Urban Foodscaping Non Profits

In the past three days I have had my free thoughts consumed by the potential of urban landscaping as a solution to many challenges being faced in economically restricted communities in America.

I have looked at these 5 organizations briefly and see great potential in my community to create meaningful change.

http://foodisfreeproject.org/

http://www.ediblelawns.net/

http://www.foodscapelb.blogspot.com/

http://www.nycfoodscape.com/

http://farmmyyard.org/

One thing that I really like about this idea is the possibility to put these in individuals yards, creating a multi fold benefit. of improving the visual appearance of a property, proving a food source, teaching valuable skills, improving air and soil quality and increasing community between the organization facilitating the process and the homes in the area where the lawn is turned garden.

Where this enthusiasm takes me will wait to be seen, part of me wants to write "the grant", leave my job (that I love), and dedicate the next several years to starting a local lawn foodscape organization. As I dream about this I quickly come into the long list of considerations that any non profit founder thinks about and my enthusiasm remains. Great work is being done all over America in foodscaping, and I am excited to see the movement grow!

Non Profit Best Practice: Develop ways to actively engage government and corporate entities

Non Profit Best Practice: Develop ways to actively engage government and corporate entities.

Who to engage
If this a new concept for your organization so many possibilities exist, if this is something your organization is already doing and looking to expand a more serious examination might be needed to identify who these entities are.

For those who are just starting this process: Ask yourself , your board and your leadership the following series of questions. *Please note I use the word clients as much of my experience has been organizations service people. If your serving another mission say an environmental cause replace clients with impact area.

• What entities do we impact? (Example: Schools, or after-school programs)
• What entities impact our services? (Example: City Council)
• What entities impact our clients? (Example: Schools, or after-school programs)
• What entities do our clients impact? (Example: Schools, or after-school programs)
• What entities directly affect or staff and supporters? (Example: City Council)

The list you come up with is where you should start to make efforts to engage.

For those of you who are looking to expand: Now is a good time to reach out to your staff and clients to solicit ideas.

• What companies or agencies do they engage with other than yours? (Example: Faith based groups)
• What in your community do they see opportunities for engagement? (Example: Garden Club)
• What opportunities exist for your organization to be seen as a leader in your field? (Example: Present at a conference)

How to do this

Now you have made a list of corporate and government entities, what next?

1. Research - Spend time to learn about those on your list, who are the key contact people, how they work and if they have any past experience working with non profits.
2. Reach out indirectly - Invite the entity to one of your events. Most likely they wont come but it will start the process of them knowing your organization exist and gives them an insight into some the work you do.
3. Reach out directly - Call or stop in, whatever is appropriate in the community you work in. See if you can introduce yourself to a decision maker and at the very least have an opportunity to pick the receptionist brain about the way they work. - Your goal at this phase is just to become familiar, learn more about them as individuals and the work they do.
4. Continue contact - in the following 3 months keep communicating, follow up with card after the initial meeting thanking them for taking the time to meet with you, invite them to another event, share something that you think they would be interested in knowing (local news or subject related article), connect via linked in or other social network.
5. Evaluate - At this point make the decision is this a company or agency that we would benefit from a more formal working relationship.

1. Yes - Set a time to make the request
2. No - Keep inviting them to events but move your energy onto the next potential, you have gained a connection that is worth keeping.

Why it matters

Non profits cant operate in isolation. Active engagement of government and corporate entities can open up a variety of benefits to your organization. The most obvious opportunities are for potential donations or volunteers. Many other opportunities exist that these relationships could provide your no profit with including: insight, local/ relevant news, referrals and advocacy.

Practitioner examples.

In one agency I worked for I made contact with a local pastoral association. It turned out that one of the pastors was childhood friends with the city manager. Due to this connection when our agency needed support from the city manager I was able to reach out to this pastor and use him to open the relationship for my organization to be supported by the city manager.

In a different agency I work for we begun developing a relationship with a large company who was expanding and moving employees and their families into the area. As this relationship was developing we noticed that several of their employees were using our services, we were able to share this information with the company allowing them to refine their relocation process to better support their employees families.

In both of the above examples the relationships continued to grow and the agencies I worked for saw expanded benefits of donations, volunteers and community advocates.

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@lshhann

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Trying to be ONE - The Republic of the Philippines and the American Red Cross

When attending graduate school in the Philippines I had the opportunity to take several course on Philippines government and administration. One of the fundamental learning that I took ways from these course is that the Philippines as a government is trying to create the concept of unity, cohesion and oneness thought the nation. They are working towards this by moving functions and administrations to be the same in every district so that you can be anywhere and it will be operating under the same system as anywhere else with only minor local differences(such as the office location, key community members ect).

