Stronger Together
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stronger together 2015 annual report inspiring and connecting thoughtful giving about us On our front cover, L to R We are a community of donors committed to making our region and the world a better Bridget Brell Holt, TCF staff • Mark and place to call home. Gretchen Zyndorf, fundholders/former The Foundation is a public charity, 501(c)(3) nonprofit, with more than $221.7 million board member • Maria Rodriguez-Winter, in charitable assets composed of more than 720 individual funds. Each fund represents Sofia Quintero Art & Cultural Center • a unique charitable giving partnership with an individual, family, business or nonprofit Frank Jacobs, former board member • organization. Mary Mennel, fundholder and The 577 Foundation • Autumn Bates, TPS Young The Foundation consistently demonstrates a unique capability to connect donors with the Women of Excellence • Susan Morgan, opportunity to make a real difference through charitable giving. Since 1973, Toledo Com- former board member • Zac Isaac, board munity Foundation has helped area citizens put charitable dollars to work addressing the member • Anthony Ashford, TPS Young issues most important to them in the communities they care most about. Men of Excellence • Catherine Orchard Information about planned giving and more information about the Foundation can be and Domonique Glover, Toledo Ballet found at www.toledocf.org. On our back cover, L to R Patrick Johnston, TCF staff • Betsy and Tom Brady, fundholders/former our mission board member • Jade Winters and Toledo Community Foundation, Inc. — a public, charitable foundation — exists to improve Christopher Blue Winters, Beach House the quality of life in the region by: • Jim Karasek, FOCUS • Tammy Holder, n Providing a flexible, informed, effective means for donors to achieve their charitable Beach House • Annika Nairne-Awls, TCF goals in perpetuity staff • Randa and Hussien Shousher, fundholders • Muddy, fundholder/ n Addressing the changing needs of the region through efficient, prudent, high impact Toledo Mud Hens Baseball Club grant making n Serving as a source of information about and as a catalyst in shaping the region’s response to those needs, and n Facilitating the work of other grant making organizations in order to achieve effective and efficient grant making practices Let us show you just how easy, flexible and effective your charitable giving can be. We can help you with the details. Contact us at 419.241.5049 to start making your community a better place. 2 Dear Friends, ustainability and maintaining sustainable resources are growing concerns in our world today. Typically we think of these as environmental issues, and we at Toledo Community Foundation Sare concerned with environmental sustainability, too. But for us, “sustainability” has a deeper meaning: the resource that we work to sustain is financial, and the “environment” that is our focus is the well-being of our community. Four decades ago, when the Foundation was created, our community was in the waning days of Toledo’s century-long industrial expansion. Local institutions like the Toledo Museum of Art, or The 577 Foundation whose history is described on page 5 of this report, were legacies of some of the leading families of that era that have supported our community for decades. Today, the age of grand estates is gone — but when we join our own legacies with those of fellow community members, as 577’s executive director Mary Mennel has chosen to do, we have the strength to sustain what former generations began on our behalf. But even when we join forces, as our story on page 4 describes, the effort cannot be sustained David F. Waterman without a strategic approach. The philanthropic journey of Hussien and Randa Mansour Shousher CHAIR illustrates how Toledo Community Foundation can fortify a community’s efforts by connecting do- nors with the people and resources they need for long-term growth and visible results. (Please visit our website at toledocf.org for an even more in-depth look at their experience.) The sustainability of the current proliferation of nonprofit organizations, too, is a concern to all of us at the Foundation. In 2014, 250 nonprofits were created in Lucas County alone. If each of those had only one full-time employee, earning a very modest annual salary of $35,000, it would cost $8,750,000 per year to sustain them — before a single hungry person is fed, a single sick person is cared for, or a single homeless family sheltered. That figure is a little over half the total number of grants awarded by the Foundation last year — so Keith Burwell clearly, this type of growth is not sustainable. That is why we are so excited about the success PRESIDENT story on pages 2 and 3 of how FOCUS and Beach House found synergies between them, and discovered how they could be stronger together. “Teamwork makes the dream work,” as someone once said — and each day we hear more stories like these that show how true that is. To the nonprofits working as a team in our community