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I think it can be safely said that nonprofits that have revenues and equally important, savings, have an enhanced ability to pursue mission. It of course is worth saying that volunteers and donated goods and services matter and matter a lot, but unrestricted assets and income equally matters and often are a game changer for a nonprofit's pursuit of ission.

So what happens if, in a moment, assets dissapear? Impossible you say? Not really as I reagularly feature events when internal thefts wipe-out the short-term ability of some nonprofits to operate. Greenpeace India on the other hand has experienced a real stoppage of the use of its money. The India Reserve Bank put a freeze on Greenpeace's (and five other nonprofit's) financial assets. Greenpeace activities in the pursuit of mission have actually begun to do their job and the government has retaliated - pretty much a tit-for-tat event. The courts have told the India Reserve Bank it has to un-freeze the assets so Greenpeace's temporary crises is pretty much over.

I'm pretty confident that Greenpeace's board, like the other nonprofit boards, dedicated to what the believe is right for the public and the earth, knew what to expect from the government it was holding accountable. This board understood the financial risks but proceeded to act. I'm also believing that the board had a plan in the event of government action - use of media, other partners ready to jump-in, perhaps even other methods for paying for its expenses.

I offer that this is good and responsible governance. Noting that during this week we have recognized and honored the work of Martin Luther King and the nonprofit boards who stood beside him, kudos to Greenpeace and its sister organizations and to all nonprofit boards who have pursued mission regardless of the risks.

To learn a bit more about the Greenpeace situation, check here.

Until recently, the system for dealing with homelessness had been a patchwork of shelters and service agencies working independently to help people get back on their feet. Every agency had a different screening and application process that frequently required difficult to obtain documentation and confusing forms. That approach is changing. 

Continue reading: http://bit.ly/1HULXEj

The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, the region’s permanent endowment and largest grantmaker to local nonprofits, is accepting grant applications from eligible nonprofit organizations through March 27, 2015 for its Responsive Grants process. Responsive Grants are generally awarded to address operating, programmatic or capacity building needs. Amounts vary from $7,500 and up; eligibility restrictions apply, including adherence to The Community Foundation’s anti-discrimination policy. Applicants who are unfamiliar with the grant process are encouraged to register for an informational webinar on February 11, 2015 at 1:00 – 3:00 pm. For complete details and to apply online, visit www.cfgnh.org/grants.

Generally more than $2 million in multi-year grants is awarded through The Community Foundation’s Responsive Grant process, which occurs in two-stages and takes approximately six months to complete.  Responsive Grants represent only one element of The Foundation’s overall grantmaking, which has exceeded $20 million in recent years. 

Thanks to the generosity of three generations of donors, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven awarded $21 million in grants and distributions in 2013 and has an endowment of over $430 million comprising more than 830 individually named funds. In addition to its grantmaking, The Community Foundation helps build a stronger community by taking measures to improve student achievement, reduce New Haven’s infant mortality rate, promote local philanthropy through www.giveGreater.org and encourage community awareness on issues important to our region. For more information, visit our website at www.cfgnh.org, find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cfgnh or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cfgnh. 

Nonprofit boards often establish committees to "take care of" tasks the whole board might not want to do or might need done on their behalf. Often enough these tasks embody what I refer to as "taking care of the homework" that can helpfully inform the full board when decisions are to be made.

Finance Committees are an excellent example of a small sub-body of a nonprofit that can take a magnifying look at the income and expense statement and the balance sheet to be sure the rest of the board understands the nonprofit's financial condition at a given point of time and most importantly, understand what if any action the board should take. Executive Committees can be helpful in organizing meeting agendas and provide support to the executive director. A strategic planning task force can do the support work in moving a planning process along. All of these committees and task forces have a common function of doing the homework of the board and making recommendations, not decisions.

Lately I've run across some boards that have established personnel committees. A personnel committee or task force (is established with a specific time-limited assignment) may make sense when it's time to ensure that personnel policies need an update to ensure compliance with federal and state regulations and laws (this is a fiduciary responsibility). A task force established for recruiting an executive director and maybe even managing the annual executive performance review likely also makes sense.

