The Community Platform

Tom Pollak, Director, National Center for Charitable Statistics at the Urban Institute

tpollak@urban.org202-261-5536

Sandi ScannelliPresident/CEOThe Community Foundation for Brevard

sandis@cfbrevard.org

Paula Hickman, J.D.Executive DirectorCommunity Foundation of North Louisiana

hickman@nlacf.org

Introduction

Heather L. ScottManaging DirectorCommunity Foundation Services Council on Foundations

Overview

Tom PollakNational Center for Charitable StatisticsThe Urban Institute

The Community Platform• Website tools• Data on needs and resources• National & local partners• Empowering people, organizations & projects

from grassroots to “grasstops”• Knowledge on best practices – programs,

nonprofit-community collaborations, and civic engagement

• Creating a national “learning community”

Three Dimensions to Building Civic Capacity

• Technology & Data Dimension• Organization & Program Dimension

Effectiveness, coordination, planning

• Civic or Moral Dimension Leadership, civic capacity, & a shared commitment to the public good

Name & Banner to be changed.

A Flexible Community Toolkit– Donor resources for financial analysis & more– Mapping programs, organizations and resources in

relationship to needs and identifying service gaps– Sharing resources, volunteers, & staff– Organizing knowledge– Mapping and charting community indicators– Tracking program-level outcomes & performance– Community project management– Customizable neighborhood & project pages

Louisiana

Paula HickmanExecutive DirectorThe Community Foundation of Northern Louisiana

Louisiana Initiative for Nonprofit & Community Collaboration

• Initial goals• Story of implementation• Resources for donors• Next steps and new projects

Northern Louisiana

subsite

Financial Analysis• Using comprehensive data from the IRS Form 990, financial analysis provides

detailed financial information on revenues, expenditures, charitable donations (selected years), assets, and liabilities.

Program Outcomes • Module developed in collaboration

with The Center for What Works and the Urban Institute.

• Nonprofits can track quantifiable program outcome indicators daily, weekly, quarterly, or annually.

• Analyze trends and performance (e.g., graduation rates, number of families served) for individual organizations as well as communities, fields/industries, peer groups, and member organizations to produce statistics on program accomplishments.

• Join with other organizations and discuss programs, track metrics, and coordinate their service delivery in order to continuously improve the quality of their programs.

.

Questions?

Brevard County, Florida

Sandi ScannelliPresident/CEOThe Community Foundation for Brevard County

for Good. for Brevard. forever.

Our Our CommunityCommunity

Brevard County

Some Quick CFB & Brevard FactsSome Quick CFB & Brevard FactsPopulationPopulation: 532,000 CHALLENGING GEOGRAPHY CHALLENGING GEOGRAPHY – County 72

miles long Community Foundation Community Foundation – 30 years old;

manages roughly $11 Million in assets; small staff size – 2.5 FTE.

Some Issues Leading Up to 2011Some Issues Leading Up to 2011 EPIC SEQUENCE OF COUNTY CALAMITIESEPIC SEQUENCE OF COUNTY CALAMITIES: housing &

construction crash—foreclosures/short sales, economy died, shuttle program ended (impact est. at 23,000 in lost jobs), unemployment lingers

FRAGMENTED NONPROFIT SECTOR FRAGMENTED NONPROFIT SECTOR with no centralization of information on the sector; not easily engaged in community problem solving

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION? COMMUNITY FOUNDATION? – virtually unknown, not visible

A partnership initiative of the

+

What is Connect Brevard?What is Connect Brevard?A web-based tool built on a platform developed by NCCS, data-populated from IRS and census bureau, data locally supplemented that readily maps and provides information on every tax-exempt organization in Brevard County — all in one place and maps/provides community information.

Brevard County has: • 2,074 non-profits• 1421 Public Charities

Who should use this site? • Nonprofits, Donors, volunteers

CONNECT BREVARD ADVISORY COUNCILCONNECT BREVARD ADVISORY COUNCILThe following individuals served as invaluable advisors in the development of Connect Brevard.•Kristin L. Bakke, President, LEAD Brevard•John Byron, Principal, Sun State Strategy Inc.•Jan Conrad, Brevard Workforce•Libby Donoghue, Executive Director, Brevard 211•Carey Gleason, Associate VP of Advancement, Florida Institute of Technology•Ian Golden, Director of Housing and Human Services, Brevard County•Debbie Kelly, Community Investor Global Corporate Citizenship, Boeing•Shawna Kelsch, Chair, Brevard Healthcare Forum•Janice Kershaw, Executive Director, Brevard Schools Foundation•Beverly Lampley, Catholic Charities of Central Florida•Elizabeth A. Lee, Director, Community Impact, United Way of Brevard•James E. Luce, Consultant, Organization and Management Systems.•Christine Michaels, President, Melbourne Chamber of East Central Florida •Thomas H. Pollak, The Urban Institute, National Center for Charitable Statistics

1ST IN THE NATION 1ST IN THE NATION TO LAUNCH THE TO LAUNCH THE PLATFORM!PLATFORM!

(…and in Brevard, we love to launch!)

Connect Brevard

Community Statistics

Connect Brevard

CAN DOWNLO

AD

We Learned About OurselvesWe Learned About Ourselves

• Compared to national average – same % of volunteers (123,200), but #8 in hours/volunteer (56.1 hrs vs. 34.1 hrs)

• 25.8 million hours/yr = $550.8 million in service

• Most hours spent fundraising – 37.7% vs 26.4% national; 2nd by collecting/distributing food (29.2%)

• The Arts suffered critically in the economic downturn – the only subsector to end 2010 with negative net income (by millions).

We Learned About OurselvesWe Learned About Ourselves

• We have 60+ private foundations in the county – and we reached out and held a conference for them; for first time will be doing a collaborative grant makers briefing for nonprofits around the county.

• Statistics (attributed to CFB) quoted by every media source this fall and at major events such as AFP Philanthropy Awards, Florida Today VRA Awards, Space Coast Living Holiday Giving Guide.

We’re Threading People TogetherWe’re Threading People Together

• Private Foundation looked to us to generate a list of all animal welfare groups in County for grant making.

• Civic clubs using site to find speakers and projects related to interests or geography.

• Like-kind organizations and people finding each other to explore collaboration vs. duplication.

• Media using it for research in reporting and to find philanthropic people to feature in press stories.

More Threading. . . More Threading. . .

• Company used site to find food pantry near company to donate 200 meals left over from employee picnic.

• Congressional rep found list for a meeting he was convening.

• Donors conducting research and due diligence on charitable gifts.

• United Way hopes to use it in outcome monitoring.

• Developer used it to find info regarding senior or student housing in evaluating a potential investment.

• And…and…and…

Inspires Project Partnership Inspires Project Partnership

Raising the Visibility of the SectorRaising the Visibility of the Sector

The National Center for Charitable Statistics and the Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy

The Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy conducts and disseminates research on the role and impact of nonprofit organizations and philanthropy. The Center’s mission is to promote understanding of civil society and improve nonprofit sector performance through rigorous research, clear analysis, and informed policy. The National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCCS) is a program of the Center.www.urban.org/center/cnp/

The Urban Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research and educational organizations that examines the social, economic, and governance problems facing the nation.

URBAN INSTITUTE2100 M Street, NW Washington, DC 20037

Need more information on the Community Platform? Email: nccs@urban.org or tpollak@urban.org.

Please remember to complete the Council on Foundation’s Survey –Look for an email with a link to the recording & the survey.

We appreciate your feedback!