FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 22, 2011
Partnership for Children of Cumberland County Wins Nonprofit Award for Social Entrepreneurship
Nonprofit Sector Stewardship Award goes to The Partnership for Children of Cumberland County
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 22, 2011
Contact: Tina Newcomb, 910-574-6767
Partnership for Children of Cumberland County
Wins Nonprofit Award for Social Entrepreneurship
The Partnership for Children of Cumberland County, Inc. (PFC) values collaboration and accountability. When a partner organization that serves children in Cumberland County was struggling to comply with all the laws and regulations that it must follow, PFC stepped in with its System of Support. The director said, “As a large ship enters a port, a small tugboat comes along beside it to gently nudge it safely into the harbor. When many wanted to cut ties with a program that seemed in dangerous waters, the Partnership for Children provided the technical assistance that pulled us to a safe place, protecting our precious ‘passengers.’
PFC will receive the state’s highest honor for nonprofits today from the N.C. Center for Nonprofits. The annual Nonprofit Sector Stewardship Award recognizes organizations that use exemplary practices to be sure they earn the public’s trust every day. The Center will present the award today at its statewide conference in Greensboro with 700 nonprofit, business, and government leaders in attendance.
"We are honoring PFC because, as a social entrepreneur, it combines the passion of a social mission with accountability, innovation, and disciplined management practices,” said Jane Kendall, president of the N.C. Center for Nonprofits.
“It makes sure that the future of children and their families is actually improved. It experiments, measures, and shares what it is learning across the community.”
PFC builds partnerships with families and within the community in order to provide all children with an opportunity to succeed in school. Since incorporating in 1993, the Partnership has been tapped to run NC Smart Start and NC Pre-K programs in the Fayetteville area.
Eva Hansen, president of PFC of Cumberland County, explains, “Early childhood programs are the most cost-effective way to ensure the healthy development of children whose families live in poverty. They offer the greatest returns to society.”
"PFC is a model for how nonprofits can adapt and thrive in these challenging times. It combines the administration, facilities, and evaluation for many organizations so all of them can make more of a difference. And, ten other states from Wyoming to Vermont are now replicating this local model.” said Dr. Loleta Wood Foster, a Fayetteville psychologist who serves on the N.C. Center’s statewide Board of Directors.
PFC helps to reduce the financial burden on area nonprofits by giving them a way to share workspaces, accounting, human resources services, and support on information technology. The PFC Resource Center brings together under one roof 16 different organizations that are dedicated to helping families and children. PFC also pioneered a Grant Evaluation Management Solution (GEMS) that uses a central data bank to measures the effectiveness of different investments in the community.
When two other Partnerships for Children were in jeopardy of closing, PFC agreed to handle their management. It then handed the helm back to them once they were in safer waters. “Good financial management is essential for nonprofits because they must continue to earn the public’s trust every day,” said Foster. “As a member of the N.C. Center for Nonprofits, PFC is an excellent model for other nonprofits. The N.C. Center spotlights these good practices and trains nonprofits to do the right things the right way.”
The Center also noted that PFC anticipated a few years ago that state budget cuts were coming, and it began diversifying its own funding sources. PFC’s $18 million budget now comes from 18 different sources, including private contributions from the community.
PFC assesses the needs in its community and then adjusts to meet those needs. It also recognizes its local culture and economy by reaching out to military families and their children and paying close attention to their special needs.
Karen McDonald, attorney for the City of Fayetteville and the past chair of PFC’s Board of Directors, said, “When PFC began, Cumberland County had no nationally-accredited child care centers or homes. Now it has 28. Before, individual programs only evaluated their programs when it was required. Now the process of evaluating direct services is institutionalized.”
“Evaluating results is one of the important practices for strong nonprofits,” said Kendall. These practices are outlined in Principles & Practices for Nonprofit Excellence: A Self-Help Tool for Organizational Effectiveness. This short guide published by the N.C. Center includes specific benchmarks that board and staff members seek to achieve.
Foster and Kendall will present the 2011 Nonprofit Sector Stewardship Award. Accepting it for PFC will be: President Eva Hansen; Board Chair Jeff Hylland; past Board Chairs Karen McDonald, Charles Morris, and Dr. W.T. Brown, and staff members Marie Clark and Lynn Vick.
The other 2011 Award winners are the Davidson Housing Coalition in the Town of Davidson and the statewide nonprofit Disability Rights North Carolina. The winners receive recognition from nonprofit leaders across the state and from their elected officials at the local, state, and national levels. The Center’s Board of Directors serves as the selection committee.
Sponsorship of the awards by Prudential Financial, Inc. makes it possible for the Center to present each winner with $500 to invest in professional development for their board and staff, and a commemorative work by Durham artist Galia Goodman.
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