Building Bridges Newsletter Winter 2019 Edition

Your newest edition has arrived! We are excited to share with you stories of passion and purpose. Each section contains dynamic content about the people and places where we live, work, and play. We encourage your feedback for our quarterly newsletter. We look forward to bringing you meaningful and relevant content in future editions. And we want to connect with you through our programs and partnerships. Please forward to anyone who you feel would be interested in getting involved with us. "There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven't yet met." -William Butler Yeats

Community Connections

Many of you are making a difference by building strong relationships across sectors. Thank you for your commitment to the missions that matter .

Bayer Center Announces Second Cohort in BNY Mellon “Ready to Compete” Initiative Like all work at the Bayer Center, this program will both employ best practices and be custom to each organization. Thanks to the generosity of the BNY Mellon Foundation, the cost of these engagements (valued at $6,500) are just $500 per organization. The second cohort will run from April to August, and will support 14 additional nonprofits to strengthen their capacity around finance or human resources management.  Learn more about the program.

Robert Morris University Hosts 4th Annual Women & Transformational Leadership Symposium The 2019 Symposium is a free two-day conference focused on the advancement of women and systemic change to eliminate gender bias and inequity. The event highlights visionary leaders addressing innovation, change, and equity through interactive workshops and panels. Keynote address: MY STORY, MY JOURNEY, MY PURPOSE - Celebrating Black Beauty Through The Art of Inclusion by Demeatria Boccella. Register for this free event today.

Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) Drive Diversity and Inclusion Many of our business partners, like Covestro, not only create employee resource groups for their team members, but they encourage participation. As it turns out, there’s a direct link between these groups and positive impact on diversity and inclusion. PwC and The Manufacturing Institute recently co-published a white paper on this very topic as a top priority for businesses. Read the entire study here.

Executive Women’s Council Presents “Board Bound” Event Sponsored by our partners at Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh, the Executive Women’s Council of Greater Pittsburgh (EWC) will hold this breakfast event on Friday, April 5, 2019 from 8AM to 12PM. Click here for more information and to register .

Nonprofit Talent Announces Newest Nonprofit Hires We are excited to see so many of our nonprofit partners hiring creative, passionate, smart, dynamic, and bold individuals, like Sustainable Pittsburgh’s Executive Director Joylette Portlock . To view the latest list of nonprofit hires, check out our friends at Nonprofit Talent ‘s most recent newsletter .

Celebrate the Power of Conversation on Friday, April 5 Since 2009, more than 2,500 dynamic, diverse, engaged, and interested participants from different walks of life have gathered each spring to share a meal, share ideas, and communicate in an effort to effect positive changes in our region. We hope to see you at the table.

Community Perspective

Passion for service connects our community. Perspective connects more people to purpose-driven work. If you have a unique perspective or story to share, let us know .

Ginny Volponi Named ESC Volunteer of the Year One of the most integral perspectives in shaping a community is its volunteers. And one of the most integral volunteers at the Covestro Center for Community Engagement is Ginny Volponi. Thank you, Ginny, for your gifts of service to the nonprofit community, passion to strengthen partnerships with the corporate community, and leadership to shape and grow our work internally. Read more of Ginny's story and dedication to purpose-driven work here.

Community Impact

The Covestro Center for Community Engagement connects corporate social purpose and nonprofits’ missions for long-term impact. CCCE programs – BoardsWork!, SkillShare and the Executive Service Corps – provide nonprofits with a range of professional services they may otherwise be unable to afford. Through our programs, we provide trained, service-minded corporate volunteers to nonprofits – whether its new board directors, or teams of employees charged with solving a specific operational issue you need help with, or seasoned management consultants who can provide one-on-one advice and expertise.

Transforming PULSE, Transforming Pittsburgh Pittsburgh Urban Leadership Service Experience, PULSE, cultivates a community of young servant leaders to transform Pittsburgh. In 2018 alone, 43 fellows served, lived, and grew together with 40 nonprofit organizations. As that agent for change, PULSE looked internally to determine where they as an organization could strengthen their operations and board governance to better serve their partners and fellows. PULSE reached out for assistance through BoardsWork! and our SkillShare programs. PULSE’s Executive Director Chris Cooke reflected, "Boardswork! increases the capacity of nonprofit organizations to govern with great effectiveness. We’ve loved the numerous board members we’ve been matched with through the Boardswork! program. They are bright, engaged, dedicated, and committed to the mission and work of our organization. Working with the Covestro team on emergency and safety protocol through SkillShare made us aware of many of the challenges PULSE and other nonprofits face as it relates to ensuring safety. The team provided tremendous expertise with highly talented individuals in creating specific solutions to address our concerns in our unique residential and nonprofit partner environment. The work was above and beyond my expectations." Continue the story here from the perspectives of matched board member Kristian Penn and SkillShare team member Chris Hazen.

