FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 26, 2016

CONTACT
Russ Reno, Communications and Legislative Services, (office) 402-471-8287 or (cell) 402-450-7318, or russ.reno@nebraska.gov

Lincoln – An agreement on a contract to continue to provide child welfare case management in Douglas and Sarpy counties has been reached by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and Nebraska Families Collaborative (NFC).

FUNDING BIAS

Nonprofit donors have been traditionally reluctant to fund overhead. They feel better when their funds go to feed the hungry or house the homeless rather than supporting unpopular “administrative expenses” that, if truth be told, they often see as a management ripoff or gross inefficiency. It isn’t like donors don’t realize that the organization that actually executes the nonprofit’s mission has a generic cost that fuels the mission itself. They just feel that it should be almost zero, or, at least, none of their funds should be wasted on the office and salaries.

Child Welfare

Every year we take a look at the national statistics compiled by the Department of Health and Human Services on the state of childcare across the country. These statistics are used to evaluate whether the risk factors affecting the welfare of America’s children are increasing or diminishing.

LEVERAGE

Redefined

The word leverage, has become an unsavory Wall Street word that nonprofits avoid using because most people in finance associate the word with taking on a pile of debt to expand a limited amount of core capital. Merriam Webster defines leverage as “the use of credit to enhance one’s speculative capacity”.

AMERICA’S SCHOOLS ARE FAILING

For decades, well-meaning public servants and eager parental citizen groups have decried the quality of the American public school system. “Ed-reformers” claim that U.S. public schools are failing; that the culprits are bad teachers, teachers’ unions, and government bureaucracy.

There is no better way to introduce you to the heart and soul of Children First Academy than to reproduce parts of their mission statement here.

So here you are – after spending months (or weeks, or maybe just a few hours) evaluating your options, you have come to the conclusion that your agency cannot possibly get to the next stage in its growth without addressing the need to acquire a web-based database to facilitate your daily operations.  You have a valuable service to offer to your target demographic, proven methods, and a kickass team (can I say kickass?) – but when it comes time to answer the critical questions your stakeholders and funders are asking - you are at a loss as to how best to compile the data necessary to support your ongoing work.  And even more important - how do you know how to build your project budget?

I am always edified and amazed when I discover another life-saving effort by the nonprofit community that FAMCare seeks to serve.  I recently came upon a report on the creation of community grocery stores in Nonprofit Quarterly that I wanted to share with you all.

“Don’t tell people what you do…tell them why you do it” 

(Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action, TED Talks)

Mission-driven companies are forces to be reckoned with. Usually born out of a strong founder-led culture, mission-driven companies consistently outperform the competition. True passion for a mission is not something leaders can fake.