Joining other cities like Denver, Baltimore and Chattanooga in their request to reduce the number of panhandlers on the street, San Francisco recently began implementing what they call “homeless meters.”  Rather than throw your spare change in a cup or an outstretched hand, the city is asking you to insert that money into one of many designated meters around the city.  Designed to stop the chain of panhandling by taking away the source and  to educate the public about better ways to help the homeless population, the money in the meters will then be given to several nonprofit organizations in the city.  

While many cities have collected only a minimal amount of money when looking at the overall budgets spent on homeless-related services and programs, what has changed, however, is that many cities have cited a decrease in the number of panhandlers on the street—one of the main goals of the programs.   In fact, Denver’s Department of Human Services claim that they have seen a 92% reduction in panhandling in the downtown district since the meters were installed.  Advocates believe these programs can really make a difference in the way homeless people are served in their communities.

Slogans on meters include “Be a part of change.  Don’t give change“ and “Give your change to make a change for homeless people.”  Drop a quarter in a homeless meter in Baltimore, and see the needle move from “despair” to “hope.”  It appears as though a significant emphasis is being placed on educating people about more thoughtful giving.  

We hope organizers put the money where the slogan is. 

If the goal is to make a real change and educate the community about giving, the money has to go to effective and accountable organizations.  Otherwise, the true value of such programs is wasted.

We’re curious to hear your thoughts.  Will homeless meters and other similar programs really “change”  the way people think about charity? 

Governor Schwarzenegger recently launched the California Gang Reduction Intervention and Prevention Program (CalGrip). The $48 million dollar effort – funded by state and federal money will focus on combating local gangs across the state through job training, education and intervention programs.

Doug Luffborough III is well aware of the problem. In 2001 he started Turning the Hearts Center (THC), a non-profit organization in Chula Vista dedicated to empowering youth and families. For the first year, the organization ran without any funding, dependent on the hard work and dedication of Doug and a team of committed volunteers. Today THC has seven full-time staff and 30 committed volunteers, serving over 400 people in the San Diego Community, in one-on-one meetings and weekly classes.

We had a chance to catch up with Doug this week to learn more about Turning the Hearts and get his thoughts on the CalGRIP initiative.

The ETOlutionist: You had a difficult childhood, growing up in Worcester, Mass, without a father, in and out of gangs, and eventually in your senior year of high school living on the street with your mother and siblings. How did you manage to overcome these circumstances and proceed to earning a master’s degree from Harvard Graduate School of Education, a fellowship degree for the Center for Social Innovations at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Executive Program for Non-Profit Leaders and receive a personal invitation from President Clinton to the White House?

DL: A strong, disciplined mother, a commitment to my faith and perseverance were the primary factors in my success.  Even at my lowest times, I never gave up on my dreams of attending college. After graduating from Northeastern University, and later, Harvard University, I knew I had to help others in difficult situations to show them that who they have been destined to become is not dictated by external factors but to the degree that they believe inwardly that they were born to win!

The Etolutionist: Tell me about the programs you offer related to preventing gang violence and involvement.

DL: This January we started a new program called G.A.M.E. = Gang Awareness through Mentoring and Education - it is a gang reduction, prevention, and intervention group mentoring project.  The goal is to work with high-risk of joining and/or actual gang members between the ages of 13 to 21.  Over forty youth are currently enrolled in the program, many referred by the San Diego Probation Department and the Sweetwater Union High School District.

The program just received a CalGRIP grant award through the state to grow and further develop the work we are doing. One major challenge is dealing/working with active gang members who are rivals in the streets, but who are expected to be peacemakers when they come to group.  The other challenge is keeping, and retaining participants long enough to track and record positive outcomes.  It is critical that we track the behavior and achievements in real time, which is why this February we signed on to use Social Solutions ETO platform.

The ETOlutionist:  Can you share some thoughts on the CalGRIP initiative – what aspects do you expect will be beneficial? Are there any areas of the initiatives that you think might need improvement or to be revisited?

