Skip to main content
Jul 23

Why a strong HR department improves your nonprofit

By Sponsor Insight

By Mike Harrington, president, The Synergy Companies

A business changes as it grows. What once was a one- or two-person shop hires more talent as new roles are created to meet daily demands. Capital rises, office space expands, and business goals are set higher and higher. Throughout it all, there is one area that can make all the difference and yet is often relegated to a lower priority. A strong HR department improves your business and has become a focus for successful organizations across America.

Alleviates unproductive multitasking

Consider an organization that doesn’t have a true HR department. There are still HR-related activities that must be completed by somebody. After all, who processes the payroll? When an employee has a problem, whom do they report it to? Who is conducting onboarding, processing hiring paperwork, or running trainings?

Despite being unrelated to an organization’s core business, HR responsibilities add up quickly for even the smallest of companies.

When a specific department doesn’t exist to carry out this function, a member of the management team often shoulders the responsibility. Unfortunately, that typically means spending the time he or she doesn’t have and turns the focus away from business strategy to “deal” with HR duties that he or she may not have much knowledge about.

While some may get by with multitasking in this fashion because, as a smaller organization, doesn’t feel as though there are HR activities daily, it results in a compromise of HR’s ability to add to and improve the nonprofit.

Dedicated, expert HR professionals create a strong HR department because their focus is solely on human resources. While some days like payday may see a flurry of HR activity, other “slower” HR days are the times this department can focus on improving the workforce, environment and culture. Abstaining from implementing a true HR department prohibits a company from reaching its full potential.

Minimizes risk and liability

Each passing day seems to produce a new law or regulation that organizations like yours must comply with. Even the smallest nonprofits have to address complex legislation, making sure they remain in compliance with applicable rules. A strong HR department is an organization’s leader in these efforts. There are payroll, tax law, employment law, benefits administration, disability, hiring, firing and training considerations among a number of others that must be appropriately taken care of. While some of it may feel like bureaucratic paperwork, that doesn’t change the fact that one false move can cause significant issues.

Consider just one piece of this in the topic of harassment and discrimination, a hot-button issue surrounding today’s workplace. When an organization has robust training for all employees in these areas, their liabilities are greatly reduced. The workforce understands exactly what constitutes a violation and how to respond if they witness one. Management knows precisely what to do if they are presented with a claim. Instances of harassment and discrimination can drop sharply. Even if they do occur, when an organization follows all the right steps in addressing and reporting them, they clear themselves of a great deal of liability.

When nearly 20 percent of U.S. adults have been sexually harassed at work, taking the right measures is key. The legal implications are similar for several other areas and, to be addressed appropriately, require a strong HR department.

Improves Employee Engagement and Retention

HR is the internal face of your organization. When the department operates at subpar levels, or if someone without HR expertise is trying to run these activities on the side, it deteriorates the employee experience and negatively affects culture. If employees encounter HR disorganization and confusion, or if they have to wait weeks for answers to common HR questions, it will lower their engagement.

At a time when 87 percent of organizations cite culture and engagement as a top challenge, it’s clear that employees depend on a strong HR resource. When they have a question or concern, they need to know who to go to and expect rapid resolution. Above all, they must be able to trust their HR person. If the onboarding experience is streamlined, paperwork is void of mistakes, and company trainings are professional and helpful, that trust is built. When HR thrives, your employees thrive as well, and that can make all the difference in keeping them happy.

Why a strong HR department improves your business

While the need for a strong HR department is clear, there’s no sugarcoating the fact it can be a difficult and costly overhaul process. For small nonprofits in particular, the cost of hiring HR employees may be prohibitive. Those in this position often find that a PEO like Synergy is an effective and affordable answer. In fact, businesses that partner with a PEO grow 7-9 percent faster and are 50 percent less likely to go out of business. At the end of the day, whether through a PEO or on your own, your HR department will determine just how far your business will succeed.

Mike Harrington is the president of The Synergy Companies. Joining the organization in 1995, Harrington has held several leadership roles within the company working to ensure its effective delivery of human resource and PEO services. Prior to joining Synergy, he spent five years with Safeguard Business Systems in direct sales and sales training and support. Harrington holds a BS degree in marketing from Eastern Illinois University.

When you’re looking for HR expertise that can provide a boost to your company, look no further. Synergy is here for you.

 

Jul 16

Never a more paramount time to connect young professionals in Indianapolis

By Feature, Leadership

By Caitie Deranek Stewart, board member, YNPNIndy and YNPN National

[content_box box_type=”normal”]

Conference special

For Not-for-profit News’ readers, YNPNIndy and YNPN National invite you to join us at the conference. Register with the code (CApromo18) to receive a $35 registration discount.

[/content_box]

The nonprofit sector in Indy faces some pretty monumental challenges: homelessness is on the rise, the opioid epidemic is hitting our community hard and the school violence seen in other places is now happening in our own backyard.

As professionals passionate about creating safe, healthy communities for our clients, our neighbors and ourselves, it’s easy to be disheartened or to want to keep our heads down.

At the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network (YNPN) — we know you are working tirelessly every day to create a more just and equitable world, putting in long hours and then volunteering in your free time. You’re driven and ambitious. You aren’t just talking about making a better tomorrow — you’re working every day to shape the world we all live in.

But do you feel like you need a shot in the arm? Something to inspire and motivate you to keep going?

Two years ago, I was lucky enough to attend YNPN’s 2016 National Conference and experience the potential benefits of the conference.

Amassing the top nonprofit talent from across the country in one room allowed me to see that this was going to be a different experience from any other conference I had ever attended. This was my shot in the arm. Looking around the room, I felt excitement circulating through the air. People from across the country were ENGAGED—sharing tips, tricks, and experiences on our space. Community was created in a flash.

More importantly, a kinetic energy — the kind needed to change the nonprofit sector — was being transferred before my eyes. Even while discussing difficult subjects like inequality and how to make careers in the nonprofit sector fulfilling and sustainable, attendees were building connections. Between learning concrete skills they could apply right away, young people with a passion to change the world were being inspired to lead.

And now you have the opportunity to get a similar energizing experience. This summer, YNPNIndy is leading efforts to bring this incredible experience to Indianapolis. Our theme this year is Change in Action: Equity and Advocacy for Self, Sector, and Society.

There has never been a more paramount time for young nonprofit professionals to be equipped to take action on behalf of themselves and others in the workplace and help to make ALL SPACES fair and diverse. In Indianapolis and across the country, examples of the impact of inequality are rampant. Building awareness and skills to make this change possible is essential to making the world a better place, and this conference can make that possible.

For that reason, it’s important that you attend, to get exposure to new ideas and tools that will help you be your own best advocate, as well as continue advocating for marginalized communities and (most important) impact the systems you influence with REAL CHANGE.

