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Jun 19

Job descriptions: Are they really necessary?

By Sponsor Insight

By Jeremy York, HR Field Representative, the Synergy Companies

Most people are familiar with the term job description. It is the document that outlines items such as job responsibilities, experience, education, skills, etc. A dreaded document that most managers hate to prepare or fail to see the overall importance of having such a list. But what most managers do not understand is that a job description is an essential component of a successful people strategy.

First, job descriptions provide clarity and outline expectations. They help employees understand the fundamental framework for their job. Without job descriptions employees find themselves interpreting the job as they see fit, bogged down in a quagmire of tasks that may not be job-related or do not add value to the business strategy. Employees don’t have a clear focus on where they should spend their time or what tasks are the most important if it is not provided in a job description.

Second, job descriptions are a valuable tool in the recruitment process by specifically outlining job duties to applicants. They provide a road map in identifying qualified candidates so that you can hire the best talent. Applicants understand the core responsibilities of a role when they apply and therefore, understand what they’ll be expected to do once hired.

Third, job descriptions assist managers during performance reviews to accurately evaluate an employee’s ability to perform his or her job. Many managers struggle with performance reviews and see them as creating conflict. The job description can lessen the appearance of conflict by providing objectivity in assessing employee performance against the defined responsibilities of the job. Compare employee actions to job specifications and voila, an accurate assessment of performance.

Lastly, job descriptions help ensure legal compliance with regulations such as the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act. Employers often find themselves in situations where an employee asks for an accommodation based on a disability or argues that he or she is eligible for overtime pay. Job descriptions can serve as the first line of defense when questions arise regarding these situations.

Still not convinced that you need job descriptions? Having job descriptions can be the difference between winning or losing (paying hefty fines and/or penalties) employment related legal battles. This means that job descriptions could save you thousands, even millions of dollars in legal fees and settlements. Whether unemployment or unfair employment practices claims, job descriptions could be your best defense in giving yourself more leverage against such claims.

Jeremy York, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is a Human Resources Field Representative for Synergy PEO Services. He provides strategic and generalist HR support to local nonprofit organization leaders and their staffs. York has over 15 years of human resources experience. He is the current director of certification for the Indiana State Council of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and serves on the IndySHRM board of directors as the past president.

Jun 19

Urban youth find power in the Constitution

By Feature

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

Robert Walls is a problem solver. If you tell him you have tried everything and nothing seems to work, Walls sees it as a challenge to find something that will.

In 2006, Walls was asked to judge the national “We the People” competition in Washington, D.C. What surprised this Indianapolis resident and retired public school administrator was that among the 1,500 teens participating in the event, less than a half dozen were African-American.

Convinced that he could add diversity to the competition, his first step was to speak with Robert Leming, the director of the national Center for Civic Education, the organization that runs the competition.

During their conversation, Leming told Walls that the center had tried every idea it could think of to get urban school systems to adopt the Constitution-focused curriculum, and he was frustrated, too. But he welcomed new ideas and invited Walls to attend the group’s national state coordinators’ meeting.

Walls found the meeting disheartening, and that might have been discouraging for most people, but not in his case. While he learned that students couldn’t take part in the national event unless their school district had adopted the curriculum and a district teacher taught the course work, he thought that wasn’t an insurmountable hurdle.

[content_box box_type=”normal”]Since 1987, the national finals for the Center for Civic Education’s program have involved over 31,000 students. Each spring, upper elementary and secondary students participate in simulated congressional hearings with students testifying as the constitutional experts before panels of judges.[/content_box]

“In my opinion, the national competition was where the meat of the program really was. You got a chance to hear a whole lot of different opinions from all of the other states, and you got a chance to exchange ideas with teachers and administrators. I was frustrated that (urban kids) quite frankly had not been involved. There were some schools that adopted the program, but very few were teaching it to the point where they could get involved in the competition,” he said, citing the cost and the focus in urban schools on simply teaching the basics.

Undeterred, he forged ahead, and with the Center for Civic Education’s blessing, crafted a plan.

Walls began with his connection to Frontiers International, an African-American service organization founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1936. His goal was to recruit schools to adopt the program, but he knew what could work immediately was to teach the program after school.

“But I said to the state coordinators, ‘If nothing else works, let us have our own competition,’” Walls said.

If you cannot join them, adapt.

At Walls’ recommendation, Frontiers International, which spreads its clubs into nine regions around the country, sponsored the first training. The Center for Civic Education agreed to the plan and pulled together a group of scholars to be trainers. In 2010, with 37 teachers from around Walls’ primarily Midwest region, the effort was begun. Educators spent five days at IUPUI, and upon completion, received a set of 30 books and teachers’ curriculum.

After that training, teachers could recruit from any school in their areas and teach the program after school. Later in 2010, the effort culminated with invitations to five (of 26) states — the top 110 students from around the country –to compete in the first Frontiers national competition in Birmingham, Ala, with the Center for Civic Education’s encouragement.

“Part of the reason we went to Birmingham is because it was recommended by Robert Leming, Wall said. “We could combine the study of the Constitution with the cultural experience of Birmingham. That’s our theme now. We try to combine the Constitution history and cultural history and see how they connect.”

In 2013, seeing the local potential, Darrin Orr, an Indianapolis businessman, helped Walls co-found a nonprofit organization, Winning Experiences. Orr is also the United Northeast Community Development Corporation president, which serves the Meadows area on the east side of Indianapolis.

One part of what launched locally is now the Northeast Corridor (NEC) We the People after-school team. As a nonprofit, it has expanded its offerings beyond the youth program to adults and has offered a Constitution 101 course in the Northeast Corridor and Fishers. It also has an ongoing book discussion group, an online civics program and offers kids scholarship accounts, service projects and advice on financial literacy.

Tinley Accelerated School freshman Desmond Mathews, 15, signed up in seventh grade for the We the People team and has stayed with the program for three years.

He would encourage others to join to learn things that the average person doesn’t know.

