“Because folks out of work often have financial problems, we initiated a credit-counselling program. We are able to do debt management plans (we negotiate a payment plan with all creditors…most times eliminating interest owed and we manage the payment for the client), assist with bankruptcy if required, and do general credit-counselling awareness workshops. The creditor makes a percentage of repayment a donation to our agency.”
Research on financial vibrancy shows that in financially vibrant organizations the understanding of who “everyone” was got much bigger. Financially vibrant organizations think about planning not just with themselves (i.e., the standard group of inside players), but with a host of other players. In other words, they are able to think in very broad terms about who their stakeholders are.
One of the things this means is: if you work with the same stakeholders all the time, you likely have access to the usual pots of resources. It is only when you discover how to find common ground with new partners – i.e., new stakeholders – that you are likely to uncover unusual (and new) sources of revenue.
Three years ago we initiated lunches for all youth service deliverers. The mandate being to share information, prevent duplication of service and identify gaps. We are still hosting these lunches once each quarter and have 30 to 40 participants. Not bad for a small community of 22,000 people.”
Employment and Education Centre, Brockville
