Update from the Preservation Trust

In our monthly update, I wanted to bring my fellow OCB grantees up to speed on our progress:

We continue to run our board meetings with streamlined measures and have recently adopted updated by-laws, attendance policy, and a board member responsibility policy. Our Governance Committee has been hard at work to complete and present all of these policies and subsequent documents.

Our consultant is currently working on specific documents to streamline some of our daily operations; these will help us implement an organizational plan he is preparing and assist our small staff in prioritizing our work for the future.

I mentioned in the last post that we are encouraging the City of Spartanburg to apply for grant funding from the State Department of Archives and History for a city-wide survey of historic resources (neighborhoods, buildings, etc). This is moving forward and we are looking forward to the outcome!

Also, we recently created and implemented a customer satisfaction survey for those we serve. This includes people who use us as a resource (for example, our owner-occupied rehabilitation grant receipients) and our homebuyers. This step was long overdue in our organization, and we had a great response rate. In the next few months, we plan to revise the survey so we can poll on a more regular basis. We so appreciate feedback and realize that even criticism can be useful, constructive, and help us make positive changes.

On a closing note, I want to say how much I enjoyed our last meeting with Terry Hypes and Big Brothers Big Sisters (ask to see his fabulous video with Mayor Barnet) and am looking forward to our meeting tomorrow morning with Cindi at The Haven.

Rebecca Parrish

More from the Preservation Trust

Hello again fellow OCB grantees,
In my last post, I mentioned that I would write again after our Annual Board meeting. We held this board meeting at the Spartanburg Public Library (Hoescht-Celeanse Room) on Wednesday, September 26th. We had a great turnout and were able to adopt new policies created by our Governance Committee. Best of all, we have really streamlined our board meeting process to "cut the fat" and take less time, a change appreciated by busy board members and staff alike.

As an organization, part of our visioning for our future includes understanding our housing stock within the City of Spartanburg and identifying historic neighborhoods that can benefit from our assistance. We realize that a city-wide housing survey of such neighborhoods is essential and will be presenting to the City of Spartanburg Historic Architectural Review Board next week to encourage them to advocate and seek grant funds for this survey. This will, obviously, be a piece of the puzzle for our future, but it will also benefit everyone in the bigger picture. Understanding neighborhoods connects us with residents and their needs; it can spotlight our schools, transportation, need for parks, health services, etc.

We are turning in our progress on both of these fronts to our consultant so that we can move forward with the remaining strategic plan, per our OCB grant. I'll keep you posted on the progress...thanks!

Closer to answers...our OCB grant

Hello everyone! The last time I wrote, the Preservation Trust was awaiting deliverables from our hired help, consultant Bruce Lyon, and we are one step closer in that process.

To help our board gain strength, Bruce sent out an board member self evaluation form. For any of you who have not done this before, I think it is a must. Boards should evaluate themselves (just like they do with staff) once per year. It has been eye-opening to review their thoughts. We are using the information to change several things about our board structure, meetings, and board understanding.

Right now our board is on the "large side" according to many advisors, including the folks at SCANPO. We are evaluating not only our board size but also our board skill set and participation levels. After some training with Allison Black Cornelius, we installed a Governance Committee to evaluate our bylaws, policies, committees, and meeting structure. They are suggesting some changes, including updating our bylaws, understanding legal rights and requirements, create policies specific to board members (ie, Attendence Policy and Complaint Resolution Procedure), and educating in our board meetings rather than updating.

We are hoping to institute some of these changes at our annual board meeting in September. Bruce Lyon has already conducted our board retreat (May) and will be submitting a needs assessment, organizational work plan, and financial forecasting plan for our organization.

Rebecca Parrish

Computer Lending Program

As Curt and I have mentioned previously, the Foundation has implemented a Computer Lending program for our grantees. We have two laptop computers and two LCD projectors that can be checked-out of the Lending Library. Several of your OCB colleagues have already used this new program. If you are interested in borrowing a computer and/or projector, please contact Cece Brown at 573-9500.