Here’s a glimpse of the inspiration we have planned and you won’t have to travel (For the full schedule go to: http://conference.ynpn.org/schedule). You’ll hear from incredible speakers nationally and from across Central Indiana including:

  • Kimberly Peeler-Allen, our keynote speaker, who has been working at the intersection of race, gender and politics for almost 20 years. Peeler-Allen is the co-founder of Higher Heights, a national organization building the political power and leadership of Black women from the voting booth to elected office.
  • Yolanda Caldera-Durant, director of programs at Fund the People, will lead a workshop about how to invest in the nonprofit sector’s most valuable resource: its people. Caldera-Durant runs a campaign to increase awareness about the deficit of investment in nonprofit professionals who represent 11 percent of the U.S. workforce. She brings years of experience in grantmaking from the Connecticut Health Foundation, Annie E. Casey Foundation and Fairfield County Community Foundation.
  • Matthew Feltrop, executive director of The Patachou Foundation, fighting to end childhood hunger, food insecurity and low food access in Indianapolis. According to Feltrop, it is unacceptable that that Indianapolis—often called the breadbasket of America—is still facing a debilitating hunger problem.
  • Michael Twyman, professor at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, will lead a workshop exploring the origins of race, racial ideologies, and the politics of racial classifications in the context of American history.

For Not-for-profit News’ readers, YNPNIndy and YNPN National invites you to join us at the conference and register with the code (CApromo18) to receive a $35 registration discount. It’s time to take unified action to make our world better. Attending #ynpn18 is the first step.

Sign up today at conference.ynpn.org! Also, follow us on all social media @YNPNIndy for updates leading up to the conference.

Editor’s note: this guest article was written by Caitie Deranek Stewart. She is the associate director of development at the IU School of Medicine. Prior to joining the IU School of Medicine in the fall of 2014, Deranek Stewart was the donor relations specialist at the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. She is an active volunteer with a number of initiatives and joined the board of the YNPNindy chapter and the YNPN National Board in 2015.

Jul 03

Charitable Class: What is it and how can you ensure you are serving one?

By Uncategorized

By Zachary S. Kester, Executive Director and Robert Miller, Program Officer, Charitable Allies

Still unclear and fretting over whether your charity serves a charitable class?  

Do not worry, you are not alone in this concern.

It is a common issue among nonprofit organizations and identifying a charitable class is paramount for those seeking to qualify as a 501(c)(3) organization. Some organizations may worry that its targeted population is simply too small. Others may not fully understand the IRS’s ostensibly rigid requirements.

Yet, sometimes ensuring that a charitable class is being served can morph into a difficult and burdensome exercise. However, by knowing the following key concepts of nonprofit law regarding serving a charitable class and adopting a few ways to ensure compliance, a tax-exempt nonprofit organization can avoid most, if not all risk, associated with this area of nonprofit operation.

Definition of charitable class 

Generally, a charitable class is the group of people or other defined group, such as the homeless or indigent population, endangered animals, or wildlife habitats, that can properly receive assistance or programming from charitable organizations.

In this context, properly means that the class being served by the organization needs goods, services, or funds provided in a way that fits within a charitable purpose as laid out in the Internal Revenue Code § 501(c)(3), i.e. “for religious, charitable, scientific, testing for public safety, literary, or educational purposes, or to foster national or international amateur sports competition … or for the prevention of cruelty to children or animals.”

According to the IRS, a charitable class must be sufficiently large or indefinite so that aiding them benefits the whole community. Members of a charitable class can range from a person deemed indigent and in need of public housing to a prisoner or parolee needing rehabilitation services to a person suffering from a recent disaster and is need of temporary food, water, and shelter to endangered animals. Additionally, other potential charitable classes include, veterans, elderly individuals, physically or mentally handicapped, talented and/or gifted individuals, families of people killed in the line of duty, the poor, the distressed, and even other charitable organizations. In the end, you must ensure that you are serving a “charitable class” or you will not be given tax-exempt status under 501(c)(3).

Further, a charitable class may include a group of members not inherently considered a charitable class. Take for instance a for-profit business. For-profit businesses rarely constitute a charitable class. However, given the fact that a business may suffer just as much as an individual during a natural disaster, the IRS has typically allowed businesses to be included as members of a charitable class. This means that during a declared disaster or even in the wake of a terrorist act, the IRS may approve tax exemption for nonprofit organizations organized and operated to combat community deterioration, deeming the benefit to the business as incidental.

In order for a charitable class to be sufficiently large, tax-exempt organizations need to serve a large enough class to prove to the IRS that the entire community is benefiting from their activities, either directly or indirectly.

Similarly, tax-exempt organizations organized under 501(c)(3) are not permitted to serve only one individual or even a small, defined group of individuals. For example, an organization organized as the Jane Doe College Fund or the Children of John Doe’s College Fund operated to provide scholarships to Jane Doe and the children of John Doe, respectively, would not be given tax-exempt status as a defined charitable classes of such small sizes are not sufficiently large.

However, as mentioned above, being sufficiently large is not the only way to create a charitable class that meets the IRS’s requirements. To that end, the IRS does not require a charitable organization or nonprofit to determine every possible individual to lump into these groups. In fact, as mentioned above, the IRS specifically allows indefinite groups of individuals, where the number of individuals who may benefit from the charity or nonprofit has yet to be realized. This exception is understandable for a number of reasons, including the fact that the IRS has seemed to recognize that a new charity may only serve a small number of individuals before it is able to secure the necessary support to expand its services.

For example, the widows or widowers of firefighters killed in a given geographic area while discharging his or her duties would constitute a charitable class, even if the number of potential beneficiaries is undetermined. In fact, in some cases, the class might only include one person and the charitable class will be deemed sufficient so long as the potential class is indefinite. This can be accomplished in this specific scenario simply by organizing your nonprofit so as to support all widows or widowers of firefighters killed in the line of duty in a specific area. Therefore, even if there is only one widow or widower at the time the organization is organized, the class can still get larger and encompass more people.

To simplify, an organization created and operated solely for the benefit of one person would generally not qualify for tax-exemption as a charitable organization or nonprofit organization. Conversely, an organization organized and operated to benefit a large group or an indefinite group would qualify. 

Ensuring your organization’s compliance 

As difficult as it may seem it some instances, the IRS does require nonprofit organization’s to retain proof that it is serving members of a charitable class. In order to ensure that you are complaint with the rules surrounding charitable classes, the following practices have been identified as being able to provide such proof.

First, using in-take sheets to register the recipients and record their demographics is a good start. These demographics should include the basic information about age, sex, etc. along with any specific information your organization would need to prove that it is serving those within the charitable class it was organized to serve. For example, if your organization is supposed to be serving the poor, then part of the in-take sheet should include a request for documents that contain information about the recipient’s income, like a check stub, tax forms, etc.

Other information that should be received from the recipients of your organization’s services include identification documents, such as a driver’s license, state ID, Social Security card, birth certificate, passport, etc. Many grantors or donors require collection of this documentation too. Also, be sure to keep the information collected highly secure to avoid any privacy violations.

