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Aug 13

Two philanthropy alumni shed light on relationship building in their arena

By Sponsor Insight

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Small’s advice for fundraisers

  • Reorient your thinking.

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

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

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

  • Don’t chase dollars.

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

  • Focus on the relationship.

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

Tice’s advice for fundraisers

  • Be as professional as possible.

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

  • Utilize your connections.

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

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

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

  • Focus on the relationship.

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

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

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

Aug 05

Getting your retirement account compliant: A burden and a blessing

By Sponsor Insight

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What can we answer for you?

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

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

OneAmerica® is the marketing name for the companies of OneAmerica.

Products issued and underwritten by American United Life Insurance Company® (AUL), a OneAmerica company. Administrative and recordkeeping services provided by McCready and Keene, Inc. or OneAmerica Retirement Services LLC, companies of OneAmerica which are not broker/dealers or investment advisors. Provided content is for overview and informational purposes only and is not intended as tax, legal, fiduciary, or investment advice. • Registered Representative of and securities offered through OneAmerica Securities, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisor, Member FINRA, SIPC.

Aug 05

What’s covered in the Undoing Racism workshop

By Programming

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Additional goals:

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

Workshop offers fresh look at issues of race

By Programming

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

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

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

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

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

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

Suddenly, pieces were beginning to fall into place.

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

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

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

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

What’s covered in the
Undoing Racism Workshop

Gaither’s reaction to the training was similar.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The effect

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jul 15

Effective volunteer programs take effort, pay dividends

By Programming

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

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

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

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

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

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

Image Courtesy of Newfields

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

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

Both have different approaches to recruiting, which is ongoing.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Image Courtesy of Newfields

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Morehead has one piece of advice.

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

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

Jun 17

Discovering the power of the podcast

By Technology

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But does that mean that nonprofits have embraced the format?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jun 10

Executive education helps organizations invest in employees through MPA program

By Sponsor Insight

By Leslie Wells, associate director of communication, O’Neill School at IUPUI

In late April, 14 employees of the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center received their Executive Master of Public Affairs degrees from Indiana University Executive Education at the O’Neill School. These graduates spent more than two years working toward this goal and are the latest in a long line of Crane employees to earn their degree through this unique program. 

What makes this path to an advanced degree so different from many others?

“The leadership of Executive Education at O’Neill is very customer focused,” says Angie Lewis, corporate operations department director at Crane. “They want to understand what’s going on within our environment. They’ve been willing to adapt certain parts of the lessons, update, and transform portions of their curriculum to stay current with our challenges and needs. That makes this program especially valuable.”

The Executive Public Management Certificate (EPMC) and EMPA programs are Crane’s largest and longest-lasting investment in employee education. Crane covers all costs of the program for employees and has done so for the past 20 years.

The application process is competitive. Selected employees must first earn their EPMC before they can apply for the EMPA program. Besides the 14 EMPA graduates, 24 Crane employees also earned their EMPC in April.

Participants who complete the 39-credit hour EMPA travel to Indianapolis 12 times during the full program’s three years for week-long courses and to Washington, D.C., for one week of class. Faculty members walk students through topics relating to economics, public policy and analysis, HR policies, and more. [WL1] [Office2] In between each week-long class, these Crane employees develop projects and presentations to prepare for the next round.

For Crane’s courses, each class is geared toward the specific needs of the company’s employees. Each cohort includes participants from various departments across Crane, a strategic decision Lewis says creates lasting relationships.

“People who work in engineering, production, and technology are in class with people who are responsible for regulatory compliance and oversight,” she says. “When you build strong cohorts of people who know how to work across boundaries, they can accomplish projects more efficiently and effectively, despite the natural tensions between their roles.”

John Kleihege, a Crane supervisory engineer who received his EMPA in April, says the courses teach students to speak a common leadership language while broadening their view of their world and their work.

“It exposes you to areas that you don’t functionally work in,” Kleihege says. “That makes you a well-rounded employee and makes it so that when you see public policy shaped, you understand the process and how to communicate about it to others.”

Communication is a key part of the program. The courses prepare students to understand and explain public policy shifts in the context of what matters most to their management teams.

