GPF in the News

Scrolling through the daily barrage of philanthropy-related news releases, I often encounter numerous articles from large foundations announcing prizes, summits and fellowships. Indeed, these are all noteworthy organizations doing significant and impactful work, but should donors looking to support nonprofits only look to large foundations and ignore micro-philanthropies? Are prospective donors aware of the benefits of working with a micro-philanthropy when it comes to impact and engagement?

Following a Different Path

As the co-founder and executive director of The Good People Fund, I believe that too often donors overlook organizations such as ours that specifically address the needs of these small grassroots efforts, who by their very nature lack the means to be visible to larger numbers of donors despite the effectiveness of their work. With grants totaling nearly $8 million during the past eight years and a modest infrastructure, I like to believe that we are changing the philanthropic landscape.

The Good People Fund is an organization that works exclusively with small grassroots nonprofits started by inspiring individuals committed to changing the world. In the past eight years, more than 150 grantees, all small to mid-sized organizations, have benefited from our insight and support.

Each operates with low overhead and on a personal scale, developing creative solutions that address poverty, hunger, disability, trauma recovery, social isolation and other significant challenges, but whose work would otherwise go unsupported. At The Good People Fund our vision is clear: Help donors do a maximum of good with each dollar spent by connecting donors with the Good Person (grantee) whose work best realizes their personal giving goals.

Emphasis on Direct Mentorship and Guidance

What makes our work both unusual and highly effective is the strong personal relationships we build with grantees. I strongly believe in our 4S model: Scope (focusing on programs that address a wide range of social needs), Screening (carefully vetting each prospective grantee), Supervision (mentoring and guidance continues well beyond the issuance of a check) and Speed (working efficiently and with minimal bureaucracy).

What we emphasize to both grantees and donors about our philosophy is that a newly established or a smaller scale nonprofit has their best chance of success if they can take advantage of the benefits of a personal connection; a mentor to guide them in addition to the shared experiences of other successful nonprofits. This connection to direct mentorship and guidance is too often overlooked by donors. We are very closely tied in to the grantees’ work in ways that larger entities can not be.

With so many years of involvement with small nonprofits, I find donors appreciate the strategic perspective we provide and grantees appreciate the unique way we handle their needs. We have established a deep network and general knowledge of the nonprofit world and take pride in facilitating partnerships, connecting people and programs, and offering guidance and expertise.

“I have been supporting the work of the Good People Fund since it began back in 2008,” explained one long-time donor. “I believe in its mission and have seen first hand how my donation can directly impact this work. They are attuned to what is important to me as a donor and I appreciate the guidance they provide in selecting to support an organization that shares in my values.”

Traditionally, funders donate, step away and perhaps ask for a report on how their funds were used. The Good People Fund works on a much more personal level and believes that our model could play an even more significant role in philanthropy today. It is not just about site-visits and grant reports; relationship building, hands-on support and acting as a partner, collaborator, advocate and sounding board for both donors and grantees is essential to our model’s success.

Naomi Eisenberger co-founded The Good People Fund in 2008 and became its first executive director. Follow @goodpeoplefund on Twitter.

At the Good People Fund, we mentor and support grassroots community-based organizations led by visionaries who respond in creative ways to address society’s most intractable problems whether its focus be as insurmountable as hunger or as defined as supporting women leaving forced or arranged marriages. Since our inception in 2008, we have granted more than 5.3 million dollars to more than 60 nonprofit organizations in Israel.

In each case the individual or small group’s actions inspire others to join their work to effect change. To date, we have been able to provide more than $8,000,000 in grants to more than 150 nonprofit organizations based primarily in the United States and Israel. For the recently concluded 2015/2016 fiscal year grants of nearly $1,500,000 were made to programs based in those countries.

Highlights of the grants made in Israel this past fiscal year include; $335,000 for organizations focused on kids including Kaima, a program that utilizes sustainable organic farming to help young people who cannot learn in traditional environments and S.A.H.I. an organization that embraces compassion and giving as tools to help youth-at-risk; $123,000 to organizations that alleviate hunger such as Pesia’s Kitchen in Tel Aviv which distributes quite literally tons of donated food and fresh produce; $81,000 to IDF-related organizations like Tzvika Levy’s Lone Soldier Program; $58,000 to organizations helping to ease poverty including Ten Gav, a unique crowd-funding platform that assists social workers as they manage the needs of Israel’s most vulnerable citizens; $45,000 to organizations that promote women’s empowerment including Yotsrot which trains women, exiting the cycle of abuse and prostitution, for fashion-related careers and Ba’asher Teichi which supports Haredi women navigating the divorce process; $55,000 for organizations that offer alternative healing, like HAMA Israel’s animal-assisted therapy program that reduces emotional pain in varied situations; and $8,800 to organizations like In Their Shoes which creates awareness and understanding of dementia and aging.