Lastly, these in-take sheets should include a sworn affidavit or affirmation attesting to the veracity of material information provided. In some cases, much of this information cannot be provided by the intended recipients due to their inability to access them, because the documents have been lost, or any number of other plausible reasons. Therefore, as insurance, your organization should also include a document that the individual can sign that states they do not have the necessary documentation and affirm that they meet the necessary requirements to receive the services being offered.

In the end, your organization needs to be aware that the IRS does require organizations to retain sufficient evidence that they are serving a charitable class. A simple assertion that a charitable class is being served is insufficient. Thankfully, there are a number of ways to prove this and the above examples are just some of the ways that have been identified to provide the IRS with the necessary information. 

Conclusion

A charitable class must be sufficiently large or indefinite so that aiding them provides a benefit for the community as a whole. Additionally, a charitable class must be made up of individuals, organizations, animals, etc. that are eligible to receive assistance from nonprofit organizations due to their connection with one of the permissible charitable purposes. This may seem like a relatively easy step in creating a non-profit, but failing to ensure that your organization serves a charitable class can cause your organization to lose its tax-exempt status or be denied tax-exempt status in the first place.

Even once you receive your tax-exempt status, you cannot relax and forget about the concept of the charitable class. You must ensure that you can prove to the IRS that the recipients of your organization’s services would qualify to be members of a charitable class.

Overall, the concept of a charitable class is an often forgotten or overlooked aspect of operating a tax-exempt non-profit organization. However, if your organization follows the guidance and tips provided above, then your organization should be able to avoid risking its tax-exempt status due to something that is relatively easy to prevent by ensuring compliance with the requirements of serving a charitable class.

 

Attorney Zac Kester provides generalist and strategic nonprofit legal and consulting services. He holds a Master of Laws, a post-law school advanced degree, in which he studied the unique needs of tax-exempt nonprofit organizations. His legal and consulting career has focused on nonprofit organizations.

With highly experienced legal and training personnel, Charitable Allies provides all manner of legal and educational services for boards, officers, management and staff of myriad charities throughout the sector. From basic one-time questions about a single matter to training for boards and officers to complex reorganization or merger of activities, Charitable Allies is your go-to cost-effective provider of legal services to nonprofit organizations.

Contact Zac Kester, executive director, at 317-333-6065 or zkester@charitableallies.org with any questions.

 

 

Jul 02

Voices from the field: lessons on collaboration

By Governance

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

Partnership, collaboration and merger are terms often bandied around in the nonprofit world. And while the concept of collaboration isn’t new, it has become a hot topic as a way to reduce duplication, increase coordination and contribute to collective impact.

According to a 2014 Bridgespan survey of nonprofits and funders, the overwhelming majority of nonprofit and foundation CEO respondents had taken part in one or more forms of collaboration. The survey found that 91 percent of CEOs have engaged in one of four common forms — associations, joint programs, shared support functions and mergers.

While nonprofits reported the most activity in the less integrated forms, 55 percent of foundations wanted to see more mergers, and 76 percent of nonprofits wanted to see more shared support functions.

In early May, Charitable Advisors partnered with Charitable Allies to host a forum. Six local nonprofit leaders took part and shared experiences and the lessons learned for an audience of nonprofit professionals.

The panelists were: Stephen McCaffrey, president and CEO at Mental Health America of Indiana; David Westenberger, CEO of Indiana Youth Services Association; Jim Morris, president and CEO at Greater Indy Habitat for Humanity; Kendra Belden, operations director, Lutherwood Residential; Janice Hicks-Slaughter, director of partnerships and outreach at the School of Education and Exercise Science, Marian University; and Kim Donaghue, senior consultant, Newgrange Consulting.

As the director of agency services at United Way of Central Center Indiana for over 12 years before her retirement in December, one of Donaghue’s primary functions was building capacity, and in this role she facilitated six or seven mergers. There was one merger she deemed perfect.

“It was an excellent agency that did wonderful work, they were smart in looking far ahead. They weren’t in financial trouble at the time, but they knew that they weren’t sustainable. Instead of waiting until they were in trouble, they decided to be proactive and began looking around at what their options were,” Donaghue said.

Most difficult, according to Donaghue, was identifying potential partners.

“Truthfully they had already identified three possible partners. They really only looked at options that were culturally and mission-appropriate,” she said.

With United Way’s financial help, the agency hired a consultant to help exam its options, and later help pay for merger legal fees.

She thinks the reason this one was successful was because the two nonprofits had complementary programs, and the agency looking to merge had programs that the other didn’t have. In addition, the partnering agency was not only able to hire the entire staff, but hired the former executive director as its development director.

“It was the most perfect marriage, I’ve ever seen,” Donoghue said. “They also absorbed some board members.”

Critical, too, were the separate meetings the consultant convened with the nonprofit’s executives and board members, giving both the chance to talk candidly and think objectively.

“It’s hard work and you need people to think big picture and from their professional selves perspective more than the personal.”

Donaghue believes most funders are receptive to support an agency exploring combinations, but are not as receptive to organizations that are failing and looking for any lifeline.

“From a funder’s perspective, we like to see an agency being proactive about its situation and really look at itself and see what they have to offer another organization,” she said. “If an agency is in dire financial straits, let’s face it, it’s going to be real tough to find a merger partner. There are not going to be a lot of agencies out there that are going to want to absorb someone in financial trouble.”

Not all consolidations are successful. Morris, who became the president of the Greater Indy Habitat for Humanity in 2011, shared an anecdote to illustrate when a conversation can take an unexpected turn.

Over the course of a year, two area Indiana Habitat affiliates discussed merging, and had all but signed the agreement. In the 11th hour, Morris received a call offering a deviation from the original plan. Rather than merging, it wanted to hand over the retail operation to Indianapolis, and keep its executive director at the helm of the local Habitat affiliate. For Morris and his board, this would have been a money-losing proposition.

“It was kind of frustrating. I really struggled with when there is an opportunity to meet a greater demand, and we have an opportunity to be more effective and efficient, but I understand that the humanness of who we are,” said Morris. In the end, the affiliate exec didn’t want to lose her position.

Ultimately, the panelists agreed, relationships are the foundation of successful collaborations.

Belden said a partnership between Community Health Network and Lutherwood Child and Family Services in 2013 led to establishing a relationship with an organization with a specific expertise.

Lutherwood, a locked secure treatment facility for youth who are placed there through the courts, through DCS and probation, has therapists and doctors on staff. The center’s staff witnessed new challenges for some of the residents: They were survivors of human trafficking. To the extent they could help, the Department of Child Services was involved, but didn’t have the expertise to offer programs for these girls.

The facility’s CEO had worked with Megan Jessup, the COO of Ascent 121, a program that provides long-term trauma recovery for teen survivors of trafficking. What if Ascent 121 could provide the much-needed programming and lend its expertise to the situation? The Impact Program, which provides residential care for teen survivors ages 12-18, was designed and Lutherwood entered into a contractual partnership with the Carmel-based organization to deliver this service.

“It goes back to relationships that we already had. Communication was a whole lot easier because we knew her, she knew us,” said Belden.