In concept is sounds like a great way to move the nation forward. In reality it is encountering many difficulties. Devising and implementing systems and procedures that are identical in the mega city of Manila and in the remote islands of Hundred Islands. Manila is a fast paced technologically advanced multi-media political, cultural and population center of the Philippines. Hundred Islands on the other hand is is a grouping of 100 plus islands that used to be a coral bed of which only 3 have been developed for visitors. On every level the Philippines is facing challenges. Should the Philippine government have computer systems to track tax collection, city plans, HR and so forth? Global best practices say YES. So the Philippines did just that, the created a comprehensive system with forms, procedures and software to put the ONE nation of the Philippines onto one system and dispersed these requirements and tools to local government offices and officials. This was a fantastic, a solid step to take a developing nation towards a new chapter in their history. Unfortunately some jurisdictions do not have reliable power supplies, let along functional computer and internet systems. This micro example to highlight the magnificent challenge faced by nations who were not historically one group but several moving into the 21st century united and working to become ONE.

On a national level I have seen the identical struggle in India, but the idea of being ONE is not exclusive to nations it is being experience and explored in other sectors. Working for the American Red Cross I am a participant in their move towards ONE. To the average person the American Red Cross has always been one organization  but to those more intimately involved they will tell you how each chapter was one in itself, they set their priorities, standards and service areas. In order to deliver consistent quality service in a financially sound way the Red Cross has been undergoing some very challenging organizational shifts,  creating a consistency across the entire United States. Of course minor local differences will remain (facility, staff, volunteers). Not surprisingly they are encountering some of the same challenges faced by diverse nation states undergoing this approach. The operation capacity in urban America (NYC, LA, Dallas) is vastly different from rural America (think McCook Nebraska). The core principles driving both nation states and large national organizations is to enhance capacity and performance. The challenges faced are reflective of the extreme diversity in the areas they cover. The opportunity for lessons learned is huge, the success and challenges faced by those in the process of unifying and standardizing can be shared across sectors. I hope following this unification best practices will be developed and shared to enhance the process and experience as other nations and organizations endeavor towards greater unification and standardization
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What if Kmart became social trailblazers?

What would happen if this 

Begun to look more like this

K Mart has been in decline since the 1990's when they made some calculated missteps regarding technological integration. They however remain in many communities and hold a sizable percentage of big box retail. While the corporation struggles to find a way to hold on one commentator said K Mart lacks anything unique that would bring costumers there if given Wal- mart or Target as an option. An outside observer can see that Target offers a refined middle income one stop shop and Wal-mart offers a bargain basement one stop shop. K Mart cant compete in either of these area posing the question if K Mart wants to survive what area could they become leaders in?

Whole Foods has proven that consumers are interested in product origin and the growing discourse on corporate social responsibility shows that socially we are expecting businesses to be good corporate citizens. Might there be room for K Mart to pioneer big box retail in a socially responsible way? 

I would be interested in such a development and would take my business to K mart over the competitors of Target and Wal-Mart

10 years and counting in the non profit sector

This is what I hope to be the start of a series of posts reflective of the time as a practitioner on the ground level with non profit organizations.

Team Building Day

To give myself come credentials I begun working with faith based communities in 1994 and have since been involved in a meaningful way with over 20 community/ civic minded agencies and have had tangible impacted over 20,000 peoples lives. How do I define meaningful? I am looking for those experiences I have had where I have been involved either in a substantive (40+/hr/week) for at least 2 months or have had consistent(2+/hr/ week) involvement spread over one or more years.

My first paid position was with a community theater in 2002 and the need to generate community change has not gone away.  In this post as I work to credential myself and begin to think of how to arrange my thoughts I have generated the following list of my organizational involvement, the approximate time and my general thoughts on how many lives I have impacted (really much like my resume without bullet points of accomplishments).

1994 - 2001 St Augustine Catholic Church, 300 people impacted - Sunday School and Vacation Bible School instructions

1997 - 2002 Kids Can Free The Children, 2000 people impacted - Local chapter founder

2002 - YMCA Camp St.Croix, 1000 people impacted - Summer program staff

2002- 2003 - AmeriCorps State, 300 people impacted - Education and community programming

• Pillsbury Community Center
• El Colegio Charter School 
• Heart of the Beast Theater

2003-2006 - Seton Hall University, 35 people impacted - English as a Second Language Instruction

2005 - YMCA Camp Du.Nord, 1,000 people impacted - Summer program staff

2005-2006 - Peace Games NYC, 1,000 people impacted - Internship Program Development

2007 - AmeriCorps NCCC , 3,550 people impacted

• St. Barnard's Project
• Habitat for Humanity
• Presbyterian Disaster Relief
• NY Cares
• US Fire Service

2008-2009 - Eckerd Youth Alternatives, 35 people impacted - Senior Councilor

2010 - Learning Ideas for Tibet, 150 people impacted - Educator, Newsletter Liaison, Program Development.

