NTEN:Change on Nonprofit Collaboration

Happy 2013 from NTEN:Change!

With all the end-of-year campaigns and, for many of us, time off, chances are you haven't been able to read the latest issue of NTEN:Change yet. We certainly understand the time crunch around this time.

We thought you might be interested in these articles in particular from our December Issue on Nonprofit Collaboration, however, so we hope you'll take a look when you have a few minutes:

Leadership Cheat Sheet: Is Your Organization Ready to Collaborate? Five Questions for Board and Staff, from La Piana's Heather Gowdy and Bob Harrington. Read the article.

Advocacy: Sharing A Cause (and Data) Across Multiple Orgs. Developing a High Touch, Human Platform for Collaboration, from Upwell's Rachel Weidinger. Read this article.

DIY: 5 Tips for Working More Effectively With Consultants , by Dennis Deery. Read the article.

Of course, there are also case studies, how-tos, nonprofit leadership profiles, a podcast, and much more in the current issue: click here to open in the e-reader.

If you'd like to downoad the PDF version of the issue, click here to start the download . You can also access a text-only version of the articles (for translation or accessibility needs).

To read the latest issue click here.

Recap and Webinar Recording Now Available From Sept. 26th

Recap and Webinar Recording Now Available!

Leatherstocking AEA Special Collaboration Webinar Program September 26th:

Collaborating and Maximizing Your Partnerships: Webinar Discussion

Panel Discussion and Overview of Collaboration Database 

This program featured a discussion about programmatic collaboration. The discussion featured a special collaboration presentation and overview the nonprofit collaboration database, a new venture.  

Presenters included: 

• Pat Rogers, Executive Director, Institute for Human Services  
• Andrew Marietta, Regional Manager, NYCON  
• Danielle Newell, Smithy Center for the Arts

The Agenda from the Webinar was as follows: 

• Introductions and an overview of agenda
• Programmatic collaboration examples 
• Discussion about STNED and IHS regarding the nonprofit collaboration database 
• Discussion about the potential for this kind of idea for nonprofits
• Ideas about possible next steps

LISTEN HERE 

Additional Documents from the Webinar: 
Collaboration Presentation 
STNED Handout  

Nonprofits Have Big Role in State

As Governor-Elect Andrew Cuomo and legislators shape their plans for New York next year, they should pay close attention to the state's vibrant not-for-profit sector, as it is the standard-bearer for innovation and service to the state and its people. The 80,000 not-for-profit organizations in the state play crucial roles: leading efforts to prevent or cure disease, alleviate poverty, advance education, address environmental and social concerns, and ennoble through culture.

New York's robust charitable sector, including such powerhouses as Columbia University, Sloan-Kettering, the Red Cross, the Ford Foundation and Lincoln Center, as well as community-based organizations, such as local drug-prevention programs, small community theaters and religion-based charities, help fuel the state's economy, generating over $150 billion in revenue annually and employing hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers. Second in size only to the government as an employer in the city, the nonprofit sector provides more jobs than the financial and insurance industries combined.

Working together, state government and nonprofits can help maintain our state's primacy as innovator, incubator and magnet for investment. Here's how.

* Adjust taxes to encourage more giving. For example, reward taxpayers for increases in year-over-year charitable giving and incentivize artists to donate their work to charity auctions in support of good causes.

* Promote regulatory, administrative and legislative reforms that make it easier to start and operate nonprofits, especially in high-tech, medical research and green industries.

* Encourage and facilitate partnering among nonprofits and between them and for-profit businesses. For instance, provide a clearinghouse so that environmental groups can pair up with green-tech businesses or so arts-in-education organizations can collaborate with founders of charter schools.

* Incentivize nonprofits to hire recent college graduates to fill needed roles while they learn important lessons about professional development and social responsibility.

* Rearrange state budgets with existing charitable resources in mind. For example, recalibrate school aid and Medicaid expenditures so that public spending on students, the elderly and the disabled complements and stimulates private nonprofit resources and support.

* Safeguard against encroachments on sales- or property-tax -exemptions, which would hurt already-stretched hospitals, elder-care facilities and YMCAs.

* Promote visibility for worthy nonprofits by providing voluntary check-offs on state tax forms.

* Include nonprofit destinations in the state's promotion of tourism and convention activity.

* Make nonprofits part of New York's federal lobbying strategy.

The public's trust in state government may be at a low ebb, but public support for nonprofits endures. By recommitting himself to the well-being of our valuable nonprofit institutions, Mr. Cuomo can take important steps toward reclaiming the state's role as a national beacon and perpetuate its highest ideals.

by Lesley Freidman Rosenthal, for original article click here.

