Nonprofits: Is it time to reevaluate and reinvent?

“He who rejects change is the architect of decay.  The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.”  ~Harold Wilson

Last year Favorite Things for a CAUSE posted an article in September, “Charities must change to survive” that was originally written by our good friend Ron Stodghill from the Charlotte Observer. Ron touched on some very good points, advising charities to rethink their marketing and business plans in order to survive in our ever changing, donor retentive, techno savvy world.

We have to echo Ron’s advice, because in the recent months, we found out by talking to a few executives and officers of some local nonprofits, they are missing some crucial opportunities by simple existing and not growing. When meeting with your board members and staff during your monthly or bimonthly meetings, you should discuss your current growth assessment and immediately implement a new or revised plan of action that would generate increased revenue, continued community participation and growth opportunities for your cause.

Let’s face it, you have to ask yourself if you are milking the same donors repeatedly? Remember, you can’t continue to wear out the same people all of the time. Are you rolling out fresh ideas and events to keep your organization exciting and inviting? Are you finding that people are doing more to avoid you than support you? On the other hand, are you exploring new opportunities for your organization with your research and development committee?

Here is a checklist to see where you may have some opportunity to grow your nonprofit cause this year:

1. What are your fundraising strategies for the 2011? Hopefully, you have met with your officers and members to discuss your goals for this New Year by now.
2. What are you doing to increase your marketing campaign and communications?
3. Are you communicating with passion and clarity to your targeted audience?
4. Are you satisfied with your performance reviews?
5. Does your website need updating?
6. Are you updating your blog frequently each month and capitalizing on your email marketing campaign?
7. When was the last time you evaluated your research data (organizational statistics) and audience census?
8. Have you evaluated your financial reports and established new revenue goals and budgets for this year?
9. Are you increasing your social network presence and correspondence?

These are just a few things regarding internal performance that many organizations are highly deficient in or not doing at all. Listen, in the reality of it all, just because people are fond of you, does not mean that they will automatically support your cause. If you aren’t excited and proactive about your cause, then you certainly can’t expect anyone else to be. Is it time to revamp, rekindle and reinvent your organization? Or are you already exceeding your expectations? No one knows that answer better than you do. The bottom line is, if you continue doing the same old thing, you will continue to get the same old results! The choice is yours. Now, let’s ask this question one more time: “Is it time to reinvent your nonprofit?”

www.favoritethingsforacause.com

Easing hunger, one can at a time

Central Academy class ­tackles donation drive in a unique way

by Brian Carlton 

Union County Weekly

Students from Debra Cochran’s geometry class use cans of food to assemble a giant sculpture as part of their bid to ‘Erase Hunger.’

The first parts of the blueprint were assembled before Christmas. During the new semester, bits and pieces started coming together, schemes and drawings, as Debra Cochran’s geometry class at the Central Academy of Technology tried to make their plan a reality. Instead of the normal canned food drive, Cochran’s class wanted to use geometry and mathematics principles to build a can sculpture, with cans of specific sizes and colors.

It was a plan that met with some trial and error along the way, before finally being unveiled the week of January 28 in Monroe. Between 1000 to 1100 cans were used and then donated to Monroe’s Loaves and Fishes, when all was said and done.

“Years ago, I’d seen something like this done in a magazine, with the food given away to food banks,” Cochran said. “And I thought, we could use this as a way to collect donations and also teach the kids about geometry.”

This wasn’t the first time Cochran had attempted to do something like this, but in previous years, she never had the time, with both state and federal testing. Now with state tests out of the way, Cochran said there was more time to teach.

And so construction began. Cochran said the class picked a model out of canstruction.org, a website that gets engineering design students to take part in sculpture competitions. Originally, it was supposed to be a hexagon on top of circles, but that didn’t exactly work, Cochran said, so they went a different route

“We were able to use a lot of our geometry in working with the design,” Cochran said. “We determined what the diameter of the cans needed to be, what size each one needed to be.”

Students and Cochran herself reached out to parents to help purchase the cans, since they had to be specific sizes and colors, then the Monroe Food Lion on Franklin Street helped by donating the rest.

“We even had parents helping us to pick up the cans and to work with the actual build,” Cochran said.

Students meanwhile worked on the designs at home and at school, connecting through the class’s Moodle site.

Students focused on the IT side of things worked on the Moodle site, pre-engineering and automotive students worked on the design and build. All parts of the class took a hand in a specific part of the task.