“You can go to a four-year school and learn how to run a business, about bureaucracies and nonprofits, or government- and public-sector roles, but this program educates our employees about the larger system in which they work,” Lewis says.

For Crane, that larger system includes multiple U.S. Navy bases, command centers, and other units around the country. Craig Barton received his EMPA in April after leaving the Indiana-based Crane in 2017 to head to its parent command, Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Barton decided to continue with his Crane cohort and cover the cost of the remaining courses himself. That decision paid off. He says the program played a direct role in landing his current position as director of contracts for the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.

“I give almost absolute credit to the IU Executive Education MPA program for my current job,” he says. “The capstone class occurred the week before my interview. It was essentially a weeklong interview prep that helped me tie everything together. I’m very grateful to the EMPA program.”   

While the content in Crane’s EMPA course may be specific to its needs, the Executive Education team can adapt the case studies and group projects to work for other organizations, even those in other sectors. That’s because — at its core — the program focuses on teaching students to be better leaders, no matter where they work.

“The learnings transcend Crane,” Barton adds. “What you learn applies no matter where you go. It teaches you that leadership is leadership. There is no magic:  It’s simply gaining the necessary tools, learning the appropriate contexts in which to apply those tools and then executing.”

Employers interested in exploring their own Executive MPA cohort in Indianapolis or own their site can learn more about the program at the O’Neill School website, or contact Executive Education Director Sara Johnson.

Leslie Wells is the assistant director of communications at the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IUPUI. She joined the O’Neill School at IUPUI in 2018 after three years in nonprofit media relations and a decade in broadcast news.

Jun 03

Community investment sparks creativity

By Sponsor Insight

By Jennifer Pittman, senior director of community affairs, OneAmerica  

Springtime is a season of creative renewal. Early-season rain showers give way to colorful blooms and flowering trees. Then in mid-May in Indy, springtime pops in unexpected ways as hundreds of local artists present their work at the annual OneAmerica® Broad Ripple Art Fair (BRAF).   

The event has become a favorite annual tradition for many of the 1,400 Indianapolis-area OneAmerica® associates, who love to volunteer and soak up inspiration that lasts long after the last artist booth is packed up for the year. 

In 2018, BRAF lit a creative spark with some OneAmerica associates, who asked, “What if we didn’t have to wait a full year for this kind of artistic inspiration? Could we find a way to sprinkle a little bit of this magic throughout the other 11 months?”  

Through our strong relationship with the Indianapolis Art Center and OneAmerica leaders who enthusiastically support creative community connections, the short answer was, “YES!”  

At the time, a floor of the OneAmerica Tower downtown was undergoing significant renovations to create a vibrant, versatile OneAmerica conference center – a space for associates to brainstorm and collaborate, but also to showcase our building and culture with financial professionals and visitors from our community and beyond.  What better place to create our own mini-BRAF year-round?  

In April, the conference center became home to a rotating exhibit of two-dimensional art, curated in collaboration with the Indianapolis Art Center. Four times a year, we select a new mix of work from local artists. Artists whose work is featured receive an honorarium for each piece displayed and the opportunity to offer those pieces for sale. And our associates draw inspiration from the space, especially during cold winter months when we’re eagerly awaiting the first signs of spring…and BRAF!

By the time the 2019 edition of the OneAmerica Broad Ripple Art Fair had occurred (May 18-19) we had truly come full circle.

So what’s the connection between arts and financial services? First, art and the artists who create it matter to us because they make our hometown more vibrant. We simply can’t imagine an Indianapolis devoid of creativity or artistic perspectives. In celebration of those talents, our home office is filled with the works of Hoosier artists that enhance our workspace and elevate our spirits. Participating in BRAF is another opportunity for us to connect with and support our creative community.

BRAF also helps illustrate why our work in financial services is so important. “403b” is an essential phrase at OneAmerica, because it refers to a special type of retirement plan for nonprofit organizations – like the Indianapolis Art Center. The mechanics of preparing for retirement may seem complicated, but our philosophy is simple. Everyone deserves to retire confident in their finances, especially those who have dedicated their careers to serving others and making our community a beautiful place to be.