DL: Overall what is most helpful with using ETO on our CalGRIP initiative is the opportunities to case manage the services being provided and gather real time information that can be used to quickly provide proactive alternatives for positive solutions.  Creating pre and post assessments to show changes in behavior over time will provide us with information that we believe can curve gang involvement.  One area that might need improvement or revisited would be adjusting program design and service offering that maximize the optimum outcomes and minimize rivalry confrontations.

The Etolutionst: What is the make-up of the enrollees in the program currently?

DL: Right now 90% of the youth we serve are Hispanic, around 70% are gang affiliated.  Youth range in age from 13 to 21 years old.  100% are male.  Expansion of G.A.M.E. in the future will include services for women as well.

The Etolutionist: Can you expand on how tracking behavior, achievement and outcomes will help you expand?

DL: What gets measured gets done.  We provide weekly one-on-one sessions and group meetings as well as provide work-readiness classes, GED classes, youth development sessions, tutoring, and parenting services to the youth in G.A.M.E.  We need to track outputs and the relationship between activities to positive outcomes that can be measured over time.  This is where the ETO technology comes into play. It provides us with real time information that can highlight areas of success as well as areas that we need to work on.  Ultimately we expect ETO to prove that the work we do with gang members helps them lead productive and meaningful lives in our society and inevitably leaving the gang mentality and life style.

The ETOlutionist: You are in the early stages of implementing technology for performance management. How do you plan to get staff on board with this and committed to using it.

DL: Using ETO will be a mandate at THC – not a choice. All of the staff will be required to use it everyday, and we even hope to open the platform up to those we serve, so that they can enter feedback on the programs. This will be particularly helpful in deciding which programs need to be tweaked. Our weekly staff meetings include discussion on ETO – what is working, where people need help or training. It’s not looked at as another software application but part of the culture.

The Etolutionist: Thank you for taking time to participate in our blog interview today. We hope to check back in with you in the future to hear how the organization is progressing.
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Join Doug and Social Solutions in a discussion about managing the performance of gang prevention services in a webinar on Thursday, May 29th.  Find more information and sign up here.

gang prevention CalGRIP Doug Luffborough nonprofit accountability Turning the Hearts Center

Dave Butz (pictured below) was included in an article in the Baltimore Sun about how increasing gas prices may impact local Meals-on-Wheelsorganizations. Butz has been volunteering with Meals-on-Wheels for over two years and says he’ll continue to be involved –no matter how high gas prices get.

Meals on Wheels is of course not alone in facing tough times related to high gas prices –
Organizations all across the country are facing similar situations. A sampling of articles from local newspapers shows just how far reaching the crisis is.  

An Arizona Republic, “Economic slowdown pressures aid groups” article shows the economic strain impacting the Salvation Army, the United Food Bank and St. Mary’s Food Bank.

 The Greensboro News Record “Gas prices strain nonprofits,” reports on hardships facing the Guilford Child Development – which operates buses to carry kids between their homes and 11 childcare centers throughout the county.

In Indiana, the Tribune Star recently published an article about its local Red Cross chapter feeling the strain with a decrease in response from people to the recent natural disasters – which the executive director says may be the result of rising food and gas prices.

In tough times, it’s perhaps more important than ever for non-profits to make sure they are using funding and resources in ways that will have the most impact. We’re curious to hear about ways that performance management may have helped your organization stay focused on its priorities during difficult economic times.  

nonprofit, Dave Butz, gas prices, Baltimore Sun, Meals on Wheels, Salvation Army

This week’s big news of Jeff Raikes appointment to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has the philanthropy sector buzzing. We turned our ‘microphone’ out to a few pundits for their thoughts.

Joel Orosz, Distinguished Professor of Philanthropic Studies (see photo)

“It's not often that someone says of an organization with $37.3 billion in the bank, "hey, give 'em a little credit"!  But credit is due the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, for they have done something unusual among the ranks of big foundations:  they've hired as their leader someone who actually has first-hand experience in philanthropy. 
 
