Big Brothers of Nashville, a near-100-year-old agency that serves low-income families in Davidson County with rental, food, and utility assistance is looking to relocate its offices, ideally, to share space with another non-profit for a common conference room and break rooms or to a low-rent, Nashville city-limits location. Our lease is open with our landlord as we have been displaced due to the May 1 flood. For more information about Big Brothers of Nashville, visit www.bigbrothersofnashville.org or please call 310-8344 to speak with Jennifer Chalos.

WSMV reports on the local nonprofit’s need for school supplies after losing all of their inventory in the flood:

There’s one place thousands of Metro school teachers can go every school year to get educational tools for students who couldn’t otherwise afford them. But for the first time since the LP Pencil Box opened, the shelves are bare and the nonprofit needs help itself helping some of the neediest children in Metro.

“It really hurts our heart because usually this room is full of school supplies,” said Ulli Heregger, who runs the Nashville donation site. “It’s colorful, and it’s fun.”

Heregger was heartbroken when the store had to throw away $35,000 worth of its donated items after they were contaminated during the flood. The nonprofit runs solely on donations, and now that wish lists have replaced real supplies, she fears students will suffer.

“A lot of these kids got affected in the flood already in their homes; they lost their belongings, and now we can’t even help them in their schools through their teachers because we don’t have enough supplies to give out,” said Heregger.

The floodwater entered the store, rushing through part of the hallway and going through every room. The Pencil Box had new floors put in.

“This year, we really need everything: basic school supplies, basic office supplies, anything teachers can use in their classroom for their students,” said Heregger.

The LP Pencil Box gives teachers the donated supplies so they don’t have to dip into their own paychecks.

Now many hope the same flood that washed away donations won’t wipe out the beginning of a new school year for students.

The LP Pencil Box organization is having a grand opening and appreciation day Aug. 2.for all the volunteers who have helped post-flood.

Click here to find out how you can help!

The Frist Foundation Awards of Achievement recognizes excellence in Middle Tennessee nonprofit organizations in three categories: Innovation in Action, Making a Difference, and Team Building.

• Finalists in the 2010 Innovation in Action category are: Mercy Children’s Clinic, Rooftop, and Tennessee Wildlife Federation.

• Finalists in the 2010 Making a Difference category are: Books from Birth of Middle Tennessee, Hands On Nashville, Inc., and Middle Tennessee Council, Boy Scouts of America, Inc.

• Finalists in the 2010 Team Building category are: Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands, Nashville Area Habitat for Humanity, and Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee.

Baptist Healing Trust and Erie Chapman Foundation Servant’s Heart Award recognizes individuals who are providing care and/or assistance to the clients of a nonprofit agency and who are on the “front lines” of the service profession.

• Finalists for the 2010 Servant’s Heart Award are: Sandra Roberts of the Center for Family and Development, Laz O’Leary of Monroe Harding, inc. and Paula Markham of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Nashville.

Baptist Healing Trust Healing Charity Award recognizes a nonprofit where love and compassion characterize its delivery of service.

• Finalists for the 2010 Healing Charity Award are: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee, Hope House, Maury County Center Against Domestic Violence, and Interfaith Dental Clinic.

The Bank of America Chief Executive Officer of the Year Award highlights the importance of executive leadership in an organization’s achievement of mission-related results.

• Finalists for the 2010 CEO of the Year Award are: Melba Marcrum of McNeilly Center for Children, William J. Burleigh of Operation Stand Down Nashville and Jude White of Renewal House.

The KraftCPAs Board Member of the Year Award recognizes board members who go the extra mile for their organizations.

• Finalists for the 2010 Board Member of the Year Award are: Dr. Eugene Regen of Disciples Divinity House at Vanderbilt, Randy Laszewski of Nashville Area Habitat for Humanity, and Tim Garrett of Tennessee Kidney Foundation, Inc.

The Marvin Runyon Leadership Award is presented to a nonprofit agency that has demonstrated sound management strategy in the heat of crisis.

