Leadership Foundations

Streetlights #5

Membership Profile: Goodcity, the Leadership Foundation of Chicago

"Investing in Leaders and Their
Dreams to Build Community Across a Metroplex"

By H. Spees

5-25-09

How do you get your arms around a city like Chicago?

 

In a city known for its big
political machines, entrenched neighborhoods, huge systems, and complex inner
city issues, Goodcity, the leadership foundation of Chicago, has embraced, according to its
president, Mike Ivers, a very simple strategy for community development: "Find
leaders and empower them."

 

Because Goodcity's core values
are "based on the Gospel message of Jesus Christ," their mission is "to support
emerging neighborhood and faith-based programs that promote self-sufficiency, hope,
and a sense of purpose in the lives of individuals in under-resourced
communities."

 

In many ways it's about doing a
small, powerful thing over and over to achieve big, lasting results. Instead of a "wrecking ball, urban renewal
approach," Goodcity's strategy is more like in-fill, more like planting sprigs
of ivy along the foundation walls of
injustice, knowing that someday, those sprigs will grow together to bring those walls of poverty and violence
down. The small sprigs Goodcity invests
in are capable, trustworthy leaders doing transformational community work but who
aren't yet able to take it to sustainability.

 

Ronald
Zinnerman, VP Corporate Social Responsibility with JP Morgan Chase Bank, puts
it this way: "We are working with
Goodcity to provide the resources that they will need to help these
organizations with the great ideas that they have but just don't have the
ability to go to the next level."

 

What does helping an organization take it to the next level mean?

For some it means money: the ability to attract financial
resources, steward them, account for them, and leverage them for ongoing
support.

Take
Austin Childcare Providers Network (ACPN), for instance, which provides
resources to childcare providers in underserved areas. ACPN offers college and GED classes, business
management workshops, financial literacy and matched savings accounts for
members. They have trained members in
early childhood professional development. They have also prepared their members
for licensing and certification with the State and City. They started in 1999 with five providers with
40 children and a budget of $25,000. With
Goodcity's help, ACPN now has 100 providers and 12 centers with over 1,500
children and a budget over $300,000.

 

Ruth
Kimble, Founder of the Austin Childcare Providers Network, says that "the major
issue we had was a lack of funding to support projects that we had. Goodcity helped us to develop political
relationships and they have taught me how to plant seeds in our community that
has enabled our program to develop an income of over $500,000 in grants that we
have received."

 

For some it means organizational infrastructure: the ability to
provide the administrative platform necessary to sustain an organization. Rev. Reuben Robinson, Founder of Prodigal
Sons, an organization working to help youth, men and women meet their full
potential in inner city Chicago,
reflects that "some of
the problems that we faced when we started up the organization included not
having the financial support we needed, or the support we needed on the back
end office and administrative support.
Goodcity was able to help us with the incubation program to build on our
strengths and to build new capacity within ourselves so that we can get to the
place where we are able to run a strong organization."

How does Goodcity do it? The Power
of Capacity Building

 

Goodcity is founded on the
value of human potential and the belief that empowered people become engaged
citizens who build stable, healthy communities. Goodcity works to enhance the
capacity of community members in working together to develop leaders, access
resources, and alleviate problems plaguing vulnerable neighborhoods. Goodcity
accomplishes this in a variety of ways, but primarily through its work with
nonprofit startups.

 

Many of its partner
organizations do not initially have a well-crafted mission statement, a
developed board of directors, or a strategic plan for success. Through its
workshop series and one-on-one consulting services, Goodcity works directly
with partners to help them uncover the many assets they already possess. They
also work with them to develop the tools they need to achieve sustainability as
a non-profit organization well beyond their partnership with Goodcity. In so
doing, Goodcity contributes to community development by strengthening
organizations providing vital human services across the city.

 

Goodcity maintains an ongoing
cohort or portfolio of 25-30 programs, but also stays in touch with the over
100 leaders and programs it has served over the last 23 years. With only five staff, how does Goodcity get
this accomplished? First, Goodcity staff
performs double duty. In addition to
performing their functions for Goodcity as an organization, they teach their
skills in community development, office operations, finances, fundraising,
human resources and other areas in the workshops attended by cohort
members. In addition, they enlist board
members, alumni partners, and community experts to invest in their partner
programs. All workshops are open to the
public, with 10 to 40 additional participants attending each class.

 

One-on-one consulting, fiscal
agency, and helping organizations define measurable objectives then regularly
benchmarking programs against these objectives makes participating as a
Goodcity partner more than an educational experience, but really a journey
toward sustainability.

 

Dr. Ileen Kelly, Goodcity's Director
of Development, argues that this incubating and capacity building investment in
grassroots organizations is a key service needed by a big city like Chicago. "It is a unique contribution. What Goodcity brings to the table in addition to skill training is
the side-by-side consulting to then put skills into practice. Monitoring then assures that practice brings
results. Plus, there is always a lot of nurturing in everything from how to
write a grant to how to keep up your self esteem as a leader. The average
partner stays with us for about 3 years before graduation and becoming an
alumnus."

 

How does Goodcity pay for this model of civic transformation? When you look under the hood, what does the
economic engine look like?

 

Goodcity
has built its economic engine around developing relationships with a broad
group of individual donors. Undesignated
giving for core expenses by individual donors accounts for about 70% of
Goodcity's revenues, with 30-35% of these dollars coming from board members.

 

In the
last several years, Goodcity has been growing its Foundation investors, now
about 15% of revenues, and Government investments, about 5-10%. Goodcity's core revenue is about $670,000
total. Its total revenues, counting
those generated by partner organizations under fiscal agency, is about $1.1
million.

 

Reflecting
on Goodcity's role in bridging sectors, Bradley D. Wilks, Managing Director of
Sard Verbinnen, a national business consulting firm, and Goodcity's Board
Chair, says that "We have been very pleased with the growth in the relationship
between Goodcity and the business community.
And we have had tremendous support among the upper echelon of business
leaders across many sectors. One of the
things I think drives that support has been the realization that an investment
in the programs supported by Goodcity can deliver strong returns. And what I mean by that is that on the one
hand you have thousands of individuals across many different communities who
are benefiting from the programs supported by Goodcity; and on the other hand
you've got the supporters who are going to benefit either today or tomorrow from
the growth and development of those communities."

 

The Mike
Factor

Like a
nuclear reactor lighting up a city, Goodcity's president brings dynamic energy
and civic connectivity to Goodcity's helm.
Knowing Bishops and gang bangers, the Obamas and organizers, Mike came
to leadership foundations bursting out of a remarkable year of personal
transition in 2001. Mike resigned from
the priesthood in March of 2001 where he had served in parishes serving some of
Chicago's most desperate neighborhoods, started with Goodcity on May 7, 2001,
was married to Greta, his beautiful doctor wife, later that year, and was then
appointed a commissioner of public housing in Chicago.

 

"I've
spent my entire life in Chicago
and I love it here," says Mike. "Sure we
have problems. I‘ve listened to the stories;
I've felt the anger, the pain, the desperation, the hopelessness. But I've also encountered leaders who want to
make a difference. And as president of
Goodcity, I've been fortunate enough to work with individuals to meet those
needs of those who are struggling and help them transform their lives into self
sufficiency and hope."

 

A dynamic
leader, a great team, serving an incredible array of partners, building their
city. Check them out at www.goodcitychicago.com.