Project Kruvit is our most recent Israeli grantee. Inspired by Dr. Ravit Hilleli when she was only a teen, this all-volunteer program prepares and distributes high quality meals to thousands of people for Passover, Shavout and Rosh Hashanah; a logistical challenge that involves an army of volunteers (about 8,000) who cook, shop, and deliver meals during a 48-hour period immediately before the chaggim (holidays) begin.

Highlights of the Fund’s U.S. grant recipients include; $51,000 to organizations that address the needs of children including Atlanta’s Creating Connected Communities that trains local teens in leadership skills with a special focus on homelessness and advocacy and connects them to meaningful volunteer opportunities with disadvantaged kids; $38,000 to organizations like Boston-based Courageous Parents Network that empowers parents to care for children with serious illnesses by maintaining up-to-date virtual community resources; and $18,000 to organizations focused on alternative healing such as Shelter Music Boston that performs live classical chamber music for displaced shelter residents who might not otherwise have the financial means or opportunity to experience music and its healing powers in less-accessible venues. Other grants were directed towards programs focused on eldercare, hunger, women’s empowerment, poverty and veterans.

One of our most important goals is to give visibility and recognition to these nascent efforts so that others will join us in helping to support their work. We know that with the right amount of fiscal support and mentoring these small efforts can flourish. With this in mind we continue our commitment to seek out these inspiring individuals and their good work and invest in their growth and success.

Naomi Eisenberger is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of The Good People Fund, based in Millburn, New Jersey. For the past decade, she has drawn on her extensive business and nonprofit experience to help grantees build their own successful nonprofit organizations.

Over the past 25 years, Naomi Eisenberger has sought out individuals who do good in their own communities and beyond. As the Executive Director of The Good People Fund (www.goodpeoplefund.org), she is responsible for discovering and supporting grassroots organizations that respond in creative ways to society’s most intractable problems. While certainly not household names, each program is making an impact in their respective areas. There are approximately 75 grantees under her guidance throughout North America and abroad. These dedicated Good People work quietly, most with little recognition and minimal funding, in an effort to improve the lives of society’s most vulnerable.

Eisenberger’s years of experience with small nonprofits makes her uniquely suited to advise her grantees in many areas. She realizes that there are some basic ideas that all organizations should embrace. “I work very closely with each of our grantees” explains Eisenberger. “Together we focus on board development, fundraising, staffing, administration and more; all critical to the success of any organization. I challenge them to think realistically about how best to implement this growth. It is a delicate balancing act that requires sufficient funding to underwrite the costs of additional staff. II approach each grantee as a partnership and most admit that having a friendly supportive voice on the other end of the phone makes their efforts easier. Very few of our grantees have any formal training in nonprofit management so having someone to help answer the difficult questions is important. I have created and implemented a unique ideology that includes vetting and supervising each grantee, as the means to making the Good People Fund’s work both unusual and highly effective.”

One organization that has benefited from Eisenberger’s guidance and funding is Amir Project, which places sustainable gardens within summer camps and uses them as a tool to foster and teach social justice practices. Amir’s founder, David Fox, created the organization while still a college student. Upon graduating he formally incorporated Amir Project and set about raising funds to make his dream possible. One of David’s first fundraising attempts was a visit with Eisenberger where he detailed his vision. Eisenberger immediately recognized David’s passion for this work and Impressed with David’s ideas and his personality, immediately offered him his first grant, a matching grant to hopefully inspire others. David found the matching funds and Amir Project was on its way. That first GPF donation led to additional grants over the next five years as well as ongoing mentoring to help David resolve challenges related to the organization’s growth. Today more than 8,000 young people have been exposed to the Amir Project which operates in 30 camps nationwide.

Eisenberger has always believed that small actions can have huge impacts, whether it is to start a nonprofit or support one, and shares that belief with others. Since its inception in 2008 the Good People Fund has raised and granted more than $7 million dollars to these small programs working diligently, but quietly, to improve lives.

Naomi Eisenberger is the founder and Executive Director of The Good People Fund. For the past decade, she has drawn on her extensive business and nonprofit experience to help grantees build their own successful nonprofit organizations.

As a support counselor at Jubilee Association of Maryland, Jared Ciner worked with the agency to provide services to adults with developmental disabilities. But when he began researching exercise programs for his clients, the University of Maryland graduate came up empty.

“I realized that all of the people I was working with at the agency had being more physically active listed as one of their goals,” Ciner said. “Meanwhile, I couldn’t find any resources or programs to encourage them to participate in or bring them to.”

That’s how Ciner founded Spirit Club. Opened in April 2013, the club offered fitness courses to adults with disabilities to encourage them to eat healthy and exercise regularly. Based in Kensington, Spirit Club has classes in locations in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties and is seeking to expand to Baltimore.

