Grantee Partner

Planning for sustainability, not just survival.

Posted on by WAWF

In the current challenging economy….that seems to be the way we start and end practically every conversation these days, doesn’t it?

But this is in fact our reality today – we really can’t get away from it.  That said, the good news is that the only thing that is constant is change.  So we will emerge from this economic crisis, as we have emerged from every one that has come before.

In the meantime, the key questions for most nonprofits are:

  1. How do we weather the current storm?
  2. How do we position ourselves to be able to continue to do the important work we do once the economy turns around?

The first is a question of survival; the second, a question of sustainability.

So why make a distinction?  Let’s take a minute to contemplate the definitions.

SURVIVAL: the act or process of continuing to exist in the present despite being from an earlier time; continuing longer than, or beyond the existence of, another person, thing, or event.
SUSTAINABILITY: the ability of a program or organization to continue and endure indefinitely.

Certainly when given the choice, all of us would prefer to be sustainable rather than to just survive.

Yet, I understand that in some circumstances, whether talking about an organization or an individual, survival is the most immediate and pressing priority.  But how often is survival a necessary position because there hasn’t been an (effective) sustainability plan in place?  Is survival a necessary first step to reaching sustainability, or does sustainability occur on a totally different track?

What do you think?

The question we have been working to address at The Women’s Foundation is: How does one plan for sustainability?

Financial security is often the most common focus of sustainability planning and activities for many organizations – particularly in a time of economic difficulty.  But it is just one of several components of organizational sustainability.  The reality is that financial sustainability is only relevant and truly sustainable if the vision, impact and leadership of the organization are all sound as well.

On March 11th, The Women’s Foundation hosted a workshop facilitated by Heather Peeler, the Managing Director with Community Wealth Ventures, who has more than 10 years of experience in the nonprofit sector and management consulting.

Heather’s presentation took the seven key hallmarks of sustainability we identified in the The Women’s Foundation’s most recent Open Door Capacity Fund RFP, presented each hallmark in greater depth, and stimulated a great discussion among workshop participants about how these hallmarks are relevant to their organizational sustainability.

Moreover, Heather shared sustainability planning resources and provided helpful tips on selecting and working with consultants.

The information was so well received by workshop attendees, we want to make it available to all of our community partners though this blog.  We encourage you to take a moment to do the organizational self-assessment that is included in the materials.  You might surprise yourself.

Organizational Sustainability Self Assessment
Sustainability Workshop Presentation Slides

But regardless of which resource you use, have the discussions about what strategies your organization is using to weather the storm. Is your strategy focused on survival or sustainability?

And why.

Remember, change is constant.  So , where will you be when saying “in the current economy” no longer conjures up worry and anxiety, but instead visions of opportunity and possibility.

Nicole Cozier is The Women’s Foundation’s Philanthropic Education Officer.

Why you should vote for Friends of Guest House in the online vote!

Posted on by Jocelyn McKinley

Friends of Guesthouse is the only program of its kind in all of Northern Virginia. 

We provide support and resources to formerly incarcerated women convicted of non-violent crimes, so that they may more successfully integrate back into their communities. The women work hard to progress through the program and work hard on improving themselves.

Guesthouse is a one-of-a-kind leader in the community, working with women that are on their  way to becoming leaders themselves.

You can learn more about our work at our Web site or our blog.

VOTE FOR US!!

Jocelyn McKinley is a case manager at Friends of Guest House, a 2009 Leadership Awardee and Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation since 2000, when they won their first Leadership Award.

Congratulations to Vera Mayer, Public Citizen of the Year!

Posted on by Lisa Kays

The Women’s Foundation is proud to congratulate Vera Mayer, senior advocate with Iona Senior Services and coalition coordinator with the DC Coalition on Long Term Care (a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation), on being named Public Citizen of the Year by the DC Metro Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

An article in Washington Jewish Week explains that Vera was recognized for her "years of work to improve the quality of life for seniors and disabled adults in the District of Columbia."  Vera is also "cited as one of the moving forces behind the District’s Aging and Disability Medicaid Waiver application to provide for community-based long term care rather than institutional placements for aging and disabled adults who need assistance."

Gwen Rubinstein, a program officer at The Women’s Foundation who has worked with Vera, echoed these statements, saying, "Vera is a force.  Getting the Medicaid Waiver passed was a big, big deal.  She is a true force."

Congratulations, Vera, from The Women’s Foundation, and many thanks for your devotion and service to the Washington metropolitan area and the well-being of its aging and disabled citizens.