That relationship allowed open communication and to reach a consensus about programming which has continued. There are weekly partner meetings with both staffs. As an example, Belden shared how Ascent 121’s close working relationship with the FBI affects the center’s work. When there is a pending FBI raid, Ascent 121 communicates with Lutherwood’s staff and the facility’s staff can be ready to house additional residents.

Hicks-Slaughter is not new to mergers.

In 2002, she experienced her first with the merger of Big Brothers and Big Sisters. At the time only about five Big Brothers and Big Sisters chapters nationwide were still separate, and she was the executive director of Big Sisters. After 18 months of meetings, the organizations were blended, and she became COO of the newly formed local chapter.

Her second merger was the Hook’s Discovery and Learning Center with Marian University. The science-based program was a good fit for Marian, and its programming was integrated in the school’s outreach work with schools. And to round out Hicks-Slaughter’s trifecta, she had a role in the Ruth Lilly Health Education Center merger with Marian University in 2014.

At the time, the Ruth Lilly Center noticed trends in declining school field trips, and anticipating a reduction in revenues, the CEO of the center began meeting with different entities to identify possible collaborations. Marian University was one of those places.

“It started out as a meeting to just kind of talk, and after so over so many meetings, many lunches, many conversations, it was decided that there was such a mission cohesiveness, it should come together. Key was that the trustees of Marian and the board members of Ruth Lilly Health Education Center came together in agreement because the case for this was strong.

“We were also incredibly fortunate to be able to make that case to a major funder who provided a merger grant. It was a three-year grant that helped us the staff move out of that facility and transfer all of its programming to an outreach format that emanates out of Marian. I’m now responsible for outreach, and partnership development at Marian but I’m also the director of the Ruth Lilly Health Education Center, and we continue to grow and get stronger,” said Hicks-Slaughter.

She said it was not an inexpensive venture to incorporate staff and ensure a stable presence. In addition, the grant allowed them to incorporate the “wow” factor into the outreach programming, incorporating virtual reality.

In Indiana, according to the secretary of state’s office, from 2007 through early 2015, 441 nonprofits filed for mergers. The previous year, there were 71 on the list, including the Ruth Lilly Health Education Center (RLHEC) with Marian University. Long-time nonprofits like the 25-year-old Ruth Lilly Health Education Center and Hook’s Discovery Center have been reinvented by joining with Marian to continue delivering services to schools through outreach programs.

Both Donaghue and Hicks-Slaughter reminded that it’s important to not let your donors be surprised. Communicate early and often so they know that the organization is being responsible.

Hicks-Slaughter said once the merger was finalized, they invited donors to a reception so they could see and hear from people who were in the new roles.

“They could hear about the future, not just that we merged, but this is why we merged and where we see ourselves heading. And that’s what they want to hear because they’re not all happy about it. Make sure that you communicate with them and continue,” she said.

The 2014 Bridgespan survey also found that CEOs said the more integrated forms — shared support functions and mergers – were more successful, claiming that joint programs failed 20 percent of the time. Often they felt pressure from funders to engage in some type of joint programing, but when the funding ended, so did the collaboration.

While shared support functions and mergers take more to implement in both effort and money, the outcome provided structure to achieve impact.

McCaffrey’s and Westenberger’s organizations are examples of support function partnerships.

McCaffrey oversees 12 subsidiary nonprofits as part of Mental Health America of Indiana. At the time McCaffrey arrived at the organization in 1991, there were several organizations that had spun off and were frail and fledgling.

“We made a strategic decision to say, ‘Why don’t we ask our spin-offs, if they’d like to come back?’”

The plan allowed subsidiaries to keep their boards and make decisions on programs and policies. As part of a larger group, they could benefit from the statewide group’s business expertise, but had to adhere to its accounting procedures, HR procedures, and be supervised by the parent organization’s staff.

“Sort of independent but sort of integrated,” said McCaffrey. “Eventually it became our strategic way of growing and being more secure financially ourselves. I think it’s been a good thing, and it allows us to expand our reach as an organization, with 12 or so many boards and a volunteer and staff reach that’s huge. It has provided lots of options for grants or funder applications,” he said.

Westenberger has had similar experiences, first with nine nonprofits that became one organization, Fountain for Youth in Columbus, and since 2012 as Indiana Youth Services Association (IYSA). His organization has responsibility for more than 30 client organizations that outsource their accounting and HR functions to IYSA. Besides member services, the organization operates its own programs and is now credentialing Indiana youth workers and building awareness of programs.

“Before these small nonprofits had a part-time bookkeeper who may have only had minimal training. Now, they had an outsourced CFO who is Ivy Leagued educated.

“It wasn’t even the value of the service and when you add the value of the service and what you can do with that money in the community, you’re at $1 million all of a sudden. Out of your $18 million, you’re spending collectively; you just added a $1 million in your social return. That’s the driver; not can I save $100 bucks a month on my outsourced accounting,” he said.

Donaghue reminded the group that it’s relationships in the community that afford you opportunities for partnerships. Begin with relationships in the community, then look to state associations and groups and even consultants who might work with a similar organizations and offer valuable connections.

“Again, I just think it’s relationships and keeping your head up for whatever opportunities are out there,” she said.

Jun 25

Art Fair: an opportunity for community connection

By Sponsor Insight

By Jen Pittman, Assistant Vice President for Community Affairs, OneAmerica

When OneAmerica® went all-in as a title sponsor of the Broad Ripple Art Fair (BRAF) in 2016, our goal was to paint a brighter picture of support for the arts in Central Indiana.

Each spring since 1971, BRAF brings our community together on the grounds of the Indianapolis Art Center to highlight the creative current flowing through Indy. It’s an enriching community gathering, Indianapolis Art Center’s largest fundraiser, and a unique, vibrant opportunity to support artisans. BRAF also reminds us that we have much to celebrate, because arts and culture are thriving here.

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 with financial peace of mind, 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 [https://www.oneamerica.com/campaigns/Tax-Exempt-COE/Tax-Exempt-Center-of-Excellence] 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 expertise of the unique challenges and opportunities in the tax exempt marketplace and providing other financial professionals supportive tools and resources.

Our work comes full circle with BRAF. Connecting with art, investing in community vibrancy and providing excellent business services for nonprofits are all things that strengthen us as individuals and as a community. For an organization whose roots in Indy go back more than 140 years and plans to continue to grow here, community strength is paramount. The OneAmerica Broad Ripple Art Fair helps paint a picture of a strong, vibrant hometown for decades to come.

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.

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.

In 2016, she joined OneAmerica – an historic Indianapolis company with a legacy of strong community engagement – and now serves as Assistant Vice President, Community Affairs.  In this role, she is helping OneAmerica maximize the impact of corporate philanthropy for our community and for the company’s 2,000 associates.  Her partnership model brings together the company’s multi-million dollar annual community investment with the time and talents of employees through volunteering and leadership development.

