ANNUAL REPORT 2015 2 ANNUAL REPORT 2015 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS A Letter from Our Leaders 5 A Year in Numbers 6 The Power of Volunteers 9 Improving Education 10 Meeting Immediate Needs 13 Revitalizing Public Spaces 14 Community Partners 2015 16 Financial Supporters 2015 26 Financial Statement 2015 32 Board of Directors 34 New York Cares Staff 35 4 ANNUAL REPORT 2015 5 A LETTER FROM OUR LEADERS DEAR FRIENDS We are proud to report that 2015 marked another year of continued growth for New York Cares. A record 63,000 New Yorkers expanded the impact of our volunteer- led programs at 1,350 nonprofits and public schools citywide. These caring individuals ensured that the life-saving and life-enriching services our programs offer are delivered daily to New Yorkers living at or below the poverty line. Thanks to the generous support we received from people like you, our volunteers accomplished a great deal, including: Education: • reinforcing reading and math skills in 22,000 elementary school students • tutoring more than 1,000 high school juniors for their SATs • preparing 20,000 adults for the workforce Immediate needs: • serving 550,000 meals to the hungry (+10% vs. the prior year) • collecting 100,000 warm winter coats–a record number not seen since Hurricane Sandy • helping 19,000 seniors avoid the debilitating effects of social isolation Revitalization of public spaces: Paul J. Taubman • cleaning, greening and painting more than 170 parks, community gardens and schools Board President We are equally proud of the enormous progress made in serving the South Bronx, Central Brooklyn and Central Queens through our Focus Zone initiative. Over the last two years, we have increased the number of volunteers in these areas by 57% with a corresponding increase in the number of programs serving these communities. Finally, in 2015, we launched an ambitious plan to expand our work in education. Over the next five years, we will increase the number of public school students we serve by 80%. We invite you to learn more about the work of New York Cares in the following pages and we thank you—our friends, partners and supporters—for continuing to believe in the power of volunteers to make New York City a better place for everyone to live. Best, Gary Bagley Executive Director 6 ANNUAL REPORT 2015 7 A YEAR IN NUMBERS A YEAR IN NUMBERS 1,350 1,600 28 Nonprofits and schools Volunteer projects Average number of times benefit from New York planned and managed annually our volunteers visit 63,000 Cares’ services every month a nonprofit or school 15,400 15,000 6.8 New volunteers Corporate volunteer Average number of projects a VOLUNTEERS oriented positions volunteer completes in a year WHAT WE DO 57% 36% 7% Education Immediate Needs Public Spaces WHERE WE WORK 195,000 21% 28% 33% 15% 3% VOLUNTEER POSITIONS The Bronx Brooklyn Manhattan Queens Staten FILLED BY NEW YORK CARES Island 2015 ANNUAL EVENTS 100,000 coats 43,000 gifts 3,900 volunteers 4,200 volunteers collected and distributed to children, repaired and restored brightened learning distributed for a total teens, and seniors 71 parks and gardens spaces at 68 schools of 1.8 million coats 400,000NEW YORKERS SERVED BY NEW YORK CARES’ PROGRAMS collected since 1989 8 ANNUAL REPORT 2015 9 THE POWER OF VOLUNTEERS New York Cares serves as a strategic partner to schools and fellow nonprofits by developing and managing volunteer-led programs to help these organizations serve more people. With 20% of New Yorkers living below the poverty line according to recent Census data, nearly two million people rely on these vital services. In 2015, New York Cares managed an average of 1,600 projects per month – many requiring long-term commitments from volunteers – at 1,350 organizations. These projects focus on three main issue areas: Education Immediate Needs Public Spaces SAT Prep, Financial Aid Coat Drive, Meal Prep & Planting Trees & Flowers, Counseling, College Entrance Delivery, Socializing with Removing Invasive Species, Prep, Academic Tutoring, Seniors, Disaster Response, Mural Painting, Erosion Lego Robotics, Math Holiday Gifts, Health and Control, Composting, Foundations, Financial Literacy, Wellness Activities, Assembling Restoring Playgrounds, Job Readiness, Nutrition Hygiene Kits, and More Painting School Buildings Education, and More & Classrooms, and More “As the largest volunteer management organization in the five boroughs, New York Cares has improved the quality of life for countless New Yorkers thanks to initiatives like its annual Coat Drive, programs for students, disaster response services, and so much more.” – Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City 10 ANNUAL REPORT 2015 11 9,640 IMPROVING EDUCATION education projects In New York City, only 30% of fourth graders are proficient in both math and reading, and 23,000 students drop out 63,893 of high school every year. Unemployment in certain areas people served of the city continues to