t make it into the final tax act. They include:

  • Johnson Amendment repeal. The House of Representatives’ version of the TCJA would have repealed a prohibition against nonprofits engaging in political campaign activity. Many nonprofit leaders had mobilized in opposition to this repeal.
  • Private activity bond tax-exempt treatment termination. The House bill would have eliminated the tax-exempt treatment of interest on the private activity bonds some organizations use to finance capital projects.
  • Expanded donor-advised fund reporting. Under the House bill, sponsors of donor-advised funds (DAFs) would have been required to report additional information on their Forms 990, including the average amount of grants made from DAFs during the taxable year.

Excise tax rate on private foundation net investment income. The TCJA left out a House provision establishing a streamlined rate of 1.4%, sticking instead with the two current rates of 1% and 2%.

Ryan Olson is a senior accountant working out of VonLehman CPA & Advisory Firm’s Indianapolis office. Olson specializes in tax and works with a wealth of nonprofits.

Oct 07

In fundraising, ethics should cause red flags to wave

By Feature

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

The fallout was immediate and severe. Since New Yorker reporter Ronan Farrow broke a story in early September about the donor relationship of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, the prestigious school has been on the defensive. Ultimately, the Media Lab’s attempts to conceal the extent of its contact with Epstein, both publicly and within the university, were exposed, resulting in its longtime director resigning and a deeper investigation by the university.

But after the headlines, what lessons are there for nonprofits? Just as the MIT scandal raised questions about that institution’s ethics, it can be a teachable moment for nonprofits, encouraging them to scrutinize fundraising efforts and practices and to evaluate their own organizational ethics.

Jim Langley has worked in higher education since the 1980s, and until 2010, was Georgetown University’s vice president of advancement. Since leaving the world of higher education, he founded Langley Innovations, a consulting company that advises clients on an optimal philanthropic path. Recently, he spoke with Charitable Advisors to share thoughts on ethics and to suggest ways for nonprofits, large and small, to shore up their fundraising practices. In short, Langley believes that integrity is everything, and when it is maintained, it is the most powerful personal and professional brand.

“Ethics are something that will protect you over time or add value to your career, will add value to your employability and be prized by an institution,” Langley said.

For him, if all things are equal, it’s also one way for a nonprofit to differentiate and find a trusted partner, and thinks that each organization needs to reinforce its ethics and raise awareness of ethical lapses or situations that start to create potential ethical compromises.

“The consumer then has the assurance that they’re dealing with somebody who will safeguard their time, their talent, their treasures, their sensitivities and their trust. I believe that, and this was triggered by the Epstein case, how profoundly stupid it is to behave in a short-term expedient way with the hopes that you never get caught. You put yourself on thin ice and the consequences are potentially enormous,” Langley said.

And while organizations like the Association of Fundraising Professionals published principles and adopted enforcement procedures in 2015, there haven’t been consequences for those in violation. Langley thinks there is need for an accrediting body that will censor flagrant violations and raise accrediting questions about those “that are wobbly and affirm those doing an exceptional job.”

“There are several organizations that have codes of ethics for fundraising, but then remain silent when those ethics are violated or trounced on. So, you kind of wonder, what’s the point of a code without teeth?” asked Langley.

“I think the standards are pretty clear. ‘Thou shalt not take from pedophiles’ doesn’t need a lot of nuance, but who speaks up? There’s a lot of tsk-tsking behind the scenes, but who speaks up and says, ‘The MIT Media lab should be censored in a public way so that everybody knows if you think of doing something like that again, there may be consequences greater than the dollars you’ll secure.’”

Langley said a public calling out will put organizations on notice and they might lose money as a result of their behavior if they are seen as being on a slippery ethical slope if not in a complete violation of something that so unimpeachably clear and important.

One contributing factor is the fundraising landscape and a contraction in philanthropic participation. Giving by individuals decreased as a percentage of total giving in 2018 to 68% (down from 70% in 2017), despite achieving its third-highest total dollar amount on record, adjusted for inflation. While there are fewer people giving, it’s masked by people giving larger gifts.

“If the volume of giving contracts, then the importance of big giving in terms of safeguarding the institution or advancing the institution’s mission becomes ever more important,” Langley said.

Couple that with what Langley sees as utterly false expectations surrounding fundraising.

“The top seems to inspire delusional thinking, and then that gets passed on in the form of goals imposed on development staff. ‘Thou shalt go out and get all of this money’ that we think is out there without any concrete evidence that it is. You put pressure on the fundraisers, the board puts pressure on the CEO, and it becomes what I learned as a boy in Catholic education is the occasion for sin.

“The circumstances create more wobble, more unethical behavior. You put pressure on people and they want to elevate the pressure, so I’d say all of those factors are now coming to play in a greater form than ever before. And so as philanthropy becomes less democratic, then the aristocratic few, at least some of them will then say, ‘Oh, then what leverage do I have?’”