Prior to OneAmerica, Jen held a variety of roles with the City of Indianapolis. Serving her final year there as Deputy Chief of Staff for Mayor Greg Ballard, she had an impressive service record during her time in local government.  She led the City’s message of “Indy Welcomes All” in response to proposed legislation threating the local tourism industry and played a leadership role in the transition team between outgoing and incoming administrations.  She previously served the City as its Marketing Director and Deputy Director of Indy Parks, with a focus on elevating the City’s international profile and instituting the “My City, My Park” program, which encourages partnering with private companies to improve services and provide critical programming at the City’s 200+ local parks.

Jen also has served as Vice President of Programs at Simon Youth Foundation. In that role, she supported educational programming in 22 Simon Youth Academies nationwide.  The non-traditional high schools support at-risk students, encouraging them to stay in and graduate from high school. During her tenure, she worked with the Indianapolis Public Schools’ administration to return an Indianapolis Simon Youth Academy back to a Circle Centre Mall location in the heart of downtown. More than 15,000 students nation-wide have graduated from Simon Youth Academies at more than a 90% graduation rate, surpassing many traditional public schools.

At the community level, Jen is a respected champion for financial fitness and helped create and launch Indy’s Campaign for Financial Fitness with Indy’s First Lady Winnie Ballard, where she served as an Advisory Board member for 6 years. Currently, she continues to advocate for and support this work through involvement with United Way of Central Indiana. Jen is a mentor for young professionals with Pass the Torch for Women, a member of the board of directors of the Greater Indianapolis Progress Committee and a committee volunteer with United Way of Central Indiana. At the neighborhood-level, she has been engaged in causes including the Washington Township Parent Council (recently working on referendum activities), serving as a volunteer for Wyldlife (Young Life’s group for middle school-aged children), and as a PTO volunteer at Allisonville Elementary and Eastwood Middle School. She is also an active member of Bethlehem Lutheran Church.

Jen earned her undergraduate degree from Franklin College.

She resides in Indianapolis with her husband, Al Ensley, and their two school-aged children.

Jun 11

Slow to adjust, nonprofit boards ramp up effort

By Feature, Leadership

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

Diversity. Its definition may vary, but its merits are championed in just about all walks of life: schools, the political arena, the entertainment industry and especially the workplace, which includes the nonprofit world.

For over two decades, BoardSource, a Washington, D.C.-based organization designed to support today’s nonprofit leaders, has studied the issue in relation to how nonprofits are governed.

Late last year, BoardSource released Leading with Intent, a biennial study of nonprofit board composition, culture and performance. While there were some encouraging trends, the study laid bare some disturbing truths about board attitudes and actions regarding racial diversity and diversity in general.

The study found that the nonprofit sector has made little progress when it comes to building more racially diverse boards. The first study in 1994 found that just 14 percent of board members were people of color. The 2017 results increased that participation only slightly to 16 percent, although minorities now represent 39 percent of our country’s population. Twenty-seven percent of boards are 100 percent white.

That said, there are some encouraging local efforts to change the compositions of nonprofit boards.

Jeb Banner has been part of this movement. In 2006, he co-founded Indianapolis-based SmallBox, a creative agency working with nonprofits, and has since co-founded several nonprofits and served on multiple boards. Today he is the CEO of Boardable, a board management software company designed to help boards communicate.

While he’s often been in boardrooms where the topic doesn’t arise, he thinks there’s definitely intentional change happening.

As co-founder and past board chair of The Speak Easy, a collaborative workspace that serves entrepreneurs, Banner worked to balance the representation on the board.

“It was our intention to serve female entrepreneurs in particular because we feel like they’re under-resourced and the boys club thing has to be blown up in the tech world,” said Banner, who rolled off the board in 2016.

The Speak Easy, with two sites and three satellites founded in 2011, has continued this mindset, and later this week will announce its executive director, the third woman to lead the organization.

For Jenny Vance, who has been on The Speak Easy board for three years and is the current Speak Easy chairwoman, board diversity is critical and cited an example from television’s Tina Fey to illustrate her point.

Fey recently told the story of being the only female comedy writer on a team. She would write something that was funny, but it was more relatable to women and the men on her team didn’t get it. But because her opinion wasn’t relatable to others at the table, she wasn’t seen as contributing in a strong way.

“It’s about knowing there are people to relate to and who represent their interests. By doing that first, I think all those other things become possible,” said Vance.  

“By just having checkmarks of diversity, we’re not really meeting the reasons for having a diverse board. If we really dream big about who gives our members the best service, then once we’ve identified key roles to fill, I think it’s a matter of how we fill those roles while also ensuring diversity.”

She also knows that The Speak Easy continues to have work to do. The organization has matured, and is currently in the midst of this operational change. And while some board terms have concluded and the spots are unfilled, board members determined it wasn’t the best time to add new members, wanting the new executive director to have a voice in the process.

Impact is another reason to strive for a diverse board. A report released in February by the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy found that the simple pursuit of diversity could result in other areas of growth and progress that deliver rewards in the short and long terms.

The study “Impact of Diversity: Understanding How Nonprofit Board Diversity Affects Philanthropy, Leadership and Board Engagement” was researched by the school in partnership with Johnson, Grossnickle and Associates and BoardSource. One of the findings was that a diverse board improves the organization’s philanthropic engagement on three levels: participation, fundraising and advocacy.

Vance believes that takes work and that the community needs to invest in helping to grow new leaders to expand talent that is available.

“We need more people growing in the leadership roles. Investment in that is so important to us being able to see the future change in terms of diversity,” she said. “It’s got to be a community effort. It has to be part of our thought process in our government, in our entrepreneurial community, our tech community, our talent development.”

Two years ago, the Indianapolis Foundation, as part of its 100-year celebration, did just that. With help from organizations in the community, it identified a pool of candidates and then selected 10 young professionals as fellows whom they would invest in for three years.

Tamara Winfrey-Harris, CICF’s vice president of marketing and community, joined the staff just after the announcement and has become the fellows’ liaison.

The program was designed to add diversity to boards on the basis of age.

“There is a real barrier to entry for a lot of millennials,” said Banner. But I think that the reality is that some of these older leaders that have given so much to the community are going to have to step down, step aside in time, pretty soon to make room for women, minorities and the youth.”

The Indianapolis Foundation, besides awarding each fellow access to $10,000 annually for three years or a board term, has provided leadership training, and confidential sharing sessions. All 10 fellows continue to serve.

“In the first quarter of 2017, we brought someone in to talk about general board procedure and governance, and then the next quarter, we had our CFO talk about how do you read a financial statement and what are the things that you should look for as a board member. We tried to give them the tools that they need to be successful as board members,” said Winfrey-Harris.

Along with identifying these young professionals, the foundation tried to place them on boards of prominent organizations.

“Those boards tend not to be as diverse, there tends to be financial obligations that not always young people or people of color can meet, and those are boards where a board member has influence, and that’s important that we give those people influence,” Winfrey-Harris said.

Adrianne Slash, a Community Health Network diversity and inclusion consultant, was one of those selected. Slash is also president of The Exchange at the Indianapolis Urban League.