Lisa Kays is The Women’s Foundation’s Director of Communications.

Link to The Women's Funding Network and The Women's Foundation on CNN!

Posted on by Lisa Kays

Earlier today, I wrote about how The Women’s Foundation and The Women’s Funding Network were featured on a story on CNN about how investing in women is one the best strategies for fostering economic recovery.

As promised, here is the link to the CNN clip of Linda’s Butler sharing her amazing story of how a jobs training program at Northern Virginia Family Services, which is supported by The Women’s Foundation, changed her life.

Lisa Kays is The Women’s Foundation’s Director of Communications.

New Stepping Stones RFP focuses on increasing and preserving women's economic security in difficult times.

Posted on by Gwen Rubinstein

These are hard times for many, but especially for women-headed families.

Much has been written about the overall U.S. unemployment rate, which rose to 8.1 percent in February 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

But did you know that unemployment among women-headed families was even higher at 10.3 percent?

To help community-based organizations in our region respond to the very human challenges behind these numbers, The Women’s Foundation today released a Request for Proposals under the Stepping Stones Initiative.

We hope the work supported by the RFP – through the Financial Education and Wealth Creation Fund and Jobs Fund – will help low-income, women-headed families in our region weather the recession and emerge ready to take best advantage of an eventual recovery.

To respond to the recession, The Women’s Foundation has made several changes to expand the reach of Stepping Stones. Specifically, we:

  • Expanded the target population to women-headed families earning between $0-$40,000;
  • Widened the scope of work to include projects focused on work supports that help promote job retention (such as transportation) and public benefits that serve as a safety net (such as Food Stamps and Unemployment Insurance);
  • Emphasized our intention to deepen our investment in advocacy; and,
  • Encouraged strategic collaborations among community-based organizations to work as long and as holistically as possible with the low-income, women-headed families they are serving.

Here at The Women’s Foundation, we are acutely aware that hard times require us to be wise in our investments. 

And that’s our commitment – to our donors, to our Grantee Partners, to Stepping Stones participants and to our community.

Click here to download the RFP.

Gwen Rubinstein is a Program Officer at The Women’s Foundation.

Almost half of Boston teens blame Rihanna, not Chris, for her attack.

Posted on by Lisa Kays

As a follow-on to my colleague Gwen’s thoughtful post on the Rihanna domestic violence situation and the way it’s being handled in the media, I thought I’d throw in this piece from Feministing, about the reactions of some Boston teens to the story.

Sadly, it would appear that almost half of those Boston teens surveyed blame Rihanna for the attack.  More than half felt that both parties were equally responsible for the attack.

Jessica at Feministing sums it up well, saying, "Ah, victim-blaming. It’s always with us. What particularly depresses me about this statistic is that the victim-blaming is coming from young people. There’s this optimistic part of me that likes to believe sexist attitudes and hating women will lessen with new generations. Articles like these snap me back into reality."

Then there is Gwen, saying, "And just once, I would like to read a story that focused on how men have the power to stop this violence."

This wish seems particularly poingnant given what these surveys revealed about how young people view violence against women. 

And, in my opinion, helping further draw the connection that how domestic violence and women’s issues are portrayed in the media do get reflected back to us in the voices and actions of our young people.

As a silver lining, there are some amazing groups doing work to combat these perceptions and domestic violence itself, as well as to advocate for victims (rather than blame them).  Many of these groups are our Grantee Partners, and a few are 2009 Leadership Awardees. 

As of tomorrow, check back to our site to vote for your favorite Leadership Awardee, help them earn an extra $5,000 to fuel their work, and raise your voice for productive solutions and better, healthier, safer communities for women and girls.

Lisa Kays is The Women’s Foundation’s Director of Communications.

Shift in Open Door Capacity Fund signals focus on sustainability.

Posted on by Jennifer Lockwood-Shabat

You’ve seen the headlines. You’ve watched the stock market drop.  You’re well aware that the country is in a recession and our economy is the worst it’s been since the Great Depression.

Additionally, late last year, analysts predicted that more than 100,000 nonprofits nationwide could close over the next two years.  Many have asked: What does this mean for our region’s nonprofits.

The Women’s Foundation is asking: What does it mean for our Grantee Partners?

The Women’s Foundation has spent considerable time thinking about that question and asking ourselves what role we could play in helping our Grantee Partners remain sustainable over the course of this downturn. 

First, we looked internally and confronted our own long-term sustainability.  Remaining 100 percent committed to maintaining our grantmaking this year, we made several difficult decisions. 

