Lifecycles Forum Wrap-Up

On September 25th, the College of Community and Public Affairs hosted a forum on nonprofit orgnaization lifecycles, co-sponsored by the Southern Tier AIDS Program, The Community Foundation for South Central New York and the Hoyt Foundation. The forum was attended by approximately 75 local nonprofit leaders, University faculty and students and was covered by local media.



Keynote speaker Susan Chambré , who has studied the emergence and development of AIDS organizations in New York City, shared case studies of two organizations. She highlighted several factors that contributed to the survival of new organizations she studied, including the ability to make the transition from temporary start-up funds (often from foundations) to more reliable ongoing sources of funding, such as government support. She noted that organizations need to be clear about the distinct challenges they face at start-up if they are to be successful and that new organizations have a short "honeymoon" period during which initial funders are likely to provide support to organizations. Successful organizations need to plan for what happens after that honeymoon period ends.



Karen Wright, Executive Director of Stillwater RTF shared the story of her organization, which has been in operation for about ten years. She discussed a variety of challenges her organization has faced and overcome, including establishing a unique identity, and manging through leadership transitions. She described the opportunities that were created by the separation of Stillwater from the organization that created it, the Children's Home of the Wyoming Conference.



The session ended with a funder's panel, in which participants emphasized funders' obligations to organizations at different phases of their lifecycle. Each funder discussed his/her organization's willingness to support technical or consultation assistance to create capacity at different stages in the lifecycle. They noted that support was not open-ended and that funders' unique priorities determine the extent to which they are able to provide support to any organization. All acknowledged that understanding an organization's stage of development was critical to effective grantmaking.

We at the College of Community and Public Affairs were delighted to be able to host the forum and look forward to future opportunities to collaborate with researchers and practitioners to present knowledge we can use to improve our organizations and community life in South Cental New York.

Video from the forum and the slides used by our keynote presenter will be provided on the website of the Center for Applied Community Research and Development shortly (http:\\cacrd.binghamton.edu).

David Campbell