A Partner for Progress & Positive Change

2012 Annual Report

Our MissionThird Sector New England provides information and services to build the knowledge, power and effectiveness of organizations and individuals that engage people in community and public life. We also act to promote wider recognition of community-based organizations as the primary stewards of our core societal values. The ultimate intention of our work is to create a more just and democratic society.

TSNE partnered with

470 social change nonprofits this year.

more than

The Societal Vision Which Inspires Our Work We envision a society grounded in and guided by principles of social and economic justice and mutual respect, where community-based organizations take the leadership role in shaping the country’s future. We believe that to realize this future, people must be actively engaged in building and holding responsible the systems that affect their lives.

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EFrom the

Executive DirectorDear Colleagues,

Third Sector New England was honored to partner with 470 nonprofit organizations this year—and to help them build their programs, expand their leadership capacity, learn new skills and collaborate. And thanks to the commitment of our staff and board and the support of our constituents, fiscal year 2012 turned out to be a productive one for Third Sector New England—ultimately. We began in mid-2011 inspired to engage in strategic planning that would set a course for TSNE’s future. We reached out proactively to our stakeholders for feedback and suggestions—electronically, in focus groups and via individual interviews. Much of that feedback was affirming of our mission focus and programming. However, midway through our process, external factors unexpectedly required us to put our planning on hold and reassess our programs, financial model and staffing structure. Though the resulting cutbacks were difficult, our staff was committed to the challenge and helped us navigate through these necessary changes.

Our efforts paid off, and TSNE began to thrive anew. Our flagship consulting and fiscal sponsorship programs grew, and we partnered with some exceptional new projects like Tools of the Mind, a national research-based, early childhood program that builds strong foundations for school success and Gardening the Community, a youth-based, food justice group engaged in urban agriculture, sustainable living and organizing for healthy and equitable communities.

The year brought many changes to TSNE and it was also a year of great success for our fiscally-sponsored projects, clients, training participants and tenants with whom we work closely. Groups like MataHari: Eye of the Day celebrated 10 years of building community power to end gender-based violence; the LGBT Aging Project was selected for the highly competitive 2012 Social Innovators Awards for its health equity project; and Future Chefs opened a new teaching kitchen for its culinary programs that assists low- to moderate-income youth in developing careers.

TSNE is now ready to pick up where we left off, planning for our future. And we look forward to working with our partners as we together create a strong, vibrant nonprofit sector.

Jonathan Spack, Executive Director

Executive Transitionspage four

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Powering Change Through Partnerships Third Sector New England is an intermediary organization providing management and leadership resources and capacity-building programs designed

to help our fellow nonprofits focus on their core missions. From very small community- and faith-based groups who work toward equality and justice in their neighborhoods to large, established institutions seeking new leaders to guide them to next level, TSNE is a partner to organiza-tions that share our values and our commitment to

building a thriving nonprofit sector. Partnership takes on many meanings at TSNE. It is in the way we approach our practice and how we work with our constituents as a consultant, co-learner, adviser, facilitator, trainer, researcher, convener and grantmaker working to create positive social change.

FiscalSponsorshippage six

NonProfitCenterpage eleven

Trainingpage ten

GrantsProgramspage eight

Consultingpage three

Third Sector New England Program Areas

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Consulting and Executive Transitions Services That Strengthen Nonprofits

Third Sector New England provides consulting and coaching services that strengthen nonprofits and support current and emerging leaders. Our practice emphasizes a values-based approach—one that is participatory and collaborative, analytical and foresighted and in touch with constituents.

TSNE Consulting assists groups in many ways, includ-ing those selecting new executives, considering new directions, developing alterna-tive structures, tightening their financial management, strengthening their governance and building more effective leadership skills. Our practice is assessment-based, enabling us to understand more deeply the complex internal and external issues affecting organizations. Working with clients at this level can have a lasting impact on their ability to fulfill their missions and create positive social change.

Last year, TSNE worked on 96 consulting engagements with nonprofits in the New England region. Our services helped groups large and small from a range of fields, and with missions that focus on positive social change, including ending homelessness, supporting individuals with disabilities or working to ensure food security in communities. Our clients have budgets that range from less than $100,000 to more than $10 million. TSNE Consulting supported these groups with our network of highly trained consultants who are experts in many practice areas, including our Executive Transitions Program, which continues to serve the growing need for effective leadership transitions in the region.

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Executive Transitions Helping Nonprofits Achieve Their Leadership GoalsTSNE Consulting and its Executive Transitions Program help nonprofits achieve their leadership goals with a unique executive search strategy that combines capacity-building services—succes-sion planning, organiza-tional development and leadership coaching—with executive search to ensure that nonprofits are well positioned for long-term success.

TSNE’s program has continued to lead the Executive Transitions field with new research and innovations in our practice, including a comprehensive evaluation system that captures real-time and post-engagement feedback from client organizations. In our most recent evaluation, clients reported a 95 percent satisfaction rate and a significant positive impact on organizational sustainability.

