Forum Brings Together Funder and Grantee Communities to LearnJune 16, 2008 |
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 In the nonprofit world, the critical services agencies provide are typically dependent on one thing: funding from outside sources. But if the state faces a budget crisis or a funder changes direction, the agency and its services are suddenly at risk. To help agencies strengthen their ability to successfully navigate through these challenges, First 5 LA sponsored the second annual Sustainability Project. The goal of the Sustainability Project is to help agencies maintain and strengthen their ability to sustain positive outcomes for children 0-5 and their families. Through the eight-month project, agencies bring together teams of executive leaders, program and finance staff, and agency board members to think strategically about how to build their internal capacity to secure a variety of resources beyond grant writing. This is critical to achieving long-term sustainability and community impact. During the project, teams attend a series of five monthly full-day workshops. These workshops are the building blocks and pathway for the teams to reflect, assess, research and create a multi-year, comprehensive sustainability plan. The Sustainability Project's final event, the Sustainability Forum, was held June 6th at the California Endowment. The Forum brought together leaders from local foundations, nonprofit agencies and county entities to directly support the 24 participating grantee sustainability teams. Eighteen panelists reviewed the teams' sustainability plans, listened to the teams' presentations and provided valuable feedback and coaching to the agencies. In addition, the participants had the opportunity to learn from and engage with their peers. The half day forum welcomed panelists from organizations such as the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, The California Endowment, Families in Schools, the Fulfillment Fund, LAUSD Board of Education, Walden Philanthropy Advisors, the California Community Foundation, the S. Mark Taper Foundation, the Dwight Stuart Foundation, the Social Enterprise Institute, the Fieldstone Foundation, the Carl and Robert Deutsch Foundation and Public Counsel. Panelists and grantees all agreed that they had gained tremendous insight on how to strengthen services in the community. First 5 LA interviewed two of the panelists, John Heathcliff, director of development with the Public Counsel; Alicia Lara, vice president for community investment with United Way of Los Angeles; along with grantees Lisa Hirsch Marin, director of family services division of Para Los Niños, and S.P. Andrade, program director of Lennox School Readiness Center in the Lennox School District. Click below to watch the interviews. |
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