Stacy L. M.

When do you work with an external evaluator? If: ❓You know your program makes a difference, but you don’t have the tools to measure it ❓You need a “fresh set of eyes” and outside perspective on your program ❓You are struggling to articulate your program’s impact to partners or funders An external evaluator brings a toolkit of measurement tools and experience in a wide variety of programs. We can help you articulate what your program does and how it does it and communicate your program's impact. Interested in learning more about partnering with an external evaluator? DM me.

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Create Board-Donor Engagement Opportunities ... Direct involvement with donors can significantly enrich board members' understanding of donor expectations and the impact of personal engagement. Organizing opportunities for board members to participate in donor visits or to make thank-you calls can provide them with firsthand experience in donor relations. Such interactions can also highlight the importance of their role in stewardship and the cultivation of long-term donor relationships. Training in effective communication and donor engagement strategies can further enhance their ability to contribute during these interactions. Regular participation in these activities can help board members become more effective and enthusiastic fundraisers. #fundraising #nonprofits

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#DRGTip: How to Build Donor Engagement Programs Your Gift Officers Will Love How do you build donor engagement programs that your donors and gift officers will love? DRG's Jan McGuire and Colton Withers discuss what should be included in your donor engagement plans (and what shouldn't). #DonorEngagement #GiftOfficers #NonprofitStrategy #DonorRelations

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Over-reliance on major donors has led to a decline in overall donor numbers and newly retained donors, causing a significant drop in total donations. By improving donor acquisition and making new supporters feel connected and valued, nonprofits can stabilize and increase their funding, ensuring long-term success and impact. Implementing community-building tactics, empathetic engagement, and personalized thank-yous can effectively boost donor acquisition and retention. #DonorRetention #NonProfit #Fundraising

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Mission: To Engage, Equip, Empower & Elevate survivors of s3x tr*ff!cking so that they may live successful, independent lives in their community. Engage. We sit down with the survivor-participant initially to establish their "PDP" (personal development plan), but regularly thereafter to check in and see how they are doing. Individuals who have suffered complex trauma want nothing more than to have a "normal", healthy, independent life. But sometimes because of the myriad of mental, emotional and physical obstacles, it can seem just beyond their reach. So, these are personal, nonconfrontational conversations that do not have our ego and expectations attached to them. They are conversations with questions focused on the immediate needs and concerns of the participant. They are collaborative brain-storming sessions on how we can "re-think" this situation or make a plan that empowers the individual to move forward. Together, we are Redeeming the Future, 1 survivor at a time.

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*i got this information below from the Multnomah County Joint Office of Homeless Services Facebook and I’m sharing here* A new report from Portland State University’s Homelessness Research & Action Collaborative (HRAC) indicates that alternative shelters provide better outcomes for people experiencing homelessness than traditional, congregate shelters. The research, conducted by HRAC on behalf of Multnomah County’s Joint Office of Homeless Services (JOHS), analyzed the cost, participant experiences, and client outcomes in village-style and motel shelters as compared to more traditional congregate shelters. The study found that motel and village shelters, which provide private living spaces that support the autonomy, dignity, and safety of clients, led to better experiences and more positive outcomes than congregate shelters. This work will inform the implementation of the JOHS Community Sheltering Strategy and support the knowledge base of effective shelter models among homelessness services funders and providers. Read the full report at https://johs.us/reports/

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Day 2 of 15: highlighting lessons from Urban Institute's Youth Apprenticeship Intermediary project. How Registration Agencies Can Promote Youth Apprenticeship (https://lnkd.in/eTE-6X_6), by John Marotta Jr. and I, is part of a series of resources featuring lessons for different types of key stakeholders in youth apprenticeship. State and federal apprenticeship registration agencies have taken different approaches to the registration of youth apprenticeship programs, with some states proactively seeking to expand them and others approach youth apprenticeship with more caution. This has contributed to a wide variation in the scale of youth apprenticeship opportunities across states. To support youth apprenticeship expansion, registration agencies can: - Remove barriers to simplify and expedite the process for registering youth apprenticeship programs, as well as proactively add incentives, such as funding for sponsors to launch or expand programs. - Create a clear process for intermediaries and other national apprenticeship stakeholders to coordinate with the registration agency and each other when they come to a new state, so that organizations are not accidentally overlapping in their efforts and instead collaborating smoothly. - Establish clear parameters for registering youth apprenticeship programs so that sponsors know what to expect from state to state. OA could facilitate this process by issuing standard guidance required for all states so that youth apprenticeships are approved through a consistent review process. - Use youth apprenticeship to bolster apprenticeship in nontraditional occupations, which is a goal for many registration agencies. Based on our YAI project, a larger share of youth apprentices enter nontraditional occupations than apprentices in the registered apprenticeship system overall.

