For Non-Profits Seeking Funding, Remember the Power of One
According to the National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS), over 1.5 million non-profits are registered in the U.S. While many of them receive assistance through corporate philanthropy and employee volunteer programs, in general all of them compete for a limited giving pool. So how can nonprofits stand out among all the noise, especially if you’re a small, grassroots organization championing an underserved and mainly unnoticed population like foster children?
“One person, one volunteer, one company at a time,” says Zaid Gayle, Executive Director of Peace4Kids (P4K), a South Los Angeles non-profit that provides programs and services for foster and at-risk youth from ages 5-18, and after they transition to adulthood until age 24. Because foster kids rarely have a permanent home or family, Peace4Kids is dedicated to empowering foster and at-risk youth by providing its own community as family. The P4K creed is that no matter where their foster kids are moved or what challenges are thrown their way, P4K wants them to feel that they will always have a family at P4K.
SMALL STEPS, BIG IMPACT
Since funds remain a never-ending need for this grassroots non-profit, the small P4K staff is constantly brainstorming charity fundraising ideas. Due to cuts in government funding, P4K’s financial livelihood relies heavily on the personal networks of its volunteers and supporters. These jolts of support usually start with one person who is so passionate about P4K’s work that he encourages and recruits his friends and co-workers to get involved.
For example, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, a Los Angeles-based coffee franchise, began its relationship with P4K in 2006 by simply donating coffee and pastries to P4K events at the request of one of the company’s employees, Joe Ponciano, a P4K volunteer and board member. Coffee Bean is proud of its longstanding prioritization of bold corporate social responsibility programs, such as building schools in the overseas countries where they buy coffee beans and launching employee engagementactivities where team members take non-paid days to do community impact volunteer work. No surprise, then, that when Joe introduced the Southern California district of Coffee Bean to P4K, the company welcomed the opportunity to support kids in need.
As P4K grew, Coffee Bean’s involvement with P4K evolved accordingly. One of Coffee Bean’s corporate fundraising campaigns involved donating school supplies to P4K, where the company provided new backpacks and encouraged various stores to set up donation centers for customers to drop off school supplies. Employees later filled the backpacks with donated supplies, enabling the kids to meet the new school year fully prepared.
In another corporate volunteering effort, Coffee Bean managers participated in several workshops to teach P4K teens such real-world skills as interviewing, presentation and job-seeking strategies. The managers role-played with the teens, gave them feedback and professional advice and taught them how to fill out Coffee Bean’s online application. And when employment opportunities opened up at local Coffee Bean stores, some P4K teens found themselves with new jobs. For many foster kid youths, this was their first job, and for those transitioning out of foster care to life on their own it was a vital step towards financial stability.
Coffee Bean is P4K’s longest contributing corporate sponsor, and over the years individual employees have also donated time and money. As Joe puts it, “Zaid just has to ask and if we can do it, we will.” As the Executive Director of a small non-profit with a big mission, Zaid is more than appreciative. “We are so proud of our relationship with the Coffee Bean. They have impacted hundreds of our youth and have been the greatest support in giving our older foster youth work opportunities, which has literally prevented many of our kids from being homeless. Joe and the Coffee Bean have been shining examples of what I think corporate social responsibility should look like in communities.”
The relationship between P4K and Coffee Bean proves that sometimes it takes the infectious enthusiasm and passion of just one company employee to make a profound difference in the cause of a non-profit, no matter how large or small.
This article is available online at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ryan-scott/for-nonprofits-seeking-fu_b_1952436.html
http://www.causecast.com/blog/how-one-employee-volunteer-can-launch-company-wide-community-service
The 3 C’s of Successful Non-Profit Relationships
Like any healthy coupling, the recipe to a happy, long-term business relationship between a non-profit organization and its corporate volunteers and donors is commitment, communication and compromise, with a large dose of appreciation sprinkled on top.
As the Manager of Volunteer Services at Family Centers, Jennifer Flatow has discovered that applying these ingredients to her work with employee volunteer programs has led to non-profit fundraising ideasthat benefit her non-profit while lending employee engagement benefits to participating companies. Family Centers is one of Fairfield County, Connecticut’s largest private non-profit organizations, offering health, human and education services to children, adults and families. On the company’s list of 1,500 volunteers, a number are made up of corporate volunteers from the area’s large banking and financial services industry.
A CORPORATE RELATIONSHIP BLOOMS
Morgan Stanley/Smith Barney (MS/SB) is one of the local companies that reached out to Family Center to fulfill its corporate social responsibility initiative, Global Volunteer Month, a community service program held every June. Initially, MS/SB’s intent was to simply underwrite the graduation festivities of Family Center’s Head Start Program, a preschool program for low-income families. However, Flatow knows that when a company “buys in” to an event by actively participating — versus just writing a check — it becomes more connected to the non-profit’s mission, setting the company up for a possible long-term commitment. So Flatow invited the MS/SB volunteers to a planning meeting, where they met the families of the graduating children and did a site visit to see where the ceremonies would take place.