Since 1964, we’ve been helping nonprofits in our hometown and across the country with their tax-exempt retirement plans. And in 2016, OneAmerica launched a Tax Exempt Center of Excellence (COE) website to serve as a central hub for financial professionals to access everything from market insights to information about tax-exempt products and services. It’s another way we serve those who serve others, by sharing our experience in the unique challenges and opportunities in the tax-exempt marketplace and providing other financial professionals supportive tools and resources.

At OneAmerica, we’re firm believers that strong community partnerships require 360 degrees of connection between community organizations, the people they serve, and our associates. The new OneAmerica conference center rotating exhibit is just one more shining, creative example of this philosophy in action.   

Jen Pittman is a leader with passion for building a stronger Indianapolis community.  Her professional pursuits and personal endeavors represent a unique blend of corporate, government and nonprofit impact.

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. Neither AUL, OneAmerica Retirement Services, McCready and Keene nor their representatives provide tax, legal fiduciary or investment advice.

Jun 03

One workforce strategy: EmployIndy’s community-based career navigators

By Feature, Programming

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

Visit WorkOne Indy’s new location and learn about its services.

Attend the family-friendly open house on June 15 from 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. to check out the new facility and learn more about EmployIndy services. Bring your resume because there is a job fair during the event.

The address is: 4410 N. Shadeland Ave. (the former Carpe Diem charter school).

When Delores Mockabee found herself without a job four years ago, her emotions ran high. At times she felt hopeless and helpless, after her job was eliminated. That is until she spent time at the WorkOne office on Indianapolis’ westside. Each time she visited the office, she was greeted by passionate, caring and supportive employees.

Fast forward. Now, she is on the other side of the table. After taking advantage of WorkOne’s services, she landed a job with ResCare, a subcontractor for EmployIndy. She now pays it forward as a career navigator.

“Depending on the level of job you had, it is hard because it is like, ‘What are people going to think,’” said Mockabee. “It is a passion for me to be able to give what I got when I came to WorkOne.” Indiana’s network of American Job Centers is branded WorkOne.

In her daily work, she is one of 11 navigators who splits time at 19 satellite locations in Indianapolis. This position is designed to help connect the agency with people where they live. The navigators’ home base is WorkOne Indy, a full-service center that opened in January. Each has established a schedule to provide satellite personnel and clients with consistency. Mockabee’s sites are the Garfield Park, East Washington and Central libraries. While there, she works in the computer area and uses a large portable sign to identify the agency and its services.

“It’s been enlightening for me. Every library has a different culture. You have to figure out how you fit in, how you support and how you encourage. A lot of people who come here would not go to the eastside. Here, we’re able to offer services, and people are starting to know that we’re here and we’re available. I had a lady who came three times when I was here to help with her resume because she was computer illiterate.” Mockabee has also supported a pharmacist and a chemist, helping them develop individualized plans and utilize available resources.

Her first client created dental molds, but she was replaced with a machine. Mockabee said, she began with an Indiana Career Explorer assessment to identify her client’s strengthens, which is particularly helpful if people don’t know what to do next.

A navigator’s responsibilities don’t end after a client secures a job. There is a regular check in with the client for 90 days. Once the individual reaches that milestone, the case is transferred to another WorkOne staff person who continues the connection for a year.

Mockabee shared a story about one young man who completed the Commercial Driver Training, CDL certification. After a short time in the new job, he called her to say that he didn’t know if he could continue the travel to small towns. After reassuring him that they could find him another job, two days later he wrote: ‘I love my job, I make more money in one week than I make in a month.’ So, it really changed his life.

“We do support and help people. First thing is to get a job, then get a better job and then ultimately a career. Most exciting for me is working with people who end up in a career. This starts their future all over,” she said. And hers, too.

Besides partnering with libraries, EmployIndy has added sites at adult education centers sites in Warren, Washington and Wayne townships. CAFÉ on the city’s far eastside and Ivy Tech are other partner sites.

“These are potential clients. We want to be right there to catch them and help them with whatever else they need or help move them on to the next step of a career,” said Joe Backe, EmployIndy’s communication manager.

According to Backe, working in libraries has allowed the agency to not only expand its footprint, but removed some barriers. At the Shadeland WorkOne full-service center, for example, no one under the age of 16 is permitted in the building. That precludes people from bringing their children. But at a library, children can look at books, while mom or dad connects to services. At the WorkOne center, people can also be pointed toward a satellite location, which might be more convenient.

