March 1997
VOLUME 4, ISSUE 6/ $5.00
A nonprofit newspaper for the nonprofit community
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OF NORTH CAROLINA
Changing roles
Jobs of consultants become more strategic
Fundraising consultants in North
Carolina say their jobs have
evolved over the years to adapt
to changes in the nonprofit sec
tor. Trends include a growing
emphasis on strategic planning
and an increasing awareness by
nonprofit clients of the impor
tance of fundraising.
By Barbara Solow
EX’^en after 16 years in business as
a consultant to nonprofits, Whitney
FUNDRAISING
Jones says he’s still trying to under
stand what fundraising is all about.
“It’s a very complicated process
that is loaded with intangibles,” says
Jones, founder of Whitney Jones Inc.
in Winston-Salem. “When you go into
the world of capital campaigns, no
two are alike and managing becomes
a very complex process.”
As the number of nonprofits has
grown and their fundraising needs
have escalated, the consulting pro
cess has become even more compli
cated, Jones says.
“Every year, we have reinvented
and significantly modified what we do
because what we are trying to do is
constantly add value to these oigani-
zations.”
Other fundraising consulting
firms in North Carolina have seen
similar changes. Industry leaders
point to an increased awareness of
the importance of fundraising, as
competition for donor dollars has
intensified.
“The level of development experi
ence and sophistication of organiza
tions and institutions that we are
serving as clients has increased dra
matically,” says David Ross, presi
dent of Durham-based Ross Johnston
and Kersting. “Some of the kinds of
things we did more of 10 or 15 years
ago are not necessary now because
they [nonprofits] are doing more of
that themselves and have people on
their staffs who are experienced in
campaigns.”
The length of consulting time
spent with any one nonprofit chent
actually may be shorter because of
the hi^er level of in-house knowl
edge about fundraising, Ross says.
“Counsel is being used more to
help plan and determine the magni
tude of the campaign and not so much
on the implementation and operation
of it.”
But Doug Alexander, president of
Atlanta-based Alexander O’Neill
Haas and Martin, says the opposite
can also be true.
“We are actually spending more
time with nonprofits,” he says. “One
reason is we are providing more ser
vices and another is that the cam-
Look for FUNDRAISING, page 9
50 years of service
Kate B. Reynolds Trust looks ahead
The Winston-Salem charitable
foundation, which celebrates its
50th birthday March 13, helps
the poor and medically needy in
the state. New outreach efforts
have revitalized the trust’s mis
sion and set a course for its
work in the 21st century.
By Kelly Prelipp Lojk
“1 can’t tell you how highly I think
of the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable
Trust,” says Barbara Garrison, exec
utive director of Blue Ridge
Community Health Services. “The
trust’s funding has changed the
course of what we’ve done — without
their initiative money, we couldn’t
have done this.”
GIVING
Garrison is referring to a grant
the health center used in 1990 to cre
ate an outreach program for preg
nant women that. Garrison says,
helped halve Henderson County’s
infant mortality rate.
For the past 50 years, the Kate B.
Reynolds Charitable Trust has
inspired countless testimonials such
as Garrison’s. 'The foundation’s staff
is proud of its overall impact on help
ing the poor and medicMy needy in
North Carolina. But perhaps its
greatest source of pride is the dra
matic impact that relatively small
grants have made in the farthest cor
ners and the most underserved com
munities in the state.
FORMA'TIVE YEARS
The Kate B. Reynolds Charitable
Trust was created in 1947, when the
will of the late Kate Gertrude Bitting
Reynolds’ bequeathed two-thirds of
her estate, almost $5 million - or $42
The Empowering Family Center in Winston-Salem is one of the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust's
grantees. The program helps families build stronger relationships. Above, Chasidy Barr plays with her
mother, Martha (left) and grandmother, Mamie Goodwin.
million in today’s dollars - to charity
Mrs. Reynolds, who was married
to R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company
chairman William Neal Reynolds,
designated that the trust be divided
into two divisions. One-fourth of the
trust’s income was to be used for the
poor and needy in Winston-Salem
and Forsyth County, and three-
fourths of the income was to be used
tor charity patients in North Carolina
hospitals.
During the trust’s early years,
trustees began to develop an informal
Photo courtesy of the Kate B. Reynolds Trust
pohcy that increasingly focused on
women, children, the medically needy
and the elderly. The trust’s focus
remains much the same today.
Originally, trustees disbursed
income earmarked for the poor and
needy to individuals and organiza
tions on an as-needed basis.
Hospitals funds were distributed
according to a formula based on the
number of charity patients each hos
pital treated.
By the early 1970s, the founda
tion’s grant-making procedures had
changed greatly. Because of revisions
in the federal tax code, the founda
tion was restricted to making grants
only to organizations that carried
501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. The
trust had to change from operating
on a rather personal basis, providing
many grants directly to needy indi
viduals, to establishing more formal
grant-making procedures with insti
tutions.
Based on a request by trustees,
the N.C. Supreme Court granted the
Look for REYNOLDS, page 23
Caring for kids
Youth home
reflects
leader’s
impact
MHC-Child and Family Services -
formerly the Methodist Home for
Children - has made significant
changes since Rufus Stark
became president of the agency
in 1983. Stark retires in June.
By Ashley Peay
Raleigh
When Rufus Stark became presi
dent and chief executive officer of the
Methodist Home for Children in 1983,
the nonprofit agency was undergoing
major changes.
CHILDREN
What had been a church-support
ed home for
orphaned children I
was in the process
of becoming a fami
ly preservation
agency that would
care for troubled
children with the
hope of returning I
them to their fami- [
lies.
As Stark pre
pares to retire from
Rufus Stark
his post at what is now MHC-Child
and Fhmily Services, he looks back on
his early years with the organization
as a “very tumultuous time.”
But he also says that taking risks
Look for STARK, page 22
INSIDE 1
1 NQNPItOFITS
1 FOUNDATIONS
1 VOLUNTEERS
i CORPORATE GIVING
Connections
.3
An eye on
Foundation to help
Schools steer students
Microsoft may end
Grants & Gifts
.16
the legislature
Outer Banks
to public-interest law
nonprofit discounts
In March
.16
North Carolina nonprofits are
The Outer Banks Community
University career development
Microsoft Inc. is considering
Job Opportunities
.20
gearing up tor a legislative
Foundation faces a number
officers and nonprofits are try-
whether to end its practice of
Opinion
.10
session expected to touch on
of challenges in trying to
ing to increase the percent-
giving academic discount
People
.17
issues ranging from welfare
meet community needs in
age of students who practice
prices on software sold to
Professional Services..
.18
reform to environmental reg-
Currituck, Dare and Hyde
public-interest law.
some nonprofits.
ulations.
counties.
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First Counsel banks
on local connections
Chorlotte-bosed consulting
firm. First Counsel is quickly
becoming one of the leaders
in the field.
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