Community Resources

Here at CCCE, we’ve been listening to what our partners have to say: they want updated resources and materials that make them better equipped to carry out nonprofit missions. We are excited to bring to you this very kind of information that you can review with fellow board members or colleagues, bring to your next committee meeting, or ask us for tools on a particular topic. We’d love to hear more ideas about what you need. Contact Jennifer Pease , CCCE program specialist, to request something to be added to our toolkit. The CCCE community is collaborative and creative!

Spring BoardsWork! Trainings Scheduled for March and May Want to learn more about the nonprofit sector? Ready to engage in purposeful governance as an educated board member? Then register for one of our upcoming BoardsWork! full-day trainings on March 20 and May 7. Benefits include: Comprehensive understanding of board roles and responsibilities Customized matching to a nonprofit organization, based on your interests, that needs your skills 7 free educational classes through the Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management at RMU downtown Ongoing governance support for your matched nonprofit for a year Invitations to CCCE events

Race to Lead: Women of Color in the Nonprofit Sector The Building Movement Project has released Race to Lead: Women of Color in the Nonprofit Sector , which examines the impact of both race and gender on the career advancement and experiences of women of color working in the nonprofit sector. From survey data, write-in responses, focus groups, and interviews, the report highlights the intersection of barriers facing women of color in nonprofits. Program to Aid Citizen Enterprise (PACE) has partnered with The Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management to explore this research further in a free two-part series and seeks to bring greater opportunities to Pittsburgh nonprofits by insisting on practices that promote fairness.

First Women's BoardsWork! Cohort Announced I’ve learned [through BoardsWork!] that showing up is not enough – You have to engage and be involved. BoardsWork! matched me based on my responses. It’s been a great fit. -Kristian Penn, FedEx Ground BoardsWork! participants: Solve urgent community challenges in a resource-constrained environment Facilitate meetings with disparate points of view Lead more confidently Make difficult values-driven decisions Get engaged today! Register as an individual for our Women's Cohort on May 1 Complete an engagement assessment to get your company involved

The Board’s Responsibility in Pay Equity Nonprofit board members have A LOT of responsibility. These individuals are charged with guiding decisions to ensure the organization effectively carries out its mission . One of their most critical jobs to fulfill this obligation is to select and compensate the executive director. The biannual Wage and Benefit Survey , published by the Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management, empowers boards of directors to benchmark executive salaries based on numerous variables (including budget size, geography, field of service, funding source, number of employees, level of education, tenure). Dr. Carrie Tancraitor, Associate Director, Bayer Center for Nonprofit Management The Business Case for Corporate Social Responsibility The words "corporate social responsibility" have been a buzz in business for decades. But what do they really mean? And why do they matter to the nonprofits you serve and the communities we cherish? Chief Executive for Corporate Purpose emphasizes the power of cross-sector partnership by “infusing the needs of the stakeholder — including communities, customers, employees, and investors — into core business strategies.” Their comprehensive interactive report makes a solid business case for CSR and what that looks like in today’s amorphous trends and forecasts. Read more about the importance of investing in society through corporate strategy and its direct link to employee engagement.

Ask Your Board to Think Critically through Generative Governance BoardSource is a sound reference of transformative information. Their mission is to inspire and support excellence in nonprofit governance and board and staff leadership. In each edition of this newsletter, we will include a relevant resource that may be helpful for the organizations you represent. First up: generative governance principles. "In order to embrace a new mode of governance, board members must be prepared to engage on a different level than they did previously. Generative governance requires board members to analyze and discuss issues from a macro lens." Check out the Resources section of our website for the link to this information and other tools you may find helpful. Foundation Center and GuideStar Merge to Become Candid. Recently the Foundation Center and GuideStar have joined forces to become Candid., a single nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting people who want to change the world to the resources they need to do it. Their release announced, “Although our two organizations have always shared a commitment to the same values, becoming Candid will allow us to combine our knowledge and passions to start a new era—and allow us to do more than we could ever do apart.” What does this mean for you as a nonprofit advocate? You can research organizations, find funding, explore relevant issues, improve your organization, use data to tell your story, and more. Click here to learn more about this merger.