Despite low unemployment rates and a fairly strong economy, the number of homeless and food insecure continue to rise. According to the recently released State of the Homeless 2019 report, as of January, in New York City alone, an all-time record number (63,839) of men, women and children slept in shelters each night. And, according to Feeding America, 40-million people struggle with hunger in the U.S., including more than 12-million children.

If you run a shelter or food bank, chances are you have more to do and more to process every day. That’s where having the right social services software can help you focus more on providing food and shelter and less on paperwork and processes.

One of our nonprofit clients recently found themselves on the horns of this dilemma:

A long-term faithful donor had been indicted for bank fraud. Should the nonprofit return his most recent donation, and should they take his name off the scholarship he had been funding to educate young girls from Malawi out of the circle of poverty?

A troubling trend is beginning to emerge from the current political discussion: “Isn’t it time to look at taxing many tax-exempt organizations?”

The Military Model 

Most industrial corporations are organized on the military model that emerged after World War II. This “top-down”, “pyramid”, “span-of-control” model of authoritarian decision making was thought to be the most efficient, effective, and disciplined form for complex, sprawling organizations. It was all about the rank and file executing the will of the top decision makers and not roaming “off the reservation” with ideas of their own. It was a model of discipline and efficiency designed for execution.

Your nonprofit organization has been growing and helping more people on a regular basis. You have good case workers who care about their clients and making a difference. Have you reached the point where investing in the right case management software could propel your organization to a new level, while making your case workers more effective at their jobs? Here are some tips to see if you’re ready to take that next step.

The mission of Catholic charities is to provide service to people in need, to advocate for justice in social structures and to call the entire church and other people of good will to do the same. The mission of good human services software is to provide the people of Catholic charities more time to carry out their mission – and less time doing paperwork. Going paperless with the right human services software allows those working in these charities more of the face-to-face functions necessary to achieve their goals. 

Our recent blog post on the repurposing of libraries in the United States inspired a robust response from social workers involved in education. Lisa Gevelber, Vice President of Grow with Google, wrote this:

“Since we launched Grow with Google a little over a year ago, we’ve traveled to cities and towns, partnering with local organizations from Kansas to Michigan to South Carolina to bring job skills to job seekers and online savvy to small businesses.  No matter where we went, big cities or small towns, libraries were at the heart of these communities.

Positive Tomorrows, an Oklahoma City non-profit, is opening a private school for homeless children that was designed by the kids themselves. That’s right. A private school for homeless (not privileged) children.

Remember taking film to the drugstore to get it developed? Or hustling over to Blockbuster on a Friday night to rent films for the weekend? How about “looking up” facts for your homework papers in the Encyclopedia Britannica? Or spending rainy Saturdays in the library writing your thesis?

Ahhh…the good old days. Whatever happened to books printed on paper and bound between covers with printer’s glue? The world has gone digital and library collections are gradually becoming obsolete. How long has it been since you visited a library?

State of the Union

Four out of five charities use volunteers in their activities, either in service to others or in helping to run the organization.