Special Project Committee

Joe Slavik, Michelle Napolitano and Joe Sellepack met on Nov. 21 to discuss
a few questions that would help shape some of the projects that our
committee will consider. The questions that we wanted to discuss are "What
is the purpose or mission of our committee?" "What are some projects that
we want to consider?" "How do we want to complete these projects?" "How
often should we meet?" and "When should we meet next?"

It was realized by the three people who met that we did not represent enough
of our committee to do anything but offer recommendations. What is offered
here is merely our attempt at beginning a conversation that might be
continued at the next meeting: time, date and venue listed below.
To answer the first question, we want to propose that the purpose of the
special projects committee is to advocate for non-profits and to conduct
projects that would assist non-profits to better communicate what their role
is in the community.

Some possible projects we would like to consider are: 1) The social and
economic impact of non-profits on the community - it was determined that we
should tell the story of non-profits in the community - try to put a face on
what we do what we do... We also want to tell the story behind the numbers,
demonstrating how much it costs non-profits to do the work they do and how
much that saves the average tax payer, 2) Conduct a community needs
assessment and find gaps and overlaps in services among non-profits - part
of this study would be to talk to foundations and funding sources, 3) A
media impact study - to collaborate on ways that we might help communicate
the story of non-profits and the role various media play in helping shape
the message, and 4) Ways that non-profits can network with the University.
The breadth of these subjects suggests that they will not be studies that
are easily done. Rather it requires broad participation from member
non-profits and might benefit from students from BU to help shape and move
the project to completion. It was agreed that we would talk to Jennifer
Marshall of BU's school of Social Work about having interns do the initial
studies. We also talked about whether a Master's thesis from the BU school
of Public Admin. might be a better option. If it is a MA thesis, it might
help if we were to help fund a project or a scholarship for a student. This
will require further discussion.

We also agreed that initially we may need to meet more frequently than once
a quarter, but that ultimately quarterly meetings that mirror our larger
meetings would be optimal (unless it is determined by the group that more
are needed for a specific project).

The next meeting is scheduled for 8:30 Jan. 9 at the Broome County Council
of Churches. We are contacting Allison Alden and Jennifer Marshall to be at
the meeting. It was further recommended that we contact Andrew Marietta to
find out if there are similar long range projects (especially the economic
and social impact study) that we could peruse.

If you have any suggestions or questions, please do not hesitate to hit
reply.

Best,
Joe Sellepack