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Jan 09

Making inroads towards equity in the nonprofit sector

By Feature

The Indianapolis Foundation’s Pamela Ross shares insights about the organization’s initiatives

by Shari Finnell, editor/writer, Not-for-profit News

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives have been at the forefront of priorities for many nonprofit organizations in recent years. However, as many leaders have recognized, implementing DEI initiatives can be complex considering that many leaders and employees will have different perspectives on how to successfully move forward.

We recently talked to Pamela Ross, vice president of community leadership and equitable initiatives for the The Indianapolis Foundation to gain insights on the inroads the organization has made since changing its mission to focus on equity initiatives nearly five years ago. The philanthropy, which was established in 1997, and its family of funds contribute more than $40 million annually to nonprofits in Central Indiana. In 2020, it was the steward of more than $825 million in charitable assets. 

As Ross puts it, even after several years of being immersed in DEI initiatives, the foundation still is in the beginning stages of initiating change because it involves uprooting deeply ingrained institutionalized systems.

“We changed our mission to mobilize people, investments, and ideas to create a more equitable Central Indiana where everyone has the opportunity to reach their full potential no matter their place, race, or identity,” Ross said in describing the foundation’s shift in focus. “In order for people to reach their potential and have the most opportunities, we couldn’t keep ignoring the fact that race is a factor in who gets access — access to money, access to resources in all the different sectors, including education and the workforce.”

Ross noted that one of the most important steps for any nonprofit leaders who are seeking to make progress with DEI is to start by addressing institutional racism within their own organizations. 

“We have to have different perspectives at the table — not just those who are working in the community but those who work in finance, those who sit in leadership seats,” Ross said. “We must change the institutional makeup of the organization.”

Ross said that the process requires taking a critical look at hiring practices. “If all of your staff is white and you serve a population that is 90 percent Black, there’s something wrong with that,” she said.  It’s not a matter of looking at diversity but people who have lived experiences. The people who are most impacted by them will be the best advisors on how to create programs, build out programs, and deliver messages. Their perspectives should be represented.”

With institutional change, the organization must be structured in such a way that it persists beyond a momentary place in time, Ross said. “Several things have changed in all of our departments, including practices, policies, and accountability,” she said. “Many nonprofits struggle with making real change because there haven’t been substantive changes within the organizations for years.”

Embracing community representation 

The foundation also implemented a Community Ambassador program to include decision-makers that represent the communities it serves. That program has been instrumental in giving people throughout Central Indiana a voice about critical decisions, including the foundation’s grant-making process. 

“It’s important to ask, ‘What’s your feedback loop for getting information?’,” Ross said. “For us, it was with our community ambassadors through a program that was started five years ago. It made us better in our own anti-racist practices and policies because the ambassadors are our feedback loop. They’re the ones who will say, ‘Why are you still granting dollars to ‘ABC’ organization? This is what they’re not doing in our community.’”

Ross noted that community ambassadors provide an extra level of accountability. “When you say you’re planning to change something, they will hold you to the fire about it.” 

Supporting grassroots organizations

The foundation also examined avenues to support more grassroots organizations that are making an impact in their communities but may not have the resources to invest in traditional grant-making procedures, Ross said. 

According to Ross, a shift toward a more equitable grant-making process requires a willingness to give up a risk-averse approach. “Not everyone has to show up with a beautiful well written proposal,” she said. 

Ross also pointed out that many grassroots organizations may not have the infrastructure typical of larger nonprofits. “We’re not scared away if they don’t look like the most developed and scaled institutions that are typically led by white executives,” she said. 

As part of its equity focus, The Indianapolis Foundation is dedicated to helping grassroots organizations become more sustainable. The foundation has launched a $3 million, 3-year initiative to help grassroots organizations scale through infrastructure development.

“In the not for profit world, it’s called capacity building,” she said. “We call it infrastructure development, because capacity building has this overarching assumption that there’s a deficit within the organization. The organization … the people who are doing the work … can be very solid in what they’re doing, but they need the structures that typically have not been invested in black and brown grassroots organizations in the same way that they have been for other organizations .”

Through the initiative, the foundation helps these types of nonprofits with various aspects of successfully running an organization, including program evaluation, data management, executive mindset, grant writing, board development, and fundraising. 

This March, the foundation also will host a BIPOC (black, Indigenous and people of color) bootcamp that is focused on the challenges of being a black or brown leader in the nonprofit area, Ross said. “We’re trying to create more equitable opportunities for them to scale without feeling like they should be ashamed because they’re not in a certain space,” she said.

Movement of 10,000 app

The Indianapolis Foundation also sought to engage a large community on equity solutions through the development of the The Movement of 10,000 (MVMT10K) digital platform, which is accessible through an app and online. It supports people who are genuinely interested in ways to become more conscious of their decisions and how they invest their dollars and time to create a more equitable society, Ross said.

“If you’re an individual who really wants things to be different, this is a convenient space to learn about what has happened as well as create relationships,” she said. “There’s so much we can learn. We are where we are because too often spaces of power are typically held by white people. And if we’re actually going to change systemic racism and institutional racist structures, we must get to a place where people recognize their power to break those systems by making different decisions.

