Nonprofit Hub Magazine | Winter 2018

magazine WINTER 2018

Brewing something good

Featuring: A sneak-peek of what's to come, a spotlight on one of our members and our quarterly Leading the Good Life series.

A LETTER FROM magazine WINTER 2018

Randy

WHAT'S INSIDE

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Nonprofit News

Member Spotlight

by Hana Muslic Foundry: What’s That All About?

by Randy Hawthorne Lincoln Tennis Buddies

by Spencer Creal Leading The Good Life

by Molly Bretz

OUR CREW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Randy Hawthorne DIRECTOR OF CONTENT STRATEGY Spencer Creal MARKETING COORDINATOR Molly Bretz GRAPHIC DESIGNER Jordan Geisert CONTENT STRATEGIST Hana Muslic SALES ASSOCIATE Garrett Miles COMMUNITY COORDINATOR Hannah Rogers CAUSE CAMP INTERN Andy Ngo

Thank goodness I’m looking at espresso machines. Easing into 2018 hasn’t been an option, and neither has skipping my morning coffee. Luckily, we have some awesome stuff in store for this year that will keep the coffee brewin’ and motivation levels through the roof.

The year started as many do for Nonprofit Hub: working on the dreams of others.

Like most, we resolve to do ALL the things in the new year. Already we’ve advised about 50 people on new ideas for starting businesses to help the community. I guess we must be on the minds of others as a place to vet social ideas—and I like it.

But I’ve had to find some headspace for our own dreams. And we have a lot of them for the coming year.

Let’s begin with the big one. As many of you know, our local collaboration center is becoming The Foundry this summer. You can read all about it on page 5 in this publication, which will also have a new name come summertime.

With the change comes many physical improvements for our members, including a community space on first floor. This will be open to the public and includes a coffee bar which will donate all proceeds to nonprofits in our community.

How do those nonprofits get chosen? Through a vote of our Founders group.

Founders are those who have invested in The Foundry’s mission by purchasing a dedicated brick in their name. How do you become one of those? I’m glad you asked. I’d love to have you join. Check out the enclosed envelope for details. A very heartfelt thank you to those who have already donated. It means so much to me and my team.

But this doesn’t mean Nonprofit Hub is going away. Our much-respected, national brand that provides education to thousands will become an anchor member of The Foundry. And we’re gearing up to host Cause Camp, a critically acclaimed nonprofit conference founded by our local American Marketing Association. This has grown to literally a coast-to-coast event that brings people from over 25 states and Canada to Lincoln. And they love this town! I can’t wait to report on the outcomes for 2018.

All I can say is: bring it, 2018. We’re ready for you. Well, as soon as the espresso machine is installed.

RANDY HAWTHORNE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

LINCOLN NONPROFIT

NEWS The Bay and Hear Nebraska merge to form Rabble Mill Two longtime partners and staples in Lincoln’s nonprofit community have teamed up to form Rabble Mill, an organization dedicated to creating “more connected communities through education, outreach and storytelling across subcultures.” Learn more at rabblemill.org Lincoln Arts Council celebrates 50 years 2018 marks the 50th year of operation for the Lincoln Arts Council. We’re proud to have them in our space, and we’re more than appreciative of the work they’re doing to foster the arts in Lincoln. Check out more of their story on the next page!

Habitat for Humanity’s Lincoln chapter celebrates 30 years The Lincoln nonprofit will celebrate its 30th year with a Raising the Roof celebration later this month.

They’ve built over 150 homes in Lancaster County, and have plans to ramp up their production this year.

Clinic with a Heart celebrates 15 years, expands dental services To help ring in their 15th year, Clinic with a Heart is expanding their programs to allow for a number of dental services, including tooth extraction. With the expansion they hope to provide screenings and health services for even more Lincolnites this year (they saw over 2,500 patients in 2017).

Friendship Home gears up for Stuff the Bus The annual event, which asks Lincolnites to literally stuff buses full of new items for families, will take place on April 7-8. Buses will be located outside of all of Lincoln’s Walmart and Sam’s Club locations. If you want more information, visit friendshiphome.org/events/stuff-the-bus.

nonprofit hub member spotlight

LINCOLN ARTS COUNCIL

by Hana Muslic

When Randy Hawthorne, our executive director, began developing the idea of Nonprofit Hub back in 2014, one of the first nonprofits he envisioned living in our coworking space was the Lincoln Arts Council (LAC). In October of last year, that vision became a reality when the organization moved into our building at 211 N. 14th St.

One of LAC’s most successful programs is Art Makes Me SmArt, which brings art experiences to under-resourced children in the community. Since 2008, the program has served over 1,000 students in 10 different schools, providing intellectual and emotional outlets for children that might otherwise go without them.