MS/SB employees became so excited and involved with the graduation that they ultimately took things a step further by paying for decorations, a catered lunch and flowers for the families and gifts for the teachers. They even rented an ice cream truck for the kids. Wearing their company T-shirts, the employees also volunteered for the event by setting up, serving, cleaning and doing whatever was needed to make the day a huge success for both the kids and families.
Building off of this initial relationship, MS/SB asked Flatow to speak at their company about additional volunteer opportunities that would generate community impact. Family Center is now working with their MS/SB representative to apply for funding from the MS/SB Foundation.
LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE
Flatow advises that when working with corporations, “Don’t be afraid to push back and steer them toward your needs. Both sides have an agenda and it’s ok to recognize that it’s not always a match.” That’s when the spirit of compromise comes into play.
This delicate spirit of compromise came up for Flatow when a mutual fund company with a team of 30 corporate volunteers wanted to show their support for Family Center by painting a mural. Family Center’s walls could not accommodate such an artistic offer but Flatow didn’t want to flat-out turn them down. She wanted to find a way to compromise with the company so that their goodwill could be put toward a future contribution to Family Center. However, the company was firm in their offer of a mural, and only a mural.
Instead of a simple “no, thank you,” Flatow decided that even though Family Center couldn’t benefit from the offer, another non-profit should. After some research and a few calls, Flatow referred the mutual fund company to other non-profits. The point-person from the mutual fund company was so appreciative of Flatow’s efforts to help them fulfill their corporate volunteering mission that she asked Flatow to keep in touch to see how they could work together in the future.
FLEXIBILITY GETS YOU EVERYWHERE
Flatow believes that the key to a non-profit’s successful relationship with the employee volunteer programs it works with is being flexible enough to achieve the group’s corporate philanthropy goals while remaining focused on your own needs and mission.
For example, UBS Financial Services contacted Family Center a few years ago looking for a local organization to partner with on a community service project that had very precise criteria. Specifically, UBS employees and their families had to be able to participate; it had to be done on a weekend; the project had to make an impact with the organization and the results had to be measurable.
Whew! After researching possibilities and making some adjustments, Flatow was finally able to come up with a solution. The UBS team completely cleaned up a Head Start preschool, which is run by Family Centers, and did everything from raking and weeding to planting mums and laying down mulch. The group also raised all of the funds internally for supplies. In the end, they did a complete overhaul of the outside space and left it transformed for the amazed students and families who returned to school the following Monday. Family Centers also received a $1,200 grant from UBS, which was designated to Head Start. Since the project was so well received, UBS did the same clean-up every year since then for two other Family Center preschools.
Based on the feedback from their employee volunteers, UBS contacted Flatow again and this time said they wanted to stay engaged throughout the year. Their next effort involved supporting Family Center’s RITE (Reaching Independence Through Employment) Program by donating professional clothing to job-seekers. UBS now also participates annually in Family Center’s holiday giving program, where employees shop for items for families in need and work the holiday party for the Friendly Connections Program that services homebound and aging adults.
In short, what was supposed to be a one-day project turned into year-round support due to the positive initial experience and Flatow’s ability to communicate Family Center’s needs while adapting to UBS’s corporate criteria.
THE ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE
How else does Flatow keep her corporate relationships flourishing?
“Volunteers can never be thanked enough,” she says, and that’s why every year Family Center hosts a Volunteer Recognition breakfast for all of their volunteers. Many times, senior level management from companies have attended and spoken glowingly about their company’s volunteer experiences.
Volunteers also need to feel that they made a difference and that the work they did for the non-profit was important. So Flatow makes a point to not only verbally thank her corporate volunteers when they’re on the job but to also follow up with a written letter. This reinforces Family Center’s appreciation of their time and effort while also helping to keep the organization on their volunteers’ radar screens.
Ultimately, that’s what it’s all about: giving volunteers a positive experience and staying top of mind so that your organization is the go-to non-profit when a company is thinking about their next volunteer and giving project. The more rewarding your nonprofit’s relationship is with a company’s volunteers, the more that your volunteer opportunities will be indistinguishable from formal employee engagement programs that have bottom-line benefits to corporations. Practicing the 3 c’s helps you realize this goal by nurturing healthy relationships with corporate partners that stand the test of time.
This article is available online at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ryan-scott/post_3724_b_1731104.html
http://www.causecast.com/blog/the-3-cs-of-successful-corporate-non-profit-relationships
In a Tough Economy, Skills-Based Volunteering Takes on New Importance
The grim jobs report in May has riveted the nation like a slow-motion train wreck, confirming our darkest fears about a sputtering economy that may be stuck in a stall or, worse, falling. We’re a country of Chicken Littles now, squawking about a double dip recession while wringing our hands and blotting our brows. Whether or not fears of a fiscal cliff-dive are overwrought or prescient, no one denies that tough times are sticking to us like tar.
So, now is, of course, the worst time to be thinking about “extras” like pro-bono or skills-based volunteering. Surely, logic would dictate that the business community stick to its knitting, wait until the recessionary dust settles and then get back to the relative luxury of employee-centered philanthropy. Charitable efforts like these are clearly best left to flush times, aren’t they?
