Strengthening the nonprofit sector in New Jersey is a priority for The Tepper Foundation. We believe that positive impact goes beyond monetary investments and is accomplished through authentic, responsive relationships with the organizations we support. One way we do this is through our work with the Support Center, a local capacity-building organization dedicated to training and empowering nonprofit leaders. The Tepper Foundation partners with the Support Center to provide one-on-one coaching for nonprofit leaders working to address a particular challenge or wanting to strengthen internal efficiencies.
We sat down with two grantees receiving this support—Nicole Davis, Executive Director of Center for Food Action and Altorice Frazier, Founder of Parents Engaging Parents—to hear more about how their experience with the Support Center allowed them to make a greater impact in their communities. Read more below!
Questions:
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What are some of the biggest challenges you face as a nonprofit organization?
Davis: The biggest challenge we [Center for Food Action] face as a 48-year-old organization is recruiting new donors and amplifying the message of who we are and what we do. As our donor pool retires, there is a great need to spread the word about the concerning levels of food insecurity in northern New Jersey and find donors interested in being a part of the solution.
Frazier: At Parents Engaging Parents, we face challenges around securing consistent funding, tackling insufficient resource allocation, and building trust within the diverse communities we serve, to name a few. In order to work efficiently and make the impact we want to make, it is important to find a balance operating at both a grassroots and grasstops level.
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At the start of your engagement with the Support Center, what were you hoping to gain from this type of support? What was your biggest takeaway at the end?
Frazier: Going into this engagement, I wanted to become more of a servant leader. Throughout phase one of working with my mentor, we accomplished that and more. My mentor showed me that to be a good leader, you first need to be a good listener, and she demonstrated that firsthand. Not only did she lead me through this process, she was also open to me leading her and to really tapping into who I was and who I wanted to be as a leader. There is so much love and talent within my organization and our mentor supplemented that with the resources and tools we needed to take our impact to the next level.
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How did you decide what priority you wanted to work on with your Support Center coach?
Davis: My mentor and I had a very transparent conversation about it! Going into this experience, I had already identified two areas that I knew I wanted support with: communicating more efficiently with core staff and with board members. [My mentor] Nancy was aligned with these focus areas and immediately began working with me on a strategy that included actionable steps for how I would improve in these two areas over the coming year.
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How are you implementing the feedback you’ve received from your Support Center coach? Has it helped you address or improve these challenges?
Frazier: Something that impressed me right away about our mentor is that she met with every single one of my board members one-on-one to identify their personal needs, desires and goals for the organization. This allowed us to all come together towards a shared vision. Now, I meet with my mentor bi-weekly and my board members even more regularly than I used to, to ensure we’re all working together to mobilize the strategic plan we built together. We also worked with our mentor to identify and hire two new board members, further increasing our capacity and offerings.
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How does having outside counsel, not in your organization or on your board, help you develop as a leader?
Frazier: What makes outside counsel unique is they have no biases. They’re not connected to any payment coming from your organization and are genuinely there because they want to help. Having outside counsel from the Support Center brought a fresh mind, set of eyes, and soul to our work. When you have C-suite professionals joining you at a grassroots level, even more impact can be made in communities that have been historically and systematically underserved.
Davis: Working with outside counsel is unique because they have no stake in the fight. They give you the honest truth, and as a leader, truth helps you succeed. I knew Nancy was fully invested in our organization the first time I met her, when she came to see us in person, requested a tour of our facilities and asked to meet with our staff. She was deeply dedicated to the project and to the process and brought us invaluable unbiased opinions.
About Parents Engaging Parents (PEPNJ): Dedicated to fostering civic awareness and proactive community action, PEPNJ supports parents and community leaders through collaborative engagement. Our vision is to build leadership cohorts and drive change in low-income New Jersey cities, with a vision to expand nationally.
About Center for Food Action: Founded in 1976, Center for Food Action's (CFA) is a nonprofit organization on a mission to serve as a preferred network of six food pantries, offering guests essential food and homelessness prevention services. We prioritize cultural sensitivity and aim to assist the working poor and middle-class people facing economic hardship. We strive to empower our guests by offering healthy food choices, including fresh produce, lean meats, and shelf-stable items. Our goal is to help move guests towards spaces of optimal health and well-being in their journey to a better life.