In just three short months, LAC has already found themselves completely at home. The organization is gearing up to celebrate its 50th anniversary this year and there’s no shortage of work to be done. I sat down with LAC’s executive director, Deb Weber, and development director Troy Gagner to chat about what the nonprofit’s purpose is, how they fulfill it and what they hope for the future. And let me tell you, these people are making waves.

LAC hopes that programs like this can soon be implemented in agencies that service mental health and trauma patients, immigrants and refugees, the elderly— anyone who could benefit from a creative outlet.

Four years ago, LAC adopted a new mission: “Championing the arts, connecting people, changing lives.” Weber said that this means bringing positive arts experiences to the broadest community possible.

LAC found that art also brings an economic benefit to the community when they partnered with Americans for the Arts in conducting a study of the impact nonprofit arts and cultural organizations have in Lincoln. According to the study, arts generated $99 million in economic activity in the city—evidence that the arts and culture sector is a significant industry here.

“We work to highlight the arts, create awareness for the arts and the goal is to build relationships between people and connect them through the arts,” she said.

LAC covers a huge spectrum in who they connect— children, medical patients, incarcerated people, artists, collectors and more. And “art,” Gagner said, encompasses everything from drawing and painting to music and theater.

Gagner also said that in the last 10 years, LAC has shifted to a more program-based approach. They found that by implementing programs within an agency, results are more tangible.

“Our belief is that every single person, no matter who they are, needs to have access to arts opportunities,” he said. “We want to work with as many populations within our community as possible and help them share what they can bring to Lincoln. A lot of them typically don’t have that opportunity.”

“Arts help you figure out where you fit in the world,” Weber said. “Any time you can express hopes, dreams, disappointments, who you are...it’s a benefit to the community. It creates more well-rounded people.”

“It’s amazingly vibrant [in Lincoln],” Weber said. “The arts community is very interested in working together with other industries to help create new opportunities.”

We’re happy to have LAC in our space here at Nonprofit Hub, and by the sounds of it, they’re happy to be here, too.

“Just being with other people who strive every day to create a better community is inspiring,” Weber said. “It’s exactly what the Arts Council needed to do at this point, come downtown and be with a group of like-minded people.”

To learn more about the Lincoln Arts Council and the ways they’re promoting the arts, check out their website at artscene.org.

4 | Nonprofit Hub Magazine | Winter 2018 | Member Spotlight

Top Left: Student at Campbell Elementary School creates Wild and Tame paintings of critters as part of the SmART program.

Top Right: Students from Holmes Elementary School view the ceramic cups they created during an exhibition held at Bryan Health.

Bottom Left: Students participate in artist in residency program entitled “What fills my cup.�

Bottom Right: Actors and visual artists helped the children create ceramic cups to express positive aspect of their lives.

What’s that all about?

You’ve probably heard that there are some changes on the horizon for Nonprofit Hub. Namely, you’ve probably heard that we’re changing our name to The Foundry, and that’s absolutely true, but there’s a bit more to it. Let’s work through all the moving parts by answering some common questions we’ve heard over the past few months.

Why the name change, and why now?

We’ve loved working with nonprofit organizations for the past four years, but we realized that our name may dissuade other organizations from working with us. For example, B-Corps and social impact companies, both of which are for-profit entities, are doing incredible things for the communities they serve. But, with “Nonprofit” in our name, they may feel as though their presence in our space isn’t welcome. That simply isn’t true.

The Foundry will be open to nonprofit and for-profit organizations alike, so long as they are positively impacting the community.

If Nonprofit Hub is becoming The Foundry, does this mark the end of Nonprofit Hub? Of course not! While the building at 211 N. 14th Street will be referred to as The Foundry, Nonprofit Hub will still provide education and resources to nonprofits around the world— just as we always have. Nonprofit Hub started in 2011 as an e-learning community aimed at helping nonprofits of all shapes and sizes become more remarkable.

It wasn’t until 2015 that Nonprofit Hub became a physical space for nonprofits to work and collaborate.

Upon the name change, Nonprofit Hub will become a member of The Foundry, just like other organizations that utilize office space in the building.

Cause Camp, Nonprofit Hub’s annual conference, isn’t going anywhere either. All of the brainstorming, planning, sweat and tears that go into Cause Camp will still happen at 211 N. 14th Street, under the direction of Nonprofit Hub’s staff.

What’s this about coffee?!

As Nonprofit Hub has grown, so have the needs of our members. We believe the addition of a retail coffee bar will provide members with a more robust environment to gather, host meetings and interact with each other and with the community. The coffee bar will serve coffee, beer, snacks, pastries and more. Additionally, we’ll be selling sourced beans under The Foundry brand so you can take the tastiness home with you. Our hope is that The Foundry’s coffee bar will be open by the end of summer. It will be open to the public.

