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human services: progress reports

Birthday Wishes (Cat’06 - [link]), listed just last year, had good results and is a clear example of the Catalogue as a multiplier of dollars and facilitator of connections.
“When putting together our budget last June, we reached high—more than doubling the current budget…. Within two months after appearing in the Catalogue, we had raised our projected revenue…. In addition to a great response from individuals, we received five unsolicited grants from small family foundations and donor advised funds who either definitely, or most likely, learned of us through the Catalogue. Catalogue-related donations alone were double that of our annual appeal, which occurred about the same time as our listing. But perhaps more importantly, being in the Catalogue has really opened doors for us in terms of networking, forming partnerships and collaborations, and giving us credibility in the philanthropic…community. One Catalogue donation, from a foundation, resulted in further contact between our two organizations, an additional grant, and an opportunity to meet potential donors, one of whom recently joined our Board of Directors. …Finally, because of our Catalogue listing, we were chosen to appear in the YouthGive Guide to Giving, [which] has resulted in a huge new base of volunteers—mainly families…. Because we rely so heavily on volunteers to carry out our programs, this has been of immeasurable value. We are very proud of being selected to appear in the Catalogue. The impact will resonate for a long time, and we will continue to include this honor in all information we send to potential donors and volunteers.”

Children’s Charter (Cat’06 - [link]) had this to report: “Being listed in the Catalogue last year helped us in several ways. Most importantly for an agency that has been working in Waltham for over twenty years without any media coverage, the listing gave us visibility. We submitted an article with the other Waltham Catalogue agencies, and a long-time local resident who saw it was so taken by our work, that she not only encouraged many people to donate, but also came and met face to face with our director. After we sent out postcards with your beautiful artwork, a donor wrote back to say that he had given money to us in lieu of holiday gifts to his office staff. He shared the postcard with them and told them about his decision and informed us that several employees were so touched that they cried. We were also selected by Crossroads Community Foundation, who found us in the Catalogue, to apply for a $1,000 grant through a private donor. We received the grant and had the opportunity for Crossroads staff to come to our agency and hear about our work first hand”!

The Cape and Islands Gay and Straight Youth Alliance (CIGSYA, Cat’01 - [link]) does not have an easy road to success. Founded in 1996 to help youth struggling with identity issues in a generally unfriendly, sometimes hostile, environment, CIGSYA has worked hard and done well, addressing key risk factors such as the self hate, isolation and fear which often lead to suicide attempts, drug and alcohol abuse and other self-destructive behavior. Their building is a supportive, active center for youth activities, with a new Cyber Center equipped with ten computers. They have hosted an annual Cape Cod Regional Safer School LGBT Youth Leadership Conference, and have helped Gay Straight Alliances in 18 regional schools. “CIGSYA staff feel strongly that recognition of CIGSYA as a reputable and iconic organization was substantiated by inclusion in the Catalogue. They also gained from the Catalogue an important major donor who consistently gave $500 for a period of years until relocating out of the country to study.”

Teen Empowerment (Cat’98 - [link]) was founded in 1992 to prevent teen violence in Boston’s South End/Lower Roxbury neighborhood, by hiring teen leaders as youth organizers. Their first Youth Conference in 1993 brought together five rival gangs to write a peace treaty. Since their listing they have really taken-off as an institution—staff more than doubled (to 26), budget now nearly $2 million, with a strong, stable, and growing presence on the scene—now in three Boston schools, Dorchester and Somerville as well as SELR. They have resolved “hundreds” of conflicts, actually lowered teen suicides, homicides, and violence and re-engaged youth in significant and meaningful ways in the civic life of their communities. Every year they involve over 6,000 youth, residents, teachers, and police officers in their programs. Their 14th annual Peace Conference brought together 1,100 youth and adults to discuss issues such as educational equity, teen pregnancy, teen violence and foreign affairs. Almost all TE Youth Organizers graduate from high school (cf. 77% of their peers); 100% of last year’s graduating YOs will attend college. Their listing in the Catalogue gained four donors who have become loyal contributors for ten years—including one who “sends us $25 every month.”