“I thought it was incredibly ambitious for CICF and the Indianapolis Foundation to say, ‘We are going to do this work because it’s important for the future of Indianapolis,’” said Slash.

“The opportunity to develop homegrown, dedicated Indianapolis talent and to invest in them really speaks to their investment in us and those organizations that they are connecting to the younger generation.

“They took a chance on us and I like to think that we’re doing really well and that people are seeing the worth and the value of having a fellow on their board. I do think that the level of scrutiny that the foundation used in making sure that they had mature younger voices sitting around the table did a great service.”

At onset there were board-training sessions for the 10 fellows.

“The trainings have been phenomenal. In our trainings, we’ve looked at governance, we’ve looked at finances, we even had the hard conversation about the way things are reported out in meetings, and whether it’s the best practices or not,” said Slash. “We’ve learned how to ask the questions around finances, how do we engage specifically if there are board members who are not acting with decorum and respect for everyone at the table.”

Slash said that the meet-up time has allowed honest conversation about board membership.

“So when this fellowship is over, will I just curl up and go away or will more board service come from it? I think the answer is more will come from it.”

Jun 04

New study reveals funding intentions of budding nonprofit entrepreneurs

By Sponsor Insight

By Michael L. Jackson, Director of Marketing and Communications, SPEA at IUPUI

During his time as a senior fellow at the Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership in Missouri Fredrik Andersson has counseled hundreds of nonprofit professionals on how to improve performance and organizational effectiveness.

He has also met with countless entrepreneurs who have great ideas for new nonprofit ventures. They all want to know the same thing: “Where can I find money for it?”

That ongoing query sparked Andersson’s most recent research into the funding intentions among nascent nonprofit entrepreneurs. His latest journal article, published this spring in the Journal of Public and Nonprofit Affairs, examines anticipated funding sources and amounts that budding entrepreneurs believe they’ll need as they formally launch their new nonprofits.

“I would make the argument that one of the most difficult things there is for anyone who wants to start a new organization is how to hayamix.com obtain and allocate resources,” said Andersson, an assistant professor of nonprofit management at the IU School of Public and Environmental Affairs at IUPUI. “There are so many different options for funding – individual donations, earned income, foundations, grants – and careful consideration of those sources is a key thing.”

Andersson collected data over the course of a year from 103 budding nonprofit entrepreneurs who were participants in seven “Planning a New Nonprofit” workshops at the Midwest Center for Nonprofit Leadership. He found that the average number of sources in a funding portfolio was 3.12, with philanthropic grants (67 percent) and donations (57 percent) listed as the top two potential sources.

As for estimated start-up capital needs, 9 percent of respondents indicated they would need less than $5,000, 46 percent expected needs to fall between $5,000 and $10,000, 31 percent in the $10,000 to $20,000 range, and 14 percent estimated start-up capital needs exceeding $20,000.

While philanthropic grants and individual donations are clearly considered an important source of start-up funding among emerging entrepreneurs, they emerged as critically important for those entrepreneurs who expected start-up costs to fall within the range of $5,000 to $20,000. Nearly two-thirds of respondents in this group expected the two sources to cover a majority of their capital needs.

“There is a perception – and the idea must have been shaped somewhere – that a lot of start-up money is coming from (foundations),” Andersson said. “The reality is that a lot of these nascent entrepreneurs intend to compete for philanthropic grant dollars they are unlikely to get.”

Andersson and American University professor Lewis Faulk investigated foundation grants made to new nonprofits in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, between 2003 and 2012 and discovered that new nonprofit startups receive grants at significantly lower rates than already established nonprofits.

“Research shows that the greatest predictor of getting a grant from a foundation is getting a grant previously,” Andersson said. “Foundations generally want to know that something is making a difference before they invest. They want to see evidence that this is a risk worth taking.”

With his latest research, Andersson also discovered that previous start-up experience appears to play an important role when determining funding options for a new organization. He says those individuals who have prior experience starting a nonprofit are more likely to draw from personal savings, income, loans and credit.

These entrepreneurs’ intentions to utilize personal means and other funding sources like angel investors or crowd funding is a tactic that minimizes the need for external funding to allow the emerging organization to get going, according to Andersson.

“One interpretation of this finding is that that experienced nascent nonprofit entrepreneurs are more aware, through learning, of just how difficult it can be to obtain funding from external financiers,” Andersson said.

Regardless of the funding source or amount, Andersson says it’s important for nascent entrepreneurs to think beyond money. He cautions them to be prepared for what happens if they don’t get the start-up capital they expected and to make contingency plans.

“If you’re going to charter your success on whether or not you can obtain financing, then I think you disregard the fact that you can muster resources in other ways,” he said. “That is sometimes what is referred to as boot-strapping.

“Instead of buying a new building you work out of your home,” he continued. “Instead of buying equipment you borrow it from another organization. You partner and collaborate. Obtaining resources that are beyond finances is a critical element to startup success and should not be overlooked in the process.”

Michael L. Jackson joined SPEA as its Director of Marketing and Communications in 2015 following two years at the Kelley School of Business, where he helped launch the school’s physician-only MBA program in 2013. Previously he worked for The Indianapolis Star.

May 29

The art of major gift fundraising

By Sponsor Insight

Editor’s Note: Gene Tempel, Ed.D., Founding Dean Emeritus of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI and president emeritus of the Indiana University Foundation, contributed content for this article.

By Abby Rolland, Content Coordinator, the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI  

“Fundraising is the gentle art of teaching the joy of giving.”
— Henry A. “Hank” Rosso, founder of The Fund Raising School

For Angela Gill, sharing the joy of giving is one of the best parts of her job as Executive Director of the Major Hospital Foundation in Shelbyville.

That’s a good thing, because the health-care system her foundation serves is expanding. In the past few years, it has opened a new hospital and health campus and partnered with Veteran Health Indiana to open a new garida.net veterans’ clinic. And this year, it will begin building a new nephrology center to focus on kidney health, thanks to a donor’s generosity.

Gill is aided in helping donors find the joy in giving by her extensive professional experience — including holding key roles at the Blue River Community Foundation and Shelby County United Fund before joining the Major Hospital Foundation in 2006 — and her graduate education. She earned her master’s degree in philanthropic studies from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at IUPUI in 2011.

Since graduating, Gill has applied that knowledge, including an understanding of the art of fundraising, to her work. Recently, the foundation was awarded a major gift from a generous donor to build a freestanding nephrology center. Gill spoke about the process of securing this gift – a years-long process that began with a small gift from an interested individual.

“I had hoped this gentleman might be interested in the work of the hospital and the foundation,” she said. “He’s pretty savvy – he started by making a small gift to see what we would do about it, how we would respond. I stayed in touch with him and let him know everything we were doing.”

Fundraising, Gill said, depends on developing trust and mutual understanding over time.

That echoes advice that Dr. Gene Tempel, founding dean emeritus of the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and president emeritus of the Indiana University Foundation, shared in a recent podcast for The Fund Raising School.