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We are joining with the Early Childhood Investment Corporation and other partners to oppose state legislation that would exclude community-based organizations and providers from the PreK for All model. Children, parents and employers statewide count on mixed-delivery of the Great Start Readiness Program. The budget currently proposed by the state House Appropriations Subcommittee on School Aid and Education would exacerbate our child care crisis. It would harm working families, employers and our economy. Read our joint statement on the legislation here: https://lnkd.in/eNrBtVsk And consider signing on and adding your voice to encourage lawmakers to protect the requirement to allocate GSRP slots to community-based organizations. The deadline is May 15: https://lnkd.in/edj-tVZ7

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Be Red Cross Ready for Caregivers 5/16/2024 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM CDT https://lnkd.in/g6a8Teiz Join the American Red Cross Military and Veteran Caregiver Network in collaboration with AARP for a special preparedness event designed for caregivers. This special presentation will help caregivers better prepare for emergencies. Topics covered include the importance of creating a team, what your team can do now to help you prepare, and how you and your loved one can get support during and after an emergency.

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Are you looking for innovative strategies to create or expand your donor base? Join me as I present a FREE WEBINAR, "A Case Study in Finding New Donors." This session is designed to provide you with actionable insights and proven strategies to find new supporters. 🗓️ Date: May 8, 2024 🕘 Time: 9:00 AM PT | 12:00 PM ET 📍 Location: Online at Nonprofit Learning Lab Why should you attend? - Learn from a case study how to create a prospective donor list - Learn cutting-edge strategies to find new donors - Know how to discover potential prospects’ interests - Understand what to do with the potential donors Spots are limited, and you won’t want to miss this opportunity to transform your approach to prospecting. 👉 Register now at: https://lnkd.in/gAjyYSNn Let's make a bigger impact together by empowering our organizations with the knowledge and tools needed to thrive in the challenging but rewarding nonprofit sector. See you there! 🚀 #kindsight #iWave #NonprofitLearningLab #NonprofitManagement #Fundraising #Webinar #DonorEngagement #NonprofitLeaders #CommunityImpact

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This week Prometheus details some of our thoughts on the background and hazards of volcanic eruptions. Building resilience in this area requires a concerted effort from governments, communities, and international partners. Together we can harness the power of innovation to create a safer future, even in the shadow of volcanoes. #resilience #disasterrisk #disasterresponse

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Does your company distribute grants? run employee engagement programs? do other social impact work? What about measuring, managing and tracking the effectiveness and impact of its CSR work? The Corporate Measurement & Evaluation Community of Practice is conducting a benchmarking survey to understand the state of M&E across the corporate landscape - who is doing it, how, why and what tools and approaches are being used. If you are directly responsible for measuring and reporting on the impact of your companies CSR work, or you have visibility into it, we'd like to hear from you! https://lnkd.in/gv9Deiwi Please note, We have taken special care in crafting the survey so that we aren’t repeating information that can be found elsewhere. This benchmarking will complement that done by ACCP and CECP.  The responses are 100% confidential and data will only be reported in aggregate.  More information on the Corporate Measurement & Evaluation (M&E) Community of Practice in comments.