“Something I learned through this program is that there are laws that are unconstitutional. I used to think that every law was constitutional,” he said.

Nylicia King, 16, a sophomore at Broad Ripple High School, Mekiyah Boyd, 14, a freshman at Providence Cristo Rey, and Tinley Accelerated students Haylee Smith, 15, Dajour Finley, 15, Jamari Pollard, 15, and Bryce Orr, 16, joined Mathews on a Saturday at the Avondale Meadows YMCA to talk about what they’ve gained from the project.

“I’m just more informed about what’s happening because if I didn’t know about any of this, I would just be making assumptions on what’s happening, throwing guesses out to the wind and hoping that’s actually what the situation is. Now that I actually know what it is, I can gather my thoughts, and I’m able to back it up,” said Jamari, who also serves as the national Junior Frontiers representative. Before Jamari joined, he knew the Constitution was a thing, but he didn’t know anything about it.

“One thing that I found surprising is that when you get stopped by a policeman, you have the right to say, ‘Am I being detained or am I free to go?’ I didn’t know you could do that,” said Haylee.

Each of them talked with ease about the Constitution’s role in today’s headlines. Most high schools don’t offer a government course until junior year, but these kids have a head start.

“Before I started the group, I really didn’t too much care about politics and what was going on. But now, I’m more aware of what’s going on,” said DaJour.

And while studies have shown that programs focused on the Constitution improve students’ grades, Nylicia has seen it first hand.

“When I started, my grades weren’t bad, but they were like kind of slipping. I got my first D ever. And that was in social studies, and I didn’t ever imagine that I get a D in social studies because I love social studies. But since I’ve been in the program, it’s boosted me,” said the Broad Ripple High School sophomore.

For these students, it’s not just learning about the Constitution, but during their time in the program they are encouraged to graduate and consider post-secondary school.

Tasha Phelps, a Winning Experiences board member and marketing coordinator, frames it this way.

“Perhaps another way to think about our goal is the program that we have is civic education, but the return on student investment of time is college prep,” Phelps said.

In February, the team traveled to Virginia to a Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) festival.

It opened Haylee’s eyes to the possibilities.

“This program has provided me with a lot of college opportunities that I never would have had before. Like in February we went to a college fair in Virginia, there were 70 colleges there. They were giving out scholarships and accepting scholars on the spot. So when I become a senior, that could possibly be me getting accepted to a college,” he said.

It changed DaJour’s outlook.

“The program changed my perspective on college. I thought it was just another type of place to go, just to go to school, but it’s changed my perspective, and I can see that it’s way more than that. I didn’t know what an HBCU was, and now I know what that is,” he said.

In March, the team visited five HBCU schools: in the Midwest including Fisk, Meharry Medical College and Tennessee State in Tennessee, Central State in Ohio and Kentucky State.

Nylicia wants to be the first person in her family to graduate from college, and she knows she will need help along the way.

“The last college tour was Kentucky State, and they said if you wanted a better way to get college tuition paid for, there’s a representative from your state, and they can help you get that scholarship. I didn’t know, I thought you just went, I thought it was like a college scout that just came, I didn’t know there was a representative,” she said.

Right now the group is preparing for its competition in Philadelphia. Along with that experience in July, the students will stop in Washington to see the Smithsonian’s African American Museum, and after Philadelphia, travel to see the Statue of Liberty in New York.

Desmond, who is also a Winning Experiences youth board member, thinks more urban students should know about the opportunities.

“Something I want other people to know, I think this program should be way bigger than what it is now. It’s a great program that offers great opportunities that all teenagers, really anybody, should be exposed to.

“It’s not all work. People like my friends, I tell them about this program, they think, it’s all work, like we’re always studying the Constitution and we got to memorize the whole thing. We’re doing work, but it’s balanced,” he said.

Winning Experiences has a working board and volunteers who run the programs.

As a board member who enrolled in the adult program, Phelps realizes that the group is only a few years old, and its work is not typical, but she is buoyed by its power.

Phelps believes in this organization that began as an adaptation of an existing model and shows the power of teaching urban students and adults about the Constitution. And with a strong board now in place, she believes, like Desmond, that the organization will only gain momentum and increase its visibility around the country.

Jun 12

Improve fundraising performance with a development audit

By Sponsor Insight

By Andy Canada, senior consultant, Johnson, Grossnickle and Associates

A development audit is a great “barometer” to measure the capabilities of your development office and to establish goals and strategies for future success. This internal assessment is a rare opportunity to get a fresh perspective on a strong development program and can allow you to pause and take stock of how things are going and what resources may be needed to move forward and produce even better results. Development audits can also help solidify an organization’s philanthropic focus by ensuring board, staff and all areas of the organization are working together and embrace a unified culture of philanthropy. Often, organizations seek such an assessment of internal readiness in preparation for a new campaign or as a strategic planning process begins.

A development audit provides an opportunity for an objective overview of your internal development function, including current structure, systems and staffing. The audit process will provide practical advice to position your organization well for a campaign or whatever your next step may be. To be most effective, we believe, audits should include both a qualitative component — built from resource review and interviews with key staff and volunteers — and a quantitative analysis of recent fundraising data.

Here are some questions a development audit can help you answer about your development operation:

  • What is an appropriate level of expectation for the development office?
  • Are we performing to our full potential or are there ways to improve performance?
  • Are we performing to the level of other peer institutions?
  • What is our level of investment to raise funds?
  • Are we utilizing best practices?
  • How does our development performance align with our financial needs?
  • Do we have the appropriate staffing and structure to work with leadership in a cohesive and effective way?
  • How can we position the development office for further success in fundraising?
  • Is the current focus and direction of the development department aligned with the organization’s strategic priorities?
  • If our organization undertakes a new campaign or enhanced fundraising effort, is the current development operation set up to succeed?

View a development audit as an opportunity to move your mission forward. Learn more about using a development audit to help your organization set new goals and advance its development efforts by downloading our tip sheet.

