Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Buffalo Niagra Arts and Culture Network
Check out the Buffalo Niagra Arts and Culture Network, a new online community of local artists, musicians, and writers. The online network is a forum to post events, share photos, blog, and interact with the local art community. The site was launched only three weeks ago and already has over 80 members. Whether you're looking to promote your organization's events or for something to do this weekend, the new forum is a great place to start!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
First Program a Success & Second Event on the Way!
15 people participated in WNY Executive Directors Network's first program meeting on June 4th. The event took place at the Buffalo Museum of Science and featured speaker Neil Melbroad on fund development. Neil worked in the local nonprofit community for years and retired just a couple of weeks after speaking. The first program was a great opportunity for networking and professional development. We're already looking forward to our next program set for Wednesday, September 3rd. The Deputy Mayor will be talking about her experiences with nonprofits and some of the issues that the administration sees coming up. Senator Cathy Young will also be present to talk about Upstate Now legislation. You can register for the event by clicking here.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Grants and Awards Info
The Chronicle of Philanthropy has just released an updated list of Grants and Awards broken out by application deadline, programming area and geography. For the complete listing, click here.
For a link to an edited list of Grants and Awards specifically for organizations in NY, click here.
For a link to an edited list of Grants and Awards specifically for organizations in NY, click here.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
CEO's Dissatisfied with Board of Directors
This article in the Philanthropy News paper (sign up for free email version here) points to a study by the Urban Institute. A must read for those of you working closely with your Board!
Many Nonprofit CEOs Dissatisfied With Board Performance,
Report Finds (5/12/08)
A significant number of CEOs at midsize nonprofits are dissatisfied with the performance of their boards, particularly in regard to fundraising and the way boards monitor their own performance, a new report from the Urban Institute ( http://urban.org/ ) finds.
The report, Boards of Midsize Nonprofits: Their Needs and Challenges ( http://fconline.foundationcenter.org/pnd/15012968/),
examined the results of a 2005 survey of 1,862 nonprofits with annual expenses between $500,000 and $5 million and found that
62 percent of CEOs indicated that their boards do a fair or poor job of raising revenue, while 60 percent assigned similar marks for their boards' self-assessment activities. In addition, more than a quarter of CEOs rated their boards as fair or poor when it comes to evaluating CEO performance; planning; monitoring programs and services; community relations; and educating the public about the organization.
Although most CEOs rated their boards as good or excellent in most roles, the only area in which a majority -- 53 percent -- rated their boards as excellent was in respecting board-staff boundaries.
The report, which was funded by the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr.
Fund, also examined board composition and found that 36 percent of boards have no minority members, and that on average only
6 percent of board members are younger than 35, while 13 percent are over 65. Among other things, the report recommends widening the pool from which nonprofits select board members in order to attract well-rounded members from a variety of backgrounds and implementing procedures for boards to monitor their own perfor- mance regularly.
"Substantial percentages feel their boards are doing a poor or fair job in many areas," said Francie Ostrower, the report's author. "Our findings clearly do reveal disturbing levels of CEO dissatisfaction with board performance."
"Disturbing Levels of CEO Dissatisfaction With Board Performance"
at Midsize Nonprofits, Study Finds." Urban Institute Press
Release 5/08/08.
http://fconline.foundationcenter.org/pnd/15012969/story
Many Nonprofit CEOs Dissatisfied With Board Performance,
Report Finds (5/12/08)
A significant number of CEOs at midsize nonprofits are dissatisfied with the performance of their boards, particularly in regard to fundraising and the way boards monitor their own performance, a new report from the Urban Institute ( http://urban.org/ ) finds.
The report, Boards of Midsize Nonprofits: Their Needs and Challenges ( http://fconline.foundationcenter.org/pnd/15012968/),
examined the results of a 2005 survey of 1,862 nonprofits with annual expenses between $500,000 and $5 million and found that
62 percent of CEOs indicated that their boards do a fair or poor job of raising revenue, while 60 percent assigned similar marks for their boards' self-assessment activities. In addition, more than a quarter of CEOs rated their boards as fair or poor when it comes to evaluating CEO performance; planning; monitoring programs and services; community relations; and educating the public about the organization.
Although most CEOs rated their boards as good or excellent in most roles, the only area in which a majority -- 53 percent -- rated their boards as excellent was in respecting board-staff boundaries.
The report, which was funded by the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr.
Fund, also examined board composition and found that 36 percent of boards have no minority members, and that on average only
6 percent of board members are younger than 35, while 13 percent are over 65. Among other things, the report recommends widening the pool from which nonprofits select board members in order to attract well-rounded members from a variety of backgrounds and implementing procedures for boards to monitor their own perfor- mance regularly.
"Substantial percentages feel their boards are doing a poor or fair job in many areas," said Francie Ostrower, the report's author. "Our findings clearly do reveal disturbing levels of CEO dissatisfaction with board performance."
"Disturbing Levels of CEO Dissatisfaction With Board Performance"
at Midsize Nonprofits, Study Finds." Urban Institute Press
Release 5/08/08.
http://fconline.foundationcenter.org/pnd/15012969/story
Thursday, May 1, 2008
June 4th meeting of the WNY ED Network
We have our first guest speaker for our first program meeting of the WNY Executive Director's Network! The topic, as identified by all of you who filled out the survey, is Fund Development, something everyone wants to talk about!