True, Jeffrey S. Raikes is a former Microsoft executive, which makes him in some ways the "safe" choice:  founders of businesses have been hiring their old employees since the earth's crust was still hot.  But unlike most such transfers, who wouldn't know a payout requirement from the public support test, Raikes, 49, actually has participated in a homeless census, chaired a United Way campaign, and run his own family foundation. 
 
Let's hope that this move by Gates, the biggest and perhaps the most influential of the world's foundations, ushers in an era when prior experience in the hard work of giving is considered at least as important an attribute when choosing foundation CEOs as being a university president or a corporate titan.  Too much is at stake in those positions to hand them over to people who will need lots of on-the-job-training before they can become effective.

Sean Stannard-Stockton, principal at Ensemble Capital and author of the blog TacticalPhilanthropy

“The Gates Foundation’s selection of Jeff Raikes as CEO is intriguing because Raikes’ primary career experience is in marketing. The Gates Foundation themselves have stated that they do not have enough money to fix global health. However, the foundation has a global platform to communicate their views to the world and they may find that this “marketing platform” can have a larger impact on the world than their actual grantmaking.”

Only time will tell if this decision was a move in the right direction for the Gates Foundation.  We'll have to keep an eye on it.

In other news, philanthropy advocate Claude Rosenberg passed away last week at the age of 80. The New York Times obituary highlights Mr. Rosenberg’s ground-breaking research showing that wealthy people often give less to ‘charity’ than they can afford and poor and middle class people – actually donate more, relative to what they can afford, than do wealthy people.

Rosenberg helped people understand how to maximize giving and tax benefits and also delved into the psychological reasons why people don’t give as much as they can, according to the article.

It's refreshing to see and hear from those who care about the nonprofit world as much as we do.

We can’t help but talk about our excitement for ETOlution 2008! We’re looking forward to thoughtful discussions, hearing from nonprofits and other organizations who have made the commitment to incorporate measurement and accountability into daily activity, and learning from insightful industry insiders such as Mark Friedman, Marty Miles, David Hunter, and our own Steve Butz.  

We also hear there will be an appearance by Dave Butz himself, so be sure to check out his Fan Club and leave a comment or question for Dave. And if you are one of the millions on Facebook these days, be sure to friend Dave and join his Facebook group.  He promises to friend you back.  Not a Facebook member? Sign up here.  

With just under a month until the main event, we’ve started the countdown.  Check out this video from last year’s conference where Steve, Adrian and David Hunter talk about the conference and the importance of measuring results.  You’ll also hear from Catholic Family Services and Roca who talk about the advocacy work Social Solutions offers and how using ETO Software has helped their organization.  

Now do you see why we are excited?

The Council on Foundations hosted its annual Philanthropy Summit this past weekend in Washington, D.C. A leader in philanthropic change himself, our very own Steve Butz was there to learn, share, and report. 

Each year, the summit provides the opportunity for individuals and organizations immersed in nonprofit topics to discuss the future of philanthropy with other leaders from around the globe and to take part in programs and activities designed to enhance collaboration and impact. It’s a three-day conference packed with informative and inspirational events and sessions that unearth the impact of foundations - focused on leadership, partnership and impact in the nonprofit sector - and advance a common good. See the Chonicle’s day by day and session by session summary here.

Steve attended the conference, and with several other influential members of the space, shared his opinions of the nonprofit world and insight of the summit on Sean Stannard-Stockton’s widely read blog, Tactical Philanthropy. Read Steve’s thoughts (and that of other guest bloggers) here. See what others, such as the Stanford Social Innovation Review and Philanthropy 2173 have to say. 

It brings a whole other level to the question, “What is it like working here?”  We were struck by a recent article in the Wall Street Journal discussing the trend of companies offering volunteer activities for employees—and by volunteer, they mean more than cleaning up a park or creating a team for an upcoming walk.  The WSJ points out that some companies are now lending out skilled employees to nonprofits around the world to provide professional services that these groups are often in desperate need of.  Accounting firm Ernst & Young offers an overseas volunteer initiative that gives employees the option of doing volunteer work for weeks or even months at at time overseas, all while on the company’s dime and with the promise of coming back to their job.  Pfizer runs a similar program where the company has sent over 150 employees from 22 countries to 31 other countries.  PNC Financial Services, Target, and UPS offer similar programs as well. 