The Hyde Square Task Force (Cat’03 – [link]) was established in the late ’80s to take back the streets from drugs and violence through youth programs in the arts—especially mural arts and dance. It was incorporated in 1991, with a mission to make Hyde/Jackson Square a clean, safe, friendly neighborhood. Today it has grown into a mature organization with a professional staff and institutionalized operations, school programs, training youth to be “changemakers in their community.” In four years since their Catalogue listing, their staff has increased by one-third, and their budget is up 38% to $1.5 million. They are growing rapidly, and they cherish and use well every dollar they receive. “We attribute our overall fundraising success over the past four years as a direct result of our listing in the Catalogue. Many of our foundation and corporate donations come as a result of trustees and program officers who are informed about us through the Catalogue. We have also seen an increase in both the size and number of individual donations, which we have received via [the Catalogue]. We are thrilled by the number of volunteers who have come to us through learning about us in the Catalogue….” Now HSTF has moved into a new 30,000 sq.ft. “youth and family” facility, so they will continue to grow and flourish—with your help, of course.

The South End/Lower Roxbury Youth Workers’ Alliance (Cat’03 - [link] org) was formed in 1996 to provide a single forum and platform for those who work with youth in that community. It is a vital organization—their monthly meetings attract over 30 youth workers. Since their listing they have helped organize a new city-wide organization, United Youth and Youth Workers of Boston, which advocates for increased funding in the city and state budgets for youth issues. In response to the increase in violence this year, Mayor Menino reached out to YWA for a special coordinated effort in the summer. The remarkable spirit of this group is best conveyed in its own words: “We continue to have just one paid staff-person, with two VISTA volunteers. Our strength is in our voluntary members— as long as we are serving their needs, they will continue to step up and make our projects effective. We are not interested in creating a huge staff-driven organization; we are committed to our grassroots model. While we do hope to grow our budget slightly, we are committed to staying small. (We do hope to see sister networks in other neighborhoods, each with 1 or 2 staff.)… We use the beautiful image and writeup from the Catalogue in our fundraising.” How about giving them a hand, Catalogue donors?

The Massachusetts Alliance on Teen Pregnancy (Cat’97 - [link]) is primarily a highly successful public policy and advocacy organization, working to increase support for pregnant and parenting teens. It was founded in 1979, when this issue was a crisis situation; today, largely owing to this organization, the crisis has been reduced to a managed, though serious, situation. About 700 professionals in the field have sought and received Alliance training; 57,000 pregnant or parenting teens and professionals working with them come to the Alliance website every year, for researched information. The Legislature follows their leadership on funding and priorities in this field, and they are one of the top state programs in the nation being funded by federal agencies, regularly winning national awards for successful programs. Results? The teen-birth rate in Massachusetts has declined at a greater rate than the national rate. In Massachusetts, 2.2% of teen girls have children, while nationally 4.1% do. That’s 6,707 less births than the national average, which yields an additional tax savings of $40.2 million. The Alliance says of their listing: “The Catalogue for Philanthropy significantly lifted our profile…. The Alliance gained further credibility not only with our donors but with other constituencies as well—legislators and executives at teen serving organizations took note and listened more carefully to our messages. Our institutional members increased 100% and events were even better attended than before.” Let’s help them again.