In December, our President Phyllis Caldwell announced the first of these decisions—postponing an office expansion, saying, “This is a time when strategy, smart investing and sacrifice are going to be required of foundations, just as they are of individuals, to ensure that the impact of our giving is as meaningful as possible.”

Further sacrifice came in January, when The Women’s Foundation made the difficult decision to eliminate two staff positions. 

At the same time, we meticulously examined operating expenses and made further strategic cuts, including reexamining the costs incurred as a result of meeting space and food.  Lastly, cost-sharing mechanisms for employee health benefits were instituted.

Taken together, we believe these decisions will allow us to weather this economic storm and ensure our long-term sustainability.

To that end, now more than ever, we remain focused on our mission to support our region’s nonprofits as they work to change the lives of women and girls.

Many of the organizations we support are small, or just starting to establish themselves.  They have lean staffs and do their programmatic work on a shoestring budget.  Few have the time or resources to step back from the day-to-day grind and think creatively and strategically about what they need to do to shore up their long-term sustainability. 

Our region has demonstrated tremendous leadership in addressing the plight of nonprofits by providing a host of educational, hands-on tools to help “weather the storm.”

The Women’s Foundation is pleased to announce one more tool in this arsenal: a funding opportunity that will provide our Grantee Partners the time and the resources to undertake sustainability planning. 

Today, we released a request for proposals (RFP) through our Open Door Capacity Fund.  This RFP, open to the majority of our Grantee Partners, seeks to fund sustainability planning and activities and is designed to encourage our Grantee Partners to think outside of the box and ask themselves: How do we make it through a recession and poise ourselves for recovery?

It is our hope that not only will this focus on sustainability help our Grantee Partners to continue to do the critical work they’re doing for our region’s women and girls, but that it may also serve as a model to other funders throughout our region and the nation, and that together, we’ll be able to help turn this challenging time into an opportunity to make the nonprofit sector–and the work it does on behalf of our communities–stronger and more effective than ever.

What are you doing differently to ensure your sustainability?

Jennifer Lockwood-Shabat is The Women’s Foundation’s Vice President, Programs.

A look at the recession through the eyes of Northern Virginia's children.

Posted on by Kathy May

A new study, "Predicting Poverty in the Commonwealth,” released by The Commonwealth Institute and Voices for Virginia’s Children forecasts that children will be hardest hit by the current economic recession and rising unemployment rates.

As unemployment worsens in the state, there will be a significant increase in the number of children living in poverty.  Unemployment could push an additional 122,000 to 218,000 Virginians into poverty this year, with children accounting for between 44,000 and 73,000 of this increase. 

This would represent up to a 30 percent increase in the child poverty rate in the state. The poverty threshold for a family of four in Virginia is a yearly income of just over $21,000.

Though the effects of the current economic downturn and rising poverty will be felt more deeply in regions already troubled by chronically high unemployment and poverty, additional families pushed into poverty will further strain local economies in our current safety net system across the state.

Northern Virginia hasn’t experienced the high unemployment rates that other regions have.  January 2009 unemployment in the region is a relatively low 3.9 percent. 

However, of the 250,000 children already living in poverty statewide, nearly 28,000 (or 13 percent) of them live in Northern Virginia.  As unemployment rates rise, another 6,000 to 9,000 children in the region will join their ranks. (Northern Virginia is composed of Alexandria City and Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William Counties).

Living in poverty exposes children to multiple risks to healthy adjustment. 

Evidence indicates that children pushed into poverty by a recession are likely to remain poor for at least several years after the recovery starts.  The cumulative impact across time often has harmful impacts on child development, reducing the prospect the child will reach full potential and causing higher rates of many social, behavioral, educational and occupational problems.

Studies have shown that the long-term impacts of child poverty show up most strikingly in three areas: lower educational attainment, occupational status and earnings; poorer health status; and, higher rates of criminal behavior.

In addition to the human toll exacted by childhood poverty, the economic toll is substantial: diminished human capital and higher rates of costly social problems limit economic growth and future prosperity.

The report notes that increases in food stamp caseloads, food bank demands, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Medicaid enrollment are early indicators of economic vulnerability.

During 2008, the first year of the recession, food stamp caseloads in Virginia increased sharply.  In Northern Virginia, caseloads rose by 12 percent over the previous year.

This is important to note because food stamps are a reliable early indicator of increasing economic distress and poverty. The impact on Virginia’s children is substantial, as 57 percent of Virginia households receiving food stamps include children.