• Finalists for the 2010 Marvin Runyon Leadership Award are: BrightStone, Nashville Safe Haven Family Shelter, Inc., and YWCA of Nashville and Middle Tennessee.

The Ford Motor Company Excellence in Communications Award is presented to the organization that exemplifies the best strategies for planning and executing a communications program designed to advance the mission of the organization.

• Finalists for the 2010 Excellence in Communications Award are: Cumberland Heights, Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee, and Sexual Assault Center.

Salute to Excellence 2010 will be held at the Nashville Renaissance Hotel on September 21, 2010. Nine awards and over $160,000 in grants will be awarded. The awards recognize nonprofits for a job well done and reinforce the importance of effective leadership in the nonprofit sector. The breadth of the awards extends not only to the work of organizations, but includes individual honors for deserving executives and board members. For more information on Salute to Excellence, or to purchase a table, contact Corinne Ciocia at Corinne@cnm.org.

Humana is calling on all charity organizations in Cheatham, Davidson, Dickson, Maury, Montgomery, Robertson, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson and Wilson counties to apply for a one-time, $100,000 grant for the first Humana Communities Benefit in Nashville charitable grant program.

The program – designed to give local not-for-profits the opportunity to receive a one-time infusion of funding to create new programs or enhance ongoing activities – is open to 501(c)(3) organizations located in the Nashville area that address the health, education and communities of local residents.

About Humana Communities Benefit

Humana Communities Benefit is designed to give local, nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable organizations the opportunity to receive a one-time grant to create new programs or enhance ongoing activities in the areas of:

· Childhood health and education: Projects or initiatives that seek to improve health and academic achievement of children through the educational landscape

· Family wellness and active lifestyles: Projects or initiatives that strengthen the health of family through physical, social, mental, emotional, or environmental support

· Health literacy for diverse populations and seniors: Projects or initiatives dedicated to improving people’s ability to access, understand, and use health information, especially low-income populations, and seniors

Questions regarding the Humana Communities Benefit program in Nashville may be directed to Humana at 615-221-2155, press 1 and then enter extension 1030660 or hcbnashville@humana.com. All organizations based in the 10-county area interested in applying for the grant are encouraged to visit www.humana.com/HCB to download a copy of this year’s application and review program criteria. To be considered, organizations must submit an application by Friday, August 6, 2010.

Continue reading ‘Humana Sponsoring 100k Grant for Middle TN Nonprofit’

On Friday, June 11, the Nashville Business Journal ran a story about the conclusion of a recent study by Charity Navigator entitled “Nashville nonprofits get low marks for efficiency.”

CNM President Lewis Lavine issued a retort which ran on page 33 of the June 18th edition of the Nashville Business Journal:

Last month, more than 250 nonprofit leaders attended a conference sponsored by the Center for Nonprofit Management. The keynote address was delivered by the author Dan Pallotta, who connected intellectually with his audience by stating that nonprofits should be evaluated by their outcomes rather than by a set of contrived financial indicators.

After hearing his arguments, I was discouraged to read a local headline last week “Nashville Nonprofits Get Low Marks for Efficiency.” The accompanying article was quoting a new study by Charity Navigator, a New Jersey-based evaluator of nonprofits.

Charity Navigator selected only 30 large Nashville nonprofits for its study. From these 30, it concluded that Nashville’s charitable community ranks 26th among the thirty selected cities nationally. A key indicator in the study was that this Nashville group spent 12 cents to raise $1 in contributions, while the national median was 10 cents. Another indicator was the level of the salaries earned by these charities’ CEOs.

Nowhere in the statistics used by Charity Navigator is any measurement of the results or outcomes of the labors of our nonprofits. What these nonprofits accomplished in our community is not relevant to these evaluators.

Pallotta, in his Nashville speech, told a tale of two soup kitchens. The first was dirty, poorly run, served barely edible food, and catered to a small group of needy souls. Its CEO was poorly compensated, and it had very little expense in its fundraising program. The second was a clean, modern facility, efficiently run, with excellent programs and nutritious food, and a large number of clients whose lives were changed through its outreach. The CEO received a fairly high salary and performance compensation. It spent money on its fundraising campaigns, but was successful in its efforts.

