By Louisa Hackett - What makes an organization effective? Sure strong managers, high performing staff, visionary leaders, sufficient resources and up-to-date technology all play a part. But a critical element, maybe the most critical, is clarity of purpose. Without knowing fundamentally what an organization is striving to accomplish and for whom, the chance to have the most effective programs is lost and muddled, diffuse programming can follow. Read more >>
News & Views
A blog for those interested in what affects, motivates and drives the New York City Nonprofit Sector — written by CRE’s crackerjack consulting team. We hope you use this space to share your thoughts, ask questions and engage in conversations about our city, social justice and the nonprofit sector.
5 Questions Driving Organizational Effectiveness
What Can the Rockaways Teach Us About Collaboration?
By Pamela Dicent - The Far Rockaway/Arverne Nonprofit Coalition was created nearly three years ago by a core group of nonprofit service providers that recognized the value of coming together to address common issues in the Rockaways, particularly around engaging and developing young people on the Peninsula. From the very start of CRE’s involvement as facilitator, it was clear that this was a new kind of collaboration in town – one that has already fulfilled its promise of strengthening the network of nonprofit organizations. Read more >>
CRE Search - Executive Director - The DOME Project
The DOME, an acronym for Developing Opportunities through Meaningful Education, was founded in 1973 to challenge the myriad threats to youngsters who had fallen through the cracks of the traditional school system by creating an alternative school program. Our mission is to assist young people and their families who are economically, socially, and academically challenged to focus on their education as a means to success. Over the last forty years, The DOME has evolved into a multi-faceted organization designing and implementing a variety of programs and services geared towards educational success that integrates social services, academic intervention and support, career exploration, leadership development for young people, advocacy, and criminal justice. Read more >>
Leaving the Projector Behind: CRE’s Community-Based Training Efforts
By Jeff Ballow, Senior Consultant - Is training more valuable for participants when you bring the training experience to their communities? This is one question that has emerged during the last year as part of our Neighborhood Based Capacity-Building Initiative funded by the New York Community Trust. So far we’ve taken this mountain-to-Mohammed approach to management development in East New York in Brooklyn and Far Rockaway in Queens, and in early May we launched a similar training series in the High Bridge section of the Bronx. Here’s what we have learned so far: Read more >>
Accountability Versus Effectiveness
By Valyrie Laedlein, CRE Co-Director - Nonprofit leaders are hard-wired for accountability.
The tax-exempt sector was structured to assure accountability to the public since its very beginning. Nearly all the leaders whom CRE has had the privilege to work with drive themselves to be sure they are doing right by their communities. And in this moment of terribly constrained resources, all of us are conscious of how important it is that we make every dollar matter in terms of its rightful and effective use. Read more >>
CRE Seeking Summer Interns for 2013 - SEARCH CLOSED
CRE is seeking to recruit a graduate student or a rising junior or senior college student for a summer internship. The applicant for this position should have a specific interest in learning about management and capacity-building for nonprofit organizations. As a part of this learning experience, the intern will support CRE’s Consulting Team, assisting with client work as well as providing administrative and project support. Read more >>
Far Rockaway Leaders Look Ahead
By Maria Mottola, Executive Director, New York Foundation - A half hour into a January 31 meeting with leaders in Far Rockaway, I realized we were not talking anymore about Hurricane Sandy. We were talking about disasters, but not of the sort you can blame on the weather. Somehow the hurricane lost its potency as leaders described how isolation, poverty and incidents of violence persistently disrupt life on the peninsula. Read more >>
The Impact of the Fiscal Cliff on Nonprofits
By Karen Erdos, Director of Development - As the President and Congress negotiate about how to deal with the fiscal cliff, the proposals on the table could have very different outcomes for nonprofits. The first, proposed by President Obama, is to have the Bush-era tax cuts remain in effect for households with incomes up to $250,000 ($200,000 for individuals) and to let the tax cuts for higher-income households and the estate tax rise back to levels last seen in the Clinton administration. Read more >>
An Update on the Rockaways
By Barbara Turk and Pamela Dicent - The situation in the Rockaways is far from normal this week, but has improved since our last report on the status of CRE’s nonprofit partners in Arverne and Far Rockaway. Members of the Far Rockaway/Arverne Nonprofit Coalition convened by phone on Wednesday and reported that collaboration between groups has been challenging, with duplication of efforts inevitable given the isolation created by initial communication challenges. Each organization is making progress in getting back in touch with its colleagues and clients, and is identifying opportunities to partner with their Coalition colleagues and others to best serve the immediate needs of their clients. Read more >>
Far Rockaway Nonprofits Speak Out on Post-Hurricane Needs
By Barbara Turk, Senior Fellow – CRE has been visiting our clients in areas most affected by the Storm to understand their immediate and long-term needs, and to start the process of helping these community-based organizations recover. Since last week, I have made three visits to Far Rockaway and Arverne, Queens. CRE has been fostering the formation and development of the Far Rockaway/Arverne Nonprofit Coalition for nearly two years. Read more >>
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