Ciner — who is working with FX Studios, which built the corporate gym for Under Armour, to host classes at the Under Armour Performance Center at 10 Light Street and build a new center in Montgomery County — said he recently attended a Special Olympics conference where parents from Baltimore City and Baltimore and Howard counties packed a standing room-only hall.

“It’s a really big market,” said Ciner, who estimated that he received about 60 information cards from parents expressing interest in Spirit Club.

Ciner, who grew up in Denver before graduating from Maryland with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, said he first saw the value in fitness when he spent the summer after his junior year in Ethiopia, where he organized athletic programs for youth there.

Drawn by the plight of disabled adults, Ciner found a 2010 report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that stated that obesity rates for adults with disabilities are 57 percent higher than rates for adults without disabilities.

“There are no fitness classes for them to participate in unless they’re extremely independent,” Ciner said. “A vast majority of people with disabilities take medication, and a lot of those medications cause weight gain as a side effect. Another reason is that the majority of people with disabilities are unemployed and therefore they’re even less active than the average person who is at least getting up and getting out of the house and going to work.”

Ciner’s first Spirit Club class drew six participants. Now, about 130 clients regularly attend exercise sessions.

“Once I was teaching it, I started to be less surprised [by the growth] because it was just clearly a valuable opportunity for people,” said Ciner, who has teamed with Sam Smith, a marathon runner with autism, and his roommate Justin Frevert to teach classes. “I could just tell that a majority of them had just been craving for an opportunity to exercise, but never had one.”

Ciner’s work caught the attention of Max Levitt, founder of Leveling the Playing Field, a multisport equipment donation business. Levitt recommended Spirit Club to The Good People Fund, and after speaking to Ciner and visiting Spirit Club in October, executive director and co-founder Naomi Eisenberger agreed to award Ciner a $5,000 grant.

“He really hit the bull’s-eye with us because he took his passion for exercise and paired that with what he was doing and working with that population,” Eisenberger said. “From what I saw when I was there, it was a very popular program. The session that I saw was filled with many people with different disabilities, and they all seemed to be having a wonderful time.”

Ciner, who credits his wife, Gabriele, and mother, Anne, for helping him, said he finds daily inspiration from Smith, his co-founder who is a certified personal trainer and a marathon runner despite being autistic. Ciner said he also feels fortunate to work in a job he loves.

“I’ve found a good balance between working hard and making a living and making sure not to lose sight of the mission,” he said. “I find that if I let the mission drive my energy, that leads to positive things and success. It’s a great job and I couldn’t imagine doing anything that would be more fulfilling.”

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/bs-gl-good-works-jared-ciner-fitness-developmental-disabilities-1130-20151129-story.html

http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/israel-news/new-push-strangers-your-midst

“Set aside a quiet time, a quiet place and perhaps some good music and just think — let your mind wander. Some of my best insights come from this far too infrequent habit.”

Over the past 25 years, Naomi Eisenberger has provided management guidance and support to hundreds of individuals and nonprofits, to help them grow their great work, successfully build their infrastructure and increase their donor base. As the Managing Director of the Ziv Tzedakah Fund for more than 10 years, she was instrumental in working closely with its founder to guide its expansion and growth. In 2008, she co-founded and now serves as the Executive Director of the Good People Fund where, in addition to providing financial support, she also mentors Good People who have found creative ways to help those in need. She identifies visionaries doing great work on a personal scale and connects them with donors seeking meaningful ways to help those in need, with gifts both large and small. In keeping with a philosophy that the majority of donor dollars should be allocated towards programs, the Good People Fund itself maintains a lean operating budget to ensure a large percentage of donations are directed to grantees. The Good People Fund has been a GuideStar Exchange Gold Participant for several years.

Where did the idea for Good People Fund come from?

Prior to 2008, I had been very involved in Danny Siegel’s Ziv Tzedakah Fund where I served as Managing Director for more than ten years. When he decided to retire and opted to close the Fund I, and several others felt that there was still a critical need for the type of giving opportunities and philosophy that that organization represented. The Good People Fund was founded to support small grassroots organizations (many volunteer-run) engaged in repairing the world. At the center of each program is a visionary or Good People who have chosen to dedicate themselves to fixing some societal issue. Each of them can be considered an entrepreneur in their own way. For nearly 5 years I was the Fund’s only full-time employee and my salary (and most of our other overhead) was and is still paid by designated gifts, thus ensuring that donors’ gifts are used to help people in need with very little diverted for administrative overhead.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