As an estimated 40% of major companies support employee volunteering were encouraged to see a handful of companies, if not more, realize that the true impact they can make is more than sending a check along to an organization.  By investing the time and employees, both the company and organization benefit.  Even more so, were encouraged to hear that people seeking jobs take a company’s community and philanthropy into account when chooseing between employers. Sounds like a win-win situation to us.  By investing the time and employees, the company, its employees and the organization they are helping benefit.  We call that a win-win. 

Bravo to the IRS, they’ve recently revised the 25-year old 990, the form required by organizations wishing to file under nonprofit status. And they’ve made some strides in the last quarter century, quite adequately taking into account the most important issues affecting and influencing nonprofits today – efficiency, effectiveness and transparency. 

According to this article in the Chronicle, the agency is going to be much more aggressive in its efforts to monitor nonprofit efficiency and effectiveness.  By creating standards to hold organizations against, the IRS hopes to help ensure nonprofits spend according to the money they have coming in and the mission they support. Considering the purpose of the tax exempt subsidy, these standards are probably a good idea.  Not that they should be telling an organization how to run, but the IRS can show a little support to the country’s nonprofits to help keep them running responsibly.

And apparently the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee is also jumping on the effectiveness bandwagon – showing interest in nonprofit revenue reports and encouraging organizations to reveal to donors how money spent supports their mission. Isn’t it great that after all this talk among our own nonprofit community that we finally have some big politicos lending an ear?

With good intentions, the IRS hopes this new and improved form will help organizations be more transparent and accountable to donors.  Not that all organizations needed the water wings, but hopefully those that do (the ineffective and unaccountable) will appreciate this effort by the government. After all, accountable, efficient, effective organizations - as we always preach - are going to be the nonprofits best supported and those that make the biggest impact.  IRS, thanks for the lifesaver.

IRS, 990, nonprofit, effectiveness, accountability, efficiency, Chronicle of Philanthropy, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee

A couple of weeks ago we heard the news that Harvard Law is waiving third year tuition for law students who commit five years of work with a nonprofit or in public service.  Looks like another school is following Harvard’s path. 

This week, Tufts University announced a new program that will repay loans for students who enter nonprofit or public service work depending upon their loan burdens and and income levels.  The program also applies to Tufts alumni who are already working in public service jobs. Tufts alum and founder of eBay, Pierre Omidyar, made the program possible through the Omidyar-Tufts MicroFinance Fund.  It will be interesting to see if loan forgiveness programs for public service work becomes a trend with additional schools following suite. 

Over at Philanthropy Action, blogger Tim Ogden points out that today’s credit crunch affects not just homeowners but students who are financing their educations through loans, potentially leading to higher costs for private loans or even the inability to secure a loan at all. In today’s economy, loan forgiveness programs might be even more enticing to students and may be the boost they need to seek employment in nonprofits.  And this is the kind of boost we like to see.

Its pretty obvious that nonprofits will be affected as we encounter this economic downturn.  The question is, how much?  Many articles have detailed the fact that donors will be likely to give less, less often, and that although the effect might not be drastic, nonprofits will see a change.  And even if the economic climate doesn’t outright cause donors to give less, it might cause them to think they should – a great excuse for nonprofits to make an even more compelling case for their need.

An article in the NY Times today discussed a similar issue – the plummeting of stocks affecting corporate giving. For large companies that give based on their assets, this could might be the change in charity everyone is predicting. Layoffs, bad news and tough times – how could it not? It’s mentioned that nonprofits might have to look to other large donors, whose 10 percent of the donor population provide about 90 percent of funds, in order to meet their needs.  Will this change in the market really affect nonprofits in the long run? Or is it a premature prediction, an overreaction to the economic situation?  It will be interesting to keep an eye on the situation to see affects – benefits of not.