“Building it was the most fun,” 16 year old Mason Meteer said. The 10th grader said he had fun, even though the designs had to be changed, sometimes after collapsing.

“We looked at pictures on the web of different sculptures and tried to imitate them,” 15 year old Josh Barnes said. “We picked what we thought would be the easiest to do.”

Giving to Loaves and Fishes

Loaves and Fishes is a non-profit local food pantry in Monroe, created in 1984 by volunteers. Al Deal, its director, estimates that last year alone, the group served over 500 people. Over the years, there have been partnerships between Central Academy and the pantry, with students coming by sometimes once a week to sort food as new donations come in. Now students were bringing in donations of a different size.

“Once the students explained what they were going to do, we were enthusiastic to work with them,” Deal said. “Once the sculpture was dismantled, we counted between 1000 to 1100 cans of food going into the pantry here. It was a great job by everyone around.”

So much so that it gave Deal an idea, to possibly expand from one sculpture to several next year, as a challenge from Central Academy of Technology to the other schools in Union County.

“Why not do a challenge between the schools?” Deal said. “It raises awareness and gets everyone involved.

Meteer said he and his other classmates would be glad to defend their title next year.

“Definitely,” Meteer said. “It would bring in a lot more cans and it would be a lot of fun, beating the other schools.”

http://www.unioncountyweekly.com/news/2011/02/easing-hunger-one-can-at-a-time/

Favorite Things for a CAUSE salutes  Debra Cochran and her geometry class at the Central Academy of Technology for addressing this food drive  in a very unique way! Thank you Brian for allowing us this opportunity to share such an inspiring story.

Dove’s Nest: Gifts Celebrating the Newness of Life

We would like to take this moment to thank our friends at General Mills for  kindly donating items to include in our goodie bags that we presented to the residents and staff members at the Dove’s Nest.  The Dove’s Nest, a subsidiary of The Charlotte Rescue Mission, is a program that provides a loving, highly structured Christian environment to help women understand and deal with the core issues of their alcohol and/or drug addiction.

Our theme was “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,” even though we presented our gifts to the ladies in January. The idea behind “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year” was to celebrate each resident’s transformation through the newness of life that we commemorate for the birth of Jesus and the birth of a new year. Other donations were given by donors who wanted to remain anonymous, but we want them to also know how much we greatly appreciate their generous gifts and support.

The recipients were so excited and touched by these gifts from the heart. The Dove’s Nest is one of our favorite benevolent organizations. It is the organization that Kym Gordon Moore represented as the 2009 General Mills Feeding Dreams Community Champion in Charlotte. The donation that General Mills made to the Dove’s Nest helped with the capital campaign fund for the new expansion facility. Constructions is expected to begin on the expansion facility this year. The Dove’s Nest holds a special place in our hearts, because of the programs designed to change the lives of hundreds of women who want to pay it forward by helping others. Keep up the good work everyone and thank you!

www.favoritethingsforacause.com

A Few of Our Favorite Things

Can you believe that this is the first day, of the second month of a new year? When we began Favorite Things for a CAUSE over three years ago, we wanted to make a positive impact in the lives of others by utilizing our gifts and talents to share some of our favorite things with those who may not experience them in the manner that we do. Little did we know how much our interaction within the surrounding communities would diversify and impact our lives. We are inspired by others to continue building those bridges that have become essential to our survival.

The song “Favorite Things” sung by Julie Andrews from the musical “The Sound of Music” was such a sweet, happy song. It inspired us to put together a few of our personal favorite things into endearing words, as we hummed along to the music of this magical song. 

Drinking hot coffee, hot tea and hot chocolate

Eating new cuisines, you love or not like it

Mentoring, giving, fulfillment it brings

These are a few of our favorite things.

 ~~~

Touring museums and art galleries

Giving to causes and more charities

High heels and makeup, perfume and big rings

These are a few of our favorite things.

 ~~~

When the bills come

when the debts rise

when we’re feeling sad

we simply just think of our favorite things

and then we don’t feel so bad!

 

We just wanted to take this lighthearted and quirky moment to thank everyone who is, has been and will be involved in some aspect of our Favorite Things for a CAUSE initiatives. You help us bring an awareness to causes that so many people never heard of. Peace and blessings to all of you!

www.favoritethingsforacause.com