“The hope is that a lot of different people, especially people who are white and in spaces of power and influence,  can engage so we can see some change,” Ross said.

Jan 03

What are IT managed services?

By Sponsor Insight

by Cody Lents, partner and customer steward at COVI, Inc.

Many business leaders often express confusion when it comes to their company’s information technology. As growth occurs, new clients and new employees bring increased needs. It often becomes necessary to engage with a service provider to offload some IT tasks. One of the many services that COVI provides is IT managed services. But what is that?

IT managed services are tasks handled by a third-party service provider, called a managed service provider (MSP). These types of providers can manage a defined set of business technology services for numerous clients, including large corporations and small businesses. An MSP also may implement a platform that offers technology services cheaper than what it would cost a business to do itself, at a higher level of quality, and with more flexibility and scalability.

Your business can benefit from IT managed services if it doesn’t have the time, skills, or experience internally to manage information technology operations. Relying on expert guidance also allows your company to focus on the day-to-day workload.

For example, a small business owner spending time dealing with a faulty printer could cost the business more money without already having an MSP at their disposal. Small businesses can also face other challenges when sharing one login among several employees, creating an unsecured network.

This is where an IT managed services provider can step in — to provide a streamlined technology process for your company. However, it is important to note that consulting and professional services are not managed services.

Incorporating IT managed services can have a positive impact on how your company functions. From staff to training, the costs can add up without utilizing an MSP. IT managed services options can be timely, predictable and cost effective, which can be useful when budgeting for your company or small business.

Another benefit to business leaders who incorporate IT managed services is simply reliability — allowing you to worry less about potential outages so you can focus more on your goals. MSPs are responsible for keeping you online at all times.

To learn more about how COVI can help your business with IT managed services, visit our site.

Dec 16

Organizational assessments: What are they and why does your organization need one?

By Sponsor Insight

by Erin Hedges, founder and president, Hedges

It’s that time of the year again … the time when we get to say, “Let’s circle back on that after the holidays” or “We’ll regroup in the new year.” It’s the time for forecasting and budgeting … for reflecting on what was accomplished and what goals we should set for the future.

Nonprofit leaders constantly balance day-to-day management with long-term strategic thinking, but the end of the year always brings that task to bear in unique and time-sensitive ways. As the page turns from Q4 back to Q1, nonprofit executives are often wondering, “Is my organization on track and how do I know?” At Hedges, our recommendation for answering this question is simple: Like any successful employee, organizations need an annual review to measure their health, effectiveness, and growth. We call this an organizational assessment.

What is an organizational assessment? An organizational assessment is a measurement tool designed to assess your organization’s current standing — both in areas of strength and areas where there are critical gaps. Ultimately, it should capture your organization’s key strengths and challenges across the core functions of a nonprofit.

At Hedges, we call these the Four Pillars of Organizational Health. These pillars are Programs & Impact, Leadership & Culture, Marketing & Communications, and Finance & Development. Using this Four-Pillar framework, Hedges benchmarks organizations against 30 Organizational Indicators aligned with leading industry standards and informed by our experience in partnering with more than 140 nonprofit organizations over the last 20 years.

This 30-indicator assessment includes overarching questions such as:

  • Are there systems and processes in place to measure the organization’s impact?
  • Do the individuals impacted have opportunities to inform program delivery?
  • Does the organization have strong staff satisfaction and retention?
  • Is the board of directors high performing?
  • Does the organization have a clear brand voice and strong digital media presence?
  • Does the organization have diverse revenue streams and partnerships?

Who is involved in an organizational assessment? The most effective organizational assessments include input from multiple directions. We recommend that organizational assessments include input from staff, board members, and the individuals your organization impacts. Staff members can provide input through a simple staff satisfaction survey and board members may complete a self-evaluation of themselves and the entire board.

These results can then be compiled with client feedback that is captured through existing program evaluation methods or through a separate client satisfaction survey. Critically, you should be able to draw a direct line between the questions you ask in a survey or evaluation and the indicators you use to make your organizational assessment.

Organization leaders such as the executive director or the board chair should oversee the organizational assessment process, but they may also tap into contractors and consultants who specialize in nonprofit operations and governance.

What are the benefits of an organizational assessment? Not only does an organizational assessment answer the question: “Is my organization on track?” but it also provides the following three key benefits:

  1. An organizational assessment can give you helpful data to use for setting measurable goals. For example, you may have a general goal of improving staff satisfaction in 2023. In an assessment process, you may discover that 80 percent of staff feel like the culture at your organization is positive but only 20 percent describe communication as strong. Now, thanks to this assessment data, you can make you 2023 goal much more specific and measurable with concrete baseline data to inform your year-end goal (i.e., from 80 percent to 100 percent) with a clear area for improvement (i.e., communication).
  2. An organizational assessment can make your funding requests more competitive. Self-awareness is a great character quality in people and in organizations. It shows authenticity, humility, and responsibility — all things that supporters love to see from nonprofit organizations. An organizational assessment is a quick, simple way to demonstrate self-awareness, that you take your mission seriously, and that you want to be honest about where you are excelling and where you have room to grow. The data you glean from an organizational assessment not only strengthens your internal goal setting but should also strengthen your grant requests and donor appeals. For example, in an assessment process, you may learn that 100 percent of the individuals you impact say you make a positive difference in your life, or 80 percent of staff see themselves working at you organization in three years. Those are great data points that will ensure your organization stands out in the crowd.
  3. An organizational assessment sets the tone for a positive, transparent culture. More and more, employees want to see their employers take accountability for the culture and dynamics that are present in their workplace. An organizational assessment is a tool that says, “We hear you.” By conducting an organizational assessment process, especially with the help of a third-party facilitator, your organization can get a holistic picture of both the pain points that are holding you back and the strengths you didn’t know were there.

