Author: Alyson Best

What do others think about our organization? What best practices from around the country should we incorporate?  Who else provides a similar service?  How can we scale up? Are we eligible for any upcoming grants?

These and similar questions often get raised within area nonprofits.  But, when their staffs are stretched to the gills, timely responses are sometimes hard to achieve. When it comes to researching topics that can help agencies drive mission reach, OneSource Center leads the way!  And often, this is exactly the type of project that gets pushed to the backburner due to lack of agency resources to do the interviews. 

When can OneSource Center be brought in to “flush out” a topic? 

• Stakeholder Interviews–What do clients, funders, volunteers, collaborative partners, and others think about your services?  We provide trained neutral and unbiased interviewers to design, conduct, and help you analyze the results to key questions you need answered as you engage in strategic planning or business service changes.
• Feasibility Study Assessments–How much can you raise in a special campaign and what is a reasonable timeline for doing so? Are other nonprofits seeking similar funding?  Does the agency have a history or mission fit with targeted funders?  Is the new program feasible?  Should you own or rent your building? 
• Are there grant funders we haven’t considered or program elements that could get support through targeted grant research? 

Want to see how our specialized consulting services can help your organization attain best in class status?  Contact Vickie Ciotti, VP Consulting Services at VCiotti@OneSourceCenter.org   A conversation is FREE, and could get your organization on a path to increased reach!  OneSource Center is a nonprofit ourselves – we want to help you succeed!

The 2021 Avondale Community Makeover, culminating with a huge volunteer work day on July 29, 2021, was an incredible success as community partners, leaders and volunteers worked together for astounding success.  The project spanned six work sites and utilized over 300 volunteers. 

OneSource Center, a partner on the Community Makeover project, was responsible for working with the Taft Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Cincinnati (BGCGC) team to help update furnishings and overall agency facility updates — providing items from its redistribution warehouse.  Through corporate furniture donations made to OneSource Center’s redistribution warehouse, items were available for greatly reduced pricing — stretching Makeover budgeting for other needed project elements.  The Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and OneSource Center volunteer teams, under the leadership of a P&G team lead, helped paint, clean, design and refresh the space creating a welcoming and inviting space for Avondale participants in the BGCGC program.  OneSource Center furniture and program elements were utilized in the Taft BGCGC Teen Room, classrooms and in staff offices.  Connected to the Taft BGCGC, the Crest Smile Shoppe also received a paint refresh, plus new waiting room furniture and office chairs through OneSource Center.  

Emily Yellman, Taft BGCGC Director, said the teamwork was incredible and the transformation of the space “magical.”  “The refresh of our Taft BGCGC location will mean so much to the students involved in our program.  Having so many volunteers here in one day allowed our program to continue uninterrupted and checked so many projects off our ‘facility dream list.’ Thank you to all project partners who helped create an incredible learning environment.  Your work will have an impact on our community for years to come.”    

Another element to the 2021 Avondale Makeover project was the opportunity for community children to have access to FREE toys through the “Unplug and Play” program.  This “Unplug and Play” program was coordinated regionally through OneSource Center, and nationally through a partnership with Marine Toys for Tots and Good360.  The program regionally distributed 16,000 FREE toys through six distribution events, and over 5,000 FREE toys were distributed through several Avondale distributions.    

The 2021 Avondale Community Makeover coordinated the work of project partners Reds Community Fund, P&G, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, Cincinnati Public Schools, Cincinnati Community ToolBank, Cincinnati Recreation Commission, Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Cincinnati and the City of Cincinnati Government.  

“OneSource Center is proud to work with community partners to help nonprofits thrive, and this is just one example of how this collaboration can make an impact in our region,” said OneSource Center CEO Christie Brown  “Thank you to all the partners who worked together for such an incredible project in Avondale.”   

More coverage of the community-wide project are located here:     Local 12 News  WLWT-News 5  ’21 Community Makeover Comes to Avondale  

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Most nonprofit leaders often feel like their day is “shot through a fire hose”! Lots of projects and people to manage, and not enough hours in the day. We understand! Did you realize you DON’T have to “do it all”? 

OneSource Center’s consulting group has team members who can easily tackle those projects that never make it to the “top of the pile.” Need your job descriptions updated? Haven’t revised your personnel manual in a decade? Would it help to have a professional plan and run your board retreat? Need help researching grants that fit your work or clientele? These are just a sampling of the tasks OneSource Center team members can take off your plate.

Alida Hart, President and CEO of Inter Parish Ministry (IPM) Food Pantry, has utilized OneSource Center for several projects and says this has helped her organization further expand its mission of feeding hungry people. “No one can do it all!” says Hart. “OneSource Center’s ability to assist with the development and implementation of a team building retreat was incredibly helpful to me, plus it provided my team with a meaningful experience.”

“OneSource Center also was a great resource for the recruiting and onboarding of several new teammates. Their consultants are top-notch and helped us put in place new processes that IPM will continue to use in the years ahead,” she continued. “Their collaboration with us on these and other projects has left a lasting positive impact on our agency and the people we serve.”

Want to explore the range of projects OneSource Center could help you tackle? Contact Vickie Ciotti, Vice President of Consulting Services to discuss your needs.

We have connections! When corporations and regional businesses have gently used office and residential furniture to share and want it to go to a good home – they contact OneSource Center to get these items into the hands of nonprofits and the clients they serve! If your organization has an upcoming move, office renovation or operations expansion on the horizon – let us know! And if possible, let us know ahead of time. Our warehouse redistribution center receives many donation leads, and if we proactively know of your needs – we might be able to seek out or coordinate donations that exactly fill your needs for pennies on the dollar!

One example of a recent coordinated effort was with IKRON, a OneSource Center Shoppers Club client that is a regional provider of integrated quality behavioral health services, employment services, support services, youth services and peer services. The award-winning organization recently purchased a new building with significant residential and office needs, and was looking for a way to stretch their operations budget! Anticipating the need for assistance, the organization proactively contacted OneSource Center with a list of needed furnishings, and OneSource Center was able to help – obtaining over 100 pieces of furniture from their list — saving them thousands of dollars.

These types of “need” calls happen often at OneSource Center, with clients notifying us of advance requests like:

• large quantities of matching conference room chairs
• lockers or closed and lockable storage cabinets
• mattresses
• specific desks needs (i.e. matching or larger quantities of reception or executive style)
  or white boards/conference room needs.

Know of a specific future furniture need? Contact Beth Yantek! We want to help!