Andy Canada, senior consultant, brings to JGA significant development experience focused in annual giving, planned giving, major gift development, and campaign development and implementation. Prior to joining JGA in 2010, he distinguished himself as development director with both the development teams at Indiana University Foundation and Purdue University, where he participated in significant transformative campaigns.

May 30

Pulliam Trust hones its environmental giving

By Feature, Foundation Giving

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

It’s no secret that Nina Mason Pulliam was passionate about animals and nature. As a community leader, and a newspaper publisher in Arizona and Indiana, she supported those causes, and others, in multiple ways.

Now, nearly 20 years after her death with the establishment of a 50-year-limited legacy Trust that bears her name, those two passions are still championed. What has changed recently are the defined priorities for environmental giving.

When Harriet Ivey, the Trust’s first leader, retired three years ago, Gene D’Adamo was hired to continue its legacy. Ivey had been at the helm as president and CEO during the Trust’s first 15 years, and laid a strong foundation.

“As with any foundation, as it gains experience and community knowledge, its focus narrows,” said D’Adamo. “We could only do what we’re doing now, because of what Harriet had laid. She took an organization from nothing, and established the Trust.”

D’Adamo was charged with determining if the Trust’s giving needed fine-tuning.

While the communities the Trust serves are different — Indianapolis has deeper philanthropic roots, while Phoenix is more transient – the issues they are wrestling with are similar.

With the board’s blessing, D’Adamo and his team, both in Indiana and Arizona, spent two years reviewing its giving areas, talking with grantees and experts and looking at support categories to determine how they might be more impactful. Whatever they did, they wanted it to be scientifically based and its outcomes measureable.

Indiana Program Director David Hillman, who has been with the Trust since 2000, said that environmental grantmaking was one area of concentration.

“We knew it was something that was very unique to us, and it also was very unique in what Mrs. Pulliam’s interests were. I would describe that early dive we did more as a needs assessment than it really was setting priorities,” said Hillman.

Based on research, D’Adamo said the environmental projects have gained traction. It has been a funded area, but has not been as intentional and strategic like it is moving forward.

“We are driven by Mrs. Pulliam’s wishes, so whether or not this was a hot topic like it is now, we would still be doing this because that is what she loved, and she wanted to focus her resources on,” said Hillman.

One project approved by the Pulliam Trustees in 2016 was designed to develop Indiana water governance recommendations that could complement the Indiana Chamber’s 2014 report on the state’s water management.

“We need to pay attention to how we manage our water in Indiana for economic reasons, as well as the needs of our communities. There was a bit of environmental focus in that report, but not a great deal, so the Trustees approved a grant that went to the Conservation Law Center for a report addendum about the environmental impacts, why it’s important and how the environment plays a role,” said Hillman.

“That report came out at the end of last year, and then we have now provided additional funding to the Conservation Law Center to roll this report out, as well as work at the legislative level to see about getting a water management plan for the State of Indiana,” said D’Adamo.

And while the Trust had education programs in its grantee portfolio, it hadn’t intentionally combined its history and roots with its giving. No matter what the field – foster care, childhood literacy, animal welfare or the environment – the consistent grantee message was that they needed help in educating the public.

“They said, ‘Your dollars are great, but you have an ability to speak with a very impartial voice and you can really magnify the messaging,’” said D’Adamo, who was at the Arizona newspaper for 33 years, most recently as vice president of community relations for Republic Media.

“Nina and Gene (Pulliam) used that incredible voice to make their community better and to fight for things in the community,” said D’Adamo.

Newspapers, though, have changed dramatically since the Pulliams were the publishers, and print in particular has struggled. So working with the Indianapolis Star and the Arizona Republic, the Trust formulated a plan to amplify the newspapers’ environmental coverage, and return to the Trust’s roots.

For the next three years, both states’ newspapers will have an environmental team, supported with Trust funds. The grant was awarded earlier this year. Arizona already has a team in place, and Indianapolis is scheduled to begin its effort later this year. Each team includes a reporter, social media person and data analyst.

While providing grants for news coverage has become somewhat of a trend, according to D’Adamo the Trust has a different approach. Most foundations have supported nonprofit journalism, like ProPublica or the Marshall Project, the Trust is somewhat unique in its support for-profit journalism.

In Indiana, Hillman will oversee that effort. The Trust will not influence editorial content, and the team is free to report on topics that haven’t necessarily been a priority of Trust, like climate change or air quality.

“All we know is their reporting focus areas will be land, air and water. That’s pretty general. We won’t see anything in advance. We will read about it in the paper, the same day that everyone else does,” said D’Adamo.

Both newspapers are part of the Gannett chain and the USA Today network, and the hope is that some of the stories will run nationally.

Metrics, like page views, and retweets will be tracked quarterly, but the Trust is most interested in moving people to action. Before the reporting project started, it hired Arizona State University’s Morrison Institute for Public Policy to poll 800 registered voters in Arizona and Indiana to learn about their environmental perceptions and what’s important to them. Each year a similar poll will be conducted to determine if the reporting has moved citizens to do something with the information they have.

Another Trust funded project is related to environmental reporting designed to recognize outstanding efforts with a national journalism award. The Society of Professional Journalists is partnering with the Society for Environmental Journalists to select the winners.

Along with a substantial cash prize, there is an all-expenses paid stipend for the reporter to attend the national conference of Environmental Journalists. The Trust will also sponsor a local reporting award presented by the Hoosier State Press Association, and in Arizona by the Press Club. That winner will receive a similar stipend for the national conference.

While the reporting and educating the public is a priority project, so is water. In Indianapolis that focus is on the White River, and in Arizona, the Verde River. While the needs are different, the concept of water is equally important in both states. Arizona has a water management issue based on drought. In Indianapolis, the focus is on water for future growth, conservation, raising awareness and engagement and accessibility.

The White River project has three goals: make the river cleaner, help people gain access to the watershed, and help people understand and appreciate the waterway’s importance and value, according to Hillman.

The White River provides 60 percent of the drinking water for the area, coming from the White River or from one of its watersheds – Eagle Creek Reservoir or Geist Reservoir.

