NonProfit/Private Sector Partnerships Are Mutually Beneficial

The March 18 NonProfit Roundtable featured two nonprofit/private sector partnerships that are making a difference, both for the corporate partner and the nonprofit partner. After the standard empowered introduction in which attendees shared how their organizations (and companies, for the attendees included both) partnered with a variety of organizations, agencies, companies and government offices, the deeper study commenced.

We started with a definition of “partnership,” specifically noting what kinds of partnerships we weren’t talking about. These included pure funding connections, such as corporate foundation or corporate grants; and corporate volunteer opportunities. Instead, we highlighted different kinds of partnerships.

The first presenter was Wendy Gershow (wendy.gershow@combined.com) of Combined Worksite Solutions (combinedworksite.com). Her company, which is national, had a variety of ways to engage with social benefits organizations and also engage its employees. In fact, Gershow noted that the company’s founder believed in taking care of the community, and further, that the company’s focus was to work with employers and employees to design mutually beneficial paid benefits programs. Like many other companies, Combined Worksite Solutions gives employees paid time off to volunteer, and follows that up with giving to various organizations. The example Gershow featured in her presentation, however, was a recent sales contest. For account executives and benefits specialists who achieved their sales goals over a specific period of time, the company donated a certain amount to Ronald McDonald House, which provides a home-away-from-home to the parents and families of children who are hospitalized with serious illnesses. This incredible idea touched both the sales professionals’ hearts as well as their sense of competition.

Jerry Metzker (jmetzker@biotechpartners.org), co-chair of the NonProfit Roundtable and Development & Marketing Manager of Biotech Partners (biotechpartners.org), then shared the unique relationship that the youth services program has with both Bayer HealthCare (http://biotech.bayerhealthcare.com/locations/berkeley.asp) and the City of Berkeley. Biotech Partners trains and prepares youth from high school through community college certification for work in the biotech/bioscience/health fields. In 1993, Biotech Partners was founded by Bayer and the City of Berkeley when the company wanted to expand its manufacturing and corporate facility in West Berkeley. As part of the Development Agreement, Bayer agreed to a 30-year relationship with Biotech Partners. This unique relationship includes several components: annual funding, paid summer internships and community college positions for students in the program, donations of lab equipment and supplies, hosting a career awareness conference for Biotech Partners’ high school students (and other students in the area), providing office space (including technology and phone), and access to meeting rooms and auditorium.

As the Biotech Partners/Bayer relationship is innovative, unique and expansive, it also provides fodder for other private/public partnerships.

Other partnerships and opportunities shared by attendees included “Jeans Day,” a practice of corporations for employees to participate in donating by contributing $5 when they wear jeans on casual Fridays. Several restaurants in Oakland also invite organizations to host a “Celebrity Bartender.” The guest bartender helps mix and serve drinks, and all the tips go to her/his organization. For both the organization and the restaurant, this means being introduced to an assortment of new customers.

The afternoon meeting concluded with a brief discussion of the benefits that companies or businesses can reap from having relationships with nonprofits. In addition to promotional and outreach opportunities, the benefits include feeling good (scientific studies show that a happy workforce and company is a more productive and profitable one), developing leadership capabilities of staff, participating in training the workforce, civic engagement/crime reduction, and for some companies and even legal benefits.

As the NonProfit Roundtable continues this ongoing conversation, more positives for all, including the community will come to light.

 

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The next Oakland Chamber NonProfit Roundtable meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 15,2014, from 2:30-4:30pm in the Chamber Boardroom. Please join us for a conversation and networking.

Contacts:
Co-Chair Âna-Marie Jones, Executive Director of CARD (AMJ@CARDcanhelp.org)
Co-Chair Jerry Metzker, Development & Marketing Manager of Biotech Partners (jmetzker@biotechpartners.org)

Chamber Liaison Nikki Mendez, Membership Director (nikki@oaklandchamber.com)

Fundraising: the Chamber’s Nonprofit Roundtable Tackles Big Questions

In addition to welcoming the Oakland Chamber’s new Membership Director and Roundtable Liaison Nikki Mendez, the April Nonprofit Roundtable launched into an enthusiastic conversation based on the recent national study, UnderDeveloped: A National Study of Challenges Facing Nonprofit Fundraising. With more than 10,000 nonprofit organizations serving Alameda County alone, the study provides significant information for the entire community.

To begin, Steve Lew, Project Director for CompassPoint (www.compasspoint.org), the Bay Area nonprofit that serves other nonprofits with classes, workshops, studies and consultations, introduced the study and the results.

UnderDeveloped (www.compasspoint.com/underdeveloped) is a joint project that CompassPoint undertook with the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund to examine the status of fundraising in the nonprofit sector. CompassPoint surveyed approximately 2,700 Executive Directors and Senior Development Officers and compiled the results.

According to CompassPoint, “With startling clarity, the national study reveals that many nonprofit organizations are stuck in a vicious cycle that threatens their ability to raise the resources they need to succeed.” The study succinctly reveals the instability of the role of the Development Director throughout the sector and in organizations of all sizes.

Key findings were divided into three specific areas: 1) Revolving Door – high turnover and long vacancies in the Development Director position; 2) Help Wanted – lack of qualified candidates, performance issues and a lack of basic fundraising skills among lead development staff; and 3) Organizational Structure – lack of capacity, systems and culture to support fundraising success. The statistics are alarming:

·         Vacancy length in the chief development position of six months on average, with nearly half even longer;

·         50% of Development Directors anticipate leaving their current jobs in two years or less;

·         50% of Executive Directors said their last search didn’t produce enough candidates with the right mix of skills and experience;

·         25% of Executive Directors fired their last Development Director;

·         25% of Executive Directors said their Development Directors have no experience or are novice at current and prospective donor research and at securing gifts;

·         23% of the organizations have no fundraising plan in place; 21% have no fundraising database;

·         75% of Board Member engagement is insufficient; and

·         Less than half of Development Directors say they have a strong relationship with their Executive Director.

 

However, the study goes further by providing several “calls to action” to strengthen fundraising within an organization and the sector as a whole:

 

·         Embrace fund development at the organization, or, as consultant Simone P. Joyaux states, create a “Culture of Philanthropy;”

·         Elevate the field of fundraising;

·         Strengthen and diversify the talent pool (like Executive Directors, Development Directors are predominantly over 40, female, and white);

·         Train Boards of Directors differently (again creating a Culture of Philanthropy);

·         Set realistic development goals; and

·         Share accountability for fundraising results (the Development Director’s success is inextricably linked to staff, Executive Director and Board success).

Discussing the study with Lew and each other led to an even broader conversation on the status of the Oakland area’s nonprofit sector. This conversation enabled those representing organizations of all sizes to ask questions, posit answers, complain, share ideas and support each other. The enthusiasm and diligence of those in attendance created a marvelous atmosphere that was only limited by time constraints.

Roundtable Co-chairs Âna-Marie Jones, Executive Director of CARD (amj@CARDcanhelp.org) and Jerry Metzker, Development & Marketing Manager of Biotech Partners (jerry.metzker@bayer.com) invite those in and outside of the nonprofit sector to join us as we continue this critical conversation.

 

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The next Oakland Chamber Non-Profit Roundtable meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 21, 2013, from 2:30-4:30pm in the Chamber Boardroom. All Chamber members and non-profit organizations interested in networking are welcome.Stay tuned for more details!