How Pittsburgh is Modeling Community Collaboration

Presentation to Jewish Funders NetworkJCC & Jewish Federation of Greater PittsburghMay 2012

1

2

Climate/Assets• Strengths

• Century-old institutional relationships• High percentage of natives in leadership• Strong urban center• From Steeltown to high

tech/finance/healthcare

• Challenges• Resistant to change• Territorial• Suburban growth• Changing Jewish demographics

3

Successes and Failures Over the Past Decade• Federation Agency Operations Committee

(“AOC“) – mixed results• Joint purchasing - fails• Day schools

• Original Federation-driven collaboration fails

• Later school-driven partnership thrives• AgeWell Pittsburgh – shared model• Joint healthcare – Federation initiated,

jointly developed

4

How Is the Environment Evolving?• Communal vision• Communal outcomes• Communication at many levels• Building on success

Early Win: Operational - Employee Health Insurance

Communal

Health Insuranc

e plan

Federationsaw benefit in a scaled, larger pooled model

Community health care foundation saw need,

impact, leverage opportunities Agencies

looked for community

leadership and direction

5

Building Trust: Federation/Agency Meetings

OldFederation-

driven

“Commercials” for agencies

No collective visioning

NewShared agenda

Open, frank discussions

Community-wide

innovative ideas

6

7

Jewish Education: Pittsburgh Jewish Day School CouncilAttempt #1 – Joint marketing grant• Federation-driven • Schools

• VERY interested in dollars• Not so interested in collaboration

• Result: Failure• Funding divided not leveraged• Grant discontinued after one year

Jewish Education: Pittsburgh Jewish Day School CouncilAttempt #2: Pennsylvania Educational Improvement Tax Credit Program (“EITC”)• Day Schools create a forum for discussion about

dividing funds raised by Federation• Federation holds deciding vote, but no interest in

exercising that option when schools are in agreement

• From there…• Joint strategic planning• Joint marketing• Joint IT staff• Common grading standards• Joint community events/programs

8

9

Human Services: AgeWell Pittsburgh• Federation

• Secured initial grant that the grantee agency did not have the capacity to execute

• The dilemma challenged three agencies (JCC, Jewish Family and Children’s Service, and Jewish Association on Aging) to come together

• Agencies• Used Federation as “good cop/bad cop” to advance

agenda, transform service delivery• Together

• Built trust, transparency, common fundraising strategies and expertise over time

• Executive and federation leadership committed to vision of the outcomes and not letting the weeds get in the way

• Became our community standard for collaboration

10

What’s Next? Community Scorecard• Direct result of agencies and Federation

planning together, building shared vision• Strengths:

• Agenda built collectively• Focus on entire community• Wins are universal

• Challenges:• Expanding the buy-in• Tests community’s perseverance• Financial investment to maintain

momentum

11

Lessons Learned• Know your community• Culture change - has to be authentic• For sustained progress, engage multiple

stakeholders• Challenge old habits – focus on the

problem not the person• Need a backbone organization - drives the

process, shares the agenda• Build on early wins• Anyone can be a champion

Persistent Challenges

• Consistency between planning and fundraising cultures

• Elephants everywhere! • Fairness for agencies and the community

12

13

Final Thoughts• Change in mentality and confidence:

Professional and lay leadership see Pittsburgh as a place of Jewish innovation

• Embrace “experimentation” as part of the process of change and better understand the risks

• Can’t guarantee success, but build active consciousness of what it takes to be successful

• Keep communication honest and transparent

• Be persistent, allow for patience