Those services can range from career development, to job searches, to skills development.

Although EmployIndy has been around since the 1960s in some form, and the Indianapolis mayor is responsible for appointing the members of the board. The board — with input from community stakeholders, residents, and EmployIndy partners, including the mayor’s office — is responsible for the strategic direction of EmployIndy. As part of the mayor’s initiative, the agency is working to be more neighborhood focused and target specific areas where unemployment, crime and poverty are higher, and residents may have given up hope of entering or re-entering the workforce.

Chief Operations Officer Marie Mackintosh joined EmployIndy three years ago, and was part of the team that designed the strategic plan to support the mayor’s initiative. She views the agency’s role as ensuring that residents are ready for the jobs and careers that employers bring into the community. One of the plan’s tactics was creation of the career navigator positions.

“People are not widgets, they are complex human beings. When you think about the fact that we’re asking our navigators to help those complex human beings who have so many different assets and strengths, but also potential barriers. Think about how much finessing that requires and the complexity of that,” she said.

Mackintosh said that another strategy was to consolidate the three centers located around the city into one full-service center. Housed in the former Carpe Diem charter school building on the eastside, the building can accommodate a weekly job fair for up to 20 companies, offer workshops and training and provide multiple services. An open house on June 15 will showcase the center’s services. It’s a family-friendly event, so kids under 16 may attend.  

Since the full-service center opened at the beginning of the year, another benefit has been an uptick in the number of people coming to the office monthly, which averages around 2,500 people.

Mockabee believes that bringing everyone under one roof has been good, and is a more efficient way to work. Part of a navigator’s job is to keep abreast of community resources that can be shared with clients. To facilitate that EmployIndy regularly communicates with other workforce development partners.

“We have monthly eco-system enrichment meetings where we bring together WorkOne staff and a growing number of neighborhood partner staff who are doing this coaching work on the frontlines. We talk about things like Gateway to Work, which is the new program coming out of the Family Social Services Administration in July. Individuals will be required to do more work-search requirements in order to keep Medicaid benefits. We want to make sure that we as a community don’t let anyone who is on Medicaid, drop off just because they didn’t work with a partner organization like ours to stay on,” said Mackintosh.  

EmployIndy’s graphic is a visual representation of organizations involved in the Marion County Workforce Ecosystem.

With unemployment low, one of the challenges for EmployIndy is that state and federal governments have been reduced. This year, the agency will face an 11 percent cut, however, what hasn’t changed is the need to retrain and develop skills of workers for this century.

“I try really hard to advocate for smarter, more efficient ways that we can try to help people that maybe don’t cost as much, but that are cool ways that we can connect individuals to ways to up skills,” said Mackintosh.

“What we’re trying to do is figure out how we work within the existing landscape of neighborhood organizations and offer our additional resources where it makes sense and isn’t duplicitous. So Delores might go to a library because Mary Rigg Neighborhood Center or Boner Center is down the street and they already do similar types of services through their Center for Working Families model.

“While they offer basic employment services, they may not offer a particular workshop. So, we would bring that workshop to the neighborhood or to other neighborhoods that maybe aren’t as aware of the things we do. We’re really trying to build that system and be hyper aware of the other organizations that exist in a particular neighborhood that we might be able to have some sort of a relationship. The question we ask is: How do we augment and work in a symbiotic way rather than a competitive way?” Mackintosh said.

One way is through workshops offered in tandem with partners. Rick Hightower, a career facilitator for ResCare, recently offered a 90-minute session at Fathers and Families Center for WorkOne. Males in the program are exposed to between 20 and 25 hours of workforce development workshops. That day the five males were exposed to the importance of networking, resume building and a variety of websites to look for jobs. Hightower’s rapid-based session provided the participants web-based sources of free tools. One, a job-scan website, matched a resume to a company’s job description. WorkOne also publishes a monthly learning events calendar, which lists as many as nine different trainings or meet-ups daily.

With Indiana investment in workforce development through its Workforce Ready Grants, career navigators can direct clients to some of the state’s most in-demand professions. Educating the community about Next Level Jobs Workforce Ready Grants, specifically that people in their targeted neighborhoods, is part of their work.

