Panel urges nonprofit-private sector partnerships
Collective impact is the latest buzzword within the nonprofit world.
A nonprofit looking to maximize its effectiveness must become multifaceted and able to work in concert with other organizations, including partnering with the private sector to best leverage tools and resources.
That was the message from advocates urging collaboration among nonprofit and for-profit community development organizations last week at a forum hosted by Fairfield University.
“There is more money in Fairfield County than could be spent by all residents on all needs,” said Chris Bruhl, president and CEO of the Business Council of Fairfield County, and one of the panelists. “It is not the lack of resources. It”™s the lack of connectivity and awareness of those who have it and the opportunity to do something with it.”
Bruhl said it”™s important for the residents and businesses in any community to have deeper conversations about what kind of place Fairfield County should be.
While companies are focused on the bottom line, he said being surrounded by a thriving community can factor into revenues and profits.
Keynote speaker Joe McNeely, executive director of the Central Baltimore Partnership and a national community development expert, defined collective impact as “moving from being a successful organization to getting more impact on larger systems.”
On its own, a homeless shelter can”™t effectively solve the chronic problems that lead to homelessness. It needs to partner with other nonprofits and private organizations to make a difference, speakers said.
More than 100 nonprofit and business leaders gathered for the event, sponsored by Bank of America Charitable Foundation, both to recognize the accomplishments of the groups present and to discuss the future of nonprofits.
Speakers at the event included Juanita James, CEO of the Fairfield County Community Foundation; Merle Berke-Schlessel, CEO of United Way of Coastal Fairfield County; and Jennifer Heath, executive vice president of United Way of Greater New Haven.
During the event, Bank of America also awarded a $200,000 unrestricted grant to FSW Inc., a Bridgeport nonprofit that helps lift thousands of individuals out of poverty every year. In 2012, Bank of America gave roughly $1.4 million to southern Connecticut charities.
Over the last several years, strategic partnerships ”” like that of FSW and Bank of America ”” have taken center stage, McNeely said.
He said nonprofits have learned how to better measure and track their progress through data and as a result, have wanted to do even more for their clients. But they can”™t do it alone, he said.
“As we became more successful in hitting the mark and predicting outcomes, we were also aware that we weren”™t getting the (needed) impact on neighborhoods, on children and families, on the workforce dynamics in our regions, on economic
opportunities for families in areas of concentrated poverty,” McNeely said. “Our programs were about change and the change we sought was in multifaceted, long-term programs. And we were going at them with one or two tools.”