One way to combat that is to learn the difference between high and unrealistic standards and that there are analytics that help determine what is reasonable within certain timeframes.

“In other words, a $1 million gift is generally 21 to 24 months in the making, not three months,” Langley said.

“I’d add one more point, and that is that when you don’t have a strong case for support, when you cannot point to where money will make a difference, when you think the only way to raise money is through ingratiating yourself with the rich, then you’re inclined to make these mistakes. If you’re more of a performance-driven organization, you’ll have far more confidence in the fact that as long as you are able to define differences to be made and as long as you prove that investment in (your organization) yields a significant sustainable societal return, you’re not going to be so quick to compromise yourself,” said Langley.

Langley offers these take-away lessons for nonprofits:

1.Include ethics as part of the staff onboarding process.

      “An organization has to have an orientation process that emphasizes the importance of character in both personal career development and in protecting the credibility of the institution.”

2. Develop an accountability policy.

“Spell out the larger the gift, the more comes with it. A large gift sort of out of the clear blue, we might want to go ‘Does this person have an ulterior motive? Is he or she trying to redeem or cover their own wont of character by aligning with us and appearing to be charitable? You have to have something like that in place. It’s all too easy to get around via big gifts and want them so badly that you suspend credulity and then you pay for it later.”

3. Determine who will administer the accountability policy.

“Have a devil’s advocate. Someone outside the advancement operation, maybe in the legal staff, maybe somewhere else, but outside. It needs to be someone who could say ‘While I have no personal interest in receipt of this gift, I want to protect institutional credibility.’

“In my ideal world, I want nonprofits to have an office of accountability — someone reporting directly to the president — and I want them to start projecting the philosophy that ‘We are accountable to a code of ethics, we are accountable to keep our promises to donors. It’s not just thanking donors. It is too many unkept promises, too much glib transactional fundraising and not enough conscience commitment in delivering on commitments, not enough taking the convictions of donors as seriously as we should have.’”

4. Hire the right development people.

“There are two schools of thought, which I’ve characterized as the hunters and the growers. If you’re hunting, you don’t really worry, because you just drag home the carcass, but if you’re growing, you say, ‘Well wait a second, I need to think about the implications of this over time.’ Too many organizations hired fundraisers for the wrong reasons. They thought it was all about asking and not about a process of relationship building. So, they hired people who they thought were presentable, persuasive and had the courage to ask. But over time, sheer experience started to prove that donors actually liked the curious frontline gift officer much better than the aggressively persuasive one.”

5. Develop board fundraising training modules.

“We need board onboarding. A board must orient itself. It’s something that everybody thinks they know, and they don’t know at all. So there has to be some schooling, and then second, there has to be the raising of questions and the monitoring of areas that might be predictives of ethical problems. Boards are often the guiltiest in terms of putting pressure on the CEO to produce magical fundraising results. I spend a lot of my time trying to orient boards to reality and say, ‘Yes, clamor for high achievement, but don’t throw out arbitrary metrics or suggest something is possible without having it grounded in sound analytics and a solid understanding of philanthropic behavior.’”

6. Help boards ask the right questions.

“What should really be happening between a CEO and a board is each asking the other intelligent probing strategic questions. So, for instance, ‘What are we doing to retain the loyal support that we have?’ That will open up a lens to how accountable an institution is. ‘How affective are we at retaining our gift officers?’ If they’re turning over a lot is that an indication of discomfort or unrealism.”

7. Listen to the testimony of frontline gift officers.

 “Listen to complaints coming in from external constituents and log those complaints because those can be early warning signs. Don’t get into a cocoon or to an echo chamber. Be very open to evidence that disrupts your thinking or shakes up your complacency and treat it very seriously. Understand that by definition the conscientious person is in the minority, so don’t dismiss internal discontent as the few soreheads. The minority are always the ones who make the majority of difference, who always preserve the integrity of the institution.”

8. Have a written gift policy with steps spelled out before formal acceptance.

“This should include reviewing the conditions of the gift and scrubbing the ethical character of the donor. The organization should say, ‘Make sure we don’t compromise ourselves unwittingly or wittingly in such a way where we’ll lose credibility and that will diminish our ability to do other great things going forward.’”

9. Pay attention to anonymity.

“It’s a flag that we should pay more attention to. If there’s not a longstanding relationship with an institution and someone starts to give, ask, ‘What is that about?’ Is it in fact some sort of laundering situation in which (the donor) is laundering that money to redeem (his/her) reputation or to create some standing that (he/she) wouldn’t have otherwise. But you have to juxtapose that with remarkably modest loyalties. People give to institutions for years out of spiritual motivation and nothing for themselves, and any kind of review of that ground would quickly reveal which was which.”

Sep 16

Talking about trauma helps to overcome it

By Feature

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

Consider the unexpected power of the spoken word.

 

Researchers have found that storytelling practices are linked to positive outcomes for children’s development, and that fathers who tell family stories enrich their children’s development.