But what about a personnel committee that is involved in hiring personnel beyond the executive? I am a subscriber to the philosophy that the individual who supervises and evaluates, hires. This would mean to me that the only staff person "hired" by the board is the executive director. And subsequently, the only reason for a personnel task force: updating personnel policies.

Thoughts?

The family child care providers in All Our Kin’s network come from all walks of life. Some have been working with young children all their lives. Others, like Dionne Lamothe, an All Our Kin provider, have had long careers in other fields.

Dionne Lamothe was born in Saint Michel de l’Atalaye, a city located in the Central Plateau of Haiti, and she started singing when she was just four years old. “It is in my blood,” she told me at her home in December. “I was born with it, and nothing can stop that.” Even as a child, her talent was impossible to ignore.

By the time she was 20 years old, her voice was well known throughout Haiti, but as a woman singer, her path was limited. She wanted to perform with Haiti’s Big Bands – the most famous of which was called Bossa Combo – but at the time, “they never allowed a woman singer to do much.”

“I said, ‘Nuh, uh. That has to stop. I have this talent that God gave me.’ Other people didn’t like it, but then they heard me sing. They started saying, ‘this is great.’ I was one of the best in Haiti.” In the 1980s, Dionne became the first young woman singer to perform with Bossa Combo. “We went on tour all over. France, Canada, Florida, Chicago, New York, Canada, places with big Haitian communities. I sang in every language – English, French, Spanish, Creole.”

Click here to read the rest of Dionne's story at All Our Words, the blog of All Our Kin. 

Solar Youth has extended its deadline for Spring 2015 Environmental Educator Internship positions! Any teenager enrolled in a New Haven high school is eligible to apply. Please visit our website by clicking here and selecting the links in the "Youth Staff" section for applications and further interns

hip information. The deadline is this Friday, January 16th. If you have any questions or concerns, please call Solar Youth's office at (203)387-4189. 

We look forward to hearing from you!

Happy, Happy New Year

May This Year be a Great Year for All.

Grove Street Cemetery will again be hosting Historical Walking tours for all public, private, schools, groups, etc.

So on May 2nd (EVERY Saturday) the tours will begin the season at 11:00am and will continue until November 21st.

Then May 3rd (EVERY Sunday) the tours will begin the season at Noon and will continue until November 22nd.

If you wish to schedule a tour, please call Patricia Illingworth at 203.389.5403 or email p.b.i.newhaven@att.net.  

Looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones.....

Patricia Illingworth

Chief Docent 

Professor Walter Mischel, professor of psychology and the creator of the Marshmallow Test experiments about children and self-control, recently spoke at an All Our Kin event in Bridgeport. To read parts of his lecture and learn about early brain development, toxic stress, and the "biology of disadvantage," click here.

What constitutes meaningful nonprofit board conversation? I pose that meaningful nonprofit board conversation, (usually what goes on in a board meetingand/or board planning session informs and/or results in action around fiduciary and strategic policy, planning and evaluation.

One of the topics I believe should be on the table of many human service nonprofits: pay-for-success. PMany US state and federal legislators are considering payfor-success as an answer to both cost savings and accountability. Here's a description from the Wall Street Journal:

Historically, providers of social services to at-risk and vulnerable populations have been paid for their efforts rather than for the outcomes they effect. But the past four House budgets constructed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) have emphasized measuring the impact of federal funds spent on education, food security, and other social needs. Such programs typically reimburse operators for meeting specific benchmarks in their efforts to keepclients out of prison or end homelessness. These policy innovations could help improve outcomes for at-risk populations while stewarding scarce federal dollars.

Federal job training programs are one place to look. Traditionally, such programs have focused on training job seekers independent of whether the training results in people getting and keeping a job, leaving few ways to measure the effectiveness ofthe approximately $18 billion the government spends every year to train those who need work.

In pay-for-success job training programs, however, market forces are applied to the process of calibrating employer needs and trainee education levels, matching trained applicants to employers with job openings, and providing supports to help ensure long-term success on the job. The programs typically work by making a portion of a provider’s reimbursement contingent on meeting an initial benchmark—usually job placement in a sector for which the employee was trained—and paying the remainder of the fee when a second benchmark, such as continued employment for a full year, is met. The Australian Department of Employment reported this summer that the cost of placing jobseekers has plummeted from $16,000 to $3,500 per trainee, even as the number of trainees getting and keeping jobs has doubled.

