"Maximizing Nonprofit Results in Tough Times" Sept. 12

According to the Missouri Budget Project, state government faces another 17 years of budget crises before getting back to 2008 funding levels. How is your nonprofit planning to meet increased client need while public resources (and public funding of nonprifits) is decreasing? Join us at the Schlafly Branch Library Sept. 12, 3-5 pm, when ARCHS, Area Resources for Community and Human Services, the regional agency responsible for helping make the state's resources and dollars go further, describes how a strategic leveraging model can help you.

Tips from Last Week's Programs Here

From Volunteer Management Basics (4/1): Find the current value of volunteer service per hour in your state at www.independentsector.org/volunteering

From The New Face of Nonprofit Evaluation (4/19): To see various methods and measurements currently being used around the country, go to http://trasi.foundationcenter.org/   

MANY THANKS to Rick Skinner from United Way of Greater St. Louis and BoardLinkStl and to ARCHS CEO Wendell Kimbrough, Jan Ashbrook--Sr. Project Director with the St. Louis Mental Health Board-  and Wyman Center CEO Dave Hilliard for sharing their organizations' experiences and requirements for quantifying the actual outcomes and impact of their work.

G&FC Programs: Past and Future

We're taking a break from offering G&FC programs here at the library this month. Thank you to all our 2011 program partner organizations --NPML, VLAA, ARCHS, Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, AFP, BoardLinkStL, & NSC --as well as to The Foundation Center --for providing information and leadership to the more than 600 attendees (thanks also to each of you who came).
We're delighted to be working with these groups, as well as three new program partners, so far --Nonprofit Missouri, the St. Louis chapter of the Grant Professionals Assn., and the Young Nonprofit Professional's Network, as we put together our 2012 program schedule.
Feel free to contact me about any nonprofit and grants topics you'd like us to include.

Background Reading -Tools for the New Year

• In October Angela Williams, from the national staff of Big Brothers Big Sisters, presented an excellent program here at Schlafly on Board Diversity in nonprofit organizations cosponsored by BoardLink Stl. She mentioned the usefulness of a community asset mapping process. One helpful guide to this process is UMSL's Community Partnership Project's "Community Tool Kit" available at www.umsl.edu/continuinged/cpp/toolkit/index.html.   Also relevant is the article " Leveraging the Transformative Potential of Diversity" by Patricia Bradshaw and Christopher Fredette in the Spring 2011 issue of The Nonprofit Quaraterly, available here in the G&FC or at http://www.npqmag.org/
• Collective Impact was the topic of another great program presented here by ARCHS leadership earlier this month and at the annual St. Louis Philanthropic Landscape presentation by the Rome Group last summer. Just a reminder: that we have a hard copy of the Stanford Social Innovation Review article on the topic here or you can find it at www.ssireview.org/site/printer/collective_impact/

Learn from 2 Intermediaries Here in August

This past April, Gateway Center for Giving published a study on The Role of Intermediaries in St. Louis. (see April 8 post below) They reported on 30 local organizations who 'provide essential services" -- ranging from funding, collaborative, training and/or advocacy assistance -- to the regional nonprofit sector. And now, our August schedule of free classes here at the G&FC gives you the opportunity to meet leaders from two of them and find out more about their services. ...

• Aug. 18 --Linda Aitch from the Nonprofit Services Center will talk about Capacity Building for Highly Effective Nonprofits. Funders and donors are now requiring evidence of your organization's effectiveness and financial sustainability after the gift/grant has been used. Linda will describe how to develop your nonprofit's core skills in leadership, management, finance and fundraising, programming and evaluation to meet these requirements. 3-4:30 pm.
  


• Aug. 24 -- Board Chair Matt Matthews and CEO Wendell Kimbrough will head a panel from ARCHS, Area Resources for Community and Human Services, sharing effective ways of Engaging Your Board. They will describe how to discern and use your board's collective experience, expertise and business/social connections to build your organization's effectiveness. ARCHS works in partnership with local organizations to pool time and talent and leverage funding to benefit the St. Louis region. 3-4:30 pm.
  
  Just contact me with questions or to sign up.