The NonProfit Times - February 1, 2008 - (Page 1) The Leading Business Publication For Nonprofit Management • www.nptimes.com • $6.00 U.S. February 1, 2008 Taking Things One Paycheck At A Time Grassroots group aims to influence homeless-serving organizations By Andrea Muirragui Davis A s the nation’s sluggish economy worsens in some areas, a group of formerly homeless men in Indianapolis is working to draw attention to the plight of people like them.The effort, dubbed One Paycheck Away (OPA), is focused on education and advocacy. The goal: To raise awareness of the problem in hopes of finding a solution. Such so-called “peer-empowerment” initiatives are gaining steam nationally, said Indiana University Professor Eric Wright, director of the school’s Center for Health Policy. “This is one of the most powerful ways to engage difficult populations, those who might feel they aren’t a good fit for the existing system,” he said. “It’s amazing how much they really connect with people in ways policymakers and … advocates cannot,” said Wright.“It’s much more powerful when you have someone who’s been there -or is there -- talking about the situation.” OPA got its start last fall after several men,who were living at an Indianapolis Mark Little, center, and members of One Paycheck Away, gather to share stories and give support for the possibility that they are one good week away from having places to live they can call their own, rather than being without them. homeless shelter, joined an adult Bible study group at a nearby church. The topic was God and politics.The conversation quickly turned to homelessness. The men didn’t have easy answers, but they wanted to help look for some. “We were complaining about a system that didn’t work,” said co-founder Mark Little, 31, who found himself homeless after battling mental illness but now has housing.“So we decided to get a few people together and see what we could do. … Nobody ever stops to think, ‘What’s best for you guys? What do you think?’” The group got its name from the fa- miliar saying that countless Americans are one paycheck away from homelessness. Its members firmly believe they are one paycheck away from having homes. With support from Lockerbie United Methodist Church, they set out to share their views with the community through a monthly -- now bimonthly -- newsletter by the same name. Little prints approximately 400 copies of each issue on the church copy machine and distributes them to central Indiana service providers and others, including homeless people living in shelters and on the streets. Donations cover most of the $150 to $200 per issue cost of printing and postage. The publication has examined some of the root causes of homelessness, including mental illness, substance abuse, unemployment and abuse.It regularly shares individual stories and provides a handy resource guide for the homeless. Building awareness has been the group’s primary goal,but its partnership with the church has provided other opOne Paycheck At A Time, page 6 One Third Of Donors Skip Giving In Some Years R oughly six in 10 U.S. households contribute to charity routinely, according to new findings from the Center on Philanthropy Panel Study (COPPS) at Indiana University. But, nearly one-third of donors take a year off. The ongoing survey asked the same 8,000 families about their charitable gifts made in 2000, 2002 and 2004. While the total percentage of households that gave was similar in all three years (67 to 69 percent), it was not always the same households. The study found that nearly one third of households shift between donating and not donating. Because COPPS asks the same families about their giving in different years, for the first time researchers can determine the proportion of people nationwide who switch back and forth between giving and not giving. “Nonprofits’ ability to encourage donors to keep giving is vital to raising needed funds. Finding that a sizeable portion of people who give in one year do not make any gifts at all the following year opens the door to greater understanding of the factors that influence people’s giving, and what causes those behaviors to change,” said Eugene R.Tempel, executive director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. COPPS researchers found that 56 percent of households gave donations in each of the three years. Another three in 10 households Giving, page 8 Using Technology To Boost Visibility Charities get to the top of consumer Web sites By Marla E. Nobles W ith everybody and their uncle creating videos and posting them onto the wildly popular social media site YouTube, it stands to reason that the majority of the videos simply get lost in the clutter. That’s not the case with Campaign for America’s Future (CAF). A recent YouTube video -- starring funnyman and Seinfeld alum Jason Alexander -- was dealt a much more auspicious fate. After garnering more than 48,000 views in just two days on the site, CAF’s video was pro- Actor Jason Alexander spoofed presidential advisor Karl moted to the No. 1 spot in the Rove during a YouTube video. Charities are turning to short videos on social networking site to find a younger audience. Comedy category, and reached the front page of the YouTube Web site tor of online communications. The -- a rare feat for a nonprofit-produced cherry on top of all those views: CAF video. This rush in popularity incited ended up collecting roughly 2,500 more than 180 blog postings. The new members for its email list. The secret to success was a little bit video was also picked up by prominent social bookmarking sites. Within of technology. Using an application deTechnology, page 29 three weeks, the video had racked up more than 100,000 views. “When we did our campaign on YouTube, we were more interested in getting people to watch the video, as opposed to getting a top rating on YouTube,” explained Ian Mishalove, the Washington, D.C. nonprofit’s direc- http://www.nptimes.com
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