Just checking in

Hello Everyone
Well I will admit that it has been awhile since I have logged on to the blog but I also will say that I thoroughly enjoyed my first OCB Cluster Meeting at TOTAL ministries. Since I am new to Spartanburg these meetings are providing me an opportunity to learn more about the agencies and organizations in our city - well at least those in my cluster.

Rebecca - well not sure if you are the first one to spend all of your money -I am whittling away at it. Our grant was provided to solicit additional funding for our office through membership recruitment. So far I have had special remittance envelopes printed, had them inserted in two our newsletters and am now working on getting a prospect letter out. The first letter will go to those on our mailing list - since they are already familiar with our work I am hoping to have success there before venturing out to cold lists.

Looking forward to the next OCB cluster 2 meeting - hosted by Preservation Trust.
Angela

Training on Leadership Succession

The NeighborWorks Training Institute is hosting a full-day symposium called, Preparing for Success and Succession: Maximizing Opportunity at a Time of Leadership Change, on August 15, 2007 in Washington DC. According to the brochure, two-thirds of nonprofits will face a leadership transition over the next three years. This looks like a great training full of information that is important for all nonprofits to consider.

To register, go to www.nw.org/onlinereg

Our experience so far...

Hello OCB friends! Rebecca here from the Preservation Trust! Are we the first organization to spend our grant money? :) We applied for funds to bring back a consultant (Bruce Lyon with Swan Development) that we used in the past to formulate our Carlisle Street Initiative. This time around, we asked him to facilitate a strategic planning meeting with staff and board to help us determine what the next five years will hold for our organization (and what kind of staff or board help we will need to get us there!).
Bruce has incredible vision and spent the last two days helping the Trust figure out what we should and should not be focusing on. I realized that it truly helps to have a third party come in...he introduced ideas about our growth we would have never thought about! Although he is working on big picture ideas and deliverables, my immediate takeaways were regarding our board members, board structure, and their time committment. He stressed that the Trust really needs an proactive board to push us to the next level. Don't get me wrong--we have some fabulous board members, but they tend to "think" more than they "do." I am sure other bloggers can understand this position!
I also wanted to share that we held our planning meeting at The Showroom (Hub-Bub's building) and it was an amazing, creative location. The Showroom is available for private event and they have a non-profit rate.
I'll write again soon!
Rebecca

Finally ON

Hello Everyone
Angela here - from Upstate Forever. I am so glad to finally be on the blog. My email spam blocker evidently works too well but Curt was able to get through on my home email account today. Yeah.

First of all I want to apologize to other members of OCB Cluster #2 for my absence at the first meeting. It seems that the date finally selected worked for everyone but me. HOwever, I have June 1 and all other first Fridays now marked on my calendar so plan to be with all of you then.

The SCANPO conference was most appreciated and as usual, I came away with lots of good information, which I have yet had the time to revisit. Hope to get to that very soon so that I can share the info with others in our organization.
Dinner at Tronco's was wonderful - as I knew it would be. Since I lived in the Columbia area for the past 20 years, it had become a favorite of mine early on. Thanks to MBF for getting us all together that evening - and for dinner.

For those of you that are not aware, our OCB grant was written to assist Upstate Forever in Spartanburg to recruit new members. We have only been operating in Spartanburg for about three years and although we have a mailing list of nearly 2,400, only about 10% of those folks are contributing members/donors. We are working to change that and also to look outside that list for other interested Spartanburg County residents.

Have a great week.
Angela

The Charles Lea Center

Hello all!

I just wanted to take a moment to let everyone know that Charles Lea Center is now officially registered and blogging! The Center is very grateful to work with such a wonderful group of non profits and the Mary Black Foundation to complete our organizational capacity building grant. I am looking forward to hearing more about each agency and their grants as well as troubleshooting via this blog. Have a wonderful weekend! Enjoy Spring Fling!!

Katie Brannan

SCANPO Member Benefits

I hope everyone enjoyed the SCANPO conference. I enjoyed having dinner with you! Did you know about these cost savings programs that SCANPO offers its members?

