Nonprofits
Philanthropy Journal of North Carolina
Kuralt aids Smart Start
Veteran newscaster Charles Kuralt
will narrate a film documentary on child
development being produced by the N.C
Partnership for Children, coordinator of
the Smart Start program. The project is
supported by a grant from the A.J.
Fletcher Foundation in Raleigh.
April 1995
Eye on the dollars
Smart Start m^ed to raise more private funds
The state auditor has given-the Smart
Start program for early childhood
development a clean hill of health in
terms of its financial viahility. But
the report recommends that program
leaders better define fundraising
responsibilities and find more pri
vate donations.
By Barbara Solow
The state auditor has recommended that
North Carolina’s Smart Start program for early
childhood development take steps to strength
en the private part of its public/private
fundraising.
A report released last month by State
Auditor Ralph Campbell Jr. finds that state
funds for the program’s initial 12 pilot partner
ships were being spent properly and there were
“no instances of fraud or potential fraud.”
But while Campbell’s report praised the
success of local Smart Start partnerships in
removing waiting lists for day care and
“enhancing’ services for children and famihes,
it recommended better coordination of
fundraising activities.
Specifically, the report noted that “few pri
vate contributions have been realized in the
first year of the Smart Start program.” In
response to questions from lawmakers,
Campbell said Smart Start had received only
about $5,000 in private donations as of June 30,
1994.
(Private contributions, which now total
nearly $2 million, are expected to get a big
boost soon with the announcement of several
iillliiii:
major corporate gifts, including at least one
that could total $1 milhon.)
While he acknowledged that more needs to
be done in the area of private fundraising for
Smart Start, Walter Shepherd, president of the
N.C. Partnership for Children, says the audit
did not include a tally of in-kind gifts from the
private sector.
“We’ve received somewhere between $3.4
million and $3.7 million in in-kind support,”
says Shepherd, whose statewide nonprofit
coordinates Smart Start. “That includes equip
ment, in-kind donations and leveraged
resources.”
Hunt has requested $21 million to fund an
additional 12 Smart Start partnerships next
year. Shepherd says he hopes the audit will
encourage state lawmakers to provide that
support.
“I’ve never seen this level of energy and
commitment at the local level. The message
this legislature could send by stalling could be
devastating. These collaborative relationships
[spawned by local partnerships] are benefiting
everyone. There is too much creative energy
there to jnst let it go away.”
The state’s six-month audit - which covers
the period between January and June of 1994 -
is part of a monitoring process established by
the legislation that created Smart Start in 1993.
Other key recommendations of Campbell’s
report include:
• Clarifying the roles of the NC Partnership
tor Children and the state Department of
From left, Ralph Campbell Jr., Robin Britt,
Walter Shepherd.
Photo by Horry Lynch
Hnman Resources in terms of fundraising and
oversight.
• Providing better guidelines to local part
nerships on how to deal with fixed assets such
as vehicles purchased by agencies that receive
Smart Start grants.
• Documenting comphance with conflict-of-
interest statements by members of local part
nership boards whose agencies or businesses
mi^t be receiving partnership funds.
• Ensuring that local partnerships have
more control over monitoring compliance by
service providers receiving Smart Start money.
At a meeting in Raleigh to present the audit,
Campbell emphasized that the report covered
only the first six months of the program -
before it was expanded from 12 to 24 partner
ships - and did not review “performance” stan
dards or draw conclusions about the effective
ness of Smart Start.
But questions raised by Republican law
makers revealed some concerns about those
issues, including whether Smart Start “dupU-
cates” services provided by other state agen
cies.
House Majority Whip Robin Hayes - who
has been a vocal critic of Smart Start - wanted
to know why the Frank Porter Graham
Childhood Center at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill is being paid $2 milhon
to evaluate the program when it has been
involved in the startup.
“Is it reasonable to have the same people
doing the program and evaluating it?” he
asked.
CampbeU explained that the Graham Center
has two contracts with the state: one to provide
training for local Smart Start leaders and
another to evaluate the program.
State Secretary of Human Resources Robin
Britt urged lawm^ers to consider what would
happen if they do not expand Smart Start.
“Studies are there documenting time and
again the efficacy of these programs,” he said.
‘"That clock is ticking. Don’t think it’s not cost
ing you money” when early childhood pro
grams aren’t funded.
Recycling for charity
Construction waste sparks new nonprofit
Two long-time friends have start
ed a Triangle nonprofit to
recycle material discarded at
construction sites. Resale
profits will go to charities
such as Habitat for
Humanity.
By Susan Gray
Raleigh
Stacks of lumber, piles of brick,
wheelbarrow-loads of concrete
blocks. All in good condition. All des
tined for burial in a landfill beside
chicken bones and old magazines.