One of the primary focuses is to maintain that source as useable water, but there is another shift that’s happening in the way people think about the river.

According to Hillman, the White River wasn’t navigable, and the city wasn’t built around the river. There is a real interest in the White River, including from northern suburbs as far north as Muncie.

“In our city we turned our back to the river and we’d just dump our waste there and didn’t really think about it. But people are changing and want their waterways to be an amenity to the city. Now we’re facing toward that waterway and saying, ‘OK, how can we build our community around it, and turn it into something that people can actually go on and recreate with or go on a hike, actually build a community around it,’” said Hillman.

Hillman believes the Trust is doing this at the right time. Early on environmental groups didn’t collaborate as easily, but now they’ve matured, and had some positive experiences working together. One example is the White River Festival, which has included arts organizations.

“The underpinning is certainly water quality. Clean is the first priority, and we realize that, people will save and protect something that they love and appreciate. The first step in a lot of ways is getting them to understand what the river is and then they’re much more likely to go out and advocate for it. Definitely goes hand in hand,” said D’Adamo.

“And what we’ve learned along the way as any funder, you can start off something that sounds great, and the agencies report back to us, “Well, that’s not really going to happen.” Or that leads to this, so we realize this will be a very fluid process. Our nonprofits are definitely our partners in this,” he said.

May 30

The overlooked benefits of outsourcing nonprofit accounting

By Sponsor Insight

By Jim Simpson, CPA and director, Financial Technologies & Management

In the nonprofit community, outsourcing typically means long-term delegation of key operation to outside experts. The accompanying expectation is improvement of the quality, strengthening effectiveness, and lowering or controlling costs.

A key difference in the nonprofit sector is not only controlling costs, but becoming a more effective organization. Finance and accounting departments are two essential back-office areas in nonprofit organizations.

With limited resources, a nonprofit can outsource some or all its financial functions, which can help a nonprofit efficiently staff and conduct its financial operations. It also respects the board and executives limited time or expertise to manage the finance functions, and allow more allocation of resources toward mission and program outcomes.

Here are six overlooked, and sometimes unknown, benefits of outsourcing nonprofit accounting.

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May 22

No cost employee benefit helps employees avert crisis

By Sponsor Insight

By Jessica Love, associate executive director, Prosperity Indiana

While nonprofits excel at providing work opportunities “that matter,” their employees oftentimes sacrifice salary or additional perks available to those in the private sector.

Most of the time, the intangible rewards of work outweigh the downsides of working for an organization on a tight budget.

But when an unexpected hospital visit or a car repair bill hits, it can often snowball into a full-blown financial crisis. When faced with those expenses and, the lure of fast cash available at a payday loan store may become tempting.

But sadly, this short-term solution often extends far deeper into its users’ pockets than originally promised. Because payday lenders encourage multiple renewals of loans — leading to interest payments frequently many times greater than the original loan amount, the product is generally considered a debt trap. Nearly 76 percent of payday loans are quick re-borrows or renewals.

Payday loan payments consume 36 percent of the typical borrower’s biweekly paycheck. However, the average payday borrower can afford only 5 percent a paycheck, making it difficult to pay the loan off in a standard two-week loan period. In Indiana, the average payday borrower takes out approximately nine loans per year. According to a recent report by the National Consumer Law Center, this recycling of the same debt results in typical payday loan fees in Indiana averaging 382 percent annual percentage rate.

But programs like the Community Loan Center — affordable small dollar loan alternatives — have recently become available.

Seeing the devastating impact of payday lending products, Prosperity Indiana has partnered with Community Loan Center of America to offer a ‘turnkey’ alternative to payday lending. Community Loan Center (CLC) loans are made to employees of participating employers, and borrowers repay through payroll deduction. All funds loaned are provided through a community-based loan fund, offered by a nonprofit acting as a local lender, not the employer.

CLC loans are unsecured and have a one-year term for a maximum $1,000 loan with an 18 percent interest rate and an initial $20 loan fee.

As a result, the CLC employer-based model meets the same short-term lending needs of payday lending without applying the burdensome fees, interest, and repayment period associated with payday loans.

The CLC program also complements other sources of financing by reporting borrower payment history to credit bureaus, which can increase borrowers’ FICO scores. Improved FICO scores help CLC borrowers qualify for other conventional financial products in the future, like credit cards, mortgages and preferred insurance rates.

Highlights and benefits of the program to participating employers include:

  • Attracting and retaining employees
  • Fully automated loan payments
  • Reducing financial stress, resulting in less employee absenteeism
  • Fewer payroll advances
  • Minimizing “presenteeism,” physically present, but distracted employees
  • Zero cost to employer

CLC loans also rarely end in default. Nationwide, the program has originated more than 10,000 loans with a loan loss of less than four percent.

Through Prosperity Indiana members, Brightpoint in Fort Wayne and HomesteadCS in Lafayette, this opportunity is now available in 22 Indiana counties in Northeast and West Central Indiana.

One participating employer in Lafayette is LTHC Homeless Services, a nonprofit that provides housing and supportive services to individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness.

LTHC Executive Director Jennifer Layton said, “As a nonprofit we are always looking for new ways to increase our benefit package to support our staff of 24.  Partnering with the Community Loan Center Program was a great opportunity.  This program allows my staff to overcome emergent needs as they arise and can assist them with building their own credit. It’s a win-win for LTHC Homeless Services and my staff.”

Prosperity Indiana plans to bring the CLC program statewide by expanding the network of lenders, working with local lenders to recruit more employers to the program and assisting local lenders to assemble operating and loan capital to serve new borrowers. It is currently seeking local lenders to bring the program to Central Indiana and other areas of the state.

If your organization is interested in being a lender, which comes with capital requirements, or becoming a participating employer to provide this free benefit, please let us know.

This program is open to any employer: nonprofit, for-profit and governmental entities. Establishing a stronger case for market demand could aid Prosperity Indiana in finding the right local lender to bring this service to your organization and community.