• Directors and Liability Insurance: discounted rates through Lighthouse Underwriters
• Telephone and Web Conferencing: great prices through ReadyTalk
• Nonprofit Unemployment Insurance Program: unemployment tax savings products for every size nonprofit
• Telecommunication Services: Exclusive rates on local, long-distance, and toll-free services, Internet access, conferencing, and other communication products through Spirit Telecom
• Office Supplies: discounted rates on supplies, furniture, technology, and printing through Staples Business Advantage

For more information, visit the Members only section at www.scanpo.org.

Molly

great blog

Ok - it looks like folks are getting the hang of it. Thanks for all of the posts. Now let's see if we can get some comments. The following link is an article about scale in the non profit sector and the role of philanthropy. Click here for the blog.


So let's see who is reading... Can't wait to read you comments.

SAM

Hello from SAM (Spartanburg Art Museum),
It was great to see everyone at the SCANPO conference. Thanks so much to Molly and Mary Black Foundation for dinner on Thursday...although my waist doesn't thank you very much right now!
SAM plans to use our grant to hire Alexander, Haas, Martin (a nonprofit/museum consulting firm in Atlanta) to help us develop a Strategic Plan. They have sent me a list of all of the "stuff" I have to get to them first, then the games...I mean planning, will start!
Looking foward to our first small group meeting on May 7th.

thanks...

for all of the posts! We are still working out some technical challenges, but hope to have everyone up soon. Just a couple of reminders... Let us know about your plans for the SCANPO dinner - also, interested in carpooling? Let us know as well.

Curt

Animal Allies

I was so proud of myself when I figured out how to sign up for the blog back on in March. My plan was to start blogging at least a couple of times a week to let everyone know what was happening at Animal Allies.

Here we are almost a month later and I am posting my first blog. So much for my good intentions!

Animal Allies, which was founded in 1998, began its second year of operations in our new clinic on January, 2007. Our first year certainly was filled with a series of challenges and successes.

With the help of our great staff, the support and trust of our wonderful public clients and rescue groups, the generosity of our incredible donors, and the strong direction of our Board of Directors, we were able to spay and neuter 4,776 animals in 2006. Because of those surgeries, many thousands of animals will not be born over the next ten years.

From the day we opened the doors of the clinic until today, we continue to grow. Our main goal is and will always be to reduce the number of stray and unwanted animals in our community.

What we are learning is that success in any endeavor, especially ours, needs a collaboration of efforts. In 2007, we hope to partner with other agencies, both animal related and community related to ensure that the four-legged members of families do not become burdens to those families. We believe a spayed/neutered animal not only makes a better pet but has a much better chance of being a productive and supportive partner to all members of the family.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Upstate

Just a short post to let everyone know that we are now on the blog and viewing all of its contents. Trust everyone had a nice Holiday. Will post some info about Big Brothers Big Sisters in a few day along with some thoughts on this capacity grant and how we hope to grow our program in the Upstate to serve as many "at risk" children as possible.

Terry Hypes
CEO, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Upstate

Good Morning,
This is my first attempt to be a blogger. So please be kind.
The Cancer Association of Spartanburg & Cherokee Counties, Inc. is very excited to be a member of such an elite group of individuals. I look forward to working with all of you over the next year. Have a wonderful and blessed Easter.

Glaydeane S. Lee

TOTAL Ministries mission - assisting people in emerging from hurting, emergency situations by providing for basic needs and by creating environments which allow people to make positive life changes. The health and wellness of local people are affected when they have to deal with the stress of obtaining their basic needs of shelter, food, heat, clothing and medicine. TOTAL Ministries and Mary Black Foundation have the ability to partner together to meet these basic needs.

Our goals from this grant are:

1. a. Streamline the ability of volunteers to determine assistance based on past requests, current status of budget, and ability to achieve independence. Include use of risk factor screening to determine high need clients.
b. Improved reports management of database to determine annual, seasonal, and monthly requirements for assistance.
c. Reduce failed partial commitments by half of current numbers, achieved by better communications and improved measurement of demographics to determine ability to cope with crisis by client.
d. Finalize five-year analysis of client return rates and establish assistance policies designed to eliminate wants over needs.

