Media Monitoring tracks Agenda issues

United Way for Southeastern Michigan continues to build our investment, policy, fundraising and business models around the Agenda for Change, our plan to create lasting change across the region. The Agenda focuses on educational preparedness, financial stability and basic needs, and to keep people informed about what's going on in these three issue areas we have developed Media Monitoring.

Media Monitoring is a series of three weekly e-mails that provides subscribers the latest news from local, state and national media related to our Agenda work. We invite you to subscribe to one or more of the three editions of Media Monitoring using the links below. The links also allow you to view this week's editions of Media Monitoring.

• Educational Preparedness edition (Click here to subscribe)
• Financial Stability edition (Click here to subscribe)
• Basic Needs edition (Click here to subscribe)

As always, you may opt-out at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link at the top of each e-mail.

For additional information about Media Monitoring, please contact Brad Frost at Brad.Frost@uwsem.org, or 313.226.9284.

Living Mission

Mobilizing the caring power…
Throughout February, more than 150 volunteer community leaders from across Southeastern Michigan, with varying areas of expertise and diverse backgrounds, are helping United Way to make thoughtful decisions as to where to place resources in the areas of educational preparedness, financial stability and basic needs.

What an honor it is to work directly with these individuals and to witness the extent of their knowledge, their command of our complex process and funding criteria and guidelines, passion for our community and commitment to creating positive change.

Improving communities and individual lives…
Did you know that UWSEM serves more than 125 communities within Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties and the City of Detroit? Although each area of our region may be unique, most of challenges we face are not.

As the Senior Director of Operations in our Community Investment and Partnerships (CIP) Department, I am fortunate to be part of a team that actively works to engage these local communities. We strive to learn about their unique assets, challenges and opportunities. Then, with the help of local volunteers, we convene stakeholders to build collaboration and to leverage UWSEM assets and resources. All of this with one goal in mind: to make progress on what these communities care about most.

Choose work you love and you will never have to work a day in your life.

~ Confucius

Volunteer Spotlight: Helping further the Agenda

Leadership Next member Chris Uhl, a commercial banker at Comerica, is lending his time and talent to United Way for Southeastern as a volunteer on an important process for the organization.

As United Way moves forward its Agenda for Change for the region, requests for proposals from area organizations interested in partnering in the future are currently being reviewed. It is a painstaking process involving a core group of key volunteers -- who make a considerable commitment -- providing subject matter expertise in support of United Way staff. Uhl has stepped up and says he is excited to participate.

Click here to continue reading.

United Way's better way

Source: Crain's Detroit Business
Published: 3:01 am, August 20, 2007

The exhaustive effort to overhaul the way United Way for Southeastern Michigan approaches solving social problems in the region is starting to take shape.

Now that United Way has identified the three major regional issues it wants to focus on, it's opening up its funding model to allow new agencies to apply for funds for the first time in 10 years. (See story, Page 1.)

United Way now will focus on three primary goals: helping children be prepared and successful in school, making families and adults financially stable and meeting basic human needs.

And it plans to create a “scorecard” to see how its funding has met any of those three goals.

Change is difficult, and there may be grumbling in the nonprofit sector about the course United Way is taking. It is a big change. But as any business leader knows, you can improve what you can measure.

This new model is a good start.

United Way to Realign Criterion for Agency Funding, Opens Process to New Partners

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Cara I. Belton, 313-226-9484 or 313-520-8454
Laura L. Rodwan, 313-226-9484 or 313-477-2750

New Funding Process Allows Agencies to Better Impact Communities, Services

DETROIT – For the first time in ten years, the United Way for Southeastern Michigan will invite new agencies and organizations to participate in an open bid for funding. The newly established funding process for 2008-2011 agency applications will allow unaffiliated organizations the opportunity to become United Way partners. This is part of United Ways' overall effort to direct community resources in areas of the greatest need.