2011 - Atma, 5,000 people impacted - International Volunteer Lead

2011 - YMCA Camp Menogyn, 200 people impacted - Summer program staff

2011-2013 - Best Friends Mentoring Program (NDSU), 300 people impacted - Program Manager

2013- Current - American Red Cross, 1,000 people impacted - Disaster Program Manager

Service Unites: Conference on Volunteering and Service

Atlanta Georgia. June 16-18 2014

Convened by: Points of Light

Title Sponsor: UPS

4560 – Faith-Based and Diverse Community Disaster Preparedness Summit Planning

The first 72 Hours – this is the title for a shelter in place disaster kit initiative

http://www.first72hours.org/resources/?tag=red-cross

In post disaster we work with our communities to return to the new normal

Praise and Preparedness– praise.ga.gov

-          Facility safety checklist for our faith based partners. If something happened when people are in the building do they know what to do and dose the facility have 72hours supplies?

-          Jancay.stragell@gema.ga.gov

-          Be very specific in what you want from your faith based community

-          7^th day latter day saints missionaries to spread preparedness messages

-          Disasters do not discriminate and neither do we

Faith preparedness summits county by county

-          Meeting planning at various locations and send out etiquette messages pre meting

Atlanta chapter has fake disaster scripts that they use during building tours— Carisa.hettich@redcross.org

                                     

4946 – Thought Leadership: How Do You Embed Civic and Community Values in a Company?

Mass Mutual is building up a volunteer program

Morgan Stanley Foundation – Suzanne Brown

The Civic 50 as a conversation as partnering with businesses

Global Citizenship – Fed Ex Julia Chioskie Community Affairs

Think of CSR as a portfolio and have it filled with diverse investments

State Street Corporation Boston – Regina McNalley: Requires non profit board service to be promoted to executive level.

Opening Session

Lessons from history makers to change makers – Congressman John Lewis, Ambassador Andrew Young, Dr Bernice King and Reverend CT. Vivian discussed their experiences as frontrunners to change and how that change is one they have continued to work towards their entire life.

David Abney CEO Elect from UPS announced the pledge of 20million service hours by 2020 - http://www.ups.com/pressroom/us/press_releases/press_release/Press+Releases/Homepage+Press+Releases/ci.UPS+Pledges+20+Million+Hours+of+Volunteer+Service+by+End+of+2020.syndication

Social Change 2.0 – Chelsea Clinton, Mayor Dayne Walling, Kweku Mandela and Bethaney Wright discussed how to engage the upcoming generation to be the leaders of social change.

4875 – Pathway to Excellence: Proving Your Professional Competence Breakfast

5 competencies for volunteer administrators

-          Ethics

-          Organizational Management

-          Human Resource Management

-          Accountability

-          Leadership and Advocacy.

CVACERT.ORG

“from the top down”

Write about volunteer management

Performance reviews based on the competencies

Professional certification

Direction power – know where you want to go

Write about practical experience as a way to become a leader in the field, also a door to working in higher education

4623 – Mobilizing Low – Income Volunteers through Economic Opportunity

United Way as host agency for AmeriCorps Programs

Volunteerism embedded into the community

CNCS volunteering is connected to Employment

Incentives motivate 18% of volunteers

Volunteer opportunities based within low income housing

·         $25 rent credit with a minimum of 4 hours of volunteering per month

·         Set expectations of professional conduct as a volunteer

Move from begging to choosing

The movement from all hands to skilled hands

5031 – Mini Session: Volunteer Engagement Practices

Speakers: Karen Bantuverus, Katelin Kennedy, Art Ordoqui, Kendall Stiles

Hands on activity idea: Building neighborhood preparedness and social packets to give out in their neighborhoods.

Hospitality + service by Hilton http://news.hiltonworldwide.com/index.cfm/misc/hospitality

-          Great for shelter workers

-          Front desk volunteers

-          Leadership level volunteers

-          Hilton employees will be trained to present this by next year

Volunteer Spot – http:vols.pt/ncvs

UPS 20million volunteer hours by 2020 – can we make this a local connection?

