What's the Group's Next Step?

An idea developed for the next program meeting during the Group discussion of the 6 questions and the answers that were generated. The idea is to capture the economic impact of the nonprofit community in the region and communicate this impact to other organizations and government agencies. This idea was the result of discussion focused on question 3, which asked:

Do we want this Group be similar to a chamber of commerce, and if so, in
what ways?

The discussion developed around the idea of the return on value from Chamber membership, and how this value could be improved. From this discussion, the Group proposed focusing on articulating the impact of nonprofits on the region, including economic and quality of life. The Group would like to calculate the economic impact of nonprofits by aggregating salaries, number of employees, and how much money is spent in the community (and possibly other factors, like numbers of people served). The Group also discussed including quality of life factors, but this area is hard to measure or quantify, so the Group will explore this further by looking at other studies and examples (such as American Express arts study and the "Weed and Seed" Program in Binghamton).

The Group would like to take this information and present it in a report form at a special program meeting possibly attended by all the heads of the area Chambers (and maybe local government officials). A conversation could begin between Chambers and nonprofits about who nonprofits are, their impact on the community, and how the two can better understand each other and work together. The Steering Committee will be discussing this idea as the topic for the next program meeting. Details will be announced shortly.

Interested in hearing this discussion? A digital recording (mp3) is available here. Please share your feedback about this conversation and these ideas for the Group's next steps.