Member News

Congratulations Fall 2019 MORE Graduates

2019-12-03T10:58:57-05:00November 26th, 2019|Member News|

Nonprofit Montgomery would like to recognize organizations for participating in the November 20-21, 2019 session of MORE, Nonprofit Montgomery’s metrics and evaluation program.

Nonprofit Montgomery partners with the Department of Health & Human Services and the Healthcare Initiative Foundation, The Meyer Foundation, The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, and The Greater Washington Community Foundation-Montgomery County to offer capacity building programs such as FIRM (our financial leadership program) and MORE.

We’d like to thank our partners: Montgomery County DHHS, The Universities at Shady Grove, and these local funders who invest in building strength and capacity in the nonprofit sector.

Member News and Updates

2019-11-13T11:43:13-05:00November 13th, 2019|Member News|

EveryMind 2019 Impact Report available online
Some highlights include:
  • 17,805 calls answered through phone, text and chat on the hotline.
  • 414 veterans, service members and their families received support for 1,006 needs.
Identity, Inc.
Annual Report and Evaluation Report

Some highlights include:
  • 118 youth successfully completed workforce development, job readiness, and soft skills training.
  • 46 clients enrolled in job certification courses like Early Childhood Education, Certified Medical Assistance, HIPAA, OSHA and CPR.
The Justice Arts Coalition
In case you missed it, Managing Director Wendy Jason of JAC served as an advisory to the special edition of The Washington Post Magazine that was dedicated entirely to writing, art, and photography by currently and formerly incarcerated people.

Nonprofit Montgomery Advocacy Alert – November 8, 2019

2020-02-05T08:43:12-05:00November 8th, 2019|Advocacy, Member News, MoCo Government News|

Proposed Changes to Community Grants
Sign up for a focus group on grant changes today.

(L to R: Josh Watters, Carolyn Chen)

 

On Tuesday Nonprofit Montgomery hosted the annual Community Grants Dialogue providing nonprofit leaders with an opportunity to hear from County staff about proposed changes to the Community Grants process. Josh Watters, Budget Manager, Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and Carolyn Chen, Council Grants Manager presented on the following proposals. Proposals (explained below) have major implications for nonprofits that have been funded through County Executive and County Council grants.

At this point, none of the proposals have been adopted and there is still time to make your voice heard. Nonprofits will have the opportunity to have input into the changes through a series of focus groups hosted by Nonprofit Montgomery with County staff. Spaces will fill quickly, so sign up today.  

Here are the six proposals outlined at the Grants Dialogue. See the October 22 Office of Management and Budget Memo for further explanation of each. The PowerPoint presentation can be found here.

Item #1: Combine County Executive and County Council NDAs, make no changes to the Cost-Sharing Capital Grants Process
Instead of having two parallel review processes, the grants pool will be combined into one. Work on this priority began last year with the combined application. A single grant pool will be in place for FY21. Details of the process for FY 21 will be announced soon.

Item #2: Change the Community Grants Process to be Outcomes Driven
Currently Community Grants are approved in the budget process in the spring. This proposal would have a total amount for grants to be approved in the budget, but actual awards would be made outside of the budget process.  Grant funds would be allocated to priority areas aligned with the County Executive’s priorities, and awarded in grant cycles spread throughout the year. Grants would be reviewed by teams of subject matter experts. This change is slated for implementation in FY22.

Item #3: Create a Grants Office to Manage the Community Grants Process
A Grants Office would be created in County Government to administer multiple grant cycles. The office would help applicants, and would also help County departments apply for external funding. The Grants Office would be created in FY21.

Item #4: Create an Aspire Grant Program to help build Nonprofit Capacity
The Aspire Grants program would help nonprofits build capacity, innovate and partner. Grantees would receive technical assistance and be eligible for funding. The Aspire Grant program would be created in the FY21 budget.

Item #5: Create a Grant Agreement Tool
A Grant Agreement would streamline awards to nonprofits by removing them from the contracting and procurement process. Funds would be paid out in installments, and tied to progress reports outlining the accomplishment of grant outcomes. OMB is currently looking into the legality of this approach.

Item #6: Move Certain Community Grants to the Base Budgets of Departments 
Some Community Grants will be recommended for base budget contracts. County Departments have been asked to evaluate Community Grants they administer looking at how long the department has administered the grant, how the grant fulfills the departments outcomes, and how it fits with the County Executive’s priority outcomes and the Department’s core mission.

Recommendations will be made to the County Executive for grants to be moved to the base budget in FY21. Nonprofits will find out in March if services they provide will be included in base budget contracts. Contract will initially be awarded for one year, and may be competitively bid in the future.
TIMELINE AND DATES TO WATCH

November 22, December 2 & 3: Community Grant Focus groups (sign up here)
December: Community Grants application portal opens for applicants for funding in FY 21. Grants workshops held.
December 3: Legislation to create a Grants Office in County government will be introduced. Public hearings will follow.
January: Applications for funding in FY 21 due
January 16: Potential HHS/ GO committee meeting to review progress
March: Nonprofits find out if particular programs/services are recommended for base budget contracts.
July 1: Start of the FY 21 funding year; County Grants office created.

At this point, none of the proposals have been adopted and there is still time to make your voice heard. Sign up for a focus group to express your opinion.

