Press Releases

For Immediate Release
9/2/2004
Contact: Sheila Watkins, Executive Director
(419) 243-6637
NATIONAL NON-PROFIT TO RELEASE REPORT ON LOCAL COMMUNITY SHARES
A comprehensive report on Northwest Ohio Community Shares will be released by The National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP), located in Washington, D.C. The report will be released at Community Shares' kickoff event on Thursday, September 2, 6:45 p.m., on The Sandpiper Cruise Ship at Promenade Park. Highlights of the report will be presented at the kickoff by Kevin Ronnie, NCRP Director of Field Operations.

The report, which covers the history of the local Community Shares organization, is the culmination of a six-month long research and interview effort.

Ronnie cited two major reasons why NCRP targeted Northwest Ohio Community Shares as an organization to research.  "One of the reasons Northwest Ohio Community Shares was selected was because of its energy. "You could tell before we even conducted the research that this was a dynamic organization," said Ronnie.  "We were quite aware of their recent successes, and we felt  we needed to research the organization to figure out how they weathered the first few difficult years and why they have been so successful, despite nearly overwhelming odds.

A second reason was because Northwest Ohio Community Shares is relatively new. Explained Ronnie, "Most of Community Shares' founders are still around, with very recent memories on what went into creating Northwest Ohio Community Shares.  We thought this would make for a richer and more useful report."    

Northwest Ohio Community Shares Release,  Aug. 31, 2004, Page 2

The NCRP contracted with Randy Stoecker, Ph.D., to conduct interviews earlier this year with Northwest Ohio Community Shares staff, board members and community leaders.  All research costs were paid for by the NCRP. NCRP is an independent non-profit organization founded in 1976 by non-profit leaders across the nation who recognized that traditional philanthropy was falling short of addressing critical public needs. It conducts research on philanthropic policies and practices that are responsive to public needs.

"Truly, one of the main reasons for the success of Community Shares in Northwest Ohio is the nature of the relationships of the people involved," says researcher Stoecker. Adds Ronnie, "This report is really the story of how a group of citizens took an idea at the grass roots level, persistently overcame extremely difficult odds, and succeeded in empowering local charities. I can honestly say that Northwest Ohio Community Shares should be considered a national model for other non-profits to emulate."   

As evidence of its recent successful campaigns, Northwest Ohio Community Shares was honored this past July by the National Alliance for Choice in Giving (NACG) for achieving the highest percentage increase in donations (44%) in 2003 over 2002 for member organizations in its size category. "We continue to be one of the fastest growing Community Shares organizations in the country," said Sheila Watkins, Executive Director of Northwest Ohio Community Shares.

"Many individuals who contribute to Community Shares have a specific organization they want to support that is affiliated with Community Shares," says Watkins. "And we guarantee that gifts that are designated for a specific member agency will go directly to that agency. People like to know their donation is going where they want it to go."
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