IN THIS ISSUE:
THRIVING IN 2010 AND BEYOND
Impact Assessment: When Nonprofits Pay Attention to the Biggest Picture
by Laurence A. Pagnoni, MA, MPA
 In our last newsletter, we reported on the unsettling outlook for fundraising in 2010. "Foundations," we said, "are expected to reduce grant making even further than in 2009 and drastic cuts to city and state-funded human services programs are widely expected." The situation may be bleak and uncertain, but I am absolutely sure of one thing: A nonprofit's survival needs do not constitute a sound argument for raising money. To say that "We need money to survive" is a defensive statement. Instead, talk to your donors and funding partners about golden opportunities to make a difference. The fundamentals of fundraising apply now more than ever. An in-depth and emotional case must be made for their support. Further, the best way to make that case is to focus on the fundamental impact you organization is having on the community it serves.
"Impact" will be the buzz word of the nonprofit sector for the next 20 years, just as "outcome" has been the buzz word for the past 20 years. People often confuse "impact" with "outcomes" or "quality assurance," but these terms are not synonymous. An outcome is an indicator of services provided, for example having distributed 1,000 meals or 1,000 coats to people who are homeless. Quality assurance is a measure of client satisfaction; it means that the recipients of the foregoing services felt that their needs were met in a timely, effective, and respectful manner.
Impact is a big picture term. It refers to the social problem(s) the nonprofit was created to address and its efficacy in solving that social problem. In the above example, the impact of the agency would be its success in reducing homelessness. An impact assessment might be as follows: "Prior to the inception of our agency 1,500 people were homeless in our catchment area. Now only 900 people are homeless." Due to circumstances beyond the nonprofit's control, the social problem may in some cases have been aggravated. A proper impact statement should note these circumstances: "Because of the economic downtown, the number of people who are homeless in our area has increased to 2,000."
Assessing the long-term impact of an organization is a vital function of the Board of Directors. "Are we solving the problem we set out to solve?" Unfortunately, many Boards and agencies get bogged down in the short term business and loose sight of the big picture. As a result, impact is not generally noted in the proposals, annual reports, and case statements of the nonprofit sector. This will change because one key to surviving an economic downtown is to demonstrate the impact your organization is having now and the enhanced impact it will have in the future. This is why you may have noticed that funders are rewarding the most successful nonprofits not only with renewal grants, but the largest size grants they make!
Emphasizing impact will always enable you to raise more money. The reason is that potential donors and funding partners will inevitably be impressed by an organization that can demonstrate it is solving a social problem, or at least moving the problem to a better level.
For practical suggestions on increasing impact, I recommend Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits, a new book by Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McLeod Grant. Their conclusions are summarized on the following Web site: www.forcesforgood.net.
Foundation Leaders and Fundraisers: Can the Financial Crisis Bring Them Together?
by Sean Jones. LAPA Associate
 On January 14, 2010, a group of 35 local leaders in both non-profit development and foundation grantmaking met at NYU's Wagner School for a candid conversation about the effect of the financial crisis on the grantmaker-grantee dynamic. Chuck Hamilton, former executive director of the Clark Foundation and current Philanthropy New York Senior Fellow, led the discussion, aptly titled After the Financial Crisis: Where do we go from here? Hamilton insisted that the financial crisis was no mere blip on the radar screen; instead, it has and will continue to upend the way foundations conduct their business. Despite the obvious negative ramifications of this change, Hamilton hoped that it could bring new transparency to the uncertain relationship between fundraisers and foundation leaders.
The stock market may have picked up lately, but Hamilton stressed that foundation giving will remain at low levels for some time to come. Because foundations budget on three-year rolling averages, the money they have lost in the past year will continue to affect their budgeting for two years to come. Tighter foundation budgets lead to less giving, especially for arts and cultural projects. Foundations are also requesting more in-depth financial information from grantees, both to ensure that their investments will be sound in this uncertain market and to help them assess need more meticulously and in turn make more efficient grants.
Hamilton also warned the non-profit leaders present to expect more "meddling" on the part of their foundation partners, given the fact that many of them have less grantees to keep track of. Hamilton also described some more welcome recessionary trends. He discovered that while foundations are becoming more picky about whom they support, they are also becoming more willing to make significant gifts. As such, though the number of available grants will shrink dramatically in the coming years, qualified non-profits can expect larger gifts and more general operating support. Some non-profits may well go out of business as a result of this trend, but nobody present contested the fact there are too many inefficient nonprofits eating away at available grant money. Hamilton acknowledged that these changes are overdue and that they haven't happened quite yet, but he remained cautiously optimistic that foundation leaders are finally "getting it".
This suggestion prompted a lively discussion between the fundraisers and grantmakers. Both sides acknowledged the historical distrust between their respective camps and the need for new transparency. Foundation leaders reported that they pitch organizations the same way fundraisers do while making the case for support to their boards and shared the most common critiques they hear from board members. For one thing, foundation boards think nonprofits are spreading themselves thin by engaging in too many projects without unifying their focus. Nonprofit leaders countered that new programs are essential for securing funds, thanks to the paucity of general operating grants—a fact foundation leaders acknowledged and insisted was changing. They challenged fundraisers to craft better general operating proposals based on the premise: what's your plan to make your organization obsolete?
Of course, this is an uneasy challenge for nonprofit leaders, one associated with cutting back and scaling down. According to foundation leaders, though, it may the best approach for securing significant, no-strings-attached gifts.
The Wagner group assembled under the auspices of the Rudin Family Forum for Civic Dialogue and will continue to meet periodically throughout the year, with the hope of forging concrete solutions to improve transparency between foundations and nonprofits.
