Piper Bulletin January 2010

Piper Bulletin asked three Maricopa County nonprofit CEOs three questions about how they are managing in Arizona's continuing stalled economy:

With the lingering difficult economy, what are the realities in your area of service today and for the foreseeable future?

What are you doing specifically and tangibly to bring hope to your board, staff and volunteers in these difficult times?

From your perspective, what are the practical things that all organizations should be doing now?

Piper Bulletin: With the lingering difficult economy, what are the realities in your area of service today and for the foreseeable future?

Marsha Porter: With the bleak state budget picture for 2010 (and beyond), basic emergency needs will undoubtedly rise for a growing number of families. The newly created waiting list for KidsCare will leave unacceptable numbers of children uninsured for basic preventative medical care. And additional cuts in state funded services for the developmentally disabled, frail and elderly adults, families dependent upon food and income assistance and families involved in the child welfare system will bring additional demands for services on our community's unraveling and increasingly fragile human services nonprofit sector.

The good news is that there has been an increase in communication, partnership and collaboration among local agencies serving at-risk adults, families and children. Increasingly, we are recognizing that none of us alone can meet the complex needs that so many of our clients have. This has forced us to reach out to other agencies and services to cobble together a plan with each family that will meet their emergency needs as well as provide support over time.

Sunnee Spencer: For the past three years, our organization has been undergoing several paradigm shifts due to a 65 percent decrease in city of Mesa funding. This has caused us to be flexible and to realize that living with change is the new norm. Therefore, we focus on our mission and how we serve our audience. Staff and board seek new avenues of revenue and now have 18 new collaborations with like-minded organizations that help us to leverage resources.

We have also created a much more entrepreneurial spirit in our operations. We listen closely to what our visitors need and respond to those needs as soon as possible. In 2010, we will be showcasing two wonderful exhibitions; Jump to Japan: Discovering Culture through Popular Art from the Minnesota Children's Museum and NASA/ART: 50 Years of Exploration from the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service. We have a lot of interesting and exciting programs planned for both, so we believe the future is bright.

Tamara Woodbury: There is more demand for Girl Scouting for what we sense are a couple of primary reasons. One, parents are looking for reasonably cost effective activities for their daughters but there also is a surge that is a result of a growing desire to return to the fundamentals that Girl Scouting provides—sense of belonging and well being. It also appears historically that during turbulent times there has been a surge in our movement. In short, Girl Scouting provides a safe harbor. Organizationally, we are challenged to meet the demands because of the constraints of resources and we see that continuing throughout 2010 and into 2011.

One of the things that we have done is to be sensitive and supportive of the impact of the economy on individuals on our board. It has been challenging at times to temper our response to those who show up at our board table projecting the fear from their own organizations into their governing responsibilities they have as a board member in this organization. In short, our board has been moving into a role of governing leadership and we have noticed that a few board members are pulling back and wanting to govern management.

Piper Bulletin: What are you doing specifically and tangibly to bring hope to your board, staff and volunteers in these difficult times?

Tamara Woodbury: The direction we have gone in the last few years to bring leadership from the inside out, which includes reflective practice, to our board, staff and volunteers, has provided a foundation for resilience and trust. We actively look for ways of building a sense of belonging and well being at every point in the organization and try to conserve and build on those things that contribute to that sense of wellness. For both our board and staff, we have looked for opportunities for them to come together, both as individuals and family units, to celebrate the work that we do. We have worked hard to keep all services and staff support to programs and services directly to volunteers and have made cuts only in leadership positions and administrative operations.

Sunnee Spencer: At each staff and board meeting, we have "Museum Moments" to remind us of the impact we have on families and children who visit the Arizona Museum for Youth. Thank you letters that we receive are read, or a story of an interaction or conversation with a visitor or donor is shared. At our December board meeting our art curator, Jeffory Morris, demonstrated a musical interactive that will be displayed in our exhibition "Sounds Like Art" for this spring. Board members had fun playing with the display and being a "kid" themselves. We also have a museum culture of being sure to take care of ourselves and each other.

Marsha Porter: My top resolution for 2010 is to communicate more frequently, directly and, whenever possible, personally with our board members, employees and volunteers. There is a temptation at times to keep impending bad news close to the chest in hopes that a crisis can be averted. But this discounts the ability of board, staff and volunteers to cope with reality when they have the facts and that shared responsibility for decision-making is always superior to making decisions in isolation.

My next resolution is to celebrate the small victories that happen at Crisis Nursery on a regular basis with our board, staff and volunteers. With the daily barrage of bad news and the economic and social problems that are simply too great for us to directly impact, it is too easy to get overwhelmed and fail to see what we have and are able to accomplish. Numbers can indeed by "numbing" so I vow to get back to the importance of looking at our ability to make a difference, one child and one family at a time.

My last resolution is to engage our board, staff and volunteers in envisioning what we want the future of Crisis Nursery to be. We have had the good fortune to have been awarded a two-year grant from federal stimulus dollars to become a new Early Head Start grantee. While the implementation of this program will occupy a lot of all of our time in the coming months, it will also give us some breathing room from the financial worries that have preoccupied us during much of the past two years.

Piper Bulletin: From your perspective, what are the practical things that all organizations should be doing now?

Sunnee Spencer: I believe nonprofit organizations have to be vigilant about increasing revenues and decreasing expenses from a practical point of view. That means nothing is sacred and a constant return to how are we serving our audience, as well as saying no to things that don't make sense to our mission. Our donors and sponsors are very important to us and we continue to let them know what our accomplishments are, which make them proud to support us.

We are undergoing a small renovation which will allow us to operate more efficiently and serve our visitors even better through enhanced exhibition areas. ArtVille and ArtZone are two of our most popular galleries and we have wonderful plans for both. We have phases to our renovation which will match funding as it becomes available, one step at a time. We choose to focus on the positive, as we have a 31 year history and plan to be here for many more years to come.

Tamara Woodbury: In these difficult times, it is important to remind people across the organization of our interdependence. The health and well being of our whole organization and our community will be dependent on our individual responsibility to that wholeness. To remind us that not all human progress has been accomplished by the anointed leaders in organizations, that it is the acts of leadership all across an organization by girls, volunteers, board members and staff that generate the future and is the proactive collaborative response as opposed to reactive and fear-based action.

One example is a story from one of our volunteer-led neighborhood units. Units have checking accounts for program fees and other support they receive so they can provide training for adults and programs and encampments for girls and leaders in their neighborhoods. One of our units realized that over the years a balance had built up in their account. The normal pattern would have been to use the funds for their neighborhood, but recognizing the difficult economic times, they felt that giving away part of it might help other Girl Scouts. They made a $2,000 donation to the council’s Angel Tree, which helps girls throughout the council who need financial support for scouting needs.

Marsha Porter: We have to find better ways to collaborate across agencies and services if the nonprofit sector is to survive and, ultimately, thrive. Crisis Nursery is committed to being an active participant and invites others that are willing to meet, plan and truly collaborate to the table.