A consensus is also developing in the GOP around an accountable, efficient approach to poverty alleviation. Rep. Ryan has visited nonprofits around the country helping those caught in the cycle of poverty and dependency, and he recently proposed a plan to address endemic poverty. Language in the recent Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, championed by Rep.Susan Brooks (R., Ind.) and Sen. Rob Portman (R., Ohio), allows governors to use as much as 10% of their federal job training funds for these types of pay-for-performance, outcome-based programs.

Incoming House Budget Chairman Tom Price has said that he wants the GOP budget to give “the greatest amount of opportunity to the greatest number of Americans.” Incorporating policy guidance in the budget resolution to build and test pay-for-success models would send a message.

Social programs have a contract to keep with those who fund them and those they serve. Pay-for-success policies update the conservative lexicon to re-emphasize focus on outcomes–and empathy. By incorporating such strategies into the next budget, Republicans could improve the economic prospects of those Americans who need help the most—and improve their own prospects for 2016.

Juleanna Glover is a corporate consultant and Republican policy and communications adviser. She is an adviser to America Forward, a nonprofit that advocates accountability in government spending on social programs. She is on Twitter: @juleannaglover.

But, while pay-for-success may be the right strategy for the government, nonprofit boards must really examine their core values and mission as well as business model to discern how pay-for-success would affect the institution and their clients. Perhaps a pay-for-success task force should be created to understand all the issues and impact and be called upon to lead a board conversation that results in a clear direction with parameters. And, once ready to adopt, imagine the many and varied internal policies, practices, training, and /reporting/evaluation activities that will need be put in place to achieve the pay-for-success goal. Note, pay-for-success may not be right for every nonprofit.

Chapel Haven's Admissions Office invites families to check out our award-winning postsecondary school and transition program for adults with a variety of disabilities.

Founded in 1972, Chapel Haven is a nationally accredited transitional living program and approved private special education school founded in 1972 in New Haven, Connecticut, with a mission of teaching adults with cognitive disabilities and social disabilities to live independent and productive lives. Chapel Haven has grown to serve more than 250 adults (18 years of age and older) in the residence and the community with three distinct programs; REACH, Asperger’s Syndrome Adult Transition (ASAT), and Chapel Haven West (Tucson, AZ).

Chapel Haven also offers classes, social communication therapy and supported living services for families living within the New Haven area. Information about extended services provided by Chapel Haven available upon request.

To learn more about our programs, please call the Admissions Office at (203) 397-1714, ext. 148. Watch for workshops and open houses this winter and spring. You also can learn more online at www.chapelhaven.org.

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Hello To All!!!!

May everyone enjoy the "MERRIEST" of holidays and then to have a wonderful New Year as well.

All the VERY Best,

Patricia Illingworth

Chief Docent

As part of its ongoing commitment to support and strengthen nonprofits serving the Greater New Haven region, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven is once again offering a series of workshops and several competitive funding opportunities. Workshop topics, grant deadlines and detailed eligibility criteria for each grant process is available at www.cfgnh.org or by calling 203-777-2386.

Training Workshops and Online Resources for Nonprofits
In 2015, a series of monthly workshops are planned by The Community Foundation covering a range of topics to strengthen the infrastructure of local nonprofits and maximize their effectiveness in delivering important services to the people residing in Greater New Haven. Early workshop topics will cover grant application writing and how to apply for a competitive Responsive grant from The Community Foundation. Additional topics planned for the year include: social media marketing, general marketing and planning, fundraising, donor retention, major gift acquisition and retention, budgeting and financials and planned giving.

Also online at www.cfgnh.org, nonprofit executives and staff can learn about best practices, tips and tools for organizational operations and links to resources on a variety of topics at the Nonprofit Management Resource Center.

For more information about the training workshops, visit www.cfgnh.org or contact Jackie Downing at 203-777-7072.

Grant Opportunities for Nonprofits Serving Greater New Haven
Organizations defined as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) or any applicable statute of the Internal Revenue code and that provide services to one or more of the following towns are eligible to apply for a competitive grant from The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven: Ansonia, Bethany, Branford, Cheshire, Derby, East Haven, North Branford, North Haven, West Haven, Oxford, New Haven, Guilford, Hamden, Madison, Milford, Seymour, Shelton, Wallingford, Orange and Woodbridge.