Womanshelter/Compañeras (Cat’03, PR’06 - [link]) in Holyoke, with an average donation size of $35, was surprised to receive a $1,000 check “all the way from Waltham.” A follow-up call revealed that the donor had read about them in the Catalogue, and that donor has continued to donate each year in increasing amounts. “We have another Catalogue donor who gives us $500 every year.” Since their listing, they have renovated their emergency shelter, adding two more bedrooms (from 24 to 31 beds) and improving accessibility. They were also designated by the MA Dept. of Public Health as a regional resource for battered immigrants and refugees, coordinating the region’s only domestic violence interpreter program and employing a Russian-speaking counselor/advocate. They have won federal contracts to provide support groups for incarcerated women, sexual assault training to college campus staff, and services and outreach to victims in rural communities like Ware. Perhaps most important, they have achieved a high level of cultural competency through programming and diversification of the staff, which is now 35% Latina.

RESPOND (Cat’01, PR’06 - [link]), in October launched a $2.5 million dollar capital campaign to double their sheltering capacity, make their shelter accessible, and create a $500,000 operating reserve for contingencies created as DSS’s shift in funding priorities is felt throughout the state. “The Catalogue for Philanthropy has provided RESPOND with wonderful exposure to the Greater Boston community. Several individual donors approached us after reading the Catalogue and told us how it inspired them to give; they have remained loyal supporters every year since. Local businesses also called in response to reading about RESPOND’s work in the Catalogue, impressed by both the scope of our services and the compelling way agencies are presented in the Catalogue. RESPOND has also used, with some success, the Catalogue’s promotion of Giving Massachusetts Day as a means to reach out to donors.”

The Victim Rights Law Center (Cat’06 - [link]) is soaring. This is a “Massachusetts Original,” conceived by Susan Vickers while a student at the Harvard Law School, volunteering with the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (Cat’04). Susan founded VRLC in 2000 to open a new niche in legal philanthropy: asserting rape victims’ civil rights, as an essential part of limiting their pain and suffering. The originality and power of this idea immediately caught national attention—the U.S. Department of Justice awarded them a grant to expand their services from the Boston area to the entire Commonwealth. We reported that they had already trained and assisted over 240 federally-funded organizations nationwide, convened five national conferences, and published legal manuals to assist other states. We said, “VRLC will spend the next five years building the network nationwide, and you can help.” In four months, six Catalogue donors responded with initial gifts totaling $2,200, and “we found this reputable ‘seal of approval’ to be a wonderful tool in leveraging additional funds—resulting in two grant increases so far in FY’07.” This year VRLC served 540 clients in Massachusetts—a 70% increase over FY’06. They did this by securing over $600,000 in pro bono legal services—that’s philanthropy—from cooperating law firms. Nationally, in 2008 VRLC will host a series of conferences and teleconferences to mobilize, recruit and train attorneys and local advocates nationwide to provide for the civil legal needs of sexual assault victims. National awards are flowing.

REACH Beyond Domestic Violence (Cat’06 - [link]) was “thrilled to receive a $1,000 gift from a new donor last fall who learned about us through the Catalogue… Several people close to our organization also used the Catalogue listing to make personal holiday appeals, which resulted in several new gifts. We feel being listed in the Catalogue contributed substantially to the momentum of our capital campaign, and helped provide an extra nudge to major donors who were considering lead gifts. Thank you so much for making all of this possible!”

Elizabeth Stone House (Cat’99, PR’06 - [link]) is one of the Commonwealth’s leading charities serving women in crisis. Founded in 1974, they have three residential programs: one focusing on mental health and housing issues, one for battered women, and one for women in transition from short-term shelter to independent living. They told us, “ESH experienced a marked upswing in financial contributions following our original listing in the Catalogue, and again last year, following our “Progress Report”. Of particular note was the increase in large ($1,000 or more) donations and grants by private foundations and individuals, as well as by donors who specifically cited the Catalogue as having spurred their donation. ESH thanks the Catalogue for Philanthropy for making philanthropy accessible and understandable to individual donors, community foundations and private and corporate foundations.… The Elizabeth Stone House, other community nonprofits, and the under-privileged and under-served, have benefited as a result of the Catalogue’s commitment to improving the accessibility of philanthropy.”