The new multi-year funding process will focus on programs, services, strategies and collaborations that will address short and long-term goals in three specific areas - Educational Preparedness, Financial Stability and Basic Needs, as outlined in the organization's Agenda for Change. United Way will now prioritize funding based on programs that provide:

EDUCATIONAL PREPAREDNESS:

• Propose strategies to support children entering school ready to learn, student reading at grade level, or youth staying in school
• Directly target infants, children and youth
• Help families and individuals develop and focus on longer-term goals

FINANCIAL STABILITY:

• Improve financial resources, increase financial literacy or increase and sustain home ownership
• Have a clear strategy to build individual and family assets
• Help families and individuals develop and focus on long-term goals

BASIC NEEDS:

• Help move families out of a crisis/vulnerable state to higher level of self-sufficiency
• Make a demonstrated effort to link to other organizations
• Propose a strategy that meets a data-supported gap in service
• Present clear and realistic approaches aimed to improve service delivery, improve navigation or access to services

While the United Way will continue to significantly invest in a wide array of agency programs and services, funding will primarily be focused on achieving Agenda outcomes. The funding system further supports the Agenda for Change, which serves as the United Way's blueprint for creating sustained community change that measurably improves people’s lives.

"The decision to realign our funding process was driven by our region's growing socioeconomic and human service needs," said Michael J. Brennan, President and CEO of United Way for Southeastern Michigan. "We know that today's issues are far too complex for any individual, group, or institution to tackle alone. We must work together and bring new groups into the fold. It is only through community building and regional collaboration that we will affect lasting change."

In order to be eligible to receive funding, an organization must be classified as a 501 c3, meet all UWSEM Standards of Eligibility, and serve residents of Wayne, Oakland, Macomb County or City of Detroit. Organizations must also demonstrate the capacity to provide services, programs, or collaborative response to one of the three impact areas.

The process is open to current partner agencies as well. United Way for Southeastern Michigan has developed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to include new programs and collaboratives that align with the priority areas in the Agenda for Change process. Interested parties whose programs align with one or more of the priority areas are invited to complete an LOI application.

"The Letter of Intent process will allow us to gain a better understanding of the types of programs that seek funding," said Dona Ponepinto, Vice President of Community Investments and Partnerships. "These letters will also help us to understand the conditions existing in various communities, how those conditions will be addressed, and the proposed outcomes."

For more information about the LOI/Agenda for Change process (including guidelines, technical assistance sessions, and application deadlines), visit www.uwsem.org/partnertools.

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Mike Brennan: Nonprofits must collaborate, consolidate

Source: Crain's Detroit Business
Published On: March 18, 2007
By: Michael J. Brennan, United Way

The writing is on the wall, researchers who study nonprofits will tell you. Today’s economic climate nationally is such that nonprofits across the board need to do some deep thinking about what it will take to survive in a sector that will look vastly different in 2017.

There are 31,343 501(c)(3) organizations in Michigan, including nearly 12,000 in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties, according to the Urban Institute’s Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy.

While competition drives innovation and promotes efficiency, an overcrowded field perpetuates waste. We have too many players chasing after the same ball. Something has to give, because the vitality of our nonprofit network is essential to the health of our region. In response, funders are encouraging more organizations to examine collaborations and consolidation as a means of more efficiently tapping into the resources needed to serve their communities.

Obviously, no one wants to feel forced into a sandbox with a competitor and made to play nice. However, consider the reality. Between 1977 and 1997 the number of 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations grew 115 percent, according to the book The State of Nonprofit America. The private sector grew 76 percent.

Ten years later, we are seeing 30,000 nonprofits created annually, while the private sector is contracting. Charitable giving has increased from $103.7 billion in 1975 to $260.3 billion in 2005, but has not kept pace with nonprofit expansion.

The sector is also facing a serious dearth of leadership. In fact, a recent Stanford Social Innovation Review article estimates that over the next decade, nonprofits will need to find about 640,000 new executives to fill key positions — nearly 2½ times the number currently employed.

Today’s young professionals look more favorably at private-sector jobs or entrepreneurial opportunities than nonprofit work. Add to that the challenge regional companies have in recruiting workers, and the cause for concern is clear.

Although imposing, these are problems are not insurmountable, but the grant-making community must own a significant piece of solution. This will mean funding more collaboratives (rather than competing agencies) and providing access to flexible capital — not just money, but resources and expertise. Helping nonprofits improve leadership, expand operational capacity and improve facility-management skills must be key elements.