Jessica Love is the associate executive director for Prosperity Indiana and works with the executive director to provide team leadership for staff. She is responsible for developing and managing organizational systems for Prosperity Indiana to ensure effective management and control. She also provides one-on-one technical assistance to Prosperity Indiana members, informed by her media and grants management background. With 15 years experience in the nonprofit sector, Love’s consulting work focuses primarily on resource development and creating processes and tools for effective management and program compliance.

For more information about this program, please contact Prosperity Indiana’s Assets & Opportunity Network Manager Kelsey Clayton.

May 08

Ready, set, go: Boys & Girls Clubs help kids look beyond high school

By Feature, Programming

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

For Linda Foster, 16, and Taneiscia Persinger, 15, middle school was a struggle. Both had blase attitudes about school, which were reflected in their grades.

Then about three years ago, they each had a relative who cajoled them to join the Boys & Girls Club in their neighborhoods. That’s when things began to turn around. Now the sophomore and freshman give education a “5” in its importance and both have aspirations to attend college.

“In my family, my mom, my grandma, my aunt, my great grandma, none of them went to college. I want to be the first girl in my family to actually go to college and break that chain,” said Foster, who attends Arsensal New Tech High School.

Persinger believes that education is imperative for everything – to drive, to write to read.

Why did their attitudes toward school change?

Foster credits the after-school and summer programs at Wheeler-Dowe at 30th Street and Keystone Avenue and Persinger the Keenan-Stahl club on Troy Avenue.

“There are a lot of staff members who care about my education and me making it somewhere. They’re all different. They all push you in different ways, and I say the staff member that pushes me the most and keeps it most real with me is Miss Bria Amons because she doesn’t sugarcoat anything,” said Foster.

According to LeeAnn Harris, the director of club operations, education has always been a key program component, but for the past six years, college and career readiness has become a club priority. Working for the clubs since 1989, Harris has seen lots of societal changes including lack of involvement of parents involvement, all part of what spurred a conversation in 2011 to fine tune the clubs’ focus and investment.

“We took a really hard look and gathered all of full- and part-time staff. We asked each staff member to think about “a” child that they saw at the club everyday and asked them to think about that kid growing up at the club through the age of 18, and then aging out of the club.

“What impact do you want to say you had on that young person? What skills do you want them to leave with? What attitudes do you want them to leave with? What do you want them to take away?”

At the first discussion with the clubs’ 130 staff members, three big areas emerged — job readiness/academic success, healthy lifestyles and character and leadership development.

After that meeting, Harris reached out to individual clubs. While she walked away from those conversations confident that if any staff member who overheard kids talking about delinquent activity, they would intervene, she also recognized that 90 percent of club staff watched kids walk daily and chuck their backpacks in the corner. As Harris and club leadership saw it, academic success and job readiness had the most potential for growth.

“It wasn’t our natural responsibility. But because of who we are, because we care about kids, because staff said it’s important to see kids be academically successful, it became our responsibility to do something about it,” said Harris.

Next, Harris started collecting data on club attendees — ISTEP pass-rate data, graduation data and the school-dropout data for the feeder schools for each of the clubs – to identify the need and create a baseline measurement.

In the fall of 2011, each club added a full-time education director. Lilly Endowment helped pay for a two-year project with the Center for After-School Education, providing professional development for full-time and part-time staff. The center’s staff observed club programs and helped staff write action plans to improve programming and recommended regularly sharing learning activities between clubs. Now, every month at staff meetings, the host staff begins by engaging the group in a high-yield learning activity.

It didn’t take long for to realize that one education director for each Boys & Girls club wasn’t enough and in the fall of 2012, the clubs added full-time graduation counselors.

Supporting this effort is a full-time college readiness coordinator who works with young people at all of the clubs getting them on track to college. Since September, Jane Hurdish has served in that role, dividing her time between the five clubs.

Now instead of putting the backpacks in the corner, each club has a daily Power Hour where the emphasis is on homework. Everyone at the club is engaged in learning activities, working on tomorrow’s homework, a long-term school project or investing time in enrichment-learning activities. Clubs involve kids in a Career Launch curriculum to expose them to different careers and the difference between a job and career. Last summer the clubs offered Take-a-Girl-to-Work Day, and this summer the clubs will add boys. One of the topics the clubs asked the volunteer professional to discuss with the kids was benefits.

“We had to break that down for the volunteers and say, ‘We don’t mean explain your 501(c) 3, your 401(k), just tell them you get paid even when you are sick. That will blow their minds.’

“There are few if any people in the lives of most of our club members who get paid sick time or get paid vacation share time. They’re amazed you have a refrigerator where you work, and you can get free soda. You get a lunch break and you get paid while you’re eating lunch. Most of the people in their lives have jobs, and they don’t know that there are other options,” said Harris.

According to Harris, when the college readiness program first started, kids had unrealistic ideas about school. Some thought they were to going to go to UNC and play basketball just because they wanted to. She shared a story about a high school student who didn’t realize she had to pass classes to graduate from high school. She had taken all the classes on the list to get her Core 40 diploma, but didn’t realize until she approached graduation that she wouldn’t be graduating.

“There is no one telling them that information. What we’re trying to do is to create opportunities for our young people to be able to get good jobs that will support them and allow them to live the life that they want for themselves. It’s understanding what the difference between a job and a career and what benefits are.”

Originally, Hurdish wanted formal graduation plans for each student, but realized it needs to be more informal.

“A lot of the focus for College Readiness has been understanding that college doesn’t have to mean a traditional four-year school. I think some of the kids think that’s the expectation, and if that’s not what they’re going to do, then there’s really no place for me in this conversation,” said Hurdish.

To get to those conversations, Hurdish begins with talking about personal and family barriers and then branching off that.

“Before we can talk about the logistics like SATs and GPAs and all that, just having conversations about what are barriers to getting to college. A lot of times the answer is, ‘I don’t know if I’m even going to graduate high school.’ Or ‘there’s no way I’m going to be able to afford it,’” she said.

