Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Monthly Giving Makes a Difference
Senior Citizen Services, like many nonprofits, are feeling the effects of a down economy. Donations are not coming in as frequently as they did in years past. Corporations are cutting back on sponsorships at events. However, SCS is not cutting back on our services.
As you can imagine, requests for our services are growing every day. We currently have a waitlist of nearly 60 people for our Meals On Wheels Atlanta program. Did you know that a $12 recurring monthly donation for a year provides one month of meals for a senior?
Please consider signing up for monthly giving on our website http://www.scsatl.org/donate_to_the_mission.htm.
Find 11 friends to join you in monthly giving at $12 per month and you’ve provided and year’s worth of meals for a senior. Thanks so much.
As you can imagine, requests for our services are growing every day. We currently have a waitlist of nearly 60 people for our Meals On Wheels Atlanta program. Did you know that a $12 recurring monthly donation for a year provides one month of meals for a senior?
Please consider signing up for monthly giving on our website http://www.scsatl.org/donate_to_the_mission.htm.
Find 11 friends to join you in monthly giving at $12 per month and you’ve provided and year’s worth of meals for a senior. Thanks so much.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Great Moments
Great moments are born from great opportunity. That truism has been paraphrased throughout the ages by heads of state, military leaders, industrial visionaries, scientists, inventors, explorers, athletes, coaches, and their observing journalists. Greatness in this sense implies victory by overcoming adversity or simply persevering at just the right time, at the right place. The phrase is an expression of the best we can be.
But great moments are also to be found in seemingly small but no less important moments. Our many volunteers take action every day while serving our senior citizens, their payment being a smile and a kind word of thanks. Our kitchen staff meticulously prepares nutritious meals, following a process that is above standard, yet fulfilled out of pride of accomplishment. And once nourished, our senior clients extend the courtesy to those around them, seizing opportunities to make a difference in the community that they helped to shape.
Greatness lies in the ability to make a positive difference in another life – whether one or many. What opportunities can you turn into great moments for you and others?
By
Brad Catherman
Vice President, Gift PlanningSenior Citizen Services
But great moments are also to be found in seemingly small but no less important moments. Our many volunteers take action every day while serving our senior citizens, their payment being a smile and a kind word of thanks. Our kitchen staff meticulously prepares nutritious meals, following a process that is above standard, yet fulfilled out of pride of accomplishment. And once nourished, our senior clients extend the courtesy to those around them, seizing opportunities to make a difference in the community that they helped to shape.
Greatness lies in the ability to make a positive difference in another life – whether one or many. What opportunities can you turn into great moments for you and others?
By
Brad Catherman
Vice President, Gift PlanningSenior Citizen Services
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Effective Nonprofit Strategies
This year, Senior Citizen Services was selected to present at the combined conferences of the National Council on Aging and the American Society on Aging. While we were one of more than one hundred presentations over the five day conference for more than 3,500 attendees, one of the highlights for me was a session entitled “Declining Resources: Nonprofits Zero In on Scope and Impact.” James Firman, President and CEO of National Council on Aging focused on five key strategies for aging-related nonprofits during the challenging economy. I would like to share his strategies here:
1. Believe in abundance, not scarcity: wealth = resources x technologyN
Nonprofits need to focus on diverse sources of income, including consumer disposable income, consumer assets, planned giving, Medicare and Medicaid, corporate giving, private foundations, other organizations (eg: collaboration), and older adults (eg: retiree leadership teams).
2. Know your hedgehog concept and live it!
This is based on Jim Collins’ Good To Great, where top performing companies knew what they were best at and focused completely on that core service or product. It is the intersection of what we are deeply passionate about, what drives our resource engine, and what we’re good at.
3. Get out of the business of providing programs and services and get into the business of producing and selling outcomes.
4. To raise funds, focus on the time of stakeholders and the brand—and the money should follow
5. Make surgical cuts, not across-the-board cuts. Stop the underperforming part of the organization, don’t slow everything down. Peter Drucker said that the largest mistake that nonprofit organizations make is their failure to abandon underperforming aspects of their mission.
In addition to James Firman’s key strategies, Serita Cox, Manager of Bridgespan, presented eight insights from experienced nonprofit leaders during the economic downturn:
1. Act quickly, not reactively; plan for contingencies
2. Protect your core competencies
3. Identify key people and keep them strong
4. Stay close to key funders
5. Shape up your organization—fitness time for nonprofits!
6. Involve your board again and again
7. Communicate openly and often
8. Know your cash flow—if you have to dip into reserves, try to restore them quickly
I figured for this month’s blog, these words of wisdom speak for themselves. We will learn from these experts, celebrate where we have already moved in their suggested directions, and push in the areas where needed.
by Jeffrey M. Smythe, Executive Director
1. Believe in abundance, not scarcity: wealth = resources x technologyN
Nonprofits need to focus on diverse sources of income, including consumer disposable income, consumer assets, planned giving, Medicare and Medicaid, corporate giving, private foundations, other organizations (eg: collaboration), and older adults (eg: retiree leadership teams).
2. Know your hedgehog concept and live it!
This is based on Jim Collins’ Good To Great, where top performing companies knew what they were best at and focused completely on that core service or product. It is the intersection of what we are deeply passionate about, what drives our resource engine, and what we’re good at.
3. Get out of the business of providing programs and services and get into the business of producing and selling outcomes.
4. To raise funds, focus on the time of stakeholders and the brand—and the money should follow
5. Make surgical cuts, not across-the-board cuts. Stop the underperforming part of the organization, don’t slow everything down. Peter Drucker said that the largest mistake that nonprofit organizations make is their failure to abandon underperforming aspects of their mission.