If you’re looking ahead to 2023 and wondering what your organization should focus on and where you need to invest your energy, consider starting with an organizational assessment. Having concrete data to describe where you are now is the best way to articulate where you want to be.

Erin Hedges is the founder and president of Hedges, an Indianapolis consulting firm that advances social change by strengthening Indiana’s philanthropic sector. Contact Erin at erin@hellohedges.com to learn more about Hedges’ 30-Indicator Organizational Assessment.

Dec 16

Freetown Village: Insights on sustainability from a small nonprofit

By Feature

by Shari Finnell, editor/writer, Not-for-profit News

For decades, Freetown Village, a small nonprofit organization based in Indianapolis, had been focused on educating its audiences about a unique period in America’s history — specifically 1870, when freed African American slaves experienced a series of firsts, according to founder Opehlia Wellington.

That distinct period served the organization well, according to Wellington. “When I first started Freetown Village, I decided to focus on that period since there were so many things that happened after the Civil War to benefit African Americans,” said Wellington, referring to the passage of the 15th amendment,  which granted African American men the right to vote, as well as the 13th and 14th amendments, which abolished slavery and provided all U.S. citizens, including former slaves, equal protection under the laws. “It was an unusually safe period of time for African Americans.” 

About 15 years ago, Wellington decided to modify and expand that focus — among the many steps she has taken to ensure that Freetown Village maintains its resilience. “After research, I decided we need to expand beyond that era — after 1870 and even before 1870,” she said. “It allowed us to talk about a more inclusive history of African Americans in Indiana. It gave us the liberty to do something different.”

While expanding an organization’s mission can have advantages, it also comes with disadvantages, according to Wellington. Although Freetown Village has put on numerous productions since modifying its mission, the organization continues to address questions related to its productions set in other time periods. Another consideration is determining how to repurpose or address previous marketing materials, she said.

“A lot of people still think we’re only making productions in 1870,” she said. “Many of them are surprised. It requires a significant amount of marketing to inform people.”

Maintaining sustainability as a small nonprofit

With the nonprofit organization celebrating its 40th anniversary, Freetown Village has avoided a statistic that haunts many other nonprofits. According to the National Center on Charitable Statistics, more than 30 percent of all nonprofit organizations will fail within the first 10 years. And, the fallout from the global pandemic will likely result in even higher numbers of failures.

Wellington, a former educator who first conceptualized Freetown Village in 1982, notes several lessons learned as a small nonprofit that has been able to sustain itself after numerous decades. One of the key factors is ensuring that you have a mission that excites you, as well as addresses a need that is not being met by other nonprofits.

“Do you have an audience?,” she asked. “Are other people excited about seeing the value in what you’re doing?”

The next step is determining how to make the nonprofit sustainable. “It’s really about the planning,” she said.

As part of determining whether others see the value also lies at the heart of fundraising because you will need to solicit support at numerous levels. “There are many nonprofits that get money from foundations as well as individual contributions,” she noted. 

However, Wellington noted, smaller nonprofits, including grassroots organizations, have traditionally had challenges with the fundraising aspects of sustainability. Even small nonprofits that have been able to sustain themselves often are not able to generate enough money to do the things they had envisioned, which has happened with Freetown Village.

“There are many things that we had talked about doing but just never got the funding to make it happen,” she said. “There are some inequities in the amount of money that is distributed. Only recently have foundations realized that only about 2 percent of their funding is granted to organizations led by African Americans.”

Wellington said she is hopeful that trend is changing as numerous foundations have intentionally sought to make funding more equitable in recent years.  “Within the last two or three years, with some of the DEI funding, we’ve been able to pick up some new supporters,” she said. “Some of them I would never have wasted my time submitting a proposal because the amount we would have received would have been insignificant.”

“It’s hard to do the same quality of programming and services when other organizations are getting significantly more,” she said. “That’s not to say that all white-led organizations are flush. It’s just that a majority of black-led organizations are experiencing similar problems with fundraising.”

As she looks to the future, Wellington said she will continue to explore options to expand Freetown Village’s mission as she did with the recent production “Sign of the Times,” a one-woman show that shed light on the women’s suffrage movement in the mid-1920’s.

“Knowledge changes the world,” Wellington said. “With every program we do, regardless of the year, we try to make a current connection to it. For our recent show, we were talking about women’s suffrage. Now, in 2022, we see a resurgence of people trying to keep not just women from voting, but black people and Hispanic from voting. It can be eye-opening to see that the same playbook is being used from 100 years ago.”

