SU, Cornell, University of Rochester collaborate to find solutions to CNY brain drain in upcoming charrette, Nov. 13-15

Thirty-six students from Syracuse University, Cornell University and the University of Rochester will come together Nov. 13-15 for a charrette to address and work on creative solutions to one of the toughest problems facing Upstate New York: retaining smart, hard-working young people post-graduation.

The Friday through Sunday charrette, titled "Work/Play/Stay," will take place on the fourth floor of The Warehouse, 350 W. Fayette St., Syracuse, culminating with a presentation of ideas after a 1 p.m. reception on Sunday, Nov. 15.

A charrette–sometimes called a design charrette–is an intense, design-based collaborative project. Charrettes serve as a way of quickly generating a design solution through collaborative work, integrating the aptitudes and interests of a diverse group of people. For the upcoming "Work/Play/Stay" charrette, each university selected 12 students from a variety of disciplines and schools.

The idea for an entrepreneurial collaboration of the three universities came from Neil Tarallo, assistant professor of clinical entrepreneurship at SU's Whitman School of Management, who had once been an entrepreneur in the Ithaca area.

"Typically, it's industry leaders and government officials that talk about this issue, but as entrepreneurs we know that customers' opinions are very important, so it seems logical that we should ask the students what they think," says Tarallo. Read more here.

InterFaith Works: ED Search

InterFaith Works of Central New York is a non-profit organization located in Syracuse, New York. Founded in 1976, InterFaith Works brings together a diverse array of faith traditions in our community, in the belief that engagement among these different faith groups will lead to understanding, friendships and a collaborative strength to address community issues. Our work is reflected in a variety of interfaith initiatives including our five core social service programs:

· Center for New Americans – Refugee Resettlement
· Community-Wide Dialogue to End Racism
· Covenant Housing to aid those with special needs
· Senior Companion for the frail elderly
· Spiritual Care for those in area health care and correctional facilities


Our Mission remains through education, service and dialogue, to affirm the dignity of each person and every faith community and to work to create relationships and understanding among us. InterFaith Works has approximately 35 full and part-time employees with an annual budget of approximately 2.5 million. http://www.interfaithworkscny.org/

Executive Director

Description:
The Executive Director is accountable to the Board of Directors, and is responsible for general management of the organization and for financial and organizational growth and development toward the fulfillment of its mission, vision and values.

Responsibilities include:
· Establishing and maintaining relationships with faith community leaders, related community agencies, funding sources, and government bodies.
· Leading and actively supporting and participating in fund raising and grant writing activities to provide the organization with continuing sources of funds.
· Exercising responsibility for the financial management of InterFaith Works including developing and recommending an annual budget.
· Managing, leading and collaborating with InterFaith Works staff to support the organization’s mission and goals.
· Building strong staff relationships and contributing to a positive work environment.
· Developing interfaith education initiatives and leading InterFaith Works community education efforts
· Coordinating community public relations efforts and representing InterFaith Works when the opportunity arises in public venues.
· Collaborating, partnering and communicating with the Board of Directors and Executive Committee on a regular basis, including participating in all requisite meetings.
· Effectively communicating the organizations’ progress and accomplishments, as well as ongoing resource needs to staff, Board and community stakeholders
· Coordinating the recruitment and training of Board members and generally overseeing the operation of the InterFaith Works volunteer structure.
· Developing and recommending policies to guide the operation of InterFaith Works and supervising and coordinating their implementation.

Required Experience:
· Substantial experience in senior management position
· Expertise in fund raising
· Familiarity with non-profit organizations and Boards
· Demonstrated leadership ability
· Experience with operating budgets
· Understanding of the organization’s mission and work
· Significant connection to the interfaith community

Please send resume to IFW Search c/o Eric Mower and Associates, 500 Plum Street, Syracuse, NY 13204 or email to IFWSearch@mower.com.
InterFaith Works is an AA/EOE.

Oncenter audit finds sloppy financial controls, and taxpayers pay the price

Syracuse.com reported that when Oncenter officials walked into the Onondaga County Legislature chamber Tuesday, they had two uncomfortable confessions to make.

First, they were out of money. They asked for $575,000 from the county to pay their bills — on top of the $2.1 million the county gives them each year.

Second, Oncenter’s latest financial report card was the kind that gets children sent to their rooms.