Stay informed. Watch Nonprofit Montgomery’s enews for updates; and the County Grants team will be updating the website with current information. 
Background: Montgomery County’s County Executive and County Council grants awarded over $14 million in grants to nonprofits for this fiscal year. The County Council and County Executive committed to fixing some long-term issues in the process and have been working on a proposal. An internal workgroup was convened to develop a proposal, and two work sessions with the County Council Health and Human Services and Government Operations Committees (July 18 and October 24) have been held.

Nonprofit Montgomery asked for representation and a voice for nonprofits in the deliberations. Josh Watters from OMB and Carolyn Chen from the Council Grants office have met with Board and Advocacy Committee members and on Tuesday attended Nonprofit Montgomery’s Community Grants Dialogue to answer questions about the following proposed changes.

(L to R: Carolyn Chen, Lesley MacDonald, Debbie Riley, Jackie DeCarlo, Josh Watters)

County Council Honoring Nancy Leopold

2019-10-28T12:38:10-04:00October 26th, 2019|Member News|

On Tuesday, October 29 at 9:30am the Montgomery County Council is going to present a proclamation honoring CollegeTracks’ Co-Founder and longtime Executive Director, Nancy Leopold, for her many years of service to Montgomery County. Nancy also served on the Board of Directors of Nonprofit Montgomery. For more information please contact CollegeTracks.

Congratulations Fall 2019 FIRM Graduates

2019-10-14T12:35:44-04:00October 11th, 2019|Member News|

Nonprofit Montgomery would like to recognize organizations for participating in the September 25-26, 2019 session of FIRM, Nonprofit Montgomery’s financial leadership and management program.

Nonprofit Montgomery partners with the Department of Health & Human Services and the Healthcare Initiative Foundation, The Meyer Foundation, The Morris & Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, The Universities at Shady Grove, and The Greater Washington Community Foundation-Montgomery County to offer capacity building programs such as FIRM and MORE (our metrics and evaluation partners).

We’d like to thank our partners: Montgomery County DHHS and these local funders who invest in building strength and capacity in the nonprofit sector.

Ayuda; Bender JCC of Greater Washington;
Celestial Manna; EveryMind; FFCF;
Girls on the Run of Montgomery County, MD; JCADA; Kolot HaLev; Lab Rescue LRCP;
Life Asset; Poolesville Area Senior Center;
Up 2 Us Foundation; Vietnamese American Services;
Wonders Early Learning + Extended Day

Join the MORE Evaluation Network

2019-09-30T09:08:31-04:00September 30th, 2019|Member News, Training Opportunities|

We at Nonprofit Montgomery are putting our MORE learning into practice. As we evaluated our MORE program, we noted that many of you asked for additional support for your evaluation work:

  • Our focus dropped off after the consulting session.We aspired to keep up the process but other priorities limited that possibility. Continued structured follow-up would have helped us.
  • You spoke of a community of practice… Foster/curate/gently incubate/push/develop that community! A yahoo group …. something like that so we can continue to support each other and remind each other that we are not alone!

Well, we listened. The MORE Evaluation Network includes an interactive online discussion group as well as quarterly meetings to support nonprofit staff in building their evaluation knowledge and help support one another implementing evaluation in nonprofits. This community of practice includes an online moderated discussion and quarterly gatherings for network members.

Who: The network is open to all MORE alumni.
What: Participants will be invited to a LinkedIn group where Sharp Insight will moderate a discussion forum around various evaluation topics. In addition, Nonprofit Montgomery will host quarterly brown bags facilitated by Sharp Insight.
When: First session: October 23, 12:00-1:30 pm
Where: Nonprofit Montgomery’s Office, 6010 Executive Blvd., Suite 200, Rockville
How: Register below to let us know if you plan to attend on October 23 and for instructions on how to join the LinkedIn group.
Bonus: Lunch at the October 23rd launch is on us!

JOIN HERE

Nonprofit Montgomery Welcomes Five New Board Members

2019-09-14T14:02:16-04:00September 13th, 2019|Member News|

Nonprofit leaders know that a strong, functioning board is essential for success. We at Nonprofit Montgomery are very grateful to the nonprofit leaders who serve on our Board of Directors. Though they are busy leaders of their own organizations, our Board members think broadly about the nonprofit sector and give their time and expertise to furthering our mission to strengthen, support and give visibility to the sector.

This fall we welcome the following new members to our board:  

  • Shannon Babe-Thomas, Executive Director, Community Bridges, Inc.
  • Ann Mazur, CEO, EveryMind
  • Carson Henry, Executive Director, YMCA Youth & Family Services
  • Kylie McCleaf, Executive Director, Family Services, Inc.
  • Elijah Wheeler, Deputy Executive Director/Social Justice Director, Montgomery County Collaboration Council for Children, Youth and Families, Inc.

Our newly elected board President is Debbie Riley, CEO of Center for Adoption Support and Education. Also serving on the Executive Committee are:

  • Jacob Newman, Managing Director, Montgomery County, Latin American Youth Center, Board VP
  • Jackie DeCarlo, CEO, Manna Food Center, Board Secretary
  • Shane Rock, CEO, Interfaith Work, Board Treasurer

We also thank Kathy Stevens and Suzan Jenkins (formerly Board President and Vice President) for their service on the Executive Committee. Kathy and Suzan continue their service on the board, along with (list remaining board members)

  • Rosalba Bonilla-Acosta, Director of Maryland State, CentroNía
  • Chloe Perez, President & CEO, Hearts & Homes for Youth
  • Abe Schuchman, CEO, Housing Unlimited
  • Susie Sinclair-Smith, CEO, Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless
Thanks to all for their leadership and commitment! 
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