Dec 05

How to get your nonprofit news covered by the media

By Feature

Local journalists and PR consultants offer tips to promote your cause

by Shari Finnell, editor/writer, Not-for-profit News

As a nonprofit leader, it’s likely that increasing awareness about your organization can be just as challenging as fundraising. While digital marketing and social media outreach can be effective ways to reach new audiences, gaining media coverage can be the key to promoting your mission, and consequently, engaging more supporters and donors.

But the process for successfully getting their news covered by local media outlets can elude many nonprofits, especially those without the resources to hire a public relations consultant.

During Media Access Workshop recently presented by the Indianapolis Association of Black Journalists, local media representatives, including those from the Indianapolis Star, WISH-TV, WTHR, and Not-for Profit News, and communications consultants and public relations experts offered key strategies for nonprofits and churches that want to effectively engage with local media outlets.

After attending the workshop, Paradise Bradford, CEO and founder of Pretty Passionate Hands, said that the insights she gained alleviated some of her frustrations about getting media coverage for her grassroots nonprofit organization, which supports and mentors teen parents.

“It can get discouraging when you see stories highlighted about other organizations,” she said. “You may think, ‘Why are they on the news?’ It gets discouraging because you start wondering if what you’re doing is important.”

Bradford said some of the key takeaways from the session was understanding when and how to send press releases, as well as identifying the media teams that would be most likely to cover her nonprofit’s events and news updates.

The session, which was sponsored by the Indianapolis Recorder and Indiana University Purdue University at Indianapolis, also included the following tips:

Pitch a compelling newsworthy story. Make sure your idea for media coverage is newsworthy. As Jasmine Minor of WISH-TV noted, first ask this critical question: “Why would someone care?” Is your organization celebrating its 10th anniversary? That’s not unusual. Many organizations are celebrating milestones. Explore more newsworthy angles, such as the impact that your organization has made in the community in a specific area. Provide data, whether national statistics related to the story or data unique to your organization’s impact. Pitches backed up by data can make a more compelling case for an article, according to Alexandria Burris, investigative reporter for the Indianapolis Star. It’s more likely to get a reporter’s attention.

Understand your audience. Before pitching a story to a news reporter or media outlet, do your research first. Most media outlets have reporters who cover specific areas, such as crime, education, sports, government, traffic, etc. Take the time to research reporters’ areas of specialty and interest before pitching an article. An education reporter may be interested in the work done by nonprofits that are addressing learning loss caused by COVID-19. Most online publications, newspapers, and TV stations will have a listing of their reporters on their websites. They also will include contact information, including email addresses. Consider reaching out on various platforms, including LinkedIn and Twitter.

Develop a press release. When proposing a story idea, make sure to include the Five W’s — Who, What, When, Where, and Why — in a concise format. In most cases, a press release should be limited to three or four paragraphs on one page with a short attention-grabbing headline. Include contact information of the person who will be responding to reporters’ inquiries. Also, be prepared to share your story as part of a broadcast, whether you receive a request from a TV station or a newspaper.

Don’t be afraid to engage with the reporter on a personal level. If you feel like your news pitches are constantly ignored, send a quick email to ask the journalists on your list what types of stories they’re interested in or if there is another person on their team that would be a better fit. Journalists are often inundated with press releases and advisories. Be consistent in following up and trying to engage them.

Send press releases at least a week or two in advance. Depending upon the news outlet, you will need to send a press release in time for them to consider it for publication. Most daily publications and TV stations will need at least one- or two-weeks’ advance notice about your news story, while weekly and monthly publications will require even more time.

Nov 28

Conducting a development audit: Is it time for a fundraising check-up?

By Sponsor Insight

by Angela E. White, CFRE, senior Consultant and CEO, Johnson, Grossnickle and Associates

The pandemic caused many nonprofit organizations to respond to urgent needs. Now nonprofit teams are emerging, ready to take stock of what they learned and determine how best to serve their constituents and deliver on their mission. This opportunity for reflection and planning presents a great time to consider the role of philanthropy at your organization and conduct a fundraising check-up.

What is a fundraising check-up? A development audit or assessment is a tool to measure capabilities of your fundraising program and help you identify opportunities to grow philanthropic support. It provides an objective view on assessing your current fundraising outcomes, setting realistic yet aspirational goals for future performance, and identifying areas for additional investment to be able to perform to your full potential. And, importantly, this tool will assess how well you have embraced a unified culture of philanthropy among your board, staff, and across your institution.

When should you conduct a fundraising check-up? There are some specific times when it is particularly beneficial to conduct a development audit. If your organization is going into strategic planning, an audit can help you determine a realistic plan to raise more money to fund your strategic initiatives. As new leadership comes into an organization, there are often new priorities that need to be funded or an opportunity to reflect on the staffing and structure of the organization.

Many nonprofits saw dramatic shifts in their revenue sources during the pandemic, either from an influx of new donors, the addition of new government funding, and/or potential shifts in corporate or foundation funding. As you identify these shifts in revenue, the audit can provide your leadership with an opportunity to dig more deeply into the trends to determine if it is a blip in the radar or something you can capitalize on for future growth.

National trends are also warning of a shifting donor base, with fewer households donating to charity. An audit can help you look at the implications of these trends within your organization and the mechanisms that could help you engage and keep new donors.