Grant amounts range from several hundred dollars to thousands of dollars depending on the grant process; funding is available for event sponsorships, general operating support, immediate needs, specific programs and special areas of interest. For greater detail on each competitive grant process and deadline dates to apply online, visit The Community Foundation’s website at www.cfgnh.org/grants.
Scholarships are also available and distributed throughout the year from approximately 100 funds at The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven; scholarship grants are awarded to individual students and paid directly to the student’s school. The majority of Foundation scholarship funds are designated to be awarded to students attending specific schools; applications and deadline dates vary. Scholarship seekers are encouraged to talk to their school Guidance counselors about funding opportunities. Visit www.cfgnh.org/scholarships to access online applications, deadline dates and other helpful resources.

Thanks to the generosity of three generations of donors, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven awarded $21 million in grants and distributions in 2013 from an endowment of approximately $430 million and comprising hundreds of individually named funds. In addition to its grant-making, The Community Foundation helps build a stronger community by taking measures to improve student achievement, reduce New Haven’s infant mortality rate, promote local philanthropy through www.giveGreater.org® and encourage community awareness at www.cfgnh.org/learn. The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven’s 20 town service area includes: Ansonia, Bethany, Branford, Cheshire, Derby, East Haven, Guilford, Hamden, Madison, Milford, New Haven, North Branford, North Haven, Orange, Oxford, Seymour, Shelton, Wallingford, West Haven, Woodbridge. For more information about The Community Foundation, visit www.cfgnh.org, find us on Facebook at www.facebook.org/cfgnh or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cfgnh.

New Haven, CT (December 17, 2014) - The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, the region’s charitable endowment and largest grantmaker, announces that Carlton L. Highsmith of Middlebury, CT and Dr. Khalilah L. Brown-Dean of New Haven, Associate Professor of Political Science at Quinnpiac University in Hamden, have been appointed to the Board of Directors. Both will begin seven-year terms on January 1, 2015, taking the seats of David I. Newton and Rolan Young Smith, whose terms expire at the end of 2014.

”Khalilah Brown-Dean is a nationally known and well-respected voice on issues of great importance to our community who is also a committed and accomplished community leader, and Carlton Highsmith’s record of business leadership, community leadership and philanthropic leadership over many years is second to none in Greater New Haven,” says William Ginsberg, president and CEO of The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven. “They will both make outstanding board members for The Community Foundation, and we are thrilled that they will be joining us in 2015.”

Mr. Highsmith was founder of Specialized Packaging Group, 

recognized as the largest minority-owned firm in the State of Connecticut prior to its merger with PaperWorks Industries. He served as vice chair of the Board at SPG PaperWorks Inc. until his 

retirement in 2010.

Mr. Highsmith is founding Chairman of the Board of the Connecticut Center for Arts & Technology (ConnCAT), a New Haven nonprofit organization providing market relevant and career-focused technical skills training and job placement services to underemployed and unemployed adults in the New Haven area. He also serves on the Boards of First Niagara Bank, Quinnipiac University and the Yale-New Haven Health System.

Mr. Highsmith has received many honors for his long-time community leadership. In 2014, he was the recipient of both the Greater New Haven Torch of Liberty Award from the Anti-Defamation League and the John H. Filer Award from the Connecticut Council for Philanthropy. In 2011 Gov. Dannel Malloy appointed Mr. Highsmith to the Connecticut Employment & Training Commission (CETC), where he currently chairs its Career Advancement Committee. Mr. Highsmith earned a BA in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He holds Honorary Doctorate degrees from Quinnipiac University and Albertus Magnus College.

Dr. Brown-Dean’s current research focuses on the political dynamics surrounding the American criminal justice system. Her book Once Convicted, Forever Doomed: Race, Punishment, and Governance explores how mass incarceration impairs both the strength and function of American governance. Her research on the criminal justice system and voting rights policy have garnered international attention, and she was recently appointed as a Director of the Prison Policy Initiative, a national nonprofit organization working to understand the impact of mass incarceration on local communities across America.