Teenagers have the opportunity to tour college campuses in the fall and spring. They earn points for volunteering with younger kids, leadership tasks and involvement in college readiness activities. There are also tours of Indiana campuses for younger teens. The overall goal is to give urban students exposure to college life.

Hurdish said that the college tours have had a ripple effect.

“The college tours have become a big thing. The teams are really into it and feel set apart if they go on a trip. And so I think what happens that’s even cooler, is they go back to the club and they talk about it, and we hang up pictures of the trip. It’s part of the conversation starter with other kids,” she said.

Over spring break, club members, their graduation counselors and Hurdish traveled to Ohio to tour two colleges and spent time at a Cincinnati Boys & Girls Club. In advance of the tour, each student had to research a school and develop questions for tour guides. Their questions — What is it like on campus? How many people stay in one dorm? What does your GPA have to be to go? – help them change some of the previous misconceptions and mindsets.

Foster and Persinger were part of the group of 24 that visited Wilberforce University, the first private HBCU, and the University of Cincinnati, which has the first living-learning community on a campus that focuses on first-generation college students.

Both Foster and Persinger were intrigued by Wilberforce.

“Wilberforce caught my eye. I knew right when I stepped on the campus, it was just so small, but there was kids communicating. All the groups came together, so it wasn’t like a rivalry. They were like, ‘How you doing today?’” said Persinger.

It also prompted more questions and reflections.

“How am I going to get there because I’m not going to be able to pay for that? But the B&G Club, that’s my rescue to get to college, because I know that they can help,” said Persinger.

And that includes getting them enrolled for the 21st Century Scholars program, so that they have access to resources. There are regular check-ins to see if teens are completing the requirements.

Persinger is hopeful that there is another resource.

According to Harris, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Indianapolis has the largest endowed scholarship program of any in the country. Started privately, CICF manages 28 funds, the Dr. James R. East Scholarship Programs.

Scholarships are available to any graduating senior going on to a post-secondary institution, which could be vocational, two-year or four-year programs. One requirement is that the applicant must have been a member for at least three years at any age.

In 2013, when Harris began to manage the scholarship, four teens applied. Last year, four years after graduation counselors were in place, 15 applied.

“I think that impact in four years speaks volumes about how important those graduation counselors and college readiness program were. My goal is if we can stay at that higher number and keep kids in school, then we end up utilizing each of those scholarship funds. I would love to have that challenge,” said Harris.

May 01

Traveling the world and ending up next door: How fundraisers find donors in all the right places

By Sponsor Insight

By Jennifer Pendleton, vice president Indiana, Aly Sterling Philanthropy

When an organization begins a fundraising effort, it tends to be special events.

We dream up creative new ways to hold auctions, cook-offs, bake sales and golf outings.

While these events bring people in our door – regardless of whether they are interested in our cause or not — we quickly learn the return on investment (ROI) for these events is low.

Each takes a lot of work and doesn’t necessarily yield long-term donors or relationships that lead to sustainable gifts. Many people just come to have fun and play golf with friends, not to get involved or learn more about the organization’s mission.

That’s when we get “it.” Fundraising is all about relationships. And we understand – firsthand – that we need to cultivate the donors with potential for the largest gifts. We know this is where the cost to raise a dollar is the lowest. So we work to screen our major gift prospects, cultivate the relationships and woo them by showing how we can work together to impact the community.

Then we wait and hope they fall in love with our mission and decide to make a sacrificial gift to our organization. The highs and lows of chasing major gifts are thrilling and exhausting, and can make planning for programmatic needs challenging.

World weary and seeing those closest with new eyes

At some point, however, we realize there are people who have been loyally giving to our organization over the years, sitting right under our noses.

Right under our noses!

These people are so close to our mission we’re practically neighbors. We don’t need to convince them we’re trustworthy or that our work matters. These donors next door are also already writing checks and volunteering to help. We don’t even need to convince them to act.

That’s when it dawns on us: perhaps we’re both ready for a deeper, more meaningful relationship…

Mature programs make room for all kinds of friends

Our mission already has a devoted crew of donors and doers. So, why do we ignore them to compete against every other organization in town for the same slate of big donors?

While these “usual suspects” are undeniably important, they only represent part of the picture. Every nonprofit should pursue a diversified spectrum of donors. What does the diversified spectrum look like? Is it one-time donors? Board member introductions?

Sustainable fundraising programs cultivate a range of donors with the aim of building loyalty and providing more and better ways for them to engage.

Getting started

An organization’s databases contain an abundance of next-level donors waiting for the invitation to do more! They have raised their hands, possibly multiple times, to show us they care.

It makes sense we should start by getting to know our middle-donor segment. Are they Gen Xers? Millennials? Baby boomers? Knowing who’s on our list (and how they like to engage) will help inform early decisions about outreach.

As we begin building relationships, we should develop a program to standardize communication with this group moving forward. Note what works and what doesn’t, and ask donors for feedback. Our goal should be to create a simple-to-operate program that offers meaningful engagement for everyone.

Finally, these are our donor-pyramid people. If they see the results and impact in their giving, they could invest a little more (or a lot more) each year. Is there a path for them? If not, create one that provides them with opportunities to deepen their involvement with the organization’s mission.

Now’s the time to take the first step to identify and connect with your donors next door to create deeper relationships that lead to more meaningful engagement and loyal support…

JenPendelton_ASP Jennifer “Jen” Pendleton is a self-described board governance “nerd” who believes sound leadership and strong organizational culture are keys to nonprofit success. She’s also driven to help these leaders identify their nonprofits’ unique qualities and roles in the community, with the goals of making nonprofit magic happen and bringing vibrant visions to life. Before coming to ASP, Jen served as president and CEO of the Community Foundation of Boone County (Indiana).