2. Activities to be completed include attending the Performance Measurement for Effective Management of Nonprofit Organizations at the Harvard School of Business; consulting with Priority Metrics Group in database design and reports management; training with volunteers and board in risk factor screening for clients; and a board meeting to determine best course of action in eliminating repetitive requests and meaningful assistance to achieve success.

3. The Executive Director will have final responsibility for coordinating efforts. Board members will assist in the development of implementation and training for volunteers. Priority Metrics Group will be responsible for database management, revision, reports development, and training.

4. The timeline of events will be as follows:

Jan – March 2007, Priority Metrics Group will be working on the database development and reports management segment.

Jan – Feb 2007, Executive Director will implement changes to interview processing to develop standards of documentation in acquiring accurate data for demographics studies.

May 2007, attendance at Performance Measurement for Effective Management of Nonprofit Organizations, Harvard Business School.

June 2007, board and Priority Metrics Group will review data and accomplishments to determine continued implementation or allow time for information gathering over summer months.

Sept 2007, board and Priority Metrics Group will determine best course of action for implementation of new procedures, rejection of interview procedures not practical, best practices in providing assistance.

Nov 2007, establish new procedures for assistance, streamline reports management for further study of demographic information, implement assistance using new guidelines as determined by data, board, and volunteers. If possible, develop written guidelines to assist in establishing longevity to the practices of TOTAL Ministries for long-term sustainability.

5. Indicators will include: 90% stability of clients in the 90-day post assistance survey; reduction of year to year returns to 10% of assistance rendered; reduction of partial commitment failures from 66% to 33% for new clients and from 40% to 20% for established clients.

Joan @ SCSDB

South Carolina School for the Deaf and the Blind (SCSDB) continues to be a vital educational and resource center in Spartanburg County and around the state. As SCSDB continues to build on the organizational capacity already developed through strategic planning and accountability, we look to the future. SCSDB is committed to remain a viable service through the changing times, landscape, and population of the county. Therefore, SCSDB is using the Mary Black Foundation grant to hire a consultant to conduct market research. The consultant will survey the community in the investigation of key questions relating to how we can best serve the families and agencies of Spartanburg regarding the education of sensory impaired students. The results of this research will be communicated to the community and will be used in further strategic planning and accountability.

Purpose of Habitat Capacity Building Grant

Although Habitat for Humanity of Spartanburg has been around for 20 years, we are at a critical crossroad in 2007. Our long time Executive Director retired 12/31/06 and David Ellis began in that position on 1/1/07. I have been on the board for three years but this is my first year as Board President.

This grant will be used for board training to the end that we are able to increase our impact in Spartanburg and develop an organization that operates effectively and efficiently and is able to sustain itself for the long haul as the players change in the years to come.

We participated in the recent training sessions with Allison Black Cornelius and want to proceed in the direction she outlined. We plan to hold a one day board retreat in May and follow up in the fall.

In 1986, I killed a nonprofit organization...

That is how the feature article begins in the Institute for Conservation Leadership's latest newsletter. The article and newsletter focus on a huge capacity issue - Leadership. Find the full newsletter here.

Grant Info

The Walker Foundation's grant will focus on creating "community councils" to allow and encourage more people to be involved with the Foundation and the SC School for the Deaf and the Blind. This format will be replicated across the state to build statewide involvement in the Foundation and the school. We are developing a website for better communication. Anyone have experience with secure areas on websites for our Board members and community council members? We are also looking at a blog - so this is great experience too! Thanks MBF! I'll be very interested to see how this works.

Finally, we are looking for folks with experience with focus groups - designing the questions, selecting the participants and getting impartial feedback from the gatherings. Any suggestions out there? Is any one else working on a similar project and might be interested in sharing an expert?

Getting Started

The following blog will be an experiment of the Mary Black Foundation. With 21 special grantees - we will try to create a space for learning, connection, and assistance. Two rules apply - one for the Foundation - Stay current and one for the grantees - Give it a try.

Thanks.