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How are afterschool and OST leaders approaching the intersection of STEM with youth leadership and community engagement in their programming? #CYESS conducted a study to find out! A new report describes findings from their latest survey and recommendations for what programs need to amplify and scale such approaches. https://conta.cc/3XmMXNm

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Interested in learning strategies to help you better advocate for inclusivity and justice in your communities? Explore Urban Institute and Race Forward Government Alliance on Race and Equity’s new Equity Resource Navigator, a tool designed to help local leaders find resources to advance equity in the communities they serve.  Check out the webinar for a live demonstration of the navigator and learn how equity work across the United States is evolving:  https://urbn.is/3yIGCle  #Equity

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Check out my latest blog post on how to understand the questions asked about program evaluation and tips on how to best answer them. https://lnkd.in/e_YyMwWe. #grantwriting

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Thoughtful Stewardship Motivates Other Donors As seasoned fundraisers will attest, many major donors will, upon making a gift commitment, say they want no recognition and a surprising number say they would prefer to remain anonymous. I don't know how many say that because it's how they feel or because they think that is what they should say. It doesn't really matter. My standard response was "We need your example." Example is important in philanthropy and fundraising. I wanted to afford my donors recognition because I knew it would be inspiring and motivating to others - if we told their story in the right way. All too often we squander the opportunity of example. We announce the amount someone has given and make some banal statements about the transformative effect it will have but rarely do we follow up and demonstrate the actual transformational impact years down the road. Even sadder, we don't do enough to publicize why the donor gave or highlight the values that underpinned and motivated their giving. Yet, the story of why one donor gave can be highly motivating to other current and potential donors. We seem to forget that many of us spend our lives trying to become better people. We seek to liberate our big and altruistic side from our small, selfish and self-protective side. We don't always know how to do that but we try. It's why we look to the examples of others, why we look for people we can admire and emulate. It's not how much someone gave but why. When we hear about someone giving because they want to spare others from the loss or pain visited on them or their loved ones, we revisit our pain and loss and ask ourselves if we have done enough to spare others. When we hear about someone giving to return what they think was a good done for them years ago, we go back to our past and ourselves if we have paid due credit to those who were most helpful in our formative years. When we hear someone giving because they felt fortune smiled on them, we think more about our good fortune and how we might share it. The more we seize on the power of example through effective storytelling, we help others reflect and say to themselves: That's who I want to be like. That's how I could give more meaning to my life. That's how I can become a better person. It's not the size of the gift we celebrate, it's the examples of how people turn to philanthropy to forgive, to convert struggle and loss to purpose, to remember and honor those that shaped their lives, to chip away at injustices visited on them, to provide others opportunities they never had, and to bequeath more to the future than they inherited from the past. We need these examples and these stories. We want to be in the presence of people striving to do good with their lives. We look for ways to be better people. The more thoughtfully we steward and share each donor's story, the more we widen the philanthropic path.

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Whilst its hard to see that any progress has been made, to the contrary - it looks like 0 progress made and everything got worse, with recent years breaking through the 1.5C targets. We mustn't give up hope that the many initiatives that have been kicked off as a result of these agreements, have prevented worse things from happening... too optimistic? maybe But working in the sustainability and SDG space has never been more exciting, with many people sharing that a just transition to a more sustainable, de-growth and circular economy is, ...possible. The questions is how fast, to prevent worse things from happening (Climate Catastrophy, Ecological Collapse, ...the list is getting longer). Currently the ANNUAL financing gap to the 2030 SDGs is (according to UN estimates), around $4 trillion. This is the same as Germany's or Japan's Gross Domestic Product. This is a staggering number and concept that the money missing to achieve the SDGs is the same as the monetary value of ALL finished goods and services made in Germany or Japan on an annual basis. And yet, the world economy is worth around $100 Trillion, so $4 trillion = 4%. That ...almost...sounds doable? too optimistic? maybe When it comes to asset managers, total discretionary assets under management (AUM) of the 500 biggest managers amounted to USD 113.7 trillion at the end of 2022, down by 13.7% from the end of 2021. The largest, BlackRock, manages $10 trillion and the next biggest 2, Vanguard ($9 trillion) and Fidelity ($4 trillion). Surely, investing into solutions on a planet that is actually liveable with resources being consumed at a sustainable pace is what its at? Otherwise, what will be managed in 20 or 30 years?

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