Because we do so much work in Israel, a seven hour time difference from the East Coast, my day starts very early. The telephone is both my best friend and my worst enemy. It is a time sucker, but I find that the numerous conversations I have with our grantees, mentoring and coaching them, is when my creativity really kicks in. Telling the stories of our Good People to prospective donors, writing in my blog or producing other written materials are energizing activities that make the day fly by.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I have a unique set of skills I’ve developed throughout my working life which I have brought to the 25 years of interaction with small non-profits. While I was professionally trained to be a high school U.S. history teacher, I spent only a few years in that role before becoming a mom. It was then that my entrepreneurial instincts kicked in as I remained at home to raise two kids. To earn money and also satisfy that creative streak I worked as a plant doctor, used my love of cooking as a caterer, my needlework skills to build a needlepoint business during the height of that particular craze and revived a tired family business selling men’s and boys’ clothing. The grantees I work with all have unique problems and situations that need to be resolved. My business experience coupled with my creativity and love of networking allows me to offer them concrete advice on how best they can develop their work and operate with efficiency and transparency. For most of the programs we work with there is a very strong personal relationship, and we’re with them through the good times and the rough days as well. Our wish is that every program we work with outgrows us and that they can flourish without our funds and support.

What’s one trend that really excites you?

Crowdfunding has introduced the concept of giving to a much wider audience; no longer is it only people of considerable wealth who can have an impact. Modest sums of money matter which happens to be a critical piece of our philosophy–small actions, huge impacts .

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

Connecting people is a practice I do regularly. I am always thinking how can Person A help Person B? How can they help each other?

What was the worst job you ever had and what did you learn from it?

At one point in my career I worked part-time for a large institutional non-profit. The bureaucracy, the politics, the inability to work creatively were stifling! I knew then that I would always have to “do my own thing” if I was to survive in the work world.

If you were to start again, what would you do differently?

I would not recommend launching any new organization that relies on fundraising, at the same time a national financial crisis erupts!. We were all stunned by the events that unfolded in 2008 with the implosion of Lehman Brothers and Bernie Madoff’s extraordinary fraud. The names still elicit thoughts of a really bad movie from years ago. Those were challenging days to try to solicit donations.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

Set aside a quiet time, a quiet place and perhaps some good music and just think — let your mind wander. Some of my best insights come from this far too infrequent habit.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

Please explain how. The single most effective way to bring donors to our work is to tell stories about the inspiring visionaries we work with. People can relate to that. When I can show a donor exactly how their gift will change a life I almost always succeed in gaining their support.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

If we consider starting a non-profit an actual business, I would suggest that others begin an organization similar to ours–one that actively seeks Good People doing great work and enlist donors to help them get going. There are untold social needs going unmet today, it doesn’t always have to be a large organization that tackles the problem. Follow your passion.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

Running a non-profit organization that helps people in various ways exposes me daily to critical needs that could change a person’s life but for the lack of funds. Recently, a case came to us regarding an elderly woman, living an isolated life in poor health, a sparsely furnished home and minimal income. Her days are spent on a couch watching TV, as getting out of her city apartment is difficult. When I heard that the prospect of having an “easy chair” in which to sit each day brought tears to her eyes I knew that my $100, along with help from others, was money well spent and reminded me once again how modest sums of money can change lives.

What software and web services do you use? What do you love about them?

While I often feel like cursing its very existence I would have to say that Salesforce is probably the most helpful tool I use. It allows me to record my conversations with grantees, donors and others and serves as a reminder of what was said/promised. With days as hectic as mine, this is an important tool.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

Though read years ago, I have never forgotten the messages transmitted by Tracy Kidder in the book, Mountains Beyond Mountains. Kidder focuses on the inspiring work of Dr. Paul Farmer who uses his medical expertise and humanity to help heal people in remote places and reminds me not only that one person can indeed change the world.but that we all have within us the talents and creativity to do the same in other ways.

What people have influenced your thinking and might be of interest to others?

I suspect that because I am at a certain age the writings of Dr. Atul Gwande, particularly Being Mortal, resonate deeply for me. I have learned through the very inspiring work that I do just how to have a good life. I believe that it is just as important for us to have a good “end” as well–to leave this earth in a humane, meaningful and thoughtful way. Dr. Bill Thomas has served as an inspiration to me as well. A Harvard-educated geriatrician, Bill has helped change society’s approach to how people live out their later years. And, the antidote to all of this focus on death and aging is no doubt the NY Times’ satirist, Gail Collins. She is the one I go to when I want to laugh about the craziness that we call politics in this country today; she puts it all in perspective and that is a blessing.

Connect:

http:// www.goodpeoplefund.org
Good People Fund on Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/TheGoodPeopleFund
Good People Fund on Twitter: @goodpeoplefund
Naomi Eisenberger on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/pub/naomi-eisenberger/8/721/a33

https://ideamensch.com/naomi-eisenberger/