Kendall Stiles – Sharing moments of recognition everyday (requested slides)

@realizedworth

Recognition on social network for volunteers

Twibbon – with social volunteers

Live stream presentations its free for non-profits

Wufoo – form builder

Nominate daily points of light winners

Thanks a latte – 5 service project and a local vendor donates a free latte

4821 – Professional Development: Women in Leadership Fireside Chat

If you don’t get lost every once in a while you must be on someone else’s path

Richard Branson – risk taker

Virgin Unite – let people be their whole self at work

Jane Tuwson – Comic Relief

Kathy Calvin – UN Foundation

Mary Robinson – Ireland

Incorporate language of those your speaking with be it business or government

Follow your purpose and stay consistent to it

Reba Dominski – Target

Anne Cunningham – Starbucks

Lori Billingsley – Coke

15 year vision

Get a mentor

-          Tell your story

-          Know what you offer

-          Know what you need

-          When asking have the plan and the time frame

Identify you gaps and look for options to build your skill set

Confidence is more important than competence

Look @ your track record

@askcunningham

Work someplace where your treasured

Save your treasure so when you want to retire you can

Be you – that’s where doors open and you are fulfilled

Assume positive intent

Seek to understand and educate

Daily affirmations

4970 – Captain Planet – An Environment for Effective Partnerships: Tales of Collaboration Told through Atlanta’s River and Green spaces (#NCVS4970)

Three different environmental groups presented with a representative from one of their primary corporate partners

Coke cola and Chattahoochee River keeper  - www.chattahoochee.org  

Earth share Georgia - http://earthsharega.org/

Kaiser Permanente and Captain Planet Foundation www.captainplanetfoundation.org

Corporate Volunteer Council of the year awards http://cvcofatlanta.org/

Captain planet – school environmental curriculum

Partnerships as an opportunity to network and learn

Communicate back with partners about how the work they are doing supports us

Partner volunteer leads to employee fulfillment

Dow jones sustainability index

5032 – Mini Session: Ways to engage targeted populations

Speakers: Kimberly Gube and Zeeda Magnuson

Summit – bring corporate partners & NGO’s leaders to explore tools that can enhance the work of the NGO – 6 hours, 6 sessions

Survey NGO’s for topics

Corporate partners offered consultation services

Get sponsorships for those presenting

$25 fee for non-profit to get list and prevent no shows

Zeeda Magnuson @ handson Twin Cities

Tables for org’s out front and to ask their contacts as attendees

Millennials are on track to be the most educated generation in history

Talk to your friends about us is a great way to mobilize millennials

One day events engage millennials – canvassing

4708 – Fostering a culture of service: strategies of U.S. and International Leaders (#NCVS4708)

Atlas Corps – Fellows http://www.atlascorps.org/

Meridian – Global service leaders http://www.meridian.org/gsl

Mexico volunteer culture is less defined; they have a very large informal sector. Needs greater policy support. Bachelor’s degrees require 120hrs of service

Nigeria has groups in each community called aid groups who have to pay to be in it and they care for the community. If you don’t belong to one of these groups you don’t get funereal rights when you die. Nationwide service is mandatory post university where you are placed in a different place in the country

Columbia is in the perfect position for service to develop. Service has traditional been seen as related to the catholic church but this is changing. Government is starting to adopt youth volunteering model

Pakistan has no general volunteer culture but lots of opportunities for those who want to do it. Only nation in the world with a chain of hospitals that treat cancer for free. http://www.indushospital.org.pk/

India has a culture of volunteering around religion. Service has become a major political capitol and has engaged youth. Volunteering has moved towards building capacity in the community. Recent legislation now requires all businesses to make a social responsibility contribution of 2% annually.

Spain – informal volunteering is common. NGO’s are seen as part of the system. Technology is key to service engagement.

Service as part of culture/ mandatory VS volunteering

Training programs needed as service culture develops.

Connecting potential with opportunities

Mobil footprint to generate change

Open streets map

Teach for Pakistan

Nigeria has para military who are paid pseudo volunteers to provide opportunities for you who in the past were causing issues.

Intuit is a big preparedness focused agency and are growing globally

CSR is a growing trend

Engage in smaller groups

Carl Trilphorn – peace corps

Ugly Indian – crowd sourced cleanup crews

Closing Plenary: Redefining our story

Beyond right and wrong a guide to changing the world around you

Skittles as the magic and power of diversity and us all in the package together

Income dose not determine outcome

National human tariffing hotline

Everyday Cambodia

State ratings on trafficking

Know the change.org

Reagan deep and mighty river that flows through our nation

When did you do your service?

2015 you serve fundraiser

Citibank 1million American corps commitment = service works

Disrupters.

General Resources Shared:

AllForGood.com

http://www.learnitlive.com/index.php

toolbank.org