In addition to James Firman’s key strategies, Serita Cox, Manager of Bridgespan, presented eight insights from experienced nonprofit leaders during the economic downturn:
1. Act quickly, not reactively; plan for contingencies
2. Protect your core competencies
3. Identify key people and keep them strong
4. Stay close to key funders
5. Shape up your organization—fitness time for nonprofits!
6. Involve your board again and again
7. Communicate openly and often
8. Know your cash flow—if you have to dip into reserves, try to restore them quickly
I figured for this month’s blog, these words of wisdom speak for themselves. We will learn from these experts, celebrate where we have already moved in their suggested directions, and push in the areas where needed.
by Jeffrey M. Smythe, Executive Director
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
SWEEP! Day at SCS
Saturday, April 25th will be a special day for many senior homeowners in Atlanta. You can get involved with SCS’ annual SWEEP! 2009 event and help to ensure the impact is strong. This event targets up to 10 seniors’ homes by having over 200 volunteers provide services such as painting (interior and exterior), yard clean-up and debris removal, gutter cleaning, and a whole host of other “maintenance” tasks that seniors have difficulty performing.
This is an excellent way to get your corporate group, church group, or any other group you may be involved with to help support those who have difficulty performing home maintenance. We, the “young’ens”, often don’t think twice about getting out in our yard and raking up the leaves or pine needles. But if you are in your 80s with a bad hip, this task is daunting. Through SWEEP! 2009, you can help not only improve the look of a seniors home but make an even bigger impact in the community.
You can be part of the solution – register for SWEEP! 2009 with your group or come as an individual… all hands are welcomed. You will enjoy a light breakfast prior to the work commencing and lunch in the park afterward. SCS staff and clients appreciate all who make this event happen – thank you.
by Patrick O’Kane
Director of Operations
This is an excellent way to get your corporate group, church group, or any other group you may be involved with to help support those who have difficulty performing home maintenance. We, the “young’ens”, often don’t think twice about getting out in our yard and raking up the leaves or pine needles. But if you are in your 80s with a bad hip, this task is daunting. Through SWEEP! 2009, you can help not only improve the look of a seniors home but make an even bigger impact in the community.
You can be part of the solution – register for SWEEP! 2009 with your group or come as an individual… all hands are welcomed. You will enjoy a light breakfast prior to the work commencing and lunch in the park afterward. SCS staff and clients appreciate all who make this event happen – thank you.
by Patrick O’Kane
Director of Operations
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Running for Seniors
We are starting a new, spring event this year to raise funds for Senior Citizen Services. The geneRACEtion 5K Run/Walk will be held on Saturday morning, May 16, in Grant Park. May is Older Americans Month and the 5K is great way to get friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers, out for a morning of light exercise.
We are co-hosting this event with Rainbows Georgia. Rainbows provides free grief counseling and support to children who have experienced a death or divorce in their family. This is a way to get to generations interacting with each other.
Planning any event takes lots of time and dedication from many people. We have a planning committee that conducts weekly conference calls to keep everyone on track and to check the progress of assigned tasks. We must get a special permit from the City of Atlanta to hold an event in a park. We must arrange for all kinds of little details such as a registration web page, brochures, drinks at the event, signage, security, port-a-potties, volunteers, publicity, post cards to promote our race, race timer, sponsors for the event – the list goes on and on.
We hope that many people will come out on race day to support the geneRACEtion 5K Run/Walk. For more information, go to http://www.generacetion.org/ and sign up to run, walk, and raise money for two deserving charities.
by Steve Hargrove
Director of Events and Marketing
We are co-hosting this event with Rainbows Georgia. Rainbows provides free grief counseling and support to children who have experienced a death or divorce in their family. This is a way to get to generations interacting with each other.
Planning any event takes lots of time and dedication from many people. We have a planning committee that conducts weekly conference calls to keep everyone on track and to check the progress of assigned tasks. We must get a special permit from the City of Atlanta to hold an event in a park. We must arrange for all kinds of little details such as a registration web page, brochures, drinks at the event, signage, security, port-a-potties, volunteers, publicity, post cards to promote our race, race timer, sponsors for the event – the list goes on and on.
We hope that many people will come out on race day to support the geneRACEtion 5K Run/Walk. For more information, go to http://www.generacetion.org/ and sign up to run, walk, and raise money for two deserving charities.
by Steve Hargrove
Director of Events and Marketing
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
New Year's Resolutions . . . One Day at a Time
As legend has it, Groundhog Day every February 2nd signals either the end or start of more wintry weather. As rumor has it, this day also signals the time when most of us have neglected or forgotten our New Year’s resolutions! One eighty-year old Meals On Wheels senior citizen of ours, Alice, has a better notion.
Alice informed me that she makes Daily Resolutions rather than annual ones. She relishes even little victories, and keeping a promise to one’s self is easier if the span is but 24 hours. However, she also likes to celebrate her small victories, which helps propel her to keep her promise to herself yet another day. A year of resolutions, one day at a time.
Alice reminds all of us that if goals and promises can be planned and met on a daily basis, then a lifetime of resolutions are ours for the taking. What goal is facing you in 2009 that appears to be too big? Take Alice’s advice and take the small steps necessary to achieve the mark before next Groundhog Day!
By
Brad Catherman
Vice President, Gift Planning
Alice informed me that she makes Daily Resolutions rather than annual ones. She relishes even little victories, and keeping a promise to one’s self is easier if the span is but 24 hours. However, she also likes to celebrate her small victories, which helps propel her to keep her promise to herself yet another day. A year of resolutions, one day at a time.
Alice reminds all of us that if goals and promises can be planned and met on a daily basis, then a lifetime of resolutions are ours for the taking. What goal is facing you in 2009 that appears to be too big? Take Alice’s advice and take the small steps necessary to achieve the mark before next Groundhog Day!
By
Brad Catherman
Vice President, Gift Planning
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