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Where to go now?

In a region crowded with nonprofits, big picture ideas for the future are brewing

For more than 30 years, La Plata County’s nonprofit sector has been growing as residents saw needs and took action to meet them. But where is the sector headed now?

Almost all of the local sources interviewed for this series believe there are too many nonprofits here. With a conservative estimate of 300, which amounts to one per 167 residents and 10 times more than in the entire San Luis Valley, that would appear to be a valid concern.

People looking in from the outside, however, such as funders and staff with the Community Resource Center and the Colorado Nonprofit Association, agree La Plata County has a lot of nonprofits. But they say raw numbers are not the way to evaluate the sector.

“Durango’s been impressive and well-recognized,” said Peter Maiurro, a vice president at El Pomar Foundation based in Colorado Springs. “More than 60 of your nonprofits have been nominated for our excellence awards.”

One response to the idea that the area has too many nonprofits, often discussed, rarely implemented, is a consolidation of some organizations, based either on services offered or the types of people served.

“Years ago, when I was at the Women’s Resource Center, I could never understand why there was a Women’s Resource Center, SASO (Sexual Assault Services Organization), Alternative Horizons and so on,” said Susan Lander, former executive director of the WRC and of Music in the Mountains. “Why isn’t there one place where a woman who needs help can go and get it?”

Why doesn’t it happen?

“Some of it is turf-driven on the part of executive directors and boards,” she said, “and sometimes it would be quite complicated to do. But it’s worth at least having the conversation.”

Whether or not any nonprofits consolidate as entities, she would like to see them consolidate office operations.

“If five or six smaller nonprofits got together to share an office space, they could at least shave admin costs,” she said. “Instead of paying five receptionists $7.50 an hour, they could hire one for $35,000 or $40,000, save money and pay the receptionist a living wage.”

Sharing office space while serving similar populations has been a notable success for Southwest Colorado Community College and the Durango Education Center at the Commons Building.

“I mention the Commons as an example across the state,” said Renny Fagan, president and CEO of the Colorado Nonprofit Association. “We’re starting to see similar initiatives in other communities.”

While many organizations may not be consolidating, they are collaborating on numerous initiatives. Fagan is a fan of what he sees happening here.

“It’s good to come together and look at things holistically,” he said. “In rural areas, you’re probably ahead of urban areas on collaboration.”

Another example is having executive directors of organizations dealing with the same populations sitting on each other’s boards of directors. Sarada Leavenworth, district director of the Volunteers of America, which runs the Durango Community Shelter, Southwest Safe House and Back Home and Veterans Transitional housing programs, is on the Axis Health System board.

“I’m learning what our community needs and seeing our work from a different perspective,” Leavenworth said. “I’m seeing a willingness to collaborate that is unique, a lot of leadership willing to think outside the box to create innovative solutions to problems.”

One result of her involvement on the Axis board is a new collaboration between Volunteers of America and the health center.

“We have an advocate who comes to our facilities and helps residents fill out the application for services at Axis,” said Talia Bamerick, a residential counselor at the shelter. “The application itself is quite extensive, about 20 pages, and it’s not easy.”

It took some effort to set up.

“We both had to compromise how we do things so we could help the people we both serve better,” Leavenworth said.

She has another idea for something that could change how new proposals for nonprofits are considered.

“I think we need a nonprofit mentor team,” she said, “so when an idea comes up, there’s someplace neutral holding a vetting meeting once a quarter or so, where there is discussion about whether it should be a new stand-alone nonprofit, work with an existing nonprofit or go under the umbrella of another 501(c)3 or foundation. It would not only be about not duplicating, but about coming up with solutions.”

On the horizon

Several major capital projects are in various stages of development in La Plata County. They range in status from concept to feasibility studies to fundraising to ready-to-break-ground. They include the Hospice of Mercy Experience facility, the new science and engineering building at Fort Lewis College, new campuses for Animas High and Mountain Middle schools, a Commons-style building for emergency services organizations, a new building for public radio station KSUT, a new Head Start facility in Ignacio and the science, theatre, education, arts and music park (known as the STEAM Park) along the Animas River.

With a total price tag of around $75 million, it’s clear the community will see a lot of capital campaigns the next few years.

A new era for nonprofits?

A growing national movement is challenging thinking about solving social problems.

“They’re saying nonprofits have been preaching the wrong message, bragging about how we can do so much with so very little,” said Tim Kroes, executive director of the Durango Adaptive Sports Association. “If you were investing in Apple, would you ever look at how much they spend on research and development or staffing? None of that criteria matters when you’re judging whether it’s a good company or not. So why do you judge nonprofits on that criteria? As a result, it’s limiting our effectiveness.”

He recommends watching Dan Pallotta’s TED Talk, one of a series of videos that, in 18 minutes or less, present innovative ideas, to better understand the concept.

Pallotta founded two highly successful fundraisers in the 1990s – a three-day breast cancer walk and long-distance bicycle rides to support AIDs research. He flew against conventional wisdom and spent significant amounts on promotion, including a full-page ad in The New York Times. In nine years, the two fundraisers generated $581 million. Despite the results, he said he was “hammered” for spending so much on advertising.