Mackintosh credits Gov. Holcomb’s administration for its pillar of workforce education and the governor’s workforce cabinet.

“It combines the efforts of the Commission for Higher Education, the Department of Workforce Development, business people and others to discuss some of these tough issues you’re talking about.

“In the last legislative session, they increased the funding for Workforce Ready Grants, which are state training dollars for people who don’t have a college degree to be able to reskill and the state will pay for it. It could be short-term certifications. They have to be in higher demand industries, so it’s advanced manufacturing, transportation and logistics, IT and business, health and life sciences and building and construction.”

“People are on this whole continuum of readiness for employment today. The plant workers who have been dislocated over the last couple of years, whether at Carrier or someplace else, what they have going for them is an incredible work history and ethic. I personally have great faith the average American worker could reskill and find better opportunities in this economy even today, if they can wrap their mind around that reality after they’ve grieved that the job they had for decades is lost.  But if we compare that to an individual who is maybe 19 years old, who comes from multi-generational poverty, who didn’t finish high school and doesn’t have the basic skills or role models to be able to hold down a job, that’s a very different sets of issues that we’re dealing with,” said Mackintosh.

One new opportunity allows career navigators to recommend individuals who they believe are ready for a better job.

“We have a team of business recruiters here on site at EmployIndy who receive all those referrals and look at the skill set of the individuals that are being referred and try to connect them to our employer partners. Whomever is serving in the capacity of that career navigator has the professional authority to say, ‘You know this person is really ready for an opportunity in logistics or an opportunity in technology or advanced manufacturing, here are the reasons why I think they’d be a great fit.’

“Every single person who is turned over to our recruiting team receives a phone interview, and then based on how that goes, we provide feedback to the navigators. We call all that work our referral portal, but it’s very clear what we’re trying to do, and I think that’s really special and still in its infancy.

Mackintosh said it’s modeled on a Goodwill of Central and Southern Indiana practice to talent source.

“What employers want the most is strategies for how to get their talent pipeline sorted. They appreciate the work of EmployIndy’s career navigators and they are looking for us to do even more,” she said.

May 27

The top 3 must-do’s in effective strategic planning

By Sponsor Insight

By Hannah Gooding, consultant, Hedges

Imagine having to map out a family road trip without knowing your destination. Sounds a bit backwards and overwhelming, right?

Too often, barriers of time and resources leave nonprofits of all sizes and at all life-stages operating this way: with no clear destination or a strategy for getting there. Nonprofit leaders may feel like all they can do is to “keep driving.” They provide their services. They steward their donors. They submit their grant reports. They maintain the status quo without ever getting to stop and ask: Where are we trying to go? What do our participants need? What are we trying to solve and how will we know we’re successful?

These questions are natural stepping stones in a strategic planning process — a process nonprofit organizations should undergo every three to five years.

However, for many organizations, a strategic plan can feel like a box to check. When that happens, nonprofit executives may attempt to answer these important strategy questions in a board room on a Saturday lacking external perspectives, buy-in, or consensus.

When checking the box is the end-goal, nonprofits lose sight of the value of good strategy. Good strategy is a product of a thoughtful, flexible process that can’t be tackled in a board room — even with the most diverse and talented board and staff in the world. Good strategy is not a strategic plan. Without a process that is inclusive and destination-driven, a strategic plan is just a bunch of buzzwords that sits in a binder or in a file on a desktop. Indeed, as President Dwight Eisenhower once said: “Plans are useless. Planning is everything.”

So how should organizations approach a strategic planning process that will result in real strategy?

First, there is value in having a conversation with your funders about why a strategic planning process would be game-changing. Funders want to invest their resources in organizations that are guided by good strategy. In fact, many offer capacity building grants or award endowment funding so that organizations can truly invest in a planning process.

However, to ensure a strategic planning process is worth the investment of both your time and resources, there are three important things to keep in mind.  

1 A strategic planning process should be inclusive. Incorporating a diverse range of perspectives and experiences is the best way to develop a strategy that is not only realistic, but also exciting for your key supporters and relevant to those you serve.

A strategy-rich planning process starts with setting the perspectives of your participants, volunteers, partners, donors, and other stakeholders as the decision-making foundation. You can do this by facilitating one-on-one interviews, focus groups, surveys, or “town halls” to glean important feedback about what is working well and how your organization might need to shift, adapt, or grow.