How do you conduct a fundraising check-up? We believe it is good to have an outside firm conduct an audit to provide a level of objectivity. However, you may be able to employ many of these methodologies if you wanted to undertake this type of check-up yourself, using your own analysis and reports.

Prior to undertaking an audit, it is important to communicate to staff and volunteers that you’ll be conducting an audit. Lesson any anxiety they may feel by sharing how you will use the information. An audit is not punitive. It shouldn’t be thought of as a way to find problems or mistakes. It is an opportunity to strengthen your development program and boost your fundraising results.

Before starting the audit, identify who you may want to engage to help you conduct objective interviews, compile data and resources, and assist with scheduling. Take the time to compile complete and accurate data and resources.

What data do you review in a fundraising check-up? First, review qualitative data sources to understand where you are and where you might be able to improve. Look over printed resources, such as your strategic plan, policies and procedures, and collateral materials. Conduct interviews with key staff members, board members, leadership, department heads, and volunteers. These conversations bring light to the numbers and data you will collect elsewhere.

Examine your development systems and structure to ensure you have the right resources and procedures in place to support the development operation. Are there resources the development department needs that are not being provided? Are you using your donor database to its full potential and are you able to track the kinds of metrics you need?

Next, examine quantitative data. We recommend looking at five years of fundraising data to identify trends. Look at the drivers of philanthropic revenue. Are you overly reliant on one source of philanthropic revenue that might put your organization at undue risk, for instance if there was a cut in major grants or government funding?

Compare your development expenses, including staff time and direct costs, to your philanthropic revenue to calculate your cost to raise a dollar (CRD) and the return on investment (ROI). This snapshot of your performance can be compared to peer institutions and national trends.

Using benchmarking data in an audit can help you gain an understanding of how well your development effort is performing as compared to your peer and aspirant institutions. The annual Giving USA report is an excellent benchmarking source.

How do you use a fundraising check-up? Once you review the quantitative and qualitative data that you have compiled, present those results along with your recommendations to your leadership, board, and staff for review and discussion. Following this review, develop an action plan and timeline for implementation of your recommendations.

Taking the time to conduct a development audit is a worthwhile way to capitalize on what’s going well and understand where you can expand and invest to raise even more funds for your organization in the future.

Angela E. White, CFRE, serves as Senior Consultant and CEO of Johnson, Grossnickle and Associates (JGA). Angela is a faculty member at The Fundraising School at the IU Lilly Family School of Philanthropy and serves on the CFRE International Committee on Directorship.

Nov 14

More than a pay raise: Retaining Indiana’s nonprofit employees requires a comprehensive wellness approach

By Feature

Indiana Youth Services Association launches pilot project to address nonprofit youth workers’ challenges

Disengaged, burned out, overwhelmed. Those are the adjectives often used to describe nonprofit employees in today’s work environment.

According to the Society for Human Resource Management, the voluntary nonprofit employer turnover rate is at a historic high — outpacing the turnover rate in the overall labor market. In 2022, the nonprofit industry had a turnover rate of 19 percent, compared to 12 percent for the overall labor market.

The challenge of retaining and recruiting nonprofit employees in a highly competitive labor market also comes at a time when nonprofit organizations are dealing with increased demands for services, changes in fundraising, and higher costs driven by inflation.

However, the well-being of nonprofit employees must take a priority, according to David Westenberger, CEO, Indiana Youth Services Association (IYSA), a statewide association of 30 Youth Service Bureaus in about 70 counties.

“Within our field, we haven’t done a very good job of taking care of our own people doing the work,” said Westenberger, who has been raising awareness about the need for nonprofit employers to support their employees beyond pay raises and title changes.  “In the field of youth work and social services, people in the field over a long period of time eventually mirror the population they serve more than retain the overall wellness and health that they had early on.”

Without adequate insights about the challenges nonprofit employees face and a comprehensive approach to address them, nonprofit organizations could be undermining their ability to achieve their mission, Westenberger said.

A comprehensive approach to employee wellness

Earlier this year, Westenberger and the IYSA team, launched a pilot project that addresses the overall wellness of nonprofit youth workers. The framework for the project includes the Eight Dimensions of Wellness outlined by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) and insights from ACEs (adverse child experiences) training.

During each year of the three-year initiative, representatives from four Youth Service Bureau organizations undergo monthly training that addresses one of SAMHSA’s eight dimensions of wellness — emotional, occupational, social, financial, environmental, physical, spiritual, and intellectual. Each month, participants hear from experts in each of the eight fields reflected in the dimensions of well-being. The also collaborate on supportive strategies and ideas that are later integrated in their workplace employee programs.

IYSA provides the participating organizations with stipends to support the initiatives that help their staff members grow in each dimension.

“For emotional well-being, one of the organizations contracted with a local agency to offer mental health counseling services for their staff,” Westenberger said. Other proposals included providing employees with gym memberships, implementing walking meetings, giving time for employees to be active during the day, and serving nutritious food during meetings.  

The participants, who regularly report on their progress in implementing employee programs around the eight dimensions, will serve as mentors to the other eight organizations that will undergo training in 2023 and 2024.

