Friday, February 6, 2009

ED Group 2009 Theme: Economics of Nonprofits

The Steering Committee meeting was held on Wednesday, February 4th and was hosted by the Mohawk Valley Community Action Agency. It was attended by: Rev. Bill Dodge, Rescue Mission; Amy Turner, MVCAA; Lorraine Kinney-Kitchen, Mid-York Child Care Coordinating Council, Inc.; and Cornelia Brown, MAMI Interpreters.

Discussed program ideas and dates for the year. The program dates are:
Wed, March 25th- 8:30am
Wed, June 24th- 12:00pm
Wed, Sept 23rd- 8:30am
Wed, Dec 2nd- 12:00pm

The program theme for the year will be: "Economics of Nonprofits"
The first program, set for March, will be titled: "The Impact of Nonprofit Businesses on the Local Economy." The program will feature a panel discussion. The possible panelists were discussed: Mohawk Valley Edge, Genesis, Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties, Work Force Development (Dave M. and Alice S), Mohawk Valley Chamber (Frank Alias), Human Technologies Corp (Rick Sebestian), UCP (Lou Tean).

An economic impact survey will be implemented to collect info from the community, and suggested panel questions will also be collected.

The program goals are: demonstrate nonprofit impact on community; build bridges with economic experts and officials; be recognized as resoures; learn how to operate as better businesses; build awareness; advocate for training support

Possible panel questions:
What are your perceptions?
Where do nonprofits fit in?
How build a relationship?
How is the community changing and how should nonprofits respond?

Possible questions for economic impact survey:
1) Name of Nonprofit
2) Name of Executive
3) Type of organization (Arts and Culture, Museum, Social and Human Service, Education, Religious or faith based, etc)
4) Total number of people who were employed on your payroll during the fiscal year
5) Business dollars your organization spent in this region. This information should be available from your accounts payable or check register. Every dollar you spent to purchase goods or services has a compounded positive impact on the local economy.
6) Total payroll taxes generated (State and Federal)
7) Other taxes collected (Sales tax as an example)

Have other suggested questions? Let us know. Feel free to share you input on any other details too.

1 comment:

Leatherstocking Baseball League said...

Posted on behalf of Cornelia Brown, MAMI Interpreters

Hello Steering Committee,

Basically, I really like the write up. Thanks everyone and Andrew especially. I have some suggestions to consider for inclusion in the survey:

1. Number of dollars paid to local independent contractors for performing the type of service offered by your organization.
2. Number of trainings completed and credentials awarded that create new jobs.
3. Do you provide services that other organizations require in order to operate legally and safely? What dollar amount of your services enabled other types of organizations to operate legally and safely?

I suggest these questions because they get at additional, important ways in which non-profits boost the local economy. What do you think about their applicability?

Best,

Cornelia