WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA’S 2,700 NONPROFITS ARE KNOWN FOR BEING WELL PREPARED TO
ADDRESS THE CHALLENGES IN THEIR COMMUNITIES. NOW, THESE ORGANIZATIONS ARE JOINING
FORCES TO LEVERAGE THEIR NUMBERS AND EXPERTISE TO TAKE A LEADING ROLE IN
THE REGION’S DEVELOPMENT. BY CHRISTINE H. O’TOOLE PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANNIE O’NEILL
one
working as
T
he massive projection screen, the glowing laptop
displays, the handheld electronic voting pads
and the expectant buzz of a well-dressed crowd at
Pittsburgh’s David L. Lawrence Convention Center last
spring suggested a battle brewing: a proxy fight, or perhaps
a party endorsement.
In fact, the March 7 meeting debated neither
corporate nor political power. It convened a group that
is just beginning to step up to the regional leadership
plate. The 1,000 guests gathered around 100 color-coded
tables for a day to answer a single question: “What are
the next big steps the nonprofit sector can take?”
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“At the nonprofit summit, we
finally had the right people sitting
at the table. For a stronger voice
in regional planning, we all need The group at Table 79 waded into a rapid-fire exchange.
each other now more than ever.” Jumping professional boundaries, a historic preservationist,
a theater director, a radio producer, a consultant, a neigh-
Fred Just Executive Director, Society of St. Vincent de Paul
borhood activist, a conservationist and three human services
managers brainstormed ideas to benefit all of the region’s
2,700 local nonprofits.
“Avoid duplication of services with asset mapping,”
suggested Cynthia Bradley-Pugh, director of the Homewood-
Brushton YWCA.
“Measure the gross domestic product for our nonprofit
sector,” recommended radio producer Larry Berger.
“Change school and transit funding,” said Lee Haller, a
nonprofit consultant.
Within minutes, suggestions were fed into laptop computers
at each table, synthesized by a team of editors and presented to
the full room. The onscreen recommendations were ranked in
importance, using the electronic keypads. Winning strategies
advanced fiber-optically from priorities to collective strategies
to alignment with other sectors’ agendas and, finally, to specific
steps for action. Emerging as the favorite was one ambitious
idea: “Collaborate with business and government to get a place
at the table to impact public policy.”
With its gee-whiz town meeting technology, the conference
sponsored by Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania
Chris O’Toole is a Pittsburgh-based freelance writer. Her last story for h was about how the Endowments-supported Pittsburgh
Civic Design Coalition is getting tips from officials in Chattanooga, Tenn., on how to revive Pittsburgh’s downtown.
“As a membership organization,
the partnership will provide an
opportunity to advocate collectively
on big issues facing us like state
budgets and charity regulation.
demonstrated local nonprofits’ ambition to grab some of the
spotlight. Armed with strategic plans, Web sites, crack staffs It can also educate the community
and now, a rough agenda for a brand-new advocacy group,
broadly about the importance of
Pittsburgh-area agencies and funders are demanding credit for
the leadership and services they provide and for their influence charity in our lives, both giving
on the region’s future. and volunteering.”
The attention is overdue, says noted researcher Paul Light,
a New York University professor who has written extensively Gregg Behr President, Forbes Funds
about nonprofit management.
“Everywhere I go, I look for evidence that funders and
nonprofits are pulling together,” he says. “They’re doing it in
Pittsburgh. It’s the only major city I’ve been to where everyone
seems to be cooperating and addressing questions systemati-
cally. The sector here understands the issues it faces.”
Grant Oliphant, vice president of programs and planning
for The Heinz Endowments, attributes the region’s progress to
its strong history of public-private partnerships. “There is also
a tradition here of working at the intersections of organizations
and disciplines. That reflects a collaborative regional atmosphere.
Interesting things happen when we get together.”
The Greater Pittsburgh Nonprofit Partnership is the latest and
largest example for that collaboration. Established last summer
as an alliance of western Pennsylvania’s diverse nonprofits,
the partnership asks the various social service agencies, youth
organizations, arts groups, education associations and founda-
tions to develop and support a regional agenda for the sector.
The March 7 summit was the first step toward creating that
consensus. Skeptics might say that organizing thousands of
Courtesy of the Tribune-Review
Everyone at Table 70 is engrossed in the discussion during
the Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania’s 2006 Nonprofit
Summit in March. Group members representing different
nonprofits, businesses and government agencies shared
ideas that would be entered into a laptop computer and
later projected on a large screen in the David L. Lawrence
Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh.