Leatherstocking AEA’s New Email Discussion Group

A Leatherstocking AEA email discussion group has been newly created on Google Groups at: http://groups.google.com/group/leatherstockingaea

An email discussion group automatically shares a message sent to a specific email address with all the members of a group. Each time members reply with their comments, the comments are automatically shared with all the members of the group. Google Groups has added functionality that also allows us to upload and store images and files for later reference and to create pages.

Some ways we can use the group are: to continue discussions from a program, like the recent one Core Policies for Your Volunteers, Board and Staff, to share experiences, and to tap the expertise of our members by asking each other questions. For example, the attendee list from the April 14 program has been uploaded to the file section of the group for member reference.

If you have not already been invited, send your request to join and questions about using the group to Andrew Marietta amarietta@nycon.org or Michael Wesolowski michaelwesolowski@yahoo.com.

The True Impact of a Small Nonprofit on Business

The Daily Star reported on the recent news that the owner of the Oneonta Theatre has joined forces with a talent promoter to present performances, concerts, touring groups, community events and fundraisers on the historic stage at 47 Chestnut St.

This partnership replaces original plans for the Friends of the Oneonta Theatre to operate the facility, pay rent and utilities, fix up the facility and offer programs. Read the article here.

This development should not come as a surprise with the current funding environment and challenges arts and cultural nonprofits are having in raising operating dollars. Could this small, volunteer group really operate and renovate this building at full capacity? Could they have brought it up to full operation quickly, bringing new business to downtown in the next couple of months? Probably not, but even if they could in the short term, the future sustainability would have been in question. With so many arts and cultural nonprofits struggling in the region, the capacity for support and fundraising is strained.

But what should be recognized is what a group of grassroots supporters accomplished that no one else seemed to be able to do. Friends of the Oneonta Theatre should be credited with the redevelopment of this important property, and helping kick start this new business partnership. Their volunteer efforts, fundraising and advocacy are a clear demonstration of the positive and essential impact nonprofits can have on downtown Oneonta and the business community. Have your own thoughts, share them here or send them by e-mail.

Bassett, Fox finalize affiliation

The Central NY Business Journal reported that the boards of Bassett Healthcare in Cooperstown and A.O. Fox Hospital in Oneonta signed the paperwork necessary to finalize an affiliation between the two institutions.

The decision approving Fox as a Bassett affiliate is effective Jan. 1, making Fox the fifth hospital in Bassett's eight-county service region to become part of the Bassett Healthcare network.
Bassett will provide management and medical services to A.O. Fox Hospital. John Remillard, current CEO of Fox, will continue in that role and become a member of the senior management team at Bassett.

Fox physicians remain as they are now, either employed by Fox or independent practitioners who have privileges at Fox. Current hospital staff will be Fox employees.

Established in 1900, Fox is a 100-bed community hospital in Oneonta. It also provides long-term care at a 131-bed skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility. Fox's annual operating budget is $84 million, with 86 medical staff members and 950 total employees.

Bassett Healthcare is a network of practitioners, hospitals, and health centers in eight counties that employs over 3,000 people and covers 5,000 square miles in upstate New York.

The Central NY Business Journal reported that A.O. Fox Hospital in Oneonta is the latest affiliate of Bassett Healthcare.

The two organizations inked a deal Oct. 16 making Fox the fifth and largest Bassett affiliate. The affiliation is effective Jan. 1. Fox is a 100-bed community hospital.

"This is a decision that will benefit the communities we serve, and it's the kind of collaboration the state is encouraging," Bassett President and CEO Dr. William F. Streck said.

In the current recession, the affiliation allows Fox to deliver care in a more cost-effective way, Fox CEO John Remillard said.

The agreements signed by the two institutions' boards state that Fox will become an affiliated hospital in the Bassett Healthcare Network under the Bassett corporate structure. Bassett will provide management and medical services to A.O. Fox Hospital.

The CEO of Fox Hospital will become an employee of Bassett. Fox Hospital retains its status as an independent hospital corporation. Fox physicians remain as they are now, either employed by Fox or independent practitioners who have privileges at Fox.

Current hospital staff will be Fox employees.

Bassett Healthcare is a network of practitioners, hospitals, and health centers in eight counties that employs over 3,000 people and covers 5,000 square miles in upstate New York.

Fox, Bassett Hospitals look at collaboration

The Daily Star reported that Bassett Healthcare and A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital are looking at the nuts and bolts of possible corporate ties.

The two medical institutions announced Tuesday that talks of sharing services that started last year are being expanded into a "due diligence process'' to review operations and identify possible affiliation, according to a media release. According to the article, the affiliation is sought because of economic pressures, changes in the health care industry, a national shortage of physicians and difficulty recruiting doctors. Read more here.

Collaborations are a growing trend as nonprofits look for ways to continue services and replace decreasing funding streams. The New York Council of Nonprofits (formerly CCSNYS) has a number of programs available for nonprofits looking at this option. Contact us for more info.