Addressing a cycle of trauma

The IYSA pilot project follows extensive research that revealed numerous challenges for nonprofit workers in the field of youth services.

The association, which also supports numerous youth-focused initiatives, including increasing awareness about human trafficking, ACEs (adverse childhood experiences), medical amnesty related to underage drinking, launched surveys to gain insights about the challenges faced by youth workers on a day-to-day basis.

A financial analysis revealed that 78 percent of survey respondents experience moderate to significant financial stress, 67 percent are in debt, and 46 percent hadn’t save enough to cover an emergency. It also revealed that employees spend an average of 1.1 hours dealing with their personal finances while at work.

A 2022 IYSA survey related to the eight dimensions of health revealed the following:

  • 40 percent of survey respondents rated their emotional wellness as fair, poor, or very poor.
  • 36 percent rated the quality of emotional wellness support from their organization as poor or fair.
  • 43 percent rated their physical wellness as fair, poor, or very poor.
  • 29 percent rated the physical wellness support programs from their organization as fair or poor.
  • 64 percent rated their financial wellness as fair, poor, or very poor.

Survey respondents who rated their organizations as supportive with emotional wellness provided these comments about their employers:

  • “I am always taken care of and am constantly being checked up on to see if I am okay.”
  • “My employer is understanding and willing to listen and support and encourages us to take care of our minds as well as our bodies.”
  • “The employer does check-ins on staff to see how well we are doing or if we have any questions about programming or suggestions.”
  • “We can take a quick break if we are overwhelmed.”

Some suggestions provided by the survey respondents included providing employees with a quiet place so that they can relax for a minute, being supportive and listening to concerns, counseling, mental health check-ins, and an easily accessible platform for scheduling counseling and therapy.

Westenberger said that the surveys revealed the need to engage in a more comprehensive wellness strategy.

“In the field of youth work and social services, we have employees who, emotionally and financially, mirror the population they’re serving,” he said. “About 60 percent of the people working in the youth services field have their own trauma because they entered the field because of their childhood experiences. They have a passion to make things better for young people — to change the system and circumstances for children.”

A history of childhood trauma coupled with the demands of working with a traumatized population during pandemic is detrimental for many youth workers, Westenberger said.

“Like most other things, the pandemic brought to the forefront how much secondary trauma there is,” Westenberger said. “So, you’ve got people with high ACE scores where it is part of their intrinsic drive to do the work. And they’re working with populations who are experiencing high levels of abuse and neglect.

“We are asking, ‘What are some of the things in your workplace culture that could change to support employees and how can you provide resources to support them?’,” he added.

Oct 31

Indiana Landmarks expands its mission to recognize historic significance of demolished sites

By Feature

Virtual experiences could be central to capturing Black history through a new program

by Shari Finnell, editor/writer, Not-for-profit News

A vintage photograph of the 300 block of Indiana Avenue captures a moment in time — when the area was nationally recognized for its bustling Black-owned businesses, and arts and culture scene.

Some of the buildings likely would have been identified by Indiana Landmarks as historic sites worth saving — if they hadn’t already been demolished. With the exception of the Madame C.J. Walker Building, most of the black-owned buildings in the 1950s image, including the jazz clubs Sunset Terrace Ballroom and Royal Palm Gardens, no longer exist because of highway construction and modern urban development during the 1960s and 1970s.

However, Indiana Landmarks recently launched the Black Heritage Preservation Program, which effectively establishes a new concept for the nonprofit — recognizing the heritage of a place, whether or not a building still stands at the location.

People who may not have been familiar with the Black history of Indiana Avenue and other historically significant places like it will soon have the opportunity to gain an appreciation of their impact and influence in the state, said Eunice Trotter, who recently assumed the role of the program’s director.

Trotter, an author, journalist, and long-time community activist, said the new initiative is important because of the disappearance of many historically Black neighborhoods, schools, and businesses throughout the state through demolition or gentrification.

“It is extremely significant because so much of our history has been erased or ignored — even by ourselves,” Trotter said of Black residents. “We know it somewhat but, with each generation, we know even less. When you couple that with the tearing down of the physical evidence of that history, we become a history-less people. There’s no proof of anything that we’ve done, challenges we’ve overcome, or contributions that we’ve made.

“Those stories are important — particularly to our young people,” Trotter added. “They are evidence of our resilience, our determination, and our ability to pull together.”

Re-imagining a central mission

Indiana Landmarks, which was founded in 1960, previously had recognized the importance of focusing on historically significant Black sites through its African American Landmarks Committee, which was established in 1992.

Through its Black Heritage Preservation Program, which was funded by a $5 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc., and other financial commitments from private donors and the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, it also recognizes the loss of many important buildings throughout the state’s history

As Trotter and committee members of the Indiana Landmarks’ Black Heritage Preservation Program start imagining how to capture the vitality and essence of historically Black physical structures, they have considered the possibilities of using innovative technology like QR codes, augmented reality, virtual reality interactive experiences, and hologram-like projections such as those used in the Indiana Historical Society’s exhibit Eva Kor: From Auschwitz to Indiana.

“My No. 1 goal is to tap into the use of augmented reality,” Trotter said. “I was really sold on that method of heritage preservation after visiting the EJI Museum in Alabama,” she said.