Dr. Brown-Dean is a frequent contributor to the Washington Post, CNN, Ebony.com, Fox News Radio, WNPR, AURN, CTV, and other outlets regarding issues such as American politics, mass political behavior, crime and punishment and political psychology. In 2014, Connecticut Magazinenamed Dr. Brown-Dean one of its “Forty Under Forty,” citing her as one of the best and brightest among Connecticut’s Generation Next. Dr. Brown-Dean attended the University of Virginia, where she received a BA in Political Science. She has a Masters Degree and a PhD from The Ohio State University, where she was the recipient of the Henry R. Spencer Award for Distinguished Teaching and the Graduate Associate Teaching Award.

Thanks to the generosity of three generations of donors, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven awarded $21 million in grants and distributions in 2013 from an endowment of approximately $430 million and comprising hundreds of individually named funds. In addition to its grant-making, The Community Foundation helps build a stronger community by taking measures to improve student achievement, reduce New Haven’s infant mortality rate, promote local philanthropy through www.giveGreater.org® and encourage community awareness atwww.cfgnh.org/learn. The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven’s 20 town service area includes: Ansonia, Bethany, Branford, Cheshire, Derby, East Haven, Guilford, Hamden, Madison, Milford, New Haven, North Branford, North Haven, Orange, Oxford, Seymour, Shelton, Wallingford, West Haven, Woodbridge. Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.org/cfgnh or follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cfgnh. 

To All Readers Far and Wide -

The first snowfall at Grove Street Cemetery is a one of a mirific vista - to be enjoyed by all. It is a really nice stroll to view the niveous headstones. It is Arcadian.

However, I am sending to all - have a wonderful holiday with family and friends and enjoy this winter season as well!!!!!!!

All the happiest and merriest,

Patricia Illingworth

Chief Docent

p.b.i.newhaven@att.net

203.389.5403

Why don't CEO's have term limits like boards? Really, why don't they?

And, why am I asking? Because the Wall Street Journal noted today that the Anti-Defamation League has announced a replacement for its longtime national director who is leaving after almost a half century working for the Jewish nonprofit. The New York-based organization on Thursday said Jonathan Greenblatt will take the helm when 74-year-old Abraham Foxman steps down in July 2015.

If I'm doing my math correctly, Abraham Foxman was hired as CEO when he was around 26 or 27. The world has certainly changed in the years Mr. Foxman has been at the helm. And maybe there are some nonprofits where keeping the same director for fifty years makes sense. But would you keep the same board? Or is there not a double standard? That is, regularly turning over a board matters more than regularly turning over the executive? Anyway, I'm thinking ten years would be a good number but maybe 15 would be ok. How many years does it take to leave an imprint, a legacy as you would while creating an institution that can also bend and flow into the future?

Today's Wall Street Journal article on corporate branding as a source of revenue for children's musuems introduces some great nonprofit board policy questions. Making policy to inform day-to-day decisions is part of a nonprofit board's fiduciary duty of care. Policy also reduces the need for a nonprofit's management to need board action on every single decision.

According to the article, corporate branding can play a significant role in the sustainability of a nonprofit. Children's museums offer particularly unique opportunities for corporations to "plant their seed" as you would for both the child and parent. But there are policy questions a board should consider ahead of taking advantage of these opportunitites.

The most simple question: is there any "tainted" money source a board would not accept? Usually tainted is derived from having a moral or political basis and may indeed counter the core values and mission of a nonprofit. I imaging that a board's clearness about its values should serve as a fine reference for deciding whether to accept money from some sources.

As sustainability is the root for accepting branding money, a board might establish a policy about just how dependent the organization should be on branding. Businesses tend to be fickle in their relationships; their bottom line income influences how long they may remain committed; and, sometimes they make decisions that result in not having an interest or desire in the relationship - like moving the factory to another state or country. I'm not saying that all businesses are unreliable but history might suggest...

Then there is the question of mission. Is the "what" a corporation want to brand compatible with the nonprofit's mission and program goals? The New Balance example in the article appears to be an example of consistency for the museum but I can imagine where such examples are otherwise.

So, a nonprofit board's policy work is complicated but can certainly make a difference for the nonprofit's future.