This year, TSNE also conducted a first-in-the-field program study on the retention rate of the 88 executives placed by the Executive Transitions Program over the past five years. We found that 91 percent of those executives are still in their positions today. This is an exciting outcome and one that points to the effectiveness and impact of the program in building lasting capacity for nonprofits in the region.

The Executive Transitions Program continues to thrive and build on its success. Program enhancements over the past year have included strengthening our interim leader pool through peer learning, investing in an expansion of our executive search capacity to yield a strong and diverse candidate pool, and expanding leadership coaching services for a higher level of support of transitioning leaders and board leadership.

Executives placed by TSNE

91%

retention rateExpanding Leadership

Capacity“TSNE Executive Transitions was the absolute right choice for our organization. Not only did we find an excellent executive director, but our transition consultant helped us through some challenging spots. We felt supported at every step through this very important change. Even our board members—who were hesitant at first—came together as a team. By the end of the process, everyone had a positive experience and we felt like our organization could move forward together.”

Pam Carpenter, Board Member,

Hartford Area Habitat for Humanity

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E FIVEHuman Resources Consulting and Leadership CoachingAdding ValueTSNE Consulting has developed expertise in new practice areas that focus on nonprofit leadership coaching and workforce issues. Our Human Resources Consulting provides onsite employee relations coaching and consultation to staff in organizations such as Rosie’s Place and Heading Home. We also offer guidance to nonprofits and foundations in designing values-based compensation and other human resources systems. TSNE’s pool of leadership coaches, who are seasoned nonprofit practitioners and consultants, provide quality, results-driven coaching to help leaders gain new performance levels. We carefully match our coaches with executives seeking help in improving their effectiveness. TSNE’s coaching practice utilizes research-based tools and techniques that have proven their value over time.

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Executive Transition and Search

Interim Placement

Customized Training

Coaching Leadershipand Teams

Strategic Thinkingand Planning

OrganizationalTransitions

Organizational Assessment

Organizational Development

Human Resources

Consulting Services Mix

96

client engagements

provided by TSNE

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Fiscal Sponsorship A Capacity-Building PartnershipThird Sector New England’s Fiscal Sponsorship Program strengthens communities and advances positive social change through a unique partnership designed to provide mission-

compatible groups with supportive management and capacity-building services and a home base from which to operate. Fiscal Sponsorship adds value by supporting mission-driven organizations through the concept of shared services. TSNE handles each organization’s financial management, human resources and business administration. Leadership and staff are then better able to focus on implementing the organization’s core programs and services and for fund development.

TSNE’s fiscally sponsored projects work for social justice in our community and in communities across the

country. All focus on generating systematic solutions to pressing social problems, among them education reform, economic inequal-ity and health equity. Other important areas on which our partners concentrate include immigrant organizing, jobs creation programs

Project staff

are located in

24

states.

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and the protection of the rights of the elderly and other vulnerable populations.

As of December 2012, TSNE was home to 42 fiscally sponsored projects with more than 290 program staff in 24 states.

TSNE is one of the most respected fiscal sponsors in the country. With the knowledge and experience to work with organizations at different points in their lifecycles—from startups to established programs to merging entities—our Fiscal Sponsorship Program has partnered with mission-driven groups and their funders for more than 50 years.

TSNE is a founder of the National Network of Fiscal Sponsors (NNFS), a group organized to increase the awareness of fiscal sponsorship as an alternative to the creation of more standalone organizations and to promote sound and responsible fiscal sponsorship practices. TSNE has recently stepped up to serve as the lead convener for NNFS over the next two years, as per the NNFS rotating leadership structure. We embrace this exciting opportunity to continue to support the nonprofit sector and to advance knowledge of the practice.

Partnering for Social Justice

“TSNE has been an invaluable

partner right from the start.

Their human resources and

financial expertise combined

with our program know-how

and organizational leadership

enabled us to focus confidently

on building a well-run,

mission-driven organization,

helping hundreds of students

succeed in school and in their

careers. 21st-century fiscal

sponsorship is an effective

hybrid organizational model

that provides funders with

opportunities to confidently

invest in potent social justice

efforts like Future Chefs.” Toni Elka,

Executive Director, Future Chefs

Coalitions/NetworkPublic Policy/AdvocacyEconomic Justice

At-Risk Adult Populations

Education

Youth Development

ENVIRO

NMEN

T

He

alt

h &

W

ell

ne

ssProjects by Program Area

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Grants Programs Funding to Support Learning and CollaborationThird Sector New England’s grants programs partner with organizations of all sizes and across different sectors to enhance their organizational effectiveness and enable them to create critical change on the systemic and community levels. The Inclusion Initiative and the Capacity Building Fund are supported by TSNE board allocations as well as by external funders and, since 2001, have collectively distributed a total of $3.2 million in grants to nonprofits in the region. In 2012, TSNE evaluated and refreshed our programs’ designs based on the best practices learned through more than a decade of grantmaking. During this redesign, TSNE continued to support our grantees through continued learning, networking events and technical assistance.

