Power of Good

Nonprofits listen, learn at Elevate roundtable Major funders say they recognize problems facing nonprofits and are putting available dollars toward helping them. N MISS O T OR 15% 14 % COMM 5% DEVEL NDI FU N IO V UNTE OL UL EG AT R 8% N IO 58% IT'S A LACK OF FUNDING NOT A LACK OF CARING When asked what factor most limits your success, you responded "Lack of Funding". Elevate is about helping increase the visibility of needs in our state and the visibility of our partners, and with increased visibility hopefully comes increased funding. SUPP ER G N "Nonprofits have always been struggling, always," robinson said after the roundtable. "But now, demand is greater and the amount of money they have is less because of the economy, and donations are down." e good news in such a bleak assessment is that the major funders say they recognize those problems and are putting available dollars toward programs that tackle poverty and education. When asked about poverty, richard King, director of Charitable Giving for Alabama Power, said: "Everything we do is to help those who can't help themselves." Ann Forney, director of Corporate Contributions for regions, cited funding for programs that teach reading, provide affordable housing and help the homeless, while Protective's Cotton mentioned funding for food banks, shelters, reading programs and transportation. On education, Forney mentioned funding for A-Plus and A-Plus College ready, which works to increase the number of high school students taking MENT OP 10 she knows any of its board members – and that if board members aren't listed, they should be. "So many requests are coming in now. relationships are key," she said. "Very candidly, that can tip it sometimes." robinson took note and on the drive back to Birmingham called the directors of two of the nonprofits on which he serves as a board member and asked whether board members' names are on the agency's letterhead. (One nonprofit's are; the other's aren't, but soon will be, he said.) During registration for Elevate, attendees answered questions about the challenges they face. Almost 6 in 10 said a lack of funding most limits their success, while the issues that most impact the people they serve are poverty (37 percent), education (25 percent) and economic (17 percent). More than half of those who responded (53 percent) said lack of education is the biggest threat to the state's future success, followed by unemployment (22 percent) and poverty (21 percent). ICATI UN W WHEN THREE OF ALABAMA'S LARGEST funders of nonprofits get together, it's like an old E.F. Hutton television commercial. ose of a certain age no doubt remember: Two men talk investing strategy in a crowded airport, or whitetablecloth restaurant, or at the end of a jog in the city. When one says his broker is E.F. Hutton, everyone else stops what they are doing, leans in and the noise becomes hear-a-pin-drop silence, followed by the tagline: "When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen." When representatives from the Alabama Power Foundation, the Protective Life Foundation and regions Financial Corp. talked at the Elevate conference's philanthropic roundtable in Montgomery on Aug. 28, the nonprofits listened. And learned. "Everybody left with something," said moderator Guin robinson, director of Institutional Development for Jefferson State Community College. "Whether they were veteran or new, they all took away something." Even robinson, a former mayor of Pell City who has served on many boards and agencies, took away something courtesy of Kate Cotton, executive director of the Protective Life Foundation. Cotton said she always looks on the letterhead of a nonprofit agency's funding request to see if STORY BY BOB BLALOC K PHOTO BY BI LL SN OW OTHER RESPONSES

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