Nonprofits can help themselves by exploring ways to work together. For instance, Gleaners Community Food Bank and the Food Bank of Oakland County merged, and 1.5 million more pounds of food were distributed in Oakland County as a result. The recently formed Cultural Alliance for Southeastern Michigan brought together 70 arts organizations, and they now have a voice in regional planning discussions.

What nonprofits cannot do, however, is continue clinging to history or to turf. Instead, they must value cooperation and creativity. The future of the sector depends on our ability to let go of the past so that we may realize true progress.

For more information about what the United Way is doing, read about our Agenda for Change process at www.uwsem.org.Michael Brennan is president and CEO of the United Way for Southeastern Michigan.

United Way sharpens its focus

UNITED WAY IN THE NEWS

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Survey helps identify issues residents say are most pressing

Kim Kozlowski
The Detroit News

Jamarl Eiland thinks the lack of parental involvement in the lives of local youths is among the most pressing issues facing Metro Detroit, so he made his opinion known in an online survey conducted by the United Way for Southeastern Michigan.

The United Way is best known for its annual fundraising campaigns that last year raised $63.5 million for more than 100 local human service agencies. But for several consecutive years, the agency has failed to fulfill its fundraising goals. This past year, for instance, it fell short by $3 million.

To help turn the tide, the local organization is following on the heels of United Way agencies in other cities, and narrowing the scope of its help by focusing only on the three or four issues that area residents think are most important.

Community input is crucial because the United Way's evolving mission will change the way it does business. Organizations that address the issues the United Way will focus on could see more money while programs that don't could see less. Some may stop receiving funding.

To determine what the public wants, the United Way is conducting a 23-question online survey, interviews with community leaders and a series of focus groups that constitute the agency's first steps at determining what areas it will ultimately focus on. The survey available at www.uwsem.org through April 17.

"I wanted to put my two cents in," said Eiland, 35, a Southfield resident who heard about the initiative through colleagues. "It's important information: where we are going as a community."

This won't be the first time the agency cuts funding for local service agencies. In 2004, the United Way delivered a 27.2 percent across-the-board cut -- the largest in its history -- because of years of shortfalls and government cutbacks.

Having survived the cut two years ago, officials with some United Way agencies are not surprised that more tweaks are on the horizon.

Even so, they plan to do all they can to retain United Way funding.

Citizens for Better Care, a watchdog group of nursing homes, plans to have representatives at focus groups to push its cause.

"We feel our organization is very important to the community," said Nancy Jackson, executive director for the organization's Detroit office.

"The best we can do is make sure they know how committed we are to our mission to helping the elderly."

Eric Cedo, executive director of Create Detroit, a nonprofit working to create a more vibrant city core, thinks the region's economy should be tops on the agency's list of priorities.

"People say if you give a man a fish, he eats for a day, but if you teach a man how to fish, he eats for a lifetime," Cedo said.

"But if you teach a man to fish and put him in an empty pond, he will still starve to death. We need to find ways to stock the pond."

So far, the United Way has interviewed 77 community leaders representing business, human services, local foundations and racial and ethnic groups. It also has held 12 focus groups.

About 3,000 area residents have taken the survey, but the United Way is hoping for much more participation.

The United Way supports more than 340 Metro Detroit programs and services that nurture youth, strengthen families, empower neighborhoods and promote health.

"Often, citizens don't feel like they have a voice in policy," said Michael Brennan, head of United Way for Southeastern Michigan. "This is a direct, overt effort to reach as many residents and ask them to give their voice."

You can reach Kim Kozlowski at (313) 222-2024 or kkozlowski@detnews.com.

Show the Way

UNITED WAY IN THE NEWS

April 3, 2006

Help United Way decide where dollars should go

Detroit Free Press Editorial

Like so many households, businesses and governments around the state, the United Way for Southeastern Michigan is facing critical decisions about its future and the best use of resources.

But rather than sounding a call for additional donations, the organization is asking the community it serves to help set its priorities. An unprecedented region-wide survey affords area residents an opportunity to help determine how the United Way should spend the money it collects to do the most good.