Pallotta raises some big questions:

“The conventional wisdom has been that the public wants charities with low salaries and low overhead, so, like it or not, that’s the reality within which we have to live and operate. But the public once wanted slavery and women to be without the right to vote. What if we changed what the public wants?”

“We have to stop treating money as a sin in social-change work. If more value will be produced with more financial incentive, then we should continue to provide financial incentive up to the point where it no longer produces value. Whether or not a person is getting wealthy is immaterial. All that matters is whether the organization is getting good value for that money.”

Reflective of the community?

La Plata County’s nonprofit sector is large, complex and convoluted in some areas. At the same time, many nonprofits are finding their services are more needed than ever.

“I think there are a lot of things people need to consider other than what percentage of a nonprofit’s budget goes to program costs,” Kroes said. “They need to understand what goes on in the background to really understand the budget. Organizations that depend on a lot of volunteers, like we do, like Big Brothers Big Sisters does, are still doing all the things you do for an employee, training, insuring, that kind of stuff, for volunteers, you’re just not paying them wages.”

Landers thinks changes are coming.

“I think streamlining is inevitable,” she said. “We need to pay people properly with benefits, make sure everyone gets ongoing training and see who makes it under those conditions.”

Maria Fabula, president and CEO of the Community Resource Center, said approaching causes with passion is only part of the picture for a successful nonprofit.

“A nonprofit is a tax status, not a business plan,” she said. “You can’t operate a sustainable nonprofit if you don’t know how to run a business. You may love the arts, but you need to know how to balance financial statements.”

Fabula also thinks people need to remember the role La Plata County plays in the region when looking at how many nonprofits the community has.

“Your region is very unique,” she said, “and your nonprofit sector is reflective of your community. You have a great arts sector, it’s expensive to live there, you’re near several reservations, you have a population that needs services, and you have a different way of life.

“You may need that many nonprofits for your community to thrive.”

abutler@durangoherald.com

There’s an app for that

Has giving changed in our fast-paced digital lives? Yes and no.

“People still want to send us a check in the mail or call in their credit-card number to a real person rather than donating on our website,” said Sarada Leavenworth, district director of the Volunteers of America, which runs the Durango Community Shelter and Southwest Safehouse. “And when I asked people if they would rather receive our newsletter electronically, only three people out of 5,000 signed up.”

But the number of ways to give continues to grow, including texting the Red Cross to send an immediate contribution to an area hit by a natural disaster, shopping at City Market with a value card or using a digital app.

“The value card has been a real success for us, bringing in about $500 a quarter,” Leavenworth said. “We did a real campaign to get people to sign up. Now, I guess we’ll have to do it again because everyone has to sign up again. I don’t know if they were giving away too much money or what happened.”

To sign up, visit www.citymarket.com, click community and then click community rewards.

Some digital apps that are at the top of the news right now:

instead, which allows the user to donate the cost of a cup of coffee or other purchase to charity instead of indulging. I Can Go Without operates on the same principle.

Charity Miles allows people to donate without spending a dime because they can raise money for favorite causes by exercising. Bikers earn 10 cents per mile, runners and walkers earn 25 cents per mile, all sponsored by an initial $1 million corporate pool of donations.

One Today, by Google, introduces a new nonprofit every day. If you like its mission, you can donate $1 from within the app.

Donate a Photo, by Johnson & Johnson, pays $1 to a chosen cause for every photo uploaded, with a maximum of one photo per day per person. The company guarantees it will not use the photos for commercial purposes.

Goodshop allows shoppers to select their favorite stores or brands and alerts them to deals, discounts and coupons when they come out. About 3 percent of the shopping bill will be donated to the selected cause. Among the local nonprofits participating are the Blackhat Humane Society, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Tender Hands and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Colorado.

Budge puts some money behind that dare you just made with a friend. The person who loses the challenge gives the agreed upon amount of money to the charity of the winner’s choosing.

VolunteerMatch allows users to input a geographical location, the skills they have to offer and when they are available, then find the volunteer opportunities near them.

abutler@durangoherald.com

On the Net

This For the Common Good series has looked at Durango’s nonprofits from a variety of angles. There is a tremendous amount of information available for those who want to explore further.

to learn more about evaluating nonprofits:

Charity Navigator: www.charitynavigator.org

Guidestar: www.guidestar.org

Better Business Bureau: evaluates some nonprofits at www.bbb.org

To learn more about the nonprofit sector in Colorado:

Colorado Nonprofit Association: www.coloradononprofits.org

Community Resource Center: www.crcamerica.org

Colorado Civic Health Index Report: http://ncoc.net/COCHI2013

To get an overall sense for the nonprofit world and basic facts and figures:

Chronicle of Philanthropy: www.philanthropy.com

National Center for Charitable Statistics: http://nccs.dataweb.urban.org

To view Dan Pallotta’s TED Talk about rethinking philanthropy: http://ideas.ted.com/2014/07/07/rethink-the-way-we-run-charities-a-useful-reading-list

In this series

Sunday: The big picture of the nonprofit scene

Monday: What does it take to work with the needy?

Tuesday: Who are the donors and how do they give?

Today: The future of nonprofits in La Plata County.



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