6 | Nonprofit Hub Magazine | Winter 2018 | Foundry

The Foundry Story

On the surface, a foundry doesn’t sound like much: “a place where iron casts are made,” according to Google. But when you look into the process of iron casting, a foundry becomes a place of design, precision, fortification and maturation. Scrap metal—copper, bronze, steel, aluminium, brass—are heated up in a furnace until they turn to liquid. The liquid metal is poured into casts—hollow molds of varying shapes and sizes. When the metal cools, it hardens and takes on the shape of the cast. This isn’t a terribly difficult process to understand, but it’s important to go through the steps. What foundry workers are doing in their factories—melting, molding, forming—is exactly what members are doing within our space.

Nonprofit Hub is proud of our ability to incubate organizations into their next phase, and that much isn’t going to change. We’ve seen passionate people come to us with nothing but an idea—much like scrap metal—and go on to build a staff, develop programs and impact the world. They turned a half-baked idea into a full-blown reality; a pile of scrap metal into a beautiful cast of iron. We want to help others create their casts. We want to be the furnace to heat the metal; we want to help find—or build—the perfect mold; and we want to be there while it cools into the finished product.

The Magazine

Along with all of the fun changes happening in our building, the magazine in your hands right now is going to look a little different, too. But don’t worry, we’ll still be providing premium content about the amazing things happening in our city, at no cost to you.

r A o l F l s i n n e T

by Spe n

cer Creal

In 2010, Lincoln hosted the national Special Olympics, a week-long event drawing tensofthousandsofathletesandspectatorsfromall50states.Lincoln’sfacilitieswere buzzing with energy, housing everything from track meets, to wheelchair basketball tournaments, to floor hockey. And Nebraska was pretty well represented: it had athletes participating in dozens of sports—many for the very first time.

8 | Nonprofit Hub Magazine | Winter 2018 | Tennis For All

One of the sports in which Nebraskans were making their debut was tennis. Two years prior, when it was announced that Lincoln would host the National Games, Phil Wolfe, a retiredphysicaleducationteacher,realizedthatNebraskawas without a Special Olympics tennis team.

Wolfe, who taught for three decades in the Lincoln Public SchoolsystemandwasoncenamedNebraskaTeacherofthe Year,decidedtousetheskillshemasteredduringhiscareerto improve the lives of Lincolnites with disabilities.

Enter: Lincoln Tennis Buddies, a program dedicated to teaching the game of tennis to people with special needs.

Every Saturday between January and August, dozens of athletes and volunteers convene at Abbott Sports Complex and Woods Tennis Center to learn, practice and interact.

“It’s not all about tennis,” Wolfe said. “It’s about improving skills, being active and socializing.”

At the Lincoln Tennis Buddies weekly practices, athletes and volunteers are urged to show up fifteen minutes early to chat and catch up with each other.

In July, there’s an outdoor picnic. And to end the year, everyoneintheLincolnTennisBuddiesfamilygetstogetherfor ice cream sundaes.

WhenaskedaboutLincolnTennisBuddies’greatesttriumph, Wolfe said he just likes seeing people having fun.

“Every time I see a player smile or make a good hit—that’s the greatest triumph in my eyes.”

This summer, one of Lincoln Tennis Buddies’ very own will be competinginthenationalSpecialOlympicGamesinSeattle, Washington.

Ifyouhaveanhourpermonthtospare,considervolunteering for Lincoln Tennis Buddies. To learn more about how they’re changing Lincoln for the better, email Phil Wolfe at cubwolfe@gmail.com.

“Some of these folks don’t have a lot of opportunities to socialize, and I want Tennis Buddies to be a place for that,” Wolfe said.

The program, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, offers free equipment to all participants. Athletes are groupedbyability,andadaptedequipment—lighterracquets, larger balls—are available to anyone who needs them.

Uniformsarealsoprovided,fundedlargelythroughindividual donations.

LincolnTennisBuddies’growthhasbeenimpressive—fromjust a handful of athletes in 2008 to over 20 this year. But Wolfe says he still has room for more athletes.

Lincoln Tennis Buddies get together outside of their weekly practices, too. To kick off the year, participants, volunteers, friends and family members get together for a pizza party.

Leading the Good Life

by Molly Bretz

It’s incredibly important that members of our community be recognized for all the good they do. Of course, they wouldn’t dream of recognizing themselves, so we’re going to do it for them. Each quarter, Nonprofit Hub will recognize an outstanding leader from the nonprofit community to be featured. We’ll invite them to our home at 211 N 14th Street, have some coffee and talk about how they’re Leading the Good Life each and every day. This quarter, our marketing coordinator, Molly, got to sit down with Abbi Swatsworth, CDO of CenterPointe, board member of Outlinc and all-around do-gooder in the Lincoln community.

