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The Good Fight For Resources

6:30 pm
Unity Temple on the Plaza
23
Oct

The Good Fight For Resources

6:30 pm
Unity Temple on the Plaza

The Good Fight for Resources

Every day in Kansas City good people do good things. Community advocacy organizations fight the good fight to improve this city and to provide services to all Kansas Citians.

But resources are limited, and groups compete for the resources that are available. Can we work together effectively to make the most of the resources we have? How can organizations cooperate without coopting each other’s missions?

At the second program in American Public Square’s KC Common Good series, an expert panel consisting of a philanthropist, a public policy scholar, and leaders of nonprofit organizations discussed the challenges community advocates face as they compete for resources.

Panelists

Bill George has been involved in the passenger ground transportation business since 1985. Mr. George served as Chief Executive Officer and President of Metropolitan Transportation Services, Inc. (MTSI). MTSI was Kansas City’s largest full-line passenger ground transportation service. In 1997 Mr. George sold MTSI to Coach USA, Inc., the nation’s largest motorcoach operator, and continued to oversee operations for the Kansas City region. He completed over 15 business acquisitions for MTSI and Coach USA.

In 2002 and 2003 Mr. George repurchased several of the previously sold to Coach USA, including Yellow Cab, KCI Shuttle and Carey Limousine. The businesses were grown to comprise more than 700 vehicles staffed by a group of more than 1,000 transportation professionals. KCTG has provided convention transportation service to the majority of Kansas City’s largest conventions, transporting more than 15,000 guests on extensive shuttle systems.

In 2007 Mr. George sold all of his transportation assets to SuperShuttle International, a division of Transdev on Demand. Paris based Transdev is a multi-billion dollar revenue conglomerate involved in worldwide transportation services. Mr. George served as a consultant to Transdev and remained CEO of Kansas City Transportation Group. In 2013 Mr. George was named President of Transdev on Demand’s Taxicab and Sedan Division. In this position he oversees the operations of more than 4,000 vehicles in 19 cities across the U.S.

In 2010 he created 10/10 Taxi, a new suburban taxicab service focused on Johnson County, KS. The fleet has quickly grown to more than 160 vehicles locally. 10/10 Taxi operations have also been started in Minneapolis, Austin and Orlando. Despite the intense competition in the on-demand taxi industry, the 10/10 concept has continued to grow in each of its markets. In 2014 he launched the zTrip app-based sedan service in Kansas City, Denver and Phoenix and has since expanded it to more than 30 U.S. cities. He is the architect of the zTrip taxicab rebrand that was launched in Boulder, CO and Pittsburgh, PA in 2016.

In 2014 he was named Operator of the Year by the TLPA, an international trade group representing more than 1,000 passenger ground transportation providers.

In 2018 Mr. George formed WHC Worldwide for the purpose of personally acquiring taxicab operations in the United States. WHC and its wholly owned divisions are currently in the process of acquiring operations in 6 U.S. cities. Mr. George is the sole owner of the WHC companies and serves as its CEO.

Dr. Mabachi completed her doctoral training in Communications Studies with a focus in Health Communication at the University of Kansas, Lawrence Kansas. Dr. Mabachi works in both the academic and community settings using her expertise in community based participatory research (CBPR), qualitative research methods, evaluation, and health communication to address a variety of health topics among vulnerable and underrepresented populations both locally in Kansas City and internationally in East Africa.

Areas of focus include early infant HIV diagnosis (EID), prevention of mother to child HIV transmission (PMTCT), improving Cervical Cancer screening and treatment, Community level Sexual Assault Prevention and Policy change and Access to Healthy Foods. Dr. Mabachi also conducts medical education research designed to address health inequities arising from the hidden curriculum, and implicit biases in care provision and decision making.

Dr. Mabachi works in collaboration with communities and multi-disciplinary teams to close the gaps that create health inequities through research, education, and outreach.

Jim MacDonald, with United Way, is responsible for managing a portfolio of $15 million worth of annual investments in health and human service programs throughout Greater Kansas City. Jim leads the Community Impact team at United Way, overseeing a range of projects and initiatives aimed at combatting poverty, promoting child well-being and supporting school success. Jim has worked for United Way in various roles for 31 years, having served with the United Ways in Kansas City and Jacksonville, Florida. Jim holds a BA from the University of Notre Dame.

Brent Never is Associate Professor of Nonprofit Leadership at the Henry W. Bloch School of Management, University of Missouri- Kansas City.  Brent’s research and practice involves on understanding the capacity of nonprofits to deliver services to communities in need. As a geographer, he studies how financially ‘sick’ organizations can address fundamental public problems.  He actively publishes for an academic audience in Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector QuarterlyNonprofit Policy Forum, and for practitioners in The Nonprofit Quarterly.  Brent also works with regional organizations ranging from Legal Aid of Western Missouri to the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

Moderator

Dr. Sarah Martin is Deputy Director of the Kansas City, Missouri Health Department where she oversees the Department’s initiatives to influence the social and economic policies that shape health inequities. Dr. Martin received a Master of Public Policy, a Master of Public Health and a PhD in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley. She was previously an Assistant Professor of Health Services Research at the University of Missouri, Kansas City’s Bloch School of Management, Research Coordinator at the University of California, San Francisco and a Policy Analyst for the County of Alameda, California.

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FACT SHEET

Thanks to support from the William T. Kemper Foundation, we prepared facts and statistics about nonprofits and community advocacy.

The FACT SHEET is compiled by professional research librarians and is circulated to panelists for comment and feedback prior to the program. The librarians also collect suggested readings on the subject. We encourage you to read the articles before attending “The Good Fight For Resources.”

View the FACT SHEET below, or download it.

 

Nonprofits: Collaboration and Funding
“According to data from the National Center for Charitable Statistics, the U.S. alone is home to 1.5 million nonprofit organizations.” Source. From 2017: “Recent surveys conducted by the Bridgespan Group and the Patterson Foundation reveal that 91% of nonprofits engage in some form of collaboration.” Source. 68% of nonprofits said they plan to partner/collaborate with other nonnprofits in 2018. Source. 76% of nonprofits say it is not at all likely that they will merge with other similar nonprofits in 2018. Source. For the first time ever, charitable giving in the U.S. exceeded the $400 billion mark in 2017. Source.
Challenges Nonprofits Face
“Most nonprofits team up for one of three main reasons: to boost organizational efficiency, increase organizational effectiveness, or drive broader social and systems change.” Source. “Nonprofits, large and small, are facing increased pressure to deliver on their missions in creative ways. This pressure is coming not only from government cutbacks and mounting needs, but also from technology—which participants said is pushing many nonprofits to adapt their fundraising tactics, refine their communications and marketing strategies, and confront increasing cybersecurity challenges.” Source. “At a time when nonprofits are getting squeezed by government budget cuts and facing increased need among those they serve, many groups are realizing that they cannot achieve their missions without building new alliances.” Source. “The nonprofit sector has too many small organizations that are just getting by, and too few big ones that can really solve problems.” Source. Small nonprofits find collaborations difficult due to a lack of human resource capacity, however “the presence of full‐time employee(s) is more crucial for small nonprofits to collaborate with other entities.” Source. “Many traditional nonprofits form short-term partnerships with superficially similar organizations to execute a single program, exchange a few resources, or attract funding. In contrast, networked nonprofits forge long-term partnerships with trusted peers to tackle their missions on multiple fronts.” Source.

INFOGRAPHICS

“Responding Nonprofits” table. State of the Nonprofit Sector Survey 2018. Source

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