hover near 10%, nearly double the citywide average. Improving academic outcomes for NYC’s youth and training adults to compete in the current 60,638 economy are critical to moving the city forward. volunteer slots filled What We Do 115,671 SAT Prep, Financial Aid Counseling, College Entrance Prep, volunteer hours Academic Tutoring, Lego Robotics, Math Foundations, Financial Literacy, Job Readiness, Nutrition Education, and More What We Accomplished students with service learning A Day for opportunities with the ultimate goal New York Cares has worked to of improving student performance and Public Schools establish strong relationships with retention. On New York Cares Day Fall 2015, hundreds of public schools and social Our education programs serving held on October 16th, 4,200 service agencies, and developed an adults help vulnerable men and volunteers devoted an entire ability to deploy trained volunteers to women build stronger careers for day to painting and cleaning 68 address multiple gaps in the education themselves, and, thus, brighter futures NYC public schools. Volunteers system, changing the lives of children for their children. This past year, New also raised money throughout and adults alike. York Cares volunteers served 31,000 September and October in The New York Cares School Success adults through projects focused on job support of New York Cares’ year- Initiative is a holistic partnership with readiness, tax preparation services, Expansion Powered by Sidley Austin round education programming. our city’s public schools. We engage English language practice, computer In total, volunteers created 110 students, parents, and community skills, and financial literacy. In 2014, in recognition of the firm’s centennial in murals, organized 28 libraries members in volunteer-led educational In all, we filled nearly 61,000 New York City, the Sidley Austin Foundation made a and storage rooms, and raised programming that reached 800 volunteer positions within our over $100,000 to allow us to children and their parents last year. education programs in 2015, working generous gift of $500,000 to New York Cares. Sidley’s grow programs focused on As part of our College Access in more than 300 public schools leadership gift enabled New York Cares to launch improving educational results for offerings, we provided SAT Prep and nonprofits. Demand for these 22,000 kids. courses to 1,050 high schoolers last services remains high and, in the next a five-year expansion of our education programming, year, helping them increase their year, New York Cares plans to focus with a goal to serve 80% more students annually by scores by an average of 200 points resources on expanding educational the end of 2019 than we did in the 2013-14 school year, from initial practice test to actual exam. offerings accordingly. In the fall of 2015, we launched a and engage more than 2,000 volunteers. partnership with The City University of New York (CUNY) to provide college 12 ANNUAL REPORT 2015 13 MEETING IMMEDIATE NEEDS 7,059 immediate needs projects In New York City, more than 1.7 million people live in poverty. Over 1.3 million are food insecure and lack access to enough food for a healthy life for family members. 659,326 Considering these factors and with homelessness meals served reaching a level last seen during the Great Depression, human service agencies and municipal authorities charged with supporting this vulnerable population are 53,266 stretched thin, relying on New York Cares and the power volunteer slots filled of volunteers to meet many basic necessities. What We Do Coat Drive, Meal Prep & Delivery, Socializing with Seniors, 111,131 volunteer hours Disaster Response, Holiday Gifts, Health and Wellness Activities, Assembling Hygiene Kits, and More What We Accomplished Give a Gift. Hunger Seniors Grant a Wish. In 2015, New York Cares volunteers One million New Yorkers are over the December can be one of the served over 650,000 meals to clients age of 65 and many spend their days most difficult months for those of God's Love We Deliver, City Harvest, in nursing homes, where some don’t in need. Every year, however, Coalition for the Homeless, and many receive regular visitors. The negative thousands of generous other agencies focused on homeless health effects of loneliness can be volunteers show struggling and low-income populations. Without significant and the benefits of regular New Yorkers that they haven’t New York Cares, the capacity of these interaction can be enormous. For been forgotten. Through our NYC Donates 100,000 Coats nonprofits to serve their clients would example, recent research at Harvard’s Winter Wishes program, NYC be greatly diminished and much of the School of Public Health showed that an residents answered 43,000 New York Cares collected an astounding work to fight hunger in NYC would not active social life decreases the rate of letters from kids, teens, and 100,000 coats during the 27th Annual be possible.