In a word: no. In fact, the opposite is true. When times are tough, businesses must optimize every asset at their disposal, and a company’s employees are its most important asset of all. The high costs of employee recruitment, turnover and additional training are now imperative to minimize, so terms like employee engagement and employee retention take on new urgency.
Demanding Careers with Cause
Struggling economy or not, top talent will always have options about where to work, and Millennial employees are increasingly looking to build their careers with employers who demonstrate socially-conscious values that align with their own. Indeed, Net Impact’s recent study, Talent Report: What Workers Want in 2012, showed that 65% of students entering the job market today expect to make a social and environmental impact through their work, and 45% indicated they would be wiling to take a pay cut to do so. In fact, students say it is more important than having children, a prestigious career, being wealthy, or being a community leader — ranking only below financial security and marriage. Meanwhile, consumers are also asking more from companies; people want to buy products from companies that are conscious of the communities around them and that are helping to find solutions to tough societal problems.
That’s why a growing number of corporate citizens have embraced skills-based volunteer service as a way to add value to their companies and their communities. Recently, A Billion + Change, a national campaign to mobilize billions in skills-based volunteer services from corporate America, announced that more than 160 companies have pledged a combined total of more than $1.7 billion and at least 11.5 million hours of time and talent to serve the nonprofit sector. This represents a sea change in the way companies view corporate volunteering, where investments are made in nonprofits by aligning business interests with community needs.
“Over the past few years, companies of all sizes have begun to reap the benefits of pro-bono service: strengthening their communities by expanding nonprofit capacity and boosting the skill set and morale of their own employees,” said Jean Case, CEO of the Case Foundation and a founding member of the Leadership Committee of A Billion + Change.
At the recent 2012 Corporate Philanthropy Summit, held by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy (CECP), senior executives from UnitedHealth Group, Morgan Stanley and Gap joined A Billion + Change to address the emergence of skills-based volunteering in the corporate landscape. The discussion that flowed from this panel yielded perspectives that illuminate the importance of skills-based volunteering as a part of a company’s service to both its community and its employees.
The group agreed that employees today want to work at companies that care about the communities around them. They want to know what a company is doing through its business strategy that makes the world a better place, and they expect to be connected to a higher purpose through their companies’ engagement strategy. Millennials in particular are asking for more from companies that they work for and purchase from. They want to give back and want those they associate with to do the same.
Employee Engagement Via Pro-Bono Volunteering
Accordingly, companies are embracing this mindset and establishing the strategies and programs to back it up. They want to be long-term partners with their stakeholders and together help determine how to effectively structure their societal engagement and giving programs to deliver more impact.
“We are optimistic about the levels of commitment we see from companies; not only are they continuing to give, but they are also doing so in more strategic and thoughtful ways in partnership with their employees and their communities,” stated Charles Moore, Executive Director, Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy.
CEOs say they want to have a positive impact on society and this is evidenced by several trends. According to the Corporate Giving Standard survey, conducted by CECP in association with The Conference Board, companies are becoming more focused in their societal engagement. They are making fewer grants but with higher dollar amounts (from a median of 78 grants, $31,000 in 2009; 62 grants, $37,000 in 2011). They’re leveraging non-cash assets (product, volunteers or other company assets) and allocating more concentrated funding to selected program areas (more than 31% of companies gave 50 percent or more to one program area, and 81% of companies gave 20% or more in education or health and social services).
As companies are looking to engage employees in how their business gives back, they’re tapping into the skills and resources that are the core of the company. Businesses have been paying a lot of attention lately to crafting employee engagement programs that reflect what employees care about and that can be seen as an employee benefit. As a part of these programs, companies are instituting policies such as matching gifts programs, payroll deductions for nonprofits, employee days of service and disaster relief campaigns, to name a few. Skills-based volunteering is often a centerpiece of all of these initiatives, one which delivers high impact to employee and nonprofit alike.
Effective pro-bono initiatives feel authentic, springing naturally from an alignment between employee interests, community needs and company programs. When all of the pieces are in place, skills-based volunteering programs yield tremendous benefits. Employees gain leadership training, job skill development and internal networking beyond the highly valued community service experience. According to a study on skills-based volunteering by True Impact, skills-based volunteers are 142% more likely to report job-related skills-gains than traditional volunteers, 47% more likely to report high satisfaction from volunteering than traditional volunteers, and 82% more likely to report that volunteerism generated new recruits for their company versus traditional volunteers. And from the nonprofit point of view, pro bono and volunteering of skills and talents can be as much as 500% more valuable for nonprofits.
In tough times, companies look for every competitive edge they can get. It’s refreshing when bottom-line advantages so clearly align with community advantages as well.
This article is available online at:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ryan-scott/with-unemployment-high-sk_b_1588392.html
http://www.causecast.com/blog/in-a-tough-economy-pro-bono-volunteering-takes-on-new-importance
vickychoywrites 