A recent audit of Oncenter’s 2008 finances by independent accounting firm Testone, Marshall & Discenza concluded that Oncenter’s sloppy financial controls created “more than a remote likelihood” that significant accounting errors, or even fraud, could go undetected.

Oncenter, a nonprofit corporation that manages the county’s convention center, theaters, parking facilities and War Memorial, is required by its contract to provide quarterly financial reports to the Legislature and other county officials.

But the corporation’s finances have been in disarray for the past year during a shakeup in top management. The Testone audit of 2008 results, produced Tuesday during a meeting of the Legislature’s Ways and Means Committee, was Oncenter’s first financial report to the Legislature in more than a year.

It listed several “significant deficiencies” in the corporation’s money management, including: Read more here.

Grantmakers Forum: Nonprofit Resource

Interested in an area resource that funders are involved in? Check out the Grantmakers Forum of New York.

VISION Grantmakers Forum of New York is the primary organization for
engaging Upstate New York funders in the quest for philanthropic
excellence.

MISSION
Grantmakers Forum of New York unites and empowers funders to achieve their philanthropic aspirations. Through Grantmakers Forum, grantmakers of diverse backgrounds and experience connect to share and increase their knowledge, improve their practice, and address philanthropic opportunities that make a positive social, economic and environmental impact.

STRATEGIC INITIATIVES
A. Grantmakers Forum will operate as a statewide organization;
B. Grantmakers Forum will engage funders through meaningful programs and services;
C. Grantmakers Forum will build leadership around philanthropic issues and opportunities;
D. Grantmakers Forum will promote philanthropy throughout the region.

Click here for an overview of the organization's board and members.

Nonprofit Request: Insurance for Input

My name is Nancy Turo and I am the Controller for P.E.A.C.E., Inc. in Syracuse, NY. Our Executive Director, Joe O’Hara suggested that I contact you in regards to research we are doing on umbrella insurance coverage for our Agency. He mentioned that you have a Human Services Leadership Council email group for which I could send out a general question to other non-profits in the area.

Our agency just renewed our commercial package insurance policies and our insurance agent suggested that we increase our umbrella coverage. Before we do that, we were wondering if through the Human Services Leadership Council email listserv we could pose the question to other non-profits of how much umbrella insurance coverage does your agency carry and how large your agency’s budget is. We plan to use this information in helping us make an informed decision about whether we should increase our umbrella coverage or not.

I appreciate any help that you can give me.
Thank you,

Nancy Turo
Controller
P.E.A.C.E., Inc.
315-634-3728

Community activist needs help to save her shoestring youth center in Syracuse

Syracuse.com reported that Mary Nelson has pulled off the seemingly impossible before and is trying to do it again, this time to save her new youth center.

In 2002, starting with little more than her own drive, Nelson created an annual youth day barbecue and give-away that now puts backpacks stuffed with school supplies into the hands of thousands of kids, upwards of 9,000 this year alone.

In June, she opened the Mary Nelson Youth/Community Center at 2849 S. Salina St. in a building she rents from Catholic Charities of Onondaga County. Nelson says she serves 120 children a day in her after-school program and offers services to their families and adults. The center, open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays, aims to help children and adults with their education and job skills.
Want to get involved?

You can contact Mary Nelson through her Web site: www.youthdaybarbecue.com or by calling her at 403-0220.

If the need is clear, the center’s future is not. Nelson says she’s behind on rent and out of money. To stay open she needs to come up with $4,000 a month, she said. She also needs another $7,500 to get caught up.

Nelson said she’s tried unsuccessfully to obtain grant money to run the center, and will continue to hunt for grants to stay open in the long run. “If I can get the community to help me until I get grant money coming in, I would have my goal every month, I would have what I need to keep that center up and running,” she said.

Nelson said she’s set up a nonprofit corporation through which she runs the youth barbecue give-away and the youth center.

In 2008, the ABC Television Show “Live with Regis and Kelly,” awarded her a $50,000 gift from Kmart for her work with the barbecue. Nelson said she set up the center with that money.

Nelson works as a billing representative for the radiology department at University Hospital.
No one who works at the youth center, including herself, gets paid, she said. Nelson says her landlord has been supportive as she tries to come up with the rent money.