Some current possibilities include allowing a person to use their smartphone to access a QR code on a marker near a historically significant Black site to hear a recording about the history of a place or using augmented reality platforms to animate historic photographs, said Steve Mannheimer, who is Indiana Landmark’s chairman of the technology subcommittee for the Black History Preservation Program.

As technology advances, new ways of bringing history alive will continue to emerge, Mannheimer noted.

The latest artificial intelligence innovations include extensively interviewing elderly people about their experiences so that, through artificial intelligence, people can talk to them — even years after their death. The innovation through the USC Shoah Foundation is now capturing stories from Holocaust survivors.

Mannheimer said that the Black History Preservation Program represents a reckoning of the role that race has played in the history of the United States. “It’s not something that could be solved by a significant event such as the election of Barack Obama,” he said. “It’s an ongoing requirement for the future of this country.”

During a recent trip to Germany, Mannheimer said, he walked around Berlin and Munich where he saw extensive documentation of the Holocaust — memorials and tours primarily launched during the late 1960s as homage to victims and survivors.

“I’m Jewish, and it was just unsettling, disquieting on a profound level,” said Mannheimer, who included a visit to the Dachau Concentration Camp on his trip. “As Americans, we have danced around this issue — the debt we have to pay for the treatment of African Americans. We have an obligation … working on this project seems like a step in the right direction for me.”

Oct 17

Impact United: United Way of Central Indiana launches interactive data tool

By Sponsor Insight

The new dashboard illustrates community need and the collective impact of United Way’s partners

By Margaret Matray, communications manager, United Way of Central Indiana

Data tells a story.

United Way of Central Indiana has long collected and analyzed data to understand the needs of the community and inform its decisions and strategies.

The data paints a picture of who in our community is living in or near poverty, what their greatest barriers are – and how organizations across the region are working to address those challenges.

Now, United Way is making that data available to the public for the first time. Launched this month, the Impact United Dashboard is an interactive data tool that illustrates community need and the response of United Way’s partners in Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Marion, Morgan and Putnam counties.

“It’s our way of making sure that we are showing how we have been accountable to the community, to donors, to funders – to ensure we are lifting their impact but also (showing) how we’re trying to invest in communities where there are gaps in services,” said Denise Luster, United Way’s vice president of impact research and data analytics.

The dashboard provides snapshots of United Way and its partners’ work in key focus areas, including economic mobility, educational success, food, health, housing and transportation. Users can explore the data by focus area, dig into the demographics of those served and filter the data by county.

“This should be a tool that anyone can use to see some key highlights of what’s happening within their community, no matter where they’re located,” said Stephanie Fritz, United Way’s strategic research and analytics senior director.

The tool reflects the most recent data that’s available and is designed to be a “living dashboard” that will be updated as new data emerges, said Daniel Hedglin, United Way’s director of data insights and storytelling.

Throughout the dashboard, data that shows community need comes from national, state and local sources and The Polis Center’s SAVI program at IUPUI. Data showing impact comes from organizations, programs and community-based organizations that partner with, or receive funding from, United Way.

“This data comes from our partners in impact,” Fritz said. “It’s their work that they’re doing in the community.”

United Way’s reporting and analytics team – called the Strategic Information team – began talking about creating a public dashboard last year.

Community organizations that work with United Way report data to the nonprofit quarterly and biannually. A dashboard was a way to show them – and the community – what their collective impact looks like, said Purbasha Dasgupta, United Way’s research and evaluation senior manager.

“This is our collective footprint in the Central Indiana community,” said Dasgupta, who led the project.

The dashboard reflects the “immense collective efforts” of United Way’s partners to serve people in the community, Hedglin added.

According to the dashboard:

  • More than one in three Marion County households are in poverty or are considered ALICE, meaning they earn above the Federal Poverty Level but not enough to afford a basic household budget. (ALICE stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.)
  • About 29% of households that are in poverty or ALICE in United Way’s seven-county service area are families with children.
  • A racial wealth gap exists between white Hoosiers and communities of color. For every dollar earned by a white household in the region in 2019, Black or African American households earned 88 cents on average. Hispanic households earned 76 cents.

Through the dashboard, users can see how particular community needs are being addressed. For example, more than 63% of households that are in poverty or considered ALICE in the region are headed by single women. The data shows that more than half of adults receiving career counseling and coaching from United Way’s partners are from the same population. And 42% of childcare assistance services are provided to single female parents or caregivers.

“Through our various initiatives, we’re not only addressing the fact that we see there’s a need that’s particularly present in this one specific population, but our impact work was able to tie together to help move them … on a trajectory from poverty to ALICE, ALICE to stability,” Fritz said. “Our partners in impact are providing these services to address that.”

Whenever she talks about data, Luster points out that it’s more than numbers. Data represents real people living in our community. The dashboard can educate Hoosiers on where the need is and what can be done to meet those needs.

“The breadth and depth of the need is great, but there are also many organizations out there trying to help address that need,” Luster said.

To explore the data dashboard, visit uwci.org/impactunited.