25
nonprofits, already grouped into dozens of alliances and summit, we finally had the right people sitting at the table.
coalitions, might be similar to herding cats. In fact, says Gregg For a stronger voice in regional planning, we all need each
Behr, president of the Forbes Funds, which oversees the other now, more than ever.”
Partnership, the summit “nailed down obvious places to work Also encouraging those partnerships has been The Forbes
together as a community. It was an affirmation of 1,000 voices.” Funds, a 24-year-old institution founded to strengthen
Local nonprofits have already done some successful cat- nonprofits through research and technical assistance. The
lassoing. Arts groups have scored a win in collaborating on Endowments has supported Forbes with $4.65 million since
benefits and an agile marketing database (see h, Spring 2004). its inception in the Reagan era, when Forbes created a loan
Other nonprofits are learning that sharing resources makes guarantee fund for hard-pressed community agencies.
good business sense and reduces duplicated efforts. Since then, “The Forbes Funds has evolved to do something
Eighteen months ago, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul much more proactive, to help the foundation community and
on Pittsburgh’s North Side formed a coalition with eight other the agency community anticipate trends in the field,” says
nonprofit stores that also sell used clothes and household 33-year-old Behr, who will be leaving Forbes this fall to head
goods. Members of the group share information on the best the Grable Foundation in Pittsburgh.
resale prices per pound, marketing techniques and delivery Using small planning and management improvement
systems. Recently, they expanded the collaboration to include grants, Forbes has encouraged nonprofit efficiency. “Nonprofit
the used cars they receive. businesses are often starved for resources,” says Timothy Snyder
“We get $50,000 a year from car donations, and the of the Parental Stress Center. “Research, staff development,
other groups do, too,” explains Fred Just, St. Vincent de Paul’s public policy—these are things that people don’t pay you to do.”
executive director. “Meanwhile, a local volunteer group, And through a series of research reports on the demographics
Community Auto, is looking for cars to put back in the hands of the sector, Forbes has provided up-to-date data, instead of
of low-income workers. So now the alliance is working anecdotal information.
together to supply Community Auto with rehabbed vehicles.” For example, it has compared nonprofit CEOs’ credentials
Just also has partnered with six other organizations in a in western Pennsylvania with other similar regions. Locally,
first-ever attempt to strategize fund raising by sharing a more than 60 percent of nonprofit executives have worked in
marketing pitch to those best able to direct bequests: 500 local the sector for more than 15 years, compared to 46 percent
CPAs and estate planners. “Even if people don’t choose one of elsewhere. They direct larger-than-average staffs. They’re also
us, people will get to know us. We got the idea from a similar better educated: Seventy percent have master’s or doctoral
project in Wisconsin a few years back.” degrees, the highest proportion of any region surveyed.
Across town, three organizations that support homeless and Nonprofits spend $12 million annually on the region and hold
struggling women recognized that they spent too much time $23 billion in assets, though two out of five in Allegheny
wrestling with human resource issues. So Bethlehem Haven, County operated at a deficit in 2001.
the Center for Victims of Violent Crime and the Pennsylvania “With 2,700 organizations, we’ve got 11.1 nonprofits per
Organization for Women in Early Recovery decided to share 10,000 residents. That’s in the exact same range as Baltimore,
a human resources manager. Indianapolis, Cleveland or Philadelphia. And now, I have the
As a former Catholic Charities executive, Just has been a data to prove it to you,” says Behr, laughing.
longtime local champion of collaborative efforts. “In the past However, the emerging facts and figures also have informed
we’ve tried to organize leadership within human services his Rodney Dangerfield-style complaint: In an aging region
agencies or other areas, like the arts. The problem is, those with a slow-growing economy, nonprofits are serving more
groups are only a fraction of all nonprofits,” he says. “At the people than ever, but get no respect.
26
That lack of appreciation was evident last year when best practices in the country. This fall, partnership members
government officials gave voice to the vague public perception will launch a voter registration drive modeled on the Minnesota
of featherbedding nonprofits and called for the city’s non- Nonprofit Council’s sign-up campaign. The Forbes Funds’ DC
profits to pay property taxes during a severe budget crisis. Days in Washington have allowed local nonprofit leaders to
Through the Pittsburgh Public Service Fund, charities and learn from national and international experts.