“The art of fundraising,” Tempel said, is “the creativity and engagement that are part of the way that fundraising has to be done.” It’s the art that must accompany the science and the technique of fundraising.

For one thing, Tempel said, fundraising is “about listening more than speaking, so that one begins to understand the donor. Listening is about 75 percent of the interaction. One needs to have empathy for the donor, to be able to see the world in which the donor lives from the donor’s point-of-view, to identify with and engage with the donor.”

[content_box box_type=”normal”]

“The First Day from The Fund Raising School” is a weekly, 10-minute podcast that provides fundraisers and philanthropy professionals with current news, ideas and research. Hosted by Bill Stanczykiewicz, director of The Fund Raising School at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, it is available through The Fund Raising School App as well as iTunes and Google Play. A video version is also available on The Fund Raising School’s LinkedIn page.

Thinking about making a master’s degree a reality? The Master of Arts in Philanthropic Studies degree can be earned online, in person, or by combining those options.

[/content_box]

“Hank Rosso, the founder of The Fund Raising School, frequently said, ‘Fundraising is the gentle art of teaching the joy of giving,’” Tempel said. “The joy of giving part is really important – one can sense when the donor might find joy in the gift that is being sought. And when the donor finds joy in the expression of a gift, that’s when we have the possibility of a major gift.”

For Gill, collaborating with the major donor to find that joy involved relationship building and exploring how the donor’s interests and the mission and needs of her organization might line up. As the relationship progressed, the donor shared that he would be interested in making a major gift.

“We showed him the drawings and gave him an explanation of what a nephrology center would do,” Gill said, noting that the new center will serve thousands of people every year and will provide a continuum of care to people living in Shelby County. “He was interested and agreed to support it and put his late wife’s name on the center, which we’ll be building later this year.”

Tempel’s insights underscore the value of such collaboration for the donor as well as the organization.

“So often we think of transformational gifts as gifts that transform the organization somehow and have a major impact on the organization. And certainly that’s a valid way of thinking about a big idea, a big gift might help fund a big idea that changes the organization,” he said.

“But it’s most important to think about how the gift might transform the donor, how the gift might make an impact on the donor’s life and see the possibility of something happening that the donor could not or did not have the thought of doing before. When one can help a donor make a transformational gift, a gift that transforms the donor’s life, that’s when we have complete satisfaction and perhaps joy in making the gift from the donor’s perspective.”

Gill shares some additional thoughts for fundraisers to keep in mind when collaborating with major donors:

  • Make sure you have a good relationship with people within your organization. “For me, keeping the door open with the administration and the board of the hospital is extremely important so that both parties know what is going on and are on the same page about both the project and the prospective gift.”
  • Know your donor. “If you go in to a meeting about a gift without knowing what the donor supports, it can be difficult.” Listen carefully and do your research so you know from the outset that what you’re proposing is likely to be a good match.
  • Do the right thing. “If you treat people the right way and listen to them, good things can come your way. They learn to trust you, like what you’re doing, and want to become a part of that work.”

Abby Rolland is the content coordinator at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, and a current student in the philanthropic studies graduate certificate program. She has plans to enroll in the full master’s degree. Prior to her current role, she served as an AmeriCorps VISTA with Second Helpings, Inc. She is passionate about nonprofits and the impact they have in local and global communities.

May 21

Branding with heart

By Sponsor Insight

By Chad Stuckey, founder and Chief Creative Officer and Blair Wieland, Chief Strategic Officer and Partner, BIG

Brand Innovation Group — BIG, to our friends — specializes in branding for nonprofits. We know you have more than just goals. You have a mission, driven by a passion to help others.

We speak your language, understand your challenges and already have a roadmap to find the right solutions. You want to work with people you trust, and we love being those people — an extension of your own team.

With offices in Fort Wayne and Indianapolis, BIG has over 20 years of extensive experience partnering with Indiana-based nonprofits including United Way of Allen County, Matthew 25 Health & Dental Clinic and The Fort Wayne Rescue Mission. Our marketing and branding expertise also extends to international organizations, including work with David C Cook, The Navigators and Compassion International.

We know running a nonprofit presents a unique set of challenges, and we understand that every dollar spent should produce hayamix results. You can’t afford to put out a message that falls flat. With every branding initiative, our dedicated strategy team speaks to employees, donors and volunteers to capture deep insights into what makes your organization so special. We develop target audience personas and customer-experience maps based on primary research to guide and strengthen our understanding of your unique brand. Armed with these insights and strategic positioning, our creative team develops messaging and supporting visuals that deliver compelling brand stories. And because a great story deserves to be told well, we build traditional and digital tactics that make a real impact.

The BIG difference is the creation of a living brand — a flexible expression of your organization that adapts to changes in the marketplace, communication channels and donor engagement.

Our world is changing, and it’s changing fast. Your mission is too important to be lost in the crowd.

Let us handle your brand, so you can focus on lending a hand.

Chad Stuckey, founder and chief creative officer,, is a creative thinker and graphic designer with more than two decades of experience crafting memorable brands and head-turning ad campaigns. He founded BIG in 1995 after earning dual degrees in organizational leadership and technical graphics from Purdue University. But he owes much of his career success to his allergy to horses. If not for that, he might’ve fulfilled his childhood dream of becoming a cowboy.

 

Blair Wieland, BIG’s chief strategic officer and partner, is a serial entrepreneur who is always looking for ‘what’s right, not what’s next.’ First he creates something the market wants, and then makes it something they can’t do without. After graduating from the University of Michigan and Notre Dame, Blair’s ‘strategy first’ approach to innovation made him a nationally recognized, award-winning product designer.

Visit gotobig.com to learn more, and say hi.

May 21

Children’s Commission gains a foothold

By Legislation

By Lynn Sygiel, editor, Charitable Advisors

Indiana, like most states in the country, has no shortage of vulnerable, at-risk children. Indiana’s kids, however, may be more fortunate than others in that they have friends in high places.

The state’s Supreme Court Chief Justice Loretta Rush and state Sen. Travis Holdman (R-Markle) have been strong advocates for Indiana’s children for a large portion of their time in public service. Both have spent significant time at the grassroots level learning about issues affecting this population.

For Rush, it included volunteering in the 1980s as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA), making recommendations to a judge on behalf of neglected or abused children, and as a judge, visiting the institutions where she would sentence young people. Holdman has been associated with Child Protection Services in Indiana for over 40 years.

Five years ago, they worked in concert to affect state-level change. They advocated and tenaciously supported the creation of the Commission on Improving the Status of Children in Indiana. Holdman saw a need and sponsored the legislation and said Rush and others worked doggedly to support the effort. Both believed there needed to be regular attention paid to improving the status of children.

 

[content_box box_type=”normal”]

Information sharing guide

This mobile-friendly guide summarizes how specific types of information about children and families can be shared between professionals, which parties can share this information, and who can receive the information. Visit the mobile app

href="#" data-color-override="false" data-hover-color-override="false" data-hover-text-color-override="#fff">Button Text

[/content_box]

 

“There were so many different entities that touch children, but there was no coordination between the entities. When we did research for the children’s commission, we found 31 committees or commissions on the record books dealing with children and child-related issues,” said Rush who has served as chief justice since 2014. Over a year, they did a global overview and determined that a children’s commission could pull all these entities together.

