Dayton Nonprofits Pool Resources to Stay in Business
Dayton Nonprofits Pool Resources to Stay in Business
As funding from the country dries up, nonprofits in Montgomery County, Ohio, are scrambling to find ways to keep their organizations running, the Dayton Daily News reports.
Local nonprofits attending a public forum on Wednesday learned that contracts awarded by the county will fall to $1.7 million by 2013; in 2000, the county awarded $8.8 million in contracts. To keep their organizations going, attendees volunteered to work together on action plans that surfaced during the meeting, including aligning service clusters to maximize funding opportunities, creating a unified grant application process, and advocating in Columbus on behalf of the social services sector.
During the forum, Dayton Foundation president Michael Parks also announced that his foundation and the county have committed an additional $30,000 to continue the Nonprofit Alliances Support Program, which is designed to help local groups find ways to make their organizations more efficient through partnerships, alliances, and mergers. In addition, at least three nonprofit groups at the meeting expressed interest in contributing funds toward a full-time development director to boost their collective fundraising efforts.
"It's easy to think the sky is falling completely and there is no bright spot," said Ohio Grantmakers Forum president George Espy. "There are still some good things going on. There was a recovery from the great flood and there will be recovery from this."
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