That’s what Bill Murdaugh and
Mike Krause saw every time they vis
ited a construction site in the
Triangle-area as private safety con
sultants. They knew something could
be done to recycle the material.
In 1994, the two men say, about
7,000 new homes went up in Wake
County alone, leaving what they esti
mate to be a heap of 700,000 bricks,
3.5 million board-feet of lumber,
233,000 square feet of shinies and
7,000 windows. All unused.
The two long-time friends - who
served together in the army and
attend the same church - say they
knew something should be done to
save the material, but they weren’t
snre they were the ones to do it.
After all, they didn’t want to start
a new business. They did that sever
al years ago when they launched
Cary Pacific Technologies Inc., a pri
vate consulting business for con
struction companies. So they
dropped the idea.
But the sense of frustration
wouldn’t let go of them.
“Whenever Bill and I were at a
construction site for an inspection
and we saw all the wood there and
the waste, we were reminded - ‘U^,
there it is again,”’ says Krause, who
HOUSING
is president of Cary Pacific
Technologies. Murdau^ is vice pres
ident.
So the two men figured: If not a
new for-profit business to handle
recycling, what about a nonprofit?
With help from Duke University’s
continuing education program in
nonprofit management and start-up
funding from the Z. Smith Reynolds
Foundation, Triangle Community
Foundation and North Carolina
Recycle Association, Krause and
Murdaugh launched Woodbin 2 this
past summer. The “2” indicates the
material’s second life.
Woodbin 2 follows a simple proce
dure. Volunteers collect scrap mater
ial from construction sites throu^-
out the Trian^e; they reprocess it,
such as by removing nails from
boards; and then resell it to the pub-
hc at 50 percent to 70 percent of the
cost of similar material found at big
building supply stores. All profits go
to charity.
Murdau^ and Krause believe the
material will be an easy sell. Last
fall, as a test, they sold material they
collected over the summer. They
placed a single ad a local newspaper.
To their surprise, amateur builders
from throughout the Trian^e came
to purchase the material, loading up
truck beds with boards to build dog
or doll houses, or additions to their
homes. The material sold out by the
end of the day.
“We’re not going to ask for any
more grant money,” Murdaugh says.
“We feel confident that this [nonprof
it] can self-sustain itself - even with
conservative estimates.”
If Woodbin 2 can collect and
resell material from 500 houses in
1995, the two men say, profits should
be about $50,000. Currently, all prof
its go to Habitat for Humanity of
Wake County, which builds homes
for low-income famihes.
Habitat officials are pleased with
the arrangement.
“They’re being very responsible
and innovative,” says Dianne
Eberhart, director of development for
Habitat for Humanity. “Since we’re
home builders, we’re trying in our
own way to be a lot more environ
mentally conscious. I think it works
in nicely.”
But Habitat staff also are cau
tious. Before Woodbin 2, they say,
fly-by-night do-gooders have
approached the organization with big
promises that never saw the Ught of
day.
“We can appreciate that and
understand that,” Krause says. “The
only way we can convince anyone is
by our name and our commitment
Look for RECYCLE, page?
BRIEFLY
Estate attorney
changes firms
Curtis Twiddy, formerly
chairman of the Estate and
Personnel Planning/Exempt
Organizations Section for
the Raleigh-based law firm
Poyner & Spruill has joined
the firm of Lynch & Eatman,
L.L.P, also in Raleigh. The
firm's new name is Lynch,
Eatman & Twiddy, L.L.P.
Free display space
available
The Philanthropy Journal is
offering display space to a
small number of Triad-area
nonprofits at Philanthropy
'95, its May 19 conference in
High Point's Market Square
facility. Call Kate Foster at
(919) 836-2877 for informa
tion.
UNC,Brazil work on
observatory
The University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill
announced it will collaborate
with Brazil on construction of
an observatory in the
Chilean Andes, one of the
world's premier astronomical
sites. UNC will contribute
$10 million - which it plans
to raise through private
funds.
Mental health group
offers support
The Mental Health
Association of Orange
County offers support
groups for Triangle-area res
idents troubled by a family
member's suicide, mental ill
ness or manic/depressive
disorder. For information,
call (919) 408-0633.
Association to raise
disease awareness
The American Social Health
Association in Research
Triangle Park is working to
raise awareness of sexually
transmitted diseases for
National STD Awareness
Month. The group operates
the National STD Hotline
(800) 227-8922, and
National AIDS Hotline (800)
342-2437.
Rural development
group moves
The Southern Rural
Development Initiative in
Raleigh has a new office: 5
West Hargett Street, Suite
804, Raleigh, NC, 27601,
(919) 829-5900, Fax (919)
829-0504. The group's
mailing address is: PO Box
1972, Raleigh, NC 27602.