- BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS WITH BUSINESS WITH SPECIFIC REFERENCE TO THE DISABILITY INITIATIVE: A good case study for corporate pay-for-services is Year-Up, whereby the businesses actually sponsor the training of the Year-Up students as well as providing internship opportunities. CREATING A 3-WAY DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE DISABILITY INITIATIVE, THE BUSINESSES AND THE RECRUITS Identifying the business and corporate needs is at the forefront of building long term relationships with them. However this need not be in traditional meeting/monthly meeting formats. Alternative online applications, particularly with businesses with which you have existing relationship are less time consuming for both you and them. Setting up online dialogues, surveys and other interactive features provides a less time consuming alternative as well as a better way to collect data and start creating metrics of analysis to determine what does and does-not work over time. Following the progress of your clients (recruits) is also important, especially for those who remain employed within an organization for more than 2 years. Measurable outcomes are powerful tools for both your funders and the corporates/businesses. Being able to benchmark their progress against other “typical” employees is powerful bargaining tool. You also want feedback from the clients (recruits) to understand what works for them, and where their employees are failing them. Ultimately you want to close the loop in the three way dialogue, and get the recruits and the business/corporates talking to each other as well.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Jodi's comment (reposting here)
Friday, March 12, 2010
Suggestions to consider on Disability Initiative
Suggestions and questions to consider, based on ODSC discussion 2/23/10
- One potential value for businesses is in developing their workforce. Think about how training programs can provide them with pre-trained employees, i.e. if you train the people you're trying to place in jobs, you're rendering a service to future employers.
- What does business commitment look like? Is it only through employment, or are there other kinds of commitment? Can it be measured by comments or document reviews conducted on your website or through other, not in-person formats? Are there ways to be tracking engaged participation on our website?
- If we charged a nominal fee for business participation, how would that change the dynamic? Currently the program isn't charging businesses for offering this service, which provides them with qualified workers. There are other organizations charging for similar services, providing students, interns, and workers to companies, in what could be a pro-bono service - and they are clearly defining the value-added to those companies.
- Appeal to the companies' Corporate social responsibility. Identify companies that have this as part of their mission, and use that as an entry-point for this service.
- Think about redistribution of turf between service providers as part of the picture (e.g. if service providers all re-assign services based on a specific age group, to cut down on redundancy.)
- Create a brand that you could give to a company to display on their website to show that they're "disability -friendly".
- Don't be afraid to start small with a group that really gets it, and build systems change from there.
- Spend time being self-aware - know what your own strengths and weaknesses are and look for backup where needed.
- What web-based service would give businesses a chance to discuss what they want to talk about, or to give them answers or information that would be useful?
Diverse abilities, aligned skills create a successful collaboration.
- One potential value for businesses is in developing their workforce. Think about how training programs can provide them with pre-trained employees, i.e. if you train the people you're trying to place in jobs, you're rendering a service to future employers.
- What does business commitment look like? Is it only through employment, or are there other kinds of commitment? Can it be measured by comments or document reviews conducted on your website or through other, not in-person formats? Are there ways to be tracking engaged participation on our website?
- If we charged a nominal fee for business participation, how would that change the dynamic? Currently the program isn't charging businesses for offering this service, which provides them with qualified workers. There are other organizations charging for similar services, providing students, interns, and workers to companies, in what could be a pro-bono service - and they are clearly defining the value-added to those companies.
- Appeal to the companies' Corporate social responsibility. Identify companies that have this as part of their mission, and use that as an entry-point for this service.
- Think about redistribution of turf between service providers as part of the picture (e.g. if service providers all re-assign services based on a specific age group, to cut down on redundancy.)
- Create a brand that you could give to a company to display on their website to show that they're "disability -friendly".
- Don't be afraid to start small with a group that really gets it, and build systems change from there.
- Spend time being self-aware - know what your own strengths and weaknesses are and look for backup where needed.
- What web-based service would give businesses a chance to discuss what they want to talk about, or to give them answers or information that would be useful?
Diverse abilities, aligned skills create a successful collaboration.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Case study on Disability Collaborative, Feb. 2010
Here's some particulars about the case study mentioned below:
Right now, there are many systems that can provide employment services to people with disabilities. Service agencies have programs specifically geared at that population. One-stop career centers are available to everyone and sometimes have some support for clients with disabilities. Each of these organizations wants relationships with businesses that will translate into job placements - that's their mission, and those outcomes determine their funding.
The strong incentive to get placements means that organizations tend to be protective of their business contacts. This new collaborative effort (funded on a 2.5 year grant) is intended to create systems change around employment systems for people with disabilities. This will require different behaviors, both between organizations that provide job placement services (sharing more information about businesses and clients) and between those organizations and businesses.
The collaborative wants to involve businesses as full participants. To do so, we have to create an organization that provides businesses with value for their time. The ODSC group provided ideas, some of which are noted in the next post.
Right now, there are many systems that can provide employment services to people with disabilities. Service agencies have programs specifically geared at that population. One-stop career centers are available to everyone and sometimes have some support for clients with disabilities. Each of these organizations wants relationships with businesses that will translate into job placements - that's their mission, and those outcomes determine their funding.
The strong incentive to get placements means that organizations tend to be protective of their business contacts. This new collaborative effort (funded on a 2.5 year grant) is intended to create systems change around employment systems for people with disabilities. This will require different behaviors, both between organizations that provide job placement services (sharing more information about businesses and clients) and between those organizations and businesses.
The collaborative wants to involve businesses as full participants. To do so, we have to create an organization that provides businesses with value for their time. The ODSC group provided ideas, some of which are noted in the next post.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Collaboration between Businesses and Non-Profits
There are many examples of collaborations between non-profit organizations and businesses. At our February meeting, we discussed a case study about a social service organization trying to create collaboration with the business world to increase employment opportunities for disabled people (less-abled?) We also watched 2 video clips with examples of collaboration between Businesses and Non-Profit organizations, specifically: City Year and Timberland; and the Boston Museum of Science and Intel (computers). We tried to apply the lessons from these 2 examples to the social service program, and brainstormed ideas to help the collaborative grow (they're actually trying to create a group that will meet monthly).
Some of the Best Practices on this topic are:
Some of the Best Practices on this topic are:
- align the organizations around values - asking a business to donate $$ is (kind of ) trite, but getting them excited about the values of the non-profit provides excitement and can generate commitment, if they share those values.
- consider that this is a 2-way street - it's wonderful if the business people actually get something from the non-profit, on top of satisfaction that they're helping with a social mission. For example, the employees of Intel volunteered to mentor the students in the computer labs, and got a lot of satisfaction from that. The employees of Timberland, who were scheduled to have a full-day staff retreat, decided to work together with the City Year fellows on a service day in the community. In addition, the City Year fellows, who are trained in team building, presented team building activities to the Timberland staff. A win-win all around.
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