Women of Means (Cat’03 - [link]) received gifts from first-time donors as a result of their listing; several indicated that they had known of the organization but only gave once they saw them in the Catalogue. “The ‘legitimizing effect’ of listing cannot be overstated! Proof-positive for us has been a shift from a donor base in one location, Wellesley, where the founder and administrative offices are; today Wellesley donors account for only 20% of our contributors. The Catalogue also offered a remarkable and unique marketing tool for an organization that at the time had a cash budget of $230,000. Four years later our budget has quadrupled, our services have expanded, we are involved in a replication pilot project, and are considering opening several new locations.”

Dress for Success (Cat’03 - [link]) helps prepare women for the workplace by providing appropriate business attire and training them for job interviews and the first crucial weeks on the job, then following through with monthly workshops for networking and practical assistance. The women are referred by job training charities in the Greater Boston area. Since their listing, they have dressed close to 2000 more women, their budget has quadrupled, and they have added an Executive Director and an Operations Manager to their staff. Their founders have received several awards. They received several anonymous Catalogue donations totaling $3,000, and a number of volunteers.

Silent Spring Institute (Cat’02 - [link]) was founded in 1994 by leaders of the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition, in response to patterns of nationally high incidence in our state and particularly on Cape Cod. SSI is a national award-winning, multidisciplinary, scientific research organization bringing together scientists, physicians, health advocates, and community activists, focusing on links between environmental pollutants and women’s health. SSI is particularly interested in 150 pollutants, principally endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) that may affect breast and other hormonal cancers (e.g. prostate, testicular, ovarian, endometrial), fertility, and child development. These come from many sources, including pesticides, detergents, plastics, cosmetics, air and water. Their Cape Cod Breast Cancer and Environment Study (1994-present), and their Household Exposure Study (2003) are nationally recognized as pioneering and highly influential. In the state fiscal crisis of 2002 they lost $1million in funding—their budget then was $1.5 million! So, philanthropy (and federal grants) to the rescue! “In 2002, SSI was eight years old and not yet known in circles outside the breast cancer activist community. Inclusion in the 2002 Catalogue was an important step forward for us—not only because it generated a number of new donations, but also because it provided important new visibility and validation.” Through sheer toil, determination, and philanthropic donors, they survived and thrived. They successfully transitioned their fundraising efforts, secured federal grants, foundation and private donor support. This past spring a special supplemental issue of CANCER, published by the American Cancer Society, published another groundbreaking study of environmental factors and breast cancer. Information about their studies may be found on their website. The work goes on, so Catalogue donors, this means you.

In writing about the Assisted Living Center (Cat’99 [link]) we mentioned their need for in-kind donations. Catalogue donors responded with a large screen projection television, which they used to leverage donations from local citizens to purchase a matching TV for the second floor. “Since that initial year, we have used that original narrative of our organization in the Catalogue as an attachment with our grant applications, to help potential grantors verify the legitimacy of our organization and our need. …It has helped us secure grants from local foundations, such as the Harpley Foundation, which has provided us with over $100,000 in funding, with an average of $15,000 each year.”

The MultiService Center (CatWeb’06 - [link]) based in Leominster, founded in 1974 by a locally prominent physician, provides preventive health care programs to thousands of low-income children and adults. They reached over 35,000 clients in 23 towns in Worcester County, with a budget below $250,000. We listed them on our website, and attracted a new donor with a gift of $980. “The exposure our agency received by being part of the Catalogue has been incredible for us and something that we greatly appreciate. We have been more widely recognized by community members and have established relationships with new donors that didn’t know about us before. Because we have such a small budget we don’t have the resources for large marketing efforts and having the chance to showcase all that we do has greatly impacted both charitable giving and staff morale. It is nice to be recognized for making such a difference in our communities. The greatest benefit…has been the support from a local donor who has recently offered our agency a multi-year challenge grant to establish a development program so we can maintain and expand donor relationships and create a sustainability plan for our agency.”