10 | Nonprofit Hub Magazine | Winter 2017 | Leading The Good Life

ABBI SWATSWORTH One of the things I like most about Nonprofit Hub’s Leading the Good Life series is that we get to put the spotlight on people who not only do incredible things, but who don’t always get the recognition they deserve. Abbi Swatsworth is certainly one of those people.

Abbi set an incredible tone for our time together. She thanked me over and over for featuring her, and all I could do was marvel in the chance I was getting to hear about the countless things she has done for the city of Lincoln. She expressed that Lincoln is full of people wanting to do good, and she just focuses on doing her part. However, her part in the Lincoln community expands far beyond her residency and day job.

Born in New York, Abbi moved to Kansas at a young age and eventually found her way to Nebraska, where she found her true home here in Lincoln.

“I really love the vibes here and the overwhelming sense of community.

I love the grass roots energy and the willingness of the people to get involved or give back,” she said.

how CenterPointe helped her become healthy; become who she is today.

With 13 different properties and around 200 employees, CenterPointe offers a wide range of resources for low-income and homeless people struggling with mental illnesses and addiction in Lincoln. Their resources include crisis response, treatment options, housing assistance and rehabilitation. CenterPointe has as many as 1300 patients involved in their services at any given time. But that’s just scratching the surface.

“Services are very individualized and there is no wrong door.

Anyone is welcome at any time. We offer safe, affordable housing to over 400 people. We don’t just put bandaids on problems, we address underlying needs. We help our fellow citizens become more productive members of our community and give them a chance at recovery.”

`` I can tell CenterPointe`s story because that was my story.´´

Abbi has an extensive background in the nonprofit sector, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. I was interested in how she made her way into the nonprofit sector, and I learned that it didn’t take long for her to fall in love with it.

“I did some marketing work for the Friendship Home, and I wrote one thank you letter to a donor and I was hooked. It was as simple and as powerful as that. I don’t think of fundraising as asking people for money, but helping people put their values in action. I love having a job where I know I am impacting people’s lives.”

Abbi spent several years with both the Friendship Home and Planned Parenthood before accepting a position at CenterPointe, where she has spent the last 10 years.

“My official title is the Chief Development Officer, though I kind of laugh when I say that because I am basically a one-person team.”

She works towards a wide range of projects, including fundraising, marketing and special event planning, and her position at CenterPointe is incredibly unique. Not only does she help others through the organization’s programs, but she herself is a graduate of CenterPointe.

“I can tell CenterPointe’s story because that was my story.”

Abbi grew up struggling in a family where drug use was the norm.

She lives with ongoing mental health challenges. She explained to me

As if that doesn’t keep her busy enough, Abbi is also an active board member of Outlinc. Outlinc is an organization that provides programs, services and advocacy for the LGBTQ community.

“My coming out story was a huge part of my recovery process. There is a certain sense of isolation LGBTQ people can feel – it can be very hard to find community. Our mission with Outlinc is to create a safe place for people, an outlet to get to know each other, to build connections, to encourage people and to be engaged.”

The organization meets for weekly and monthly social gatherings of all different types, like playing volleyball on Thursdays and dressing up for their annual Classy-Tacky Ball.

Alongside CenterPointe and Outlinc, Abbi is also a part of Rotary 14 and the Mayor’s Commission for Women, both of which provide philanthropic efforts to educate, advocate and make a difference in people’s lives here in Lincoln, Nebraska.

As I was doing research prior to our conversation, I ran across this quote on Abbi’s LinkedIn page: “Changing the world through quality work at locally-focused community betterment organizations.”

I think that’s right on the money.

If you know someone who should be featured in Nonprofit Hub’s Leading the Good Life spotlight series, send Spencer an email at spencer.creal@nonprofithub.org with your suggestion.

Events

NONPROFIT ORG US POSTAGE PAID FIRESPRING

February 14

Lincoln Continentals Singing Valentines

magazine

February 15

WINTER 2018

Clinic With A Heart: Free Health Clinic February 17

211 N. 14th Street Lincoln, NE 68508

2018 Vampire Ball Valentine's Kids Night Wish Ball 2018: 35 Years of Wishes March 17 Star City Buddy Walk March 18 Monopoly for The Monarch Monthly Nonprofit Hub First Friday For more details visit http://lincoln.nonprofithub.org/community-calendar.html

Want to be the first to try the Foundry's coffee?

We’ve got batches of our house roast just waiting to be sipped.

Fill out the form at nonprofithub.org/foundry-coffee if you want a free sample.

Expect your coffee in the mail soon and don’t forget to check in on social media to keep up on updates to the space.