Spotlight on an Innovative Client:
CAMBA
by Thomas Mehnert, LAPA Healthcare Division Director
 "Many organizations grow horizontally," said Gary Sutnick, a development officer at CAMBA, one of Brooklyn's largest nonprofit service providers. "That is, they replicate their services over multiple locations. Others grow vertically, increasing the volume of services at a fixed location. CAMBA is unique because our organization has grown ‘organically.' We continually identify and respond to emerging unmet needs in our communities by a process of adaptation.
"For example," he told us over lunch the other day, "in recent years, we've seen more and more people struggling to afford decent housing. So we established CAMBA Housing Ventures, an affordable housing development company with a goal of creating 1,000 units by 2015. So far we've invested over $24 million to build two projects with a combined total of 146 units. We have an additional $91 million committed for 255 more units in the pre-development stage. But that just shows you how we operate. We adapt the organization to meet the needs of the community, whatever they happen to be."
CAMBA has been a LAPA client for the past 3 years, having signed a no-fee retainer contract in 2007. No-fee you say? Yes, the only thing the organization agrees to is that when it needs help with government grant-writing beyond its internal staff's capacity, it turns to us. Being a retainer client, CAMBA can utilize the services of LAPA's government grant-writing team at a discount. LAPA also keeps Gary and his colleagues continually abreast of new RFPs for which CAMBA may be eligible.
"We started out as merchant's association," Gary explained, filling us in on the organization's history. "But we quickly realized that in order for merchants to prosper, customers have to prosper as well. We now serve 35,000 people annually in six areas—economic development, education, family support, and legal, housing, and HIV/AIDS services—at 50 program sites primarily in Brooklyn but also in Manhattan and Staten Island. Do you see what I mean about organic growth? Here's another example: Because our borough has a large immigrant population, we adapted by offering ‘English as a Second Language' classes and by developing an employment program geared to recent immigrants. One other thing: Did I mention that our staff speaks more than 40 languages to make sure that our services are provided in a culturally and linguistically appropriate manner?"
LAPA is pleased to be associated with CAMBA and contribute to its skillful adaption to a community in transition. As Gary Sutnick says, "CAMBA's organic model of growth has kept us at the forefront in developing innovative responses to society's most pressing problems."
If you want to learn more about CAMBA, please go to www.camba.org
Laurence Joins Rutgers Business School's Institute for Ethical Leadership Consulting Group
On Wednesday, January 20, 2010, Laurence joined more than 50 nonprofit and philanthropic leaders for the launch of the Rutgers Institute for Ethical Leadership (IEL) Consulting Group at the Rutgers Business School in Newark, New Jersey. Attendees heard from dynamic and passionate presenters about the need for quality consulting services, at an affordable price, for New Jersey's nonprofits. The IEL Consulting Group partners with nonprofits and foundations to help Garden State organizations in two important ways: Short-term projects and crisis intervention to help nonprofits struggling with impending crises. In these circumstances, we work to create a short and long-term strategy at an affordable price to address immediate needs and put in mechanisms to ensure that these organizations are not at the same intersection a year later. And long-term partnerships within the community to enable New Jersey nonprofits to be strategic in their plans and operations, and deliver quality services. Laurence has been part of the founding team of the IEL Consulting Group and is pleased to participate as a senior consultant as projects come up. For further information, please see www.business.rutgers.edu/IEL or contact Margret Della at mdella@business.rutgers.edu.
LAPA Welcomes a New Associate, Sean Jones
 We are delighted to welcome the talented Sean Jones to our team. You know of LAPA's love for English majors, so it will be no surprise to you that Sean completed his Bachelor of Arts Degree at Georgetown University in 2005, with Magna Cum Laude Honors in English and a Double Minor in Inter-Arts and History. Sean is a superb writer, having won an award for Georgetown University's "best essay on literature by an undergraduate." He also wrote an encyclopedia-style biography entry on Irwin Shaw for LION (Literature Online), an online academic resource used by many top universities. Sean grew up in Philadelphia and attended high school at St. Joe's Prep. He discovered LAPA while conducting research on some of New York's leaders in non-profit management consulting. After an informational interview and despite the competition of hundreds of other applicants, it was clear that Sean has a passion for our clients married with the professional skills we seek. He has been an Editor at Bigthink.com as well as a Marketing Proposal Specialist at the Manhattan law firm of Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe. Sean will be a grant writer and client lead for LAPA's retainer clients. Welcome aboard.
|
LAPA senior staff and associate consultants may be reached as follows:
Laurence A. Pagnoni, MA, MPA, President, Email, 212-932-9008
Bill Winston, CFRE, Senior Fundraising Counsel, Email, 973-901-7472
Sheldon Bart, MA, Senior Associate, Email, 201-451-3860
Tom Mehnert, Healthcare Division Director, tgm711@yahoo.com, 914-245-4618
Sean Jones, Associate for Grants, Email, 215-783-1162
LAPA works with over 30 nonprofit professionals who provide a wide array of services, such as planned giving, strategic planning, prospect research, and government grant proposal writing, program feasibility and project development.
LIKE WHAT YOU SEE? Forward this newsletter to friends and colleagues to keep them on top of nonprofit development and management issues.
An archive of newsletters, with past tips and resources that you might have missed, is available at www.lp-associates.com/e-newsletter.php. If you received this from a friend, and would like to subscribe, you may do so by using this same link. You may reprint these articles for educational purposes, but please include an attribution to the author and our Web site.
To unsubscribe from this newsletter immediately, please follow this link:
www.lp-associates.com/opt_out_form.php |