Consider, too, that the African culture is rooted in oral cultures and traditions, and that since ancient times, storytelling in the African culture has been a way to pass on traditions, codes of behavior and maintain social order.

So, when Fathers and Families Center married the two, it resulted in Story Telling, its program funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Forward Promise initiative.

The project is designed to guide young males of color 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.

When the program began two years ago, many fathers did not see the connection. It took staff members to create the bridge. Anthony Patterson, a program coordinator, had his own story. By telling his, he shared the power and helped dads make a connection.

According to grants manager Anna Melodia, his efforts springboarded the program. Many decided to open up and tell their stories. Facing their trauma, they discovered more options in life, and inspired others through their art.

Since early 2018, these creative workshop sessions have been taught by Stephinie Johnson, a poet and counselor who is a contract consultant. Later, she wrangled her husband, Milton Johnson, a music composer and producer, to join the effort.

Participants start with Terrence Harper, the center’s health and wellness manager. Before the Robert Wood Johnson grant, Harper was practicing cognitive behavioral therapy or psychotherapy, but through this initiative has developed a hybrid of narrative and narrative exposure therapy.

With a focus on historic and systemic trauma on boys and young men of color, ages 16 to 24, the center’s program was designed to buffer the effects.

“What we found is these men weren’t necessarily in the heat of that trauma, so I had to do some adjustments where I did a hybrid between narrative therapy and narrative exposure therapy.”

Harper uses several survey instruments, like Life Events Checklist, to identify and hone in on specific trauma. Through the survey, he’s found that the majority have experienced things like family dysfunction, abandonment of fathers, lack of education and judicial trauma.

“I do a lot of person-centered therapy with them and individual therapy by way of the arts to further express that narrative in art form — painting, the music studio or poetry. What’s interesting is a common theme that continues to emerge is resiliency and perseverance,” said Harper.

“Some of them have actually disconnected from it. It was traumatic at the time, but as far as the ongoing and lingering effects, I think that a lot of time they don’t realize how it is still hindering them and holding them back because they’ve moved on. But they’ve moved on in a mode of survival. ‘Yeah, it happened but I just need to keep it moving.’”

Initially the men and boys talk about their childhood to illustrate some of the challenges they have faced, and Harper tapes the sessions to pinpoint specific traumas that are still barriers. By the time they return for the second session, he reviews the stories with the individuals.

“And so by telling their story and helping them to slow down, there is a form of healing that begins to take place. Unfortunately, though, because of the transient nature of our population, generally I’ll keep them about three to four sessions. We’re just hitting the tip of the iceberg. But hopefully as a result of that, they’ll want to continue on even after their narrative is completed,” said Harper.

“They may list that they witnessed a violent event. What I want to do is make sure within the context of their story that I address it on some level. ‘Hey, you said on that checklist that you had witnessed a violent event, can you share a little bit more with me about that?’” said Harper, who has worked at the center for 12 years.

“This is not necessarily about adverse childhood experiences, this is about adverse experiences that have historically manifested as trauma. Everyone who comes in doesn’t necessarily tell a story because they may not be ready. So, I have to use discretion on whether or not they’re ready versus moving them on. Maybe they don’t tell their story in this way, but maybe they are ready to share and express it through art or through music.”

Along with counseling work, the creative sessions with the Johnsons help put experiences in context and into words. The fathers acquire new skills and develop confidence to craft and share their stories.

“I think that it works very well because a lot of the youth when they work with me, they’re able to break down barriers that they didn’t even realize they had. They’re able to open up, they’re able to express themselves and have something tangible. I think it has a tremendous effect on the youth that we work with,” said Stephinie Johnson who has a counseling background.

Milton Johnson grew up in Virginia and understands these young fathers. He and Stephinie were in the Army stationed at Camp Atterbury, and after leaving the service, decided to put down roots in Indiana.

“I grew up kind of how they grew up. My goal has always been to go back to the same type of neighborhoods and communities that I grew up in and show that you don’t have to be a product of the environment, you can be different,” said the music composer and producer.

Music, he believes, is therapeutic.

“What happens with a musical connection is that we build a relationship that allows them to build trust and they share things that they wouldn’t normally share with an instructor. We’re able to dig deep, and as they talk and relive some of the things they’ve gone through, they kind of see where they might have messed up and it gives them more of a motivation to fix the things that were broken in the past,” he said.

This rap was written and produced by a participant in Milton Johnson’s music storytelling sessions.

Harper believes that once fathers come into the program, and see the authenticity of the staff, it helps them lower their inhibitions and guard.

As they relate the things they’ve done and what’s happened to them, they begin to see what they’ve survived. Then they go from being a victim to a hero of their story. It’s not “here’s what’s happened to me, poor me, but here’s what I’ve overcome. Strong me.”

In the end, it is the hope that each client produces a retelling of his story.

“And the hope is at some point, they’ll be able to pass it on to their children and let their children know, here’s where dad started, he’s what he went through and the challenges, and this is him as he’s emerging and received his own healing.”

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.