foundations donated $12.1 million to city government last Also helping with the partnership’s development will be
December. But the public finger-pointing took Pittsburgh’s the annual nonprofit summits sponsored by Grantmakers of
nonprofit leadership by surprise. Western Pennsylvania, which offer a smorgasbord of professional
“It made us realize that some people, including some of our development workshops and networking opportunities. This
leaders, don’t really understand the value that nonprofits bring year a $20,000 grant from the Endowments allowed the summit
to the community,” says the Endowments’ Oliphant. “If you to include an electronic town meeting to begin debate on the
just view nonprofits as taking up real estate, you miss their true sectoral agenda.
value as providers of essential services that government would The idea grew from a presentation by Carolyn Lukensmeyer,
be hard-pressed to replace. founder of AmericaSpeaks. When she addressed Pittsburghers
“And Pittsburgh’s nonprofits are some of our best and in Washington last fall, she offered examples of how the large-
most valuable engines of creativity, innovation and growth in scale discussions facilitated by her firm advanced debate on
a region that sorely needs those things. Just try to imagine civic issues in Cleveland, New Orleans and other U.S. cities.
downtown without its cultural district, or our technology and Her audience immediately saw the implications for the nonprofit
health care sectors without our universities and medical community here.
research centers. The reason that nonprofits don’t pay taxes is “I believe in cross-sectoral accountability and collaboration,”
that they deliver value that is often intangible. So the attacks says Lukensmeyer. Her Washington-based firm has helped
leveled against the nonprofit community were a wake-up call. New Yorkers debate the redesign of the World Trade Center,
Our sector needs to raise its profile and make sure its value is hurricane victims strategize post-hurricane development in
acknowledged.” Louisiana, Britons improve health care and world leaders
Seeing that need, Heinz and other core donors, among prioritize World Economic Forum issues in Davos, Switzerland.
them the Pittsburgh, Grable and Jewish Healthcare foundations “We do see, in pretty much every project we work in, that tough
and the Post-Gazette Charitable Trust, have recently backed issues absolutely require participation of business, government,
the Greater Pittsburgh Nonprofit Partnership. Revenues for the the nonprofit sector and citizens themselves. Civic problems
first-year operating budget of $40,000 came from minimum like education can’t be solved only by government. We’ve got
dues of $100 per member, matched by Forbes, and some larger to do this in a cross-sector way.”
foundation grants. The group has garnered 252 members in AmericaSpeaks framed the March 7 discussion of common
its first year, with plans to triple membership by 2009. priorities. Agreement on the need for nonprofit cooperation
“As a membership organization, the partnership will and increased visibility for the sector came quickly, as did a
provide an opportunity to advocate collectively on big issues commitment to education and retaining young workers.
facing us all, like state budgets and charity regulation,” says “Based on the feedback I received, people were inspired to
Behr. “It can also educate the community broadly about the move to action,” says Judith Donaldson, executive director of
importance of charity in our lives, both giving and volunteering.” Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania. “We’re now moving
The Nonprofit Partnership is borrowing ideas from other forward to encourage nonprofit leaders to think about how
statewide advocacy groups and national associations to find the they can work together more effectively to take a leadership
role in the region’s next renaissance. In addition, we are
“Based on the feedback I received,
people were inspired to move to
action. We’re now moving forward
to encourage nonprofit leaders to
think about how they can work
beginning to work on a 2007 conference that will build on the
momentum of the 2006 summit.” together more effectively to take
Creating the strategies to meet those priorities and
a leadership role in the region’s
evaluating their implications, however, have proved daunting.
Grantmakers is still analyzing the database of suggestions next renaissance.”
from summit participants.
Judith E. Donaldson
Lukensmeyer acknowledges the difficulty of creating a group
Executive Director, Grantmakers of Western Pennsylvania
agenda in six hours. “Doing everything in one day is tough,”
she says. “The next step, analysis of the raw data, is as important
to collaboration as the issue area.”
Behr is determined to keep a sense of urgency on the
Nonprofit Partnership’s agenda. “I worry a lot about our social
service agencies, whose support from government continues to
dwindle,” he says. “They’re being forced to find different manage-
ment approaches or consider fees for services.” He worries, too,
about meeting the basic human needs of the community.
“Of the 120,000 people that the Greater Pittsburgh
Community Food Bank serves each month,” he reminded the
summit in a closing address, “approximately 40,000 are kids —
more than PNC Park could hold. Nearly 50,000 children under
the age of five live in low-income families.
“No longer can we look to such larger-than-life characters
as [Mayor David] Lawrence or [Richard K.] Mellon to lead us
forward…And the status quo has yielded blah, blah and more
blah. Instead, we must look next door, across the pew and
down the hallway.” h