Sep 26

Nonprofit engages Grant County youth with a new mobile play experience

By Feature

WonderSpace expands options in area with one of Indiana’s highest rates of childhood poverty

by Shari Finnell, editor/writer, Not-for-profit News

After Stephanie Freemyer and her family returned to her hometown of Marion, Ind., several years ago, she was struck by the lack of indoor opportunities for children to engage in stimulating play. Her two young children, ages 5 and 2 at the time, often complained of having “nothing to do.”

“When we were in North Carolina and Pasadena (Calif.), our kids were outside all the time,” Freemyer said. “Then coming here, it was cold, raining, or snowing eight months out of the year. It really impacted our kids.”

Grant County, where Marion is located, is familiar with these types of comparisons when it comes to opportunities for children. For years, it has had the distinction of having one of the highest rates of child poverty in Indiana — as high as 31 percent in 2018 and 22.7 percent in 2019, according to Indiana Kids Count data. That compares to a national childhood poverty rate of 14.4 percent in 2019.

And, as research continuously reveals, childhood poverty can lead to other challenges, including poor academic outcomes and an elevated risk of behavioral, social, and health challenges. In Grant County, 2018 average math and reading proficiency scores lagged behind state averages — 36 percent for math and 40 percent for reading, compared to the state’s averages of 46 percent and 49 percent, respectively.

These types of statistics, along with the lack of indoor play opportunities, were on Freemyer’s mind when she launched WonderSpace as a nonprofit in 2019 with no previous experience in establishing an organization. WonderSpace now includes a mobile play experience of four distinct areas designed to increase health and wellness among young people through physical, exploratory, imaginative, and cognitive play.

Since it doesn’t have a permanent location, WonderSpace welcomes visitors to free one-day or two-day pop-up mobile play days held in schools, churches, and businesses that donate their space. In its first year, more than 600 children and family members attended WonderSpace pop-up events. Last year, it welcomed more than 5,000 individuals to the mobile play event, which features the interactive stations Cardboard City, Imagination Playground, Snug Play, and Higher Flyers. The stations all contain loose parts that encourage exploration, engineering, and imagination.

Freemyer, who also serves as the children’s ministry director for College Wesleyan Church in Marion, noted that many Grant County families aren’t able to drive for an hour to reach destinations like the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis or the Science Center in Fort Wayne. The realization of those restrictions motivated her to move forward with her idea to create a children’s experience in Grant County.

In 2018, Angela Leffler, an associate professor in education at Indiana Wesleyan University, and Freemyer attended a 2018 Hatch-a-thon run by Ministry Incubators, which helps people launch ministry-focused ideas. As part of the competition, they won $500, which they dedicated to securing a business name.

The project continued to evolve after they hosted a community fundraiser to pay for $11,000 worth of play equipment. Sponsorships and donations followed to help fund additional play materials, supplies, and a 26-foot trailer to transport blocks, cardboard elements, and other loose play materials.

Meeting community needs

Tara Griffin, executive assistant at WonderSpace and a former teacher, said it was important to host WonderSpace as a free event to ensure access for children from all backgrounds. She also stressed the importance of families playing with their children, which may not come naturally for some of them.

“It is family directed,” Griffin said. “It’s not a place where parents drop off their kids and come back in two hours. They stay and engage with them. That’s what makes it so special. Families need to be provided those opportunities.”

WonderSpace also has been beneficial because it encourages socialization among young children who haven’t had opportunities to play with other children during COVID-19 lockdowns and social distancing, Griffin pointed out.

The mobile play experience also is designed to meet the needs of children who may need a space separate from the larger areas to comfortably play, Griffin said. WonderSpace has designated calm or quiet areas.

“We try to make it accessible everyone, including handicapped children, children with special needs, or anyone who might be inhibited from playing in a larger environment,” Griffin said. “We want to provide an area for all children to be able to play and engage.”

According to Shayona Funches, a long-time Grant County resident, consultant, and former board member for WonderSpace, the nonprofit is meeting numerous community needs. Funches, who has three children, said that the area has been in decline for decades. During that time, many businesses have closed, including bowling alleys and movie theaters, she said.

“We’re not like Fort Wayne or Indianapolis, where there are a lot of things to do,” Funches said. “At one time, there was always something going on here. That’s just not the case anymore.”

WonderSpace fills a void not only by providing children a stimulating play experience, but also by connecting people throughout the community.

Funches said that WonderSpace has been successful, partly because Freemyer invited community input from the start. She said that it is important for nonprofits to ask questions. “What does your community want? What are their hopes?,” Funches said. “You want to them to buy into whatever you’re doing because eventually you will need their support. It also was important for Stephanie to have a team of people who truly believed in the vision.”

Freemyer continues to receive reinforcement that WonderSpace is making an impact, but one special moment will always stay with her.

During the opening night, a mentor to several troubled youth who were exhibiting signs of play deprivation came over to Freemyer with her smartphone held out. She displayed a photo she had captured while the children were playing. The photo showed a boy’s joyful face. The mentor told Freemyer that it was the first time she had seen him smile.

She immediately recalled her son’s prayer during dinner the night before; he had prayed that there would be smiles at WonderSpace. “I still get choked up,” she said. “I knew we’d see smiles. I just didn’t know it would be so significant.”