During the same period, TANF caseloads in Virginia increased by 8 percent.  The increase in Northern Virginia was 5 percent. 

Based on this early rise in caseloads, and on the percentage increase in TANF cases during the relatively mild 2001 recession (10 percent), we can expect TANF cases in this recession to increase by more than 10 percent, and for that increase to persist for several years beyond the start of the recovery.

Enrollment in Medicaid and Virginia’s children’s health program, Family Access to Medical Insurance Security (FAMIS), has increased by 4.8 percent from December 2007 to December 2008.

Kathy May is director of Voices for Virginia’s Children Nothern Virginia office.  Voices for Virginia’s Children is a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation.

First Lady Michelle Obama visits Mary's Center!

Posted on by Maria Gomez

Yesterday, First Lady Michelle Obama visited Mary’s Center to learn about the work done by our organization for families and children in the nation’s capital. 

Her first official visit to a D.C.-based nonprofit was a great honor for all of us who have been involved in Mary’s Center. She recognized our accomplishments over the last 20 years, providing a safety net and improving the health and well being of thousands of families in our community.

During her time with us, I talked with Mrs. Obama about the multiple needs of our clients and the uniqueness of the Mary’s Center model of comprehensive services. She was deeply touched by the powerful personal accounts of several of our participants, who spoke about the impact that Mary’s Center has had on their lives and how we have helped to strengthen their communities in countless positive ways.

The First Lady read Brown Bear Brown Bear to a group of toddlers from our Family Literacy Program and inspired our Teen Program participants with her words of hope.

We at Mary’s Center are on the front lines of the most critical issues facing our country today.  Every day, through our work, we are proving that transformational change is possible.

I hope that through this visit, Mrs. Obama deepened her understanding of the issues affecting our nation’s most vulnerable families and children.  I also hope that she views our comprehensive social change model as a solution that could be replicated throughout the country to improve the health and well being of our underserved citizens.

As all of you know, the stimulus package before Congress includes aspects of many health services provided by organizations like Mary’s Center.  Moving forward, we look forward to advising Mrs. Obama’s staff on how to implement the policies that will result from the package, particularly those that directly affect women and children.

As we cherish the opportunity of being the first community organization officially visited by the First Lady, we also look forward to the Obama Administration’s initiatives to improve health access through a comprehensive health reform that will benefit the communities we serve.

For photos and more information about the First Lady’s visit to Mary’s Center:
DCist coverage
Washington Grantmakers coverage
Mary’s Center Web site

Maria S. Gomez, RN, MPH, is president and CEO of Mary’s Center, a Grantee Partner of The Women’s Foundation.

Early Care and Education Funders Collaborative awards first grants!

Posted on by HyeSook Chung

The Early Care and Education Funders Collaborative is thrilled to announce grants totaling $300,000 for area nonprofit organizations to expand access to and improve the quality of early care and education for low-income children in the region.

Six local groups are each receiving $50,000 grants – the first set of grants made by the Early Care and Education Funders Collaborative.

Launched last October by The Women’s Foundation, the Collaborative is a multi-year, multi-million dollar partnership between foundations and corporations to improve early care and education programs by investing in partners focused on strategic advocacy and industry building efforts.

The six organizations receiving the first grants are:

  • DC Appleseed, to increase the wages of child care workers in the District;
  • CentroNía, to increase the number of bilingual trainers and advisers in Maryland who can help entry-level teachers get their Child Development Associate (CDA) credential;
  • Empower DC, to define a policy agenda and train grassroots leaders to serve as advocates to ensure early care and education is a priority for District leaders;
  • Fairfax Futures, to expand school readiness partnerships in the county so child care professionals can prepare low-income children to start kindergarten ready to learn and succeed;
  • Hopkins House, to help low-income women in northern Virginia earn their CDA credential and partner with Northern Virginia Community College to ensure their CDA credits can be applied toward an associate’s degree in early childhood education; and,
  • Voices for Virginia’s Children, to advocate on behalf of young children, families and child care programs to expand the Commonwealth’s quality rating systems to more Northern Virginia child care programs.

Current members of the Collaborative include PNC Bank, the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, The Boeing Co, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, CityBridge Foundation, Freddie Mac Foundation, Meyer Foundation and Rocksprings Foundation.

More information:
Complete grant docket. 
Full press release.
Washington Business Journal article highlighting the grants.

HyeSook Chung is The Women’s Foundation’s program officer overseeing the Early Care and Education Funders Collaborative.