Toni Maxwell, Catholic Charities director of development, said the center is just the kind of operation Catholic Charities wants to see in the building, but that it has a “business relationship” with Nelson. Maxwell declined to discuss specifics of the relationship. “We are very respectful of her work and we’re going to be very patient with her situation,” Maxwell said.

Nelson is hoping to have center finances in order by November. “I know once people see that I am reaching out, I believe that I’m going to have the support that I need. I believe in my community. I really do,” Nelson said.

Seventh Annual Best Practices for Nonprofits

November 19, 2009
Holiday Inn Liverpool

9:00 a.m.-9:45 a.m.
Concurrent Session 1
Section A
Panel Discussion
Mission Refinement: Program Prioritization/Program Reduction
Pat Leone, Contact Community Services, Inc.
Linda M. Wright, The Salvation Army of the Syracuse Area
Michael F. Melara, Catholic Charities of Onondaga County

Section B
Defining And Developing Your Organization’s Strategic Plan, Business Plan And Budget
Susan Burgess, MA, MS, True North Group

Section C
Panel Discussion
Forming Strategic Partnerships
Mary Ellen Bloodgood, Jewish Home of Central New York / Menorah Park
Dr. Thomas H. Dennison, Syracuse University’s Maxwell School Health Services Management and Policy
John G. Eberle, Central New York Community Foundation
Michael West, New York Council of Nonprofits, Inc.

10:00 a.m.-10:45 a.m.
Concurrent Session 2
Section D
Panel Discussion
Staff Issues In The Downturn – Compensation And Retention
Peter A. Jones, Esq., Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC
John E. Matson, Syracuse University

Section E
Exploring Funding Streams
Speaker TBD, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority

Section F
Panel Discussion
Managing Volunteers From Acceptance Through The Volunteer Life Cycle/Creating “Meaningful” Work
Karen Hargrave, Vera House
Craig Collie, United Way
Nancy Stewart, Crouse Hospital

11:00 a.m.-Noon
Plenary Session
Panel Discussion
Attracting And Engaging The “40 Below” Board Member And Volunteer
Kelly Bayne, United Way of Central New York, Inc., 40 Below Civic Engagement Task Force
Sean Becker, 40 Below Civic Engagement Task Force
Brian Hoke, 40 Below, Thursday Morning Roundtable Advisory Committee
Kelly Knab, United Way of Central New York, Inc.

Agenda
7:30 am - 8:00 am
Registration and Continental Breakfast
8:00 a.m.-9:00 a.m.
Keynote Address
ePhilanthropy: Using the Web for Fundraising
Erica Campbell, Assistant Vice President, CCS Fundraising

LOCATION
Holiday Inn Syracuse/Liverpool, 411 Electronics Parkway, Liverpool, NY 13088 315-457-1122

REGISTRATION
November 19, 2009 Liverpool, New York
Registration Fees: $70 – BS&K/ParenteBeard LLC Clients $85 – General Public
RSVP Deadline: November 12, 2009
Please indicate which of the Concurrent Sessions you will attend:
Session 1: A B C Session 2: D E F
Register online at www.bsk.comor complete and return the registration form below.
Name:_________________________________________________Title:_______________________________________________
Organization:________________________________________________________________________________________________
Address:___________________________________________________________________________________________________
City:___________________________________ State:____________________________ Zip:______________________________
E-Mail:_______________________________Telephone:____________________________Fax:____________________________
The following people will also attend:
Name:____________________________________Title:______________________________ E-Mail:_________________________
Name:____________________________________Title:______________________________ E-Mail:_________________________
Name:____________________________________Title:______________________________ E-Mail:_________________________
Refunds will only be made for cancellations received 5 business days before event.
Register online at www.bsk.com or complete and return the registration form to:
Ms. Toko Moyo, Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC, One Lincoln Center, Syracuse, NY 13202
Fax: 315-218-8100 Questions: 1-800-339-8897 E-mail: tmoyo@bsk.com
Please make checks payable to Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC
If anyone attending needs any special accommodation, please call Liz Poda at 315-218-8526.
This seminar is intended for the invited guests of Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC, Central New York Community Foundation, Inc.,
The Gifford Foundation, ParenteBeard LLC and the United Way of Central New York, who reserve the right to deny admission to any applicant.