The need for input grows with the list of social challenges facing the region. United Way President Michael J. Brennan insists that the organization must narrow its focus or be overwhelmed by the demand. Rather than spreading money more thinly in many places, he hopes to determine where United Way dollars can really make a difference.

Difficult as it will be for the agencies that come up short, Brennan is right. There is only so far dollars can be stretched without losing their impact. And the community should have a say in the organization's tough choices.

This survey effort is really less about the organization than it is about the people living and increasingly struggling for any number of reasons in metro Detroit and how best to serve them with United Way dollars.

Because the survey is voluntary, the United Way will have to weigh its findings against other assessments of regional needs that the organization is doing in its two-year refocusing project.

Still, the more response the better. On or before April 7, residents of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb Counties should ponder, then voice, how much importance they place on programs that help families thrive, children learn, disabled people have advocates and everyone gain access to affordable housing. Citizens' answers will help the United Way determine where to place its financial focus.

The United Way is putting incredible power in the hands of the people it serves. They should readily accept the invitation.

To participate in the Community Action Survey, call the United Way's 2-1-1-line or 1-800-552-1183 anytime or go online at www.uwsem.org.

Detroiters should help United Way focus its mission

UNITED WAY IN THE NEWS

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Detroit News Editorials & Opinions

The United Way of Southeastern Michigan is taking a welcome step to becoming more efficient about how it targets fund-raising money. Besides trying to measure how the organizations it funds perform, it is also surveying where it should spend its money.

The charitable organization traditionally has focused on funding social services activities, but it is surveying area leaders as well as the public about how to sharpen its focus. You can go to the United Way's Web site at www.uwsem.org/ or call 2-1-1 to take its Community Action Survey by phone. It's a good way for Metro Detroiters to help the nonprofit group stretch dollars and make them work better.

Metro Detroit residents have a voice: United Way wants to hear it

PRESS RELEASE

March 21, 2006

Media Contact(s):
Patricia A. Ellis, 313-226-9484 or pager, 313-840-1847
Megan Bracket, 313-226-9409 or pager, 313-840-1948

Call 2-1-1 to voice your opinion on key social concerns

DETROIT–United Way for Southeastern Michigan wants metro Detroit residents to participate in a brief Community Action Survey via telephone or online. From March 24 through April 7, residents of Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties are being encouraged to voice what they feel are the top social issues that they would like to see progress on in our region, as well as what are the barriers we need to overcome to achieve success.

According to Michael J. Brennan, president & CEO, United Way for Southeastern Michigan, the community outreach effort is aimed at identifying the most pressing human service issues across metro Detroit, resulting in a region-wide plan to effectively make progress on those key issues.

“Our goal is to involve local residents in the process of addressing both short and long-term issues that affect our children, families, neighborhoods and health, resulting in a community action plan,” said Brennan. “We need to hear from all sectors of our region and work together to achieve regional success. We’re urging everyone to participate in the survey, so we can capture the top concerns, as well as aspirations, from the diverse populations that make up southeast Michigan.”

United Way for Southeastern Michigan is in the first of a three-phase process that, over the next two years, will step up regional efforts to address core needs through various safety-net services. The organization will also sharpen its focus on the underlying causes of social ills with targeted strategies that prevent problems in the first place. The Community Action Survey is one way United Way is hearing from the community. The organization is also conducting one-on-one interviews with community stakeholders, as well as facilitating focus groups with diverse public and private sectors throughout the region. United Way will compile the information, which will be used as a benchmark for regional objectives and goals.

The Community Action Survey seeks to shed light on the general public’s top concerns about critical human service issues, asking questions such as how important are thriving families, education, economic vitality, and access to affordable housing, for example; and what are the barriers to overcome in order to achieve success related to those areas.

The survey will be available 24 hours a day beginning at 10 a.m. on March 24 and concluding at 5 p.m. on April 7. All residents of Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties are being encouraged to take the brief survey either online at www.uwsem.org or by calling United Way for Southeastern Michigan’s call center by dialing 2-1-1 or 1-800-552-1183.

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