Apr 17

10 ways to boost your nonprofit career

By Sponsor Insight

By Patrick M. Rooney, associate dean, Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy

With the myriad demands nonprofit professionals face for their time and attention, it can be tough to make professional growth and career advancement a priority. Here are some steps you can weave into your schedule that will help you in your current position and prepare you for your next opportunity where you are now or elsewhere.

  • Become an issue expert and share what you know. Research and educate yourself on a key topic, and then develop original podcasts, blog posts, and opinion articles. ““Blogging makes you a go-to person,” Joe Waters, a cause marketing speaker and coach, wrote in an article for HubSpot, noting that becoming an expert lets you become “the person in your organization that people seek out to understand an issue.” Waters says that the experience “prepares you for your next big thing,” whether that’s being noticed by recruiters, writing a book, starting your own nonprofit or becoming a consultant.
  • Volunteer at your organization and beyond. “Volunteering to help with an event or a special project at your nonprofit — particularly those that cut across functional boundaries — can help provide the sort of well-rounded experience that leadership roles require,” according to an article by Bridgespan Group. Volunteering elsewhere lets you observe which roles are of interest or a good fit for your next career step, and serving on a nonprofit board helps you gain skills including decision-making, fundraising and program direction.
  • Step up for a stretch opportunity. Accepting assignments that stretch your limits helps you grow and enables managers to identify whether you are likely to succeed with more responsibility, The Chronicle of Philanthropy
  • Job shadow and do informational interviews. Not just for first-time job seekers, observing and talking with people who hold the type of position to which you aspire can help you determine what that type of role entails and whether it is really for you. It can also show you what additional knowledge, training, and skills you’ll need if you pursue it.
  • Select an effective mentor. People with mentorsearn higher salaries, are promoted more frequently, and report higher job satisfaction than those without mentors, according to research by Audrey J. Murrell, Ph.D., of the University of Pittsburgh.
  • Form or join a peer-to-peer leadership group. Also called leadership circles, these small groups are made up of nonprofit professionals that meet periodically to listen to and coach each other. As the Center for Nonprofit Excellence says, “These circles provide a confidential setting in which peers can discuss and solve real-time problems with real-world experience.” For more information, see the March 14 issue of Indianapolis Not-for-Profit News.
  • Stay on top of developments in the field and in your issue area. Not sure which podcasts or newsletters are most helpful? Ask your peers, mentor, or other, more experienced professionals what they read, listen to, and follow.
  • Join a professional association and take advantage of the member benefits. Membership in professional associations offers numerous career-boosting advantages, including access to the latest information and best practices, professional development and training, conferences and networking.
  • Make time to participate regularly in professional development. Be intentional about blocking out and adhering to time on your schedule for professional development. Stick to the commitment as you would any other appointment. It’s easy to let the challenges of the day-to-day workload and over-the-transom projects derail your plans.
  • Earn a graduate degree. Increasingly, most of the people that Bridgespan Group spoke with agreed, formal degrees provide a distinct advantage for those aspiring to leadership roles. Article on developing oneself as a nonprofit leader. “I can think of several great nonprofit leaders who don’t have advanced degrees, but it’s an increasingly indispensable attribute,” said Stephen Pratt, CEO of MY TURN, Inc., a Brockton, MA-based youth development agency.

That thought was echoed by Sandra Gutierrez, COO at Latin American Youth Center, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit that serves youth and their families. She said, “the rigor and discipline required to complete a master’s degree program give nonprofit professionals a big edge. . . . You see a really big difference in people who come into a program manager role with a master’s degree compared to an undergraduate degree,” said Gutierrez, who also noted that most of the people she hires complete their master’s while working.”

patrick-rooney Patrick M. Rooney, Ph.D., is associate dean for academic affairs and research at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

[content_box box_type=”normal”]The Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy recently announced that its master’s degree program can now be completed entirely online, offering working professionals more flexibility and convenience. Learn more.[/content_box]
Apr 17

Parkinson’s patients fight back

By Feature, Programming

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

Six years ago Joyce Johnson was hired by Rock Steady Boxing’s board and charged with the task of figuring out a way to expand its program.

“We were getting calls from all over the world where people would hear about it, and they would call and say, ‘Where’s Rock Steady Boxing in Colorado Springs?’ And I would have to say, ‘I’m sorry, there’s only one Rock Steady Boxing, and it’s here in Indianapolis,’” said Johnson.

There was no long-range plan in place in 2006 when Scott Newman — at the time Marion County’s prosecutor and public safety director – started boxing. Newman had been diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s disease, and his friend, Vince Perez, an attorney and former boxer, wanted to help. His intention was just to keep Newman active.

feature-for-web And so they started boxing in Newman’s basement. Newman started getting better. His tremors lessened, his balance improved, and he got stronger. He had lost his ability to type on his computer, and he got that back, and had a lot more confidence when he was in court.

“I often describe it as being serendipitous. He had no idea it was going to work when he started boxing. He and his bud were just trying to keep him active,” said Johnson.

By the time Johnson entered the picture, Newman and Perez had moved from the basement to a friend’s gym, and then opened the first-of-its-kind Rock Steady facility. Originally, Rock Steady’s board thought that Kristy Follmar, a former world champion boxer and one of the founders of the program, was going to be the Jane Fonda of home DVDs.

The board envisioned growth to be simple — sell DVDs to people with Parkinson’s who could then exercise in their living rooms. But it wasn’t too long before they realized that it wasn’t just the exercise.

 

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Rock Steady Boxing training camp

“At our training camp, we teach people about Parkinson’s and the symptoms, we give them some boxing information and then we teach them why boxing is the most effective way to combat Parkinson’s,” said Johnson.

Training Camp (the boxing term for “seminar”) provides an overview of Parkinson’s disease, beginning boxing techniques and adaptations of our fitness program designed to combat 23 common symptoms of PD. The course includes classroom instruction, hands-on training and a workout in the gym with Rock Steady boxers.

Coaches should be at least 18 years of age and must attend the entire two-day seminar to be eligible for coaching certification, with an optional Saturday morning. This year’s camps are sold out until August.

