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Help for Homeless Veterans

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Last Friday, I visited a Philadelphia homeless shelter for veterans. In the back of my car was a sizable donation from a local business; an in-kind donation of cotton towels.

Over lunch two weeks ago, a Navy veteran introduced me to this nonprofit. We were actually meeting to discuss how we could collaborate on our common mission of encouraging women to enter STEM (Science Technology Engineering Math) educational and career paths. When I first heard of this homeless vets organization, I was happy to hear about a service nonprofit benefiting veterans. Then the gravity of their mission sunk in, the way it does for everyone I tell this story to. Wow! There are homeless veterans?

Helping Homeless Vets nonprofits

According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in 2013, there were almost 58,000 veterans without a permanent residence on any given night (1). Homeless vets compose about 12% of the adult homeless population in the United States. Sixty percent of these vets are in emergency shelters, transitional housing programs, or safe havens run by various organizations. The other 40% are unsheltered, living on the streets. The statistics have shown a significant improvement. Since 2009, the number of unsheltered vets decreased 30 percent. Overall, veteran homelessness decreased by 24 percent.

On the drive to pick up the donation that morning, I had heard a report on public radio claiming that socks were the number one thing requested by shelters on behalf of their residents. The director came out into the street to meet me as I was leaving, giving me the opportunity to ask him how I could help him more. The thing they needed the most was soap, personal care items and cleaning supplies. I was expecting a hospital or dorm like facility as a homeless shelter, but instead they had a big, antique house. The staff and residents were so grateful to get a donation. Everyone came out to shake my hand and thank me. My curb-side view, left me wondering how they managed to squeeze 43 beds inside.

Homelessness is a new area for me. My charitable work typically involves education, STEM education, critically ill children and sports organizations. Two days later, I found myself sitting at an outdoor sporting event with thousands of participants and spectators. Who do I manage to meet but a woman who works for the very organization that led me to donate I to the homeless shelter. Fate has somehow delivered me to become involved.

I will attend the USO gala in a few weeks. In the meantime, I have some feelers out to those who can help make this soap fundraiser happen.

Citation:
hakrabarti, Amit. The 2013 Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) to Congress. N.p.: n.p., n.d. The 2013 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress: Part 1. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Web. 06 Oct. 2014. .

Does Your Nonprofit Suffer from Founder’s Syndrome?

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Founder’s syndrome is when the founding member(s) of a for-profit or nonprofit organization maintain authoritarian power and control within the organization. Also called, founderitis, the controlling member does not feel the need to collaborate on executive decisions or any decision for that matter.

Board members in a founderitis afflicted organization have no real decision-making ability or independence. They often find that if they are consulted on a decision, the founder overrules their choices.

Does Your Nonprofit Suffer From Founders Syndrome-440px

Meetings are held to assign tasks or to get status updates. Board members may also be underqualified because they were chosen for loyalty to the founder and friendship rather than expertise.

Founder’s syndrome leads to issues within a nonprofit. Directors find that they cannot contribute in an effective manner. This may lead to them resigning due to a lack of professional development or dissatisfaction.

Five Signs Your Nonprofit Suffers from Founder’s Syndrome

  • The Founder does not consult the board members during the decision making process. In fact, there is no process.
  • If the founder does seek advice, it never changes his decision
  • Differences in opinion are disregarded, seen as hostile or undermined
  • The Founder operates outside her area of expertise even when there is an executive team member with relevant skills and experience
  • There is no succession plan

A board needed to file paperwork with the Internal Revenue Service. Even though there were two directors who were accountants, a director who had previously filed this paperwork for another organization, and a fourth board member who was an actual lawyer, the founder decided they needed to hire a an outside law firm.

After checking costs and presenting the names of familiar, local lawyers, the founder chose someone else. In addition to contracting with a lawyer on his own, he wrote a check to prepay all government and legal fees.

After six months of excuses and unreturned phone call to this lawyer, a director completed the paperwork with one of the accountants, and filed it herself. Turns out the founder had hired a random attorney he found in the phone book!

Founders can turn into the nonprofit’s worst enemy when they refuse to believe the organization needs delegation, diversity or additional skills. They fail to allow the organization to prosper and thrive independently. Without meaningful strategic development the nonprofit stagnates or worse yet, fails.

Using social media to find and retain volunteers

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Using social media to find and retain volunteers

Social media is a great way to reach out to donors, vendors, and the those in need. It’s also a great way to find and retain volunteers which are a critical part of any charitable organization.

Using-Social-Media-for-volunteers

Determine your voice. Are you cerebral? Fun loving. Worldwide? Now who is your audience? What’s the age range of a typical volunteer? Are you a youth oriented organization of are you dealing with the elderly?

Be real. Post photos of current volunteers in action, events and other activities will attract the type of person you need to help run your organization. You may run across someone who cannot commit time but maybe they can make a cash or in-kind donation. Maybe that person will be a volunteer in the future.

Start the conversation and keep it going. Facebook is fun place to post photos where everyone can leave comments! Let everyone know how dedicated your volunteers are! Maybe everyone can follow each other on Twitter to send group tweets during busy events or keep in touch when someone is traveling. Be sure to retweet and share the content of others, including your volunteers and other causes as well.

Pinterest is a wonderful way to showcase your nonprofit’s work. You can also highlight your volunteers in action through a pinboard sorted by date, project or person. Pinterest also can be used to encourage fundraising and management. Vine and Instagram are also wonderful ways to put your volunteers good work on display!

Once you get the conversation going you will see that your current volunteers, when loved and appreciated, will naturally attract new volunteers!