Our guest will be Neil Melbroad. For nearly 30 years, Neil has worked in nonprofit fundraising. Beginning his career in 1979 as the director of planned giving at Canisius College, he worked on a successful $8 million capital campaign and helped set up a strong planned giving program that continues to generate many planned gifts for the College to this day. He went on to spend 8 years at the Buffalo Museum of Science where he led the Museum in its successful $3 million capital campaign. During his leadership, the Museum’s membership base grew from 1200 to over 14,000 members and its annual fund saw a five-fold increase. For the past 15 years, Neil has been the Assistant Executive Director of the Greater Buffalo Chapter of the American Red Cross where he built a major gifts program that has helped increase the chapter’s unrestricted individual and corporate annual giving from $140,000 to $1.1 million and oversaw a successful $3 million campaign. He also created the Chapter’s successful annual event the M*A*S*H BASH, which generates nearly $500,000 per year. Neil has done a great deal of consulting for other non profits in the area including being campaign counsel for both the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy’s $13 million capital campaign and WNED’s $15 million capital campaign, helping structure a major gifts program at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens, and working on feasibility studies for both Gilda’s Club and Hilbert College. For the past four years, Neil has been working with a local arts collaboration made up of CEPA Gallery, Just Buffalo Literary Center and Big Orbit Gallery to help strengthen their development programs. Neil is an Adjunct Professor at Canisius College teaching in the Non Profit Management concentration in the Graduate Communication and Leadership Program.
Hope to see you there!
WHEN: Wednesday, June 4th
TIME: 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (remember to be on time or even come a little early since the first half hour will be networking)
WHERE: Buffalo Museum of Science
Our guest will be Neil Melbroad. For nearly 30 years, Neil has worked in nonprofit fundraising. Beginning his career in 1979 as the director of planned giving at Canisius College, he worked on a successful $8 million capital campaign and helped set up a strong planned giving program that continues to generate many planned gifts for the College to this day. He went on to spend 8 years at the Buffalo Museum of Science where he led the Museum in its successful $3 million capital campaign. During his leadership, the Museum’s membership base grew from 1200 to over 14,000 members and its annual fund saw a five-fold increase. For the past 15 years, Neil has been the Assistant Executive Director of the Greater Buffalo Chapter of the American Red Cross where he built a major gifts program that has helped increase the chapter’s unrestricted individual and corporate annual giving from $140,000 to $1.1 million and oversaw a successful $3 million campaign. He also created the Chapter’s successful annual event the M*A*S*H BASH, which generates nearly $500,000 per year. Neil has done a great deal of consulting for other non profits in the area including being campaign counsel for both the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy’s $13 million capital campaign and WNED’s $15 million capital campaign, helping structure a major gifts program at the Buffalo and Erie County Botanical Gardens, and working on feasibility studies for both Gilda’s Club and Hilbert College. For the past four years, Neil has been working with a local arts collaboration made up of CEPA Gallery, Just Buffalo Literary Center and Big Orbit Gallery to help strengthen their development programs. Neil is an Adjunct Professor at Canisius College teaching in the Non Profit Management concentration in the Graduate Communication and Leadership Program.
Hope to see you there!
WHEN: Wednesday, June 4th
TIME: 10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. (remember to be on time or even come a little early since the first half hour will be networking)
WHERE: Buffalo Museum of Science
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Want to win $2,000 for your nonprofit?
Have you heard about the opportunity for your nonprofit to win one of several awards given by Council Services Plus (CCSNYS' for-profit subsidiary insurance company) and the Nonprofit Risk Management Center...read more
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Did you miss Web 2.0 training a couple of weeks ago?
If you missed the Web 2.0 training that Val did a couple of weeks ago, you missed a lot!
The major headline coming out of research conducted by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research late last year was that charities in the US are outpacing the business world in their use of social media/web 2.0.
The study of the Forbes Magazine list of the 200 largest US charities, called Blogging for the Hearts of Donors found that more than a third of the organisations are blogging, forty-six percent report social media is very important to their fundraising strategy and the majority monitor their online reputation.
Indeed, something like three quarters of those nonprofits studied were using some form of social media – including, podcasts, social networking, video blogging and wikis.
Whilst the authors of the study expected to find that charities were adopting social media, they didn't expect to find that the technology adoption levels were considerably stronger than corporate America. To read more
The major headline coming out of research conducted by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research late last year was that charities in the US are outpacing the business world in their use of social media/web 2.0.
The study of the Forbes Magazine list of the 200 largest US charities, called Blogging for the Hearts of Donors found that more than a third of the organisations are blogging, forty-six percent report social media is very important to their fundraising strategy and the majority monitor their online reputation.
Indeed, something like three quarters of those nonprofits studied were using some form of social media – including, podcasts, social networking, video blogging and wikis.
Whilst the authors of the study expected to find that charities were adopting social media, they didn't expect to find that the technology adoption levels were considerably stronger than corporate America. To read more
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