under the mission of service and sustainability, we express our gratitude and support for your passion and spirit. For those of you who have sustained the Foundation with your gifts, time and talents over the years, we express our deepest thanks, and hope you will enjoy seeing what your support is making possible here in northwest Ohio and beyond. We truly ARE stronger together! Sincerely, David F. Waterman Keith Burwell Chair, Board of Trustees President 1 joining hands: focus and beach house Ninety-five years ago, Toledo’s “wayward women” were housed in the local jail. Seeing that these women were more victims than perpitrators, Helen Beach, the wife of Toledo’s legendary Mayor, Golden Rule Jones, gave her home to create what is now the Beach House Family Shelter. In 1982, ten area churches that were working sep- arately to help the homeless recognized their work would be much more effective if they joined forces, and created FOCUS — Family Outreach Church- Community United Services. And in 2009, the United States Congress enacted new legislation that dramatically affected both organizations. This is the story of how, with the support of Toledo Community Foundation, these two established, successful nonprofits merged to respond to changing needs, and in so doing, became stronger together. 2 stronger together hen the U.S. government created the Foundation’s Strategic Alliance Partnership* Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and (SAP), had already been assisting FOCUS with WEnd Homelessness seven years ago, it effectively their search for a new leader, and suggested ap- ended one-to-one government reimbursements plying for a SAP grant to support formal discus- to nonprofit agencies for services rendered to sion of a merger. the homeless. Instead, those payments would now be based on the performance of the entire With their first SAP grant, FOCUS and Beach community in meeting government goals for ad- House hired Aurora Consulting to lead meetings dressing homelessness and its causes. with agency stakeholders and conduct formal investigation of one another’s organizational The core of this plan was an approach called culture, finances, vendor contracts, and donor rapid re-housing. This replaced indefinite stays relationships. The grant also covered legal ser- in homeless shelters with a mandate that com- vices in the event of a merger. munities place the homeless in transitional housing within 72 hours, and connect them “These consultants are experts in helping peo- with support services to address issues that ple think through what it means to have one led to the loss of their housing. organization instead of two,” said Michelle, who notes that the least successful mergers “We were already following this model to a are done without this process. “Too many rush large degree before the federal changes,” into a merger without properly facilitated dis- said Jim Karasek, interim executive director cussions. This creates a situation where people of FOCUS. Tammy Holder, executive director of can become misundertstood and alienated. Beach House, agreed. “We were already doing The facilitators funded by these grants make reciprocal referrals with FOCUS and had an ex- both organizations feel welcome at the table tensive collective network of resource relation- and see that everyone’s voice has been heard. ships to help identify homelessness causes, as well as, address and decrease barriers to “The process doesn’t always lead to a merger,” permanent housing.” she notes, ”but that’s OK, too. Stakeholders learn about their own organizations and the But the new model created challenges. FOCUS, sector they are serving, and that is useful re- which had a well-established revenue stream gardless of whether the two organizations join of government reimbursements, was seeing a forces. Sometimes it turns out that the two are decrease each year. Beach House, which had not a good match, but someone else is.” strong private funding sources was primarily a shelter and wanted to expand programs and After a careful investigation, FOCUS and Beach services without competing with other local House decided the two would indeed be a good organizations. match — and on January 1, 2016, their two boards of directors merged into one. A second A leadership change leads to SAP grant is funding the transitional steps to organizational transformation creating a well-functioning single organization, including technology changes, staff training, When the executive director of FOCUS an- board integration, and branding the new entity. nounced her retirement in 2014, a colleague suggested to Tammy that she apply for the “It’s important to have a strong balance be- job. “But,” said Tammy, “my thought was, why tween compassion and accountability,” noted not join forces?” As it turned out, Michelle Tammy. “We hope we’re a model to the com- Klinger, former director of The Center for Non- munity, and that this will show effective use of profit Resources and program officer for the donor funds.” *In 2015, SAP funders included The Andersons, Inc.