According to evaluators like Charity Navigator, the first soup kitchen would receive a higher rating.

We have just witnessed the largest flood in our history. Our nonprofit community has gone above and beyond its means in caring for those in need. An example is the Community Resource Center that was itself destroyed in the flood. It continued to provide goods to those whose homes were destroyed. Another is Hands on Nashville that made 15,000 placements of volunteers within days after the disaster. Neither was included in the Charity Navigator study.

So let’s evaluate the performance of our charitable and nonprofit organizations. But let’s do so using indicators that matter – let’s example what they accomplish every day in our community.

The Drucker Institute at Claremont Graduate University has announced a call for applications for the 2010 Peter F. Drucker Award for Nonprofit Innovation. The first-place prize is $100,000, thanks to a generous grant from The Coca-Cola Foundation. The second-place award is $7,500, and the third-place prize is $5,000. The award application is now available. The submission deadline is July 1. (If you have questions about the application or award process, please contact Jamie at award@druckerinstitute.com). All IRS-certified 501(c)3 organizations are eligible to apply. Administered annually since 1991, the Drucker Award is granted to a social-sector organization that demonstrates Drucker’s definition of innovation-change that creates a new dimension of performance. In addition, the judges look for programs that are highly effective and that have made a difference in the lives of the people they serve. Last year, the Drucker Award application was revamped so that, in addition to collecting information from nonprofit organizations seeking the prize, it would provide them with some of Peter Drucker’s key insights on innovation.

redpepper is kicking off their CreateAthon Contest again this year:

From now until June 30th, redpepper is accepting applications from Nashville non-profits for our annual CreateAthon event. During CreateAthon, redpepper spends 24 hours (with no sleep, but lots of coffee and Red Bull) dedicating our talents to provide marketing services to non-profits.

Everyone at redpepper has been touched by the stories of our CreateAthon clients. They inspire us to use our creativity to touch others in ways that will, hopefully, move them to take a small step to use their talent and resources to help a good cause. Sometimes we look at the overwhelming needs of our community and wonder how our small contribution even makes a difference. Yet, every penny adds up. And, every hand joined with another hand helps. That’s why CreateAthon is so important to redpepper.

If you know of a non-profit that could use a little help with marketing ideas and materials, please encourage them to apply. And, if you or your company would like to get involved and help us to help our CreateAthon clients – and those they serve – then please visit www.redpepperland.com/CreateAthon to learn more about opportunities to give back. At redpepper, we believe that everyone is uniquely creative. That means that everyone has at least a little something to give. We can’t do it alone, but together we can help others make their dreams a reality.

Thanks to redpepper for supporting nonprofits!

Every month, CNM selects a member organization for a site visit. After each visit we all walk away amazed at the great work of nonprofits in Middle Tennessee, and inspired to continue to work to serve our mission. The visit to the Nashville Zoo was no exception. Take a look at the pictures from our visit below.

Thanks to the staff at the Nashville Zoo for creating such a special experience! If your agency would like the CNM Staff to come over for a visit, email katy@cnm.org.

This article ran in the Tennessean on Saturday, June 5th. Click here to access a directory of nonprofit agencies that are providing services for victims of the May flood.

Nonprofits work quietly in flood rebuild efforts

June 5, 2010, Tennessee Voices

By Corinne Ciocia

Non­profit orga­ni­za­tions in the Mid­dle Ten­nessee area have had a dif­fi­cult cou­ple of years.

As a result of the eco­nomic down­turn, many have been forced to cut staff and ser­vices, find inno­v­a­tive ways to col­lab­o­rate, sus­pend cap­i­tal cam­paigns and look for new fund­ing sources. In spite of these chal­lenges, non­prof­its have risen to meet the increased demand for ser­vices.

The May flood brought yet another “once in a life­time” chal­lenge for our non­profit community.