Although Holdman said there was no one incident that led to the commission’s creation, the overarching reason was that with the many parts and pieces and different agencies, it often resulted in duplication of services and payment.

Established by Senate Bill 125 in 2013, the 18-member commission includes leaders from the executive, legislative and judicial branches of state government, but more importantly, its positions are specifically named in the statute. Five members form the executive committee and the commission chairmanship rotates among the three branches of government.

Holdman said from the start they were adamant that the leader of a division be the representative.

“Bill drafters wanted to add ‘designee.’ We said, ‘No, we’re not going to put that language in because they will never come to a meeting, if we do that.’ The commissioner of health, the superintendent of public instruction, and the attorney general, all of those leaders need to be personally involved so that we get their attention, and they help determine how to resolve issues for children.

“I think having all three branches is what makes it unique from other states,” said Holdman who rotated off the commission and was replaced by Sen. Erin Houchin (R-Salem). Not all states have commissions, and Indiana’s was scheduled to sunset in 2019. That, however, was changed to 2029 in the most recent legislative session.

Last September, Julie Whitman became the commission’s first full-time executive director. Previously she was Indiana Youth Institute’s (IYI) vice president of Statewide Engagement and Advocacy, and also served as a co-chairperson for the commission’s data sharing and mapping committee.

At the commission’s inception, Rush said that data-gathering was among the most important things it would do. And Whitman is well poised to help make that happen. For the past 24 years, one of IYI’s annual publications has been the KIDS COUNT data book, which provides easily accessible, reliable data regarding childhood well-being in five categories: families and communities, economy, education, health and safety. Whitman believes the commission takes it one step further.

“I think that the commission picks up where KIDS COUNT leaves off, in the sense that the data book gives a general picture of the state. Then these guys are tasked with researching, ‘OK, now what do we do about it? What are other states doing about it?’ So they’re doing a different type of research. Really looking at interventions and best practices and policies,” she said.

One of the first important tasks that the commission did, Holdman said, was to build an inventory of all the services around the state. It helped the commission learn where the gaps and holes in services were geographically.

The commission has also been able to raise the visibility of issues, like infant mortality.

“We brought that to light, got Governor Pence’s attention and the state held the first infant mortality symposium. So as much as anything, it’s not doing the work itself, but bringing the issues to light for the public to be aware of it. Folks in a lot of different communities have stepped up to the plate to address the issue locally,” said the senator who has represented his district since 2008.

Rush said a tangential effect is collaboration.

“You have people who have never sat around the table who are dealing with state-wide policies who have never communicated with each other. When you get different people who care, it’s really interesting to see how these partners help,” she said.

At the start, the commission met quarterly for four hours. When Whitman came on board, she did a listening tour. The majority mentioned the length of meetings. Now the group meets more frequently — six times a year for two hours. Meetings are held from 10 a.m. to noon on the third Wednesday of each month.

And they have made progress.

The commission is not doing this work in isolation. Four task forces provide insight and expertise, each representing one priority of the strategic plan — Child Safety and Services, Educational Outcomes, Mental Health and Substance Abuse and Juvenile Justice and Cross-system Youth.

“None of the commission members sit on the task forces. Altogether under the Children’s Commission umbrella, we have about 150 people working on issues, and that includes the commission members themselves,” said Whitman. The committees include individuals from both government agencies and nonprofit leaders. About 30 to 40 percent are non-governmental employees.

“The commission has really said to these task forces, ‘You are the subject matter experts, bring us your recommendations, we want to take action and create policies that really are driven by what works in the field,’” said Whitman.

“Even though they’re volunteers, they’ve agreed to do this work and hold each other accountable. We’ve started a process where every task force reports out at every commission meeting, so I think this helps them just stay invested in the work and really make sure these objectives are moving forward,” she said.

When the task force is ready to bring a recommendation to the commission, it asks to be placed on the commission’s agenda. At the commission meeting, there is a hearing that includes discussion and questions.

Whitman provided two concrete accomplishments since the fall.

One identified need was additional mental health therapists and counselors. The Mental Health and Substance Abuse Task Force was charged with researching what could be done at the state level to increase the available number. A subcommittee discovered a specific barrier to state licensing: Indiana law has an internship requirement of 1,000 hours, whereas most nationally accredited programs require only 700.

So the committee offered a recommendation to change that requirement, which was approved unanimously, and according to Whitman, also came up with an innovation.

“Once an individual has an initial clinical license, he or she has to have hours of supervision from a person with the same type of licensing. In rural areas, especially, it can be a challenge to find a supervisor who has a specialization to get the required hours of face-to-face supervision,” she said.

So the task force recommended that 50 percent of those hours be virtual to ease the burden.

Both recommendations were approved unanimously. That particular task force is chaired by Sen. Randall Head (R-Logansport), and he filed that bill with the Indiana General Assembly that made it all the way through.

“I thought that was a pretty exciting win for this past year,” said Whitman.

Another example was from the Child Safety and Services Task Force. One of its objectives is addressing teen suicide in Indiana. That task force researched Zero Suicide Academy, which is a policy approach and designed specifically for hospital emergency departments and community mental health centers to make sure that the safety net has no holes and that those contemplating suicide don’t fall through the cracks.

“After completing the research, the task force recommended that the commission endorse the academy. WFYI was at the commission meeting and broadcast a segment. There was greater public awareness. I was able to reach out to the head of the hospital association and say, ‘Hey, the Children’s Commission has just approved this, can you get this information out to your hospital members?” And he was very happy to do so. And that kind of power of collaboration and just raising awareness sometimes, can get an initiative a little further than maybe it would have gotten otherwise,” said Whitman.

Diverse perspectives can help clarification language. Recently at a meeting, there was a discussion about the words “wrap-around services.”

“Some folks who are steeped in the mental health field said ‘wrap-around’ has a very particular meaning within the mental health world, which we think actually is not what was meant here. We think it’s actually school-based services. So they re-worded that objective, and the commission said fine,” said Whitman.

“I think there’s a kind of deference and respect in both directions between the commission and the task forces, so when those subject matter experts come and say, ‘We just wanted to clarify and make sure this was your intent,’ the commission has a great respect for the expertise in those groups.”

So what’s next? Whitman said that the commission is waiting for the Department of Child Services assessment report in June and assumes it will affect what the commission is doing.

“I’m not sure we’re where we need to be, but at least we have a framework in place that we can use to monitor what’s going on to get a better handle on it,” said Holdman.

Whitman said she would love the state to get to a point where we have an overall vulnerable youth dashboard, children’s budget or fiscal map and match them up.
“Ultimately we need to say, ‘What’s the return on investment? What are we doing as a state for kids? Is it as effective as it can be? Is it as efficient as it can be?”