Supporting the holistic health of West Virginia's children and their families through trust-based philanthropy. |
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How Mutuality is Leading Us to Redefine Sustainability |
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One of the key factors associated with grantmaking is the topic of sustainability. We often ask on applications or during conversations with grant partners, “What is your sustainability plan for this project?” We’ve built enough trust and mutual respect with our grant partners that they have confidently revealed—we honestly can’t sustain this without grant support. This affirmation of the bogus expectation of sustainability in the nonprofit field was further reinforced through several articles like There’s No Such Thing as Nonprofit Sustainability…and What to Do About It by Exponent Philanthropy, which points out that “The average life span of Fortune 500 companies is only 40 years. And only 44% of small businesses survive four years or more. Yet, we continue to expect and sometimes demand that nonprofit organizations achieve sustainability—even the nirvana of sustainability independent of our support!” What can we do better as grant funders to understand the reality facing nonprofits while still encouraging long-term, systemic change? Here are a few things we’re trying to do a better job at and encourage other funders to explore: Recognize nonprofits and funders have a mutual relationship, not a “sponging” one. Offer general operating support rather than project-specific grantmaking. Ask our partners - how can we help make this organization successful versus solely this project successful? Focus less on (or eliminate) project budgets and instead concentrate on the four interrelated components of financial health as described in this Propel Nonprofit’s article. Begin seeing sustainability as less about revenue and more about relevance - how is this organization creatively adapting to the needs and opportunities in their community?
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West Virginia Child Advocacy Network One With Courage Awards |
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In September, the SSJHWF, along with five other child advocate honorees, were recognized during WVCAN's One With Courage award ceremony. The event was an opportunity to celebrate those who are taking a stand to protect kids and ensure that survivors can find hope and healing. We are grateful to WVCAN for the gracious award of Funder With Courage and the opportunity to gather with so many of our grant partners to celebrate the ministry of Child Advocacy Centers. |
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WEST LIBERTY UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION In 2021, the SSJHWF saw a unique opportunity to partner with West Liberty University’s Behavioral Health and Speech and Audiology Department to help with their build-out of a community clinic located at Campbell Hall on the university’s campus. Similar to WLU’s longstanding, successful dental hygiene clinic, the new clinic would be used to create a two-prong approach--provide considerably subsidized and |
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needed services to the community while also training students through experiential learning to grow them into skilled providers that will eventually practice within the state. |
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The Behavioral Health Clinic supports the new Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology and the greater community. The clinic will provide low-cost, non-emergency, individual and group psychotherapy and psychological assessment services to children, adolescents, and adults in the community. |
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The services are performed by advanced graduate students under the supervision of a licensed psychologist. The Speech and Hearing Clinic supports the new Master of Science in Speech-Language Pathology, undergraduate Speech Pathology and Audiology students, and the greater community. Clinical services include comprehensive hearing assessments, speech and language diagnostics, and treatment options for patients of all ages. They also serve as the Ohio Valley's only central auditory processing disorder clinic. A highly subsidized, flat fee is offered for all services. If a client can't pay, the clinic works with them no matter what. This is in addition to their services provided to schools in Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, and Wetzel Counties, as well as childcare centers and juvenile congregate care facilities. To help more with the ever-present need for pediatric audiology services, they hired a new staff member to provide two supervisory audiologists for students to cover more children's services. This Fall, SSJHWF is recommending a grant to help purchase pediatric audiology equipment that will help them service younger patients between 12 months-5 years old. |
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Community Impact Fund Calling all changemakers! The Community Impact Fund is open for Letters of Intent!
Apply for funding to support your project or program that benefits the Ohio Valley. Focus areas include substance abuse prevention, next-generation leadership, youth recreation, and economic and workforce development.
LOI's are open from Nov. 1 – Dec. 8, 2023. Applicants must be a 501(c)(3) as determined by the IRS, faith-based organization, or government entity (i.e., libraries, schools, etc.) and within CFOV's 8-county service area. To learn more, use the link below. |
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OPPORTUNITIES AND RESOURCES |
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| | LEAN On Me WV Training TEAM for WV's Children's Prevent Child Abuse WV program has created an innovative new training curriculum with the goal of promoting community responsibility to support families, rather than solely report families to CPS. All of us can use the LEAN on Me approach to support families and prevent child abuse and neglect. LEAN on Me is geared toward mandated reporters to better support their understanding of need vs. neglect and to reduce over-reporting. To schedule a training, email ashleya@teamwv.org and jim@teamwv.org | | |
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| | The Appalachia Opioid Remediation (AOR) database is a living resource that catalogues information about how the 13 states of Appalachia are managing and spending funds received from litigation settlements with opioid manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. | | |
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| | The WV Center on Budget and Policy recently published an informative issue brief on the need for our state to build supports and invest in high-quality, evidence-based programs to reduce and prevent child abuse and neglect-- supporting families BEFORE they are in crisis. | | |
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| | Try This WV's Youth Summit Planning Team is a group of young people aged 13-22 who are interested in designing next year's Youth Summit event. The Youth Summit is a one-day youth-led conference with fun activities, games, arts and crafts, and topical presentations for and by young people. To learn more about last year's event, click here. | | |
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