Agen­cies like LP PENCIL Box, Dis­mas House and the Sal­va­tion Army sus­tained sig­nif­i­cant dam­age to their facil­i­ties. The demand for ser­vices was now a full-blown emer­gency, and non­prof­its like Hands On Nashville, Fam­ily and Children’s Ser­vices, Sec­ond Har­vest Food Bank and the Com­mu­nity Resource Cen­ter responded rapidly and efficiently.

Now, as the clean-up con­tin­ues, it’s impor­tant to real­ize that many of these agen­cies are qui­etly work­ing behind the scenes to do the heavy lift­ing that comes with rebuild­ing both the exte­rior dam­age and the less vis­i­ble signs of trauma left by the flood.

Orga­ni­za­tions like Alive Hos­pice, The Pas­toral Coun­sel­ing Cen­ters of Ten­nessee and The Refuge Cen­ter for Coun­sel­ing, are offer­ing free coun­sel­ing services.

Non­prof­its like New Level Com­mu­nity Devel­op­ment Corp., Renewal House and Ten­nessee Alliance for Legal Ser­vices are donat­ing guid­ance to help flood vic­tims make the process of apply­ing for fed­eral assis­tance more manageable.

Most non­prof­its are not set up to be “disaster-relief” orga­ni­za­tions. Rather, they are designed to pro­vide ser­vices to indi­vid­u­als in need. Those num­bers have increased, and non­profit agen­cies are answer­ing the call.

In addi­tion, orga­ni­za­tions are bend­ing their mis­sions to help those in any way they know how.

In need of pet food? Through a dona­tion from Pedi­gree, A New Leash on Life is offer­ing 40-pound bags of pet food to assist pet own­ers affected by the flood.

In need of children’s cloth­ing? Nurses for New­borns is assist­ing fam­i­lies impacted by the flood by pro­vid­ing children’s cloth­ing, age 12 months to 5T.

Sum­mer camps not affected

Chil­dren in Mid­dle Ten­nessee that have suf­fered as a result of the flood can have a bright spot in their sum­mer thanks to the YMCA.

Through a Recover Their Sum­mer cam­paign, the YMCA of Mid­dle Ten­nessee is mak­ing sum­mer camp pro­grams across the area avail­able to chil­dren affected by the floods at lit­tle to no cost to their families.

All of this is made pos­si­ble by the Com­mu­nity Foun­da­tion of Mid­dle Ten­nessee, the United Way of Met­ro­pol­i­tan Nashville and all of the foun­da­tions and other donors that have given money to help non­profit agen­cies lift up those that have lost so much.

Our non­profit com­mu­nity is excep­tional. It has ral­lied to serve our com­mu­nity — and done so as it always does, qui­etly and effectively.

Corinne Cio­cia is direc­tor of com­mu­ni­ca­tions and devel­op­ment at the Cen­ter for Non­profit Man­age­ment. Vic­tims of the May flood can visit the agency’s web­site to view a direc­tory of ser­vice agen­cies offered.

NashvilleBusinessRecovery.org includes resources for businesses affected by the flood, and an online form to gather detailed information that will be used to effectively facilitate contributions from the Nashville business community:

“The Nashville area is fortunate to have hundreds of organizations and businesses that have already assisted in flood response and recovery,” Mayor Dean said. “Clearly, the impact of the flood on business, as well as individuals, is significant. The support of the business community through the Business Response Team is critical as we continue working to help our city rebuild.”

Based on an assessment of property parcels impacted by the flood, an estimated 2,728 Davidson County businesses in 36 separate zip codes sustained damage. These businesses employ a minimum of 9,447 workers and have total annual revenues in excess of $3 billion. Nearly half of the damaged property parcels with businesses operating on them had more than 50 percent of the value of their land and structures damaged.

The Business Response Team website, NashvilleBusinessRecovery.org, will act as a portal for businesses that want to contribute to flood recovery efforts and will connect businesses impacted by the flood with needed resources.

Continue reading ‘Business Response Team Launches Web site’