At this stage, a third-party facilitator becomes incredibly important, providing the necessary neutrality to collect real information. This individual can be the buffer if a participant needs to share concern about mission-creep or that the model your donors love isn’t working for the clients who actually experience it. As one of our participants put it: “No one wants to tell you your baby is ugly.”

An inclusive strategic planning process not only leaves room for honesty, but also provides a space to build buy-in with your closest allies, partners, and supporters. Asking your stakeholders for their ideas is the quickest way to ensure you have their support when it comes time to implement (and fund) those ideas. Asking your participants for their feedback is the best way to ensure your work is grounded in integrity and purpose.

Take for instance, when the Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention (CHIP), on behalf of the Indianapolis Continuum of Care, set out to develop the Indianapolis Community Plan to End Homelessness. It engaged 400 community stakeholders — including 170 individuals who were experiencing or had experienced homelessness — in the planning process. By doing so, Indianapolis residents and more than 80 unique agencies were able to make their voices heard and collaborate to create a true community plan.

Key funders, who were included in the planning process, decided to orient their funding priorities around the strategies that were developed. One of their priorities became the commitment to raise and align $4 million toward implementing the strategies identified in the plan. Through careful crafting of the Indianapolis Community Plan to End Homelessness, the Continuum of Care not only set the strategy for addressing one of the most pressing challenges in our city, but unified key perspectives and achieved vital seed funding in the process.

2 A strategic planning process should be oriented toward a clear destination. It should set the results you want to achieve, or the difference you want to make, as the yardstick by which you test all of your decisions.

A good strategic plan should act like a compass — not prescribing every specific turn you must take, but a tool that reminds you what direction you should be going to get to your destination. However, like a compass, a strategic plan is useless unless you know where it is you’re trying to go. Setting a destination is essential for setting strategy.

A strategy-rich planning process doesn’t just ask: “How do we keep going down this path?” Instead it asks: “What do we want to be different for our community and our participants, and what do we need to change about our approach to make that vision a reality?” One of our clients, for example, answered this question by simply saying: “We have to stop being all things to all people.” This realization articulates what so many nonprofits experience when they lose sight of their true destination — an attempt to do everything “okay” versus one thing extremely well.

When a strategic planning process is destination-driven, it puts your endgame into clear focus and pushes your organization to make decisions based on what gets you closer to your real goal and greater impact.

Keep in mind that your destination:

  • should align with your mission;
  • should be specific and measurable;
  • should elevate the insights of your key stakeholders; and
  • should put your participants’ needs front and center.

3 A strategic planning process should be holistic. Setting strategy should include an assessment of what we at Hedges like to call “The Four Pillars of Organizational Health.” In addition to considering the strengths, challenges, and opportunities of your programs and their impact, strong strategic planning takes into consideration plans for strengthening the organization’s leadership and culture, development and financial management, and marketing and communications. 

An organization must be able to measure the impact of its programs with the use of strong data, foster leadership and a culture throughout the organization, execute engaging and effective fundraising strategies while maintaining strong financial management, and communicate its impact to key stakeholders and the broader community.  Like four legs of a table, these Four Pillars of Organizational Health will provide the strength and balance your organization needs to realize your strategic vision even during times of uncertainty and change.   

In a strong strategic planning process, you will take the information you learned from your inclusive research process, align it with your clear direction, and finally set your plan to holistically align with each of these four pillars. This approach allows you to focus on the overall health of your organization in a way that optimizes your resources to create sustainability. While a holistic approach takes more time and resources, the end result builds the capacity of your organization to further expand its impact in the most meaningful way.

As you approach a strategic planning session/process, remember, setting strategy is a process and the process is everything.

Don’t waste your time on a strategic plan that documents the status quo. Especially now, when the philanthropic landscape is changing, unrestricted dollars are elusive, and community needs are becoming increasingly complex, good strategy is more important than ever.


Hannah Gooding is passionate about three things: nonprofits, problem-solving, and pie. She has been a consultant with Hedges since 2017. With a background in nonprofit program management, her expertise in research and strategic thinking has supported dozens of nonprofit organizations in Central Indiana.