Training fee: $699 first attendee; $500 each additional attendee from same location.

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“I think we all realized that the camaraderie in the gym, people all with Parkinson’s working together fighting back, there was just something to that. Plus it isn’t really safe to be in your living room doing a lot of strenuous exercises,” said Johnson.

When Johnson was hired in 2011, she read lots of articles about scaling nonprofits. She quickly realized it wasn’t a franchise operation they were hoping to establish. Rather it was a nonprofit helping people fight back against Parkinson’s, and they needed a diverse approach.

Subsequently, she and her team tackled a new design for expansion, beginning with writing a manual to replicate the program. Follmer had learned about Parkinson’s, had been a boxer and had developed a system, so sharing that experience was critical, and potential coaches needed to see the program in action. Soon the idea for a two-day training camp in Indianapolis was born.

Johnson emailed people who made those early phone calls looking for the Rock Steady program in their communities, and told them Rock Steady was launching a training program. That was in 2012, and it resulted in three affiliates.

“The biggest question the board has had, and probably all of us have had from the beginning is ‘Can you really replicate this?’” Johnson said.

“In the first six years, everybody thought that this whole program was Kristy and her enthusiasm and her boxing knowledge. She’s really special, and she’s got this big wonderful heart, and it just really embraces everybody. Everybody loved her and that’s why we kept growing (locally), and I think people thought that you couldn’t bottle that, that you couldn’t take her personality and replicate it.

“But it turns out that that you can,” said Johnson, who says the proof is in the videos posted by affiliates.

People who come, they have discovered, want to do this.

feature-for-web2 “They are fighting Parkinson’s, and that’s real different. This isn’t a random thing where somebody graduates with an exercise science degree and just decides to come take our training. That isn’t the way that it happens. They have some connection to Parkinson’s,” said Johnson.

In the first couple of years growth was steady. By 2015, there were 83 affiliates in 23 states and three international programs.

One of those affiliates was in New York City, and one of the participants was Aaron Latham, husband of CBS’ Lesley Stahl. Stahl pitched the story idea, and that November, a 10-minute piece aired on “Sunday Morning.” The rest is history. The phones started ringing and the website crashed, according to Johnson.

“It turns out that Lesley Stahl and CBS can do more for you in 10 minutes than you can do in 10 years. Sometimes, we just walk down that path already laid out. And so Rock Steady has been growing since then and will continue to grow,” she said.

And grow it has. Today there are 356 affiliates in 46 states, and 20 affiliates in seven countries.

The Indianapolis gym, the only stand-alone gym, has over 200 participants with two fulltime and four part-time coaches. The gym is open six days a week, and offers 19 classes for four different levels, which is based on the person’s physical condition and how advanced their symptoms are.

Membership at the Indianapolis gym is $60 a month for unlimited classes, with most people coming between 10 and 12 times a month. In LA where the cost of living is higher, Rock Steady charges $150 a month.

The affiliates’ programs are typically housed at another facility, like YMCAs, rehab hospitals and boxing gyms.

“Boxing gyms have added a Rock steady program during the daytime, when they’re normally empty. Most of the people who do Rock Steady are retired, come in the middle of the day when most of these buildings are empty of adults,” said Johnson.

One lesson the nonprofit has learned is that one Rock Steady program in a metropolitan area is not enough. In Central Indiana, for example, there are programs in Anderson, Bloomington, Brownsburg, Greenwood, two in Hancock County, one at the Westside Garden Plaza and the JCC.

People with Parkinson’s have difficulty driving more than 15 or 20 minutes, and many lose their ability to drive at later stages. The driving time added to a 90-minute class for many is their limit.

“So that’s why we keep saying there needs to be a Rock Steady in every community in the country. That’s the goal,” said Johnson.

Affiliates have to agree to do the Rock Steady method the way it’s prescribed and sign a contract with an agreement that classes will be group class only, adhere to the methods learned in Indianapolis and pay a yearly fee of $800. As an affiliate, sites can access online the coaches’ management system, which includes everything Rock Steady has developed over its 11 years.

“Every document, every waiver, even videos of how to put on gloves. Everything that we’ve developed once they’ve become an affiliate they have access to. We don’t want them to reinvent the wheel. We want them to do it the way that we have taught them to do it,” said Johnson.

The best way to access how affiliates are doing is through social media.

“All of our affiliates post videos of themselves with their classes,” said Johnson.

Johnson said that what happens in the gym hasn’t changed dramatically because over the first six years, the Indianapolis coaches had seen hundreds of people and developed the program at all levels. They were confident that the program works.

What has changed, though, is that Indianapolis is now a home office that manages 356 affiliates. It has the responsibility for making sure instructors are trained properly, executing the program effectively and answering all their questions.

As an organization, it is still learning how important its brand is.

“When we very first started, we had questions like the guy in Australia who wanted to replace the Statue of Liberty in our logo with a kangaroo,” Johnson said.

“We’ve had to learn what it means to worry about branding and to trademark our logo and our bylines. We’ve got a couple – Fighting back against Parkinson’s, In this corner hope — are both trademarked taglines.

“We’ve had to safeguard that, and as we’re moving along, now we have manufacturers that want to put the Rock Steady logo on stuff, and so now we’re learning about royalties.

“We started out as a local nonprofit, hand-to-mouth, having barbecues, to pay the coach. There’s a lot more business end to what we do than there used to be.

What does the organization have planned?

Recently Rock Steady launched a free quarterly 32-page magazine, “In Your Corner.” It is one way to connect the affiliates, and make them aware that they are a part of something bigger – fighting Parkinson’s.

It is also developing an online certification program, which for the next year, it will be available only to affiliates.

But most importantly, it continues to stay focused on its mission.

“We are experts in Parkinson’s, you have to have a Parkinson’s diagnosis to be here, and so we just feel like that’s the strength of the program. We haven’t tried to develop any other programs for other diseases. This is what we do. There are 10 million people in the world with Parkinson’s. There are people everywhere with Parkinson’s that need this,” said Johnson.