Inclusion InitiativeThe Inclusion Initiative helps Greater Boston nonprofits create effective methods for increasing diversity and inclusion on their staff and boards. The program provides technical support that helps organizations—and the communities they serve—confront oppression. In its 20-year history, the Inclusion Initiative has worked with 102 organizations in their efforts to implement structures and operations designed to make organizations more mission-effective and relevant to their constituents.

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EAs a result of its redesign, the Inclusion Initiative will begin to

fund groups of organizations working across sectors toward the goal of encouraging systemic impact primarily in communities of color. The new grant will focus on “Creating Inclusive Communities Through Philanthropy, Organizational Development and Network Building.” The program redesign will incorporate best practices and learning that emerged from TSNE’s Capacity Building Fund.

Capacity Building FundFrom 2004 to 2012, TSNE and networks of nonprofit organizations joined in a unique program to further social change through united effort. The Capacity Building Fund supported networks of nonprofit and other organizations to plan, learn, and build relationships that would enable them to work together to achieve common goals. In short, TSNE made grants to organizations to learn together so that they could achieve together.

TSNE recently compiled a report which recounts and reflects on the entire eight-year journey of its funding of 67 learning networks made up of more than 400 individual organizations. The report includes candid and thoughtful comments from many of the participants, lessons learned through years of program development, and advice for funders on how to build and support similar grants programs.

The Capacity Building Fund laid the groundwork for collaboration among many nonprofits in the region and informed and inspired new initiatives, training and strategies for Third Sector New England going forward. The Capacity Building Fund hosted its final cohort meeting for its nine currently funded networks in

September 2012. The Capacity Building Fund

report, Funding Learning Networks for Community Impact, is available on the TSNE website.

Fostering collaboration

for positive change

“Placing diversity and inclusion work at the center of all of our organization’s activities has been an important goal of The Food Project since its inception. However, we have learned that encouraging staff to address issues of diversity and inclusion does not guarantee that everyone will be comfortable navigating the nuances of institutional policies and cultural norms. Attending the Inclusion Initiative grantee meetings provides us with an opportunity to discuss these challenges with colleagues and to learn how our diversity committee members can model and guide staff conversations for positive, constructive work at all levels of the organization.”

Alex Brady, Grants Manager, The Food Project

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Training Programs Learning Opportunities for Better Nonprofit ManagementThird Sector New England also offers management and leadership training, workshops and educational events geared to help non-profit executives, staff and managers learn new skills, collaborate and share best practices.

This year, TSNE provided in-person training for nearly 350 individuals and 180 organizations through its Better Nonprofit Management series and specialized workshop offerings. We also co-hosted a social media webinar series that allowed us to meet the demand for technology-related training. Training topics were determined based on constituent feedback and covered subjects such as supervision, fund development, financial management, governance, facilitation, communications, conflict resolution and public speaking.

Partnerships with organizations such as Idealware, the Foundation Center and the Progressive Communicators Network remained an integral part of our training strategy and allowed us to bring technology, communications and advanced fund develop-ment to our constituents.

TSNE’s human resources staff facilitated a number of Effective Supervision and Advanced Supervision trainings. The team also

took their trainings on the road to organizations, to funder-convened groups and to other nonprofit associations. TSNE conducted 11 regional and national trainings for more than 275 nonprofit supervisors. Our team also facilitated trainings for non-HR practitioners focused on developing culturally competent employee relations skills and human resources practices that are aligned with organizational values.

Our HR team trained

275

nonprofit supervisors

both regionally

and nationally

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E ELEVENNonProfit Center Space That Creates CommunityThe NonProfit Center, in its ninth year, is thriving and at capacity. Currently home to 40 nonprofit organizations with almost 300 staff in 110,000 square feet, it remains one of the largest multi-tenant nonprofit centers in the United States. The Center offers traditional office suites and continues to have strong demand for colocation tenancy in our shared spaces.

The NonProfit Center’s mission focuses on cross-organizational collaboration and community building. Tenants believe that by working together, much more can be achieved by and for the Center’s nonprofit groups, the larger nonprofit community and the residents of Greater Boston and beyond. TSNE works to support and promote this vision with other multi-tenant nonprofit centers as a founding member of the national Nonprofit Centers Network.

This year, tenants and neighbors were able to take advantage of a range of community-building programs which included charitable donation services coordinated in partnership with groups such as Second Chances, for whom 2,000 pounds of clothing and accessories were collected. The NonProfit Center staff also came together on a regular basis to collect donations for area food pantries and agencies serving those in need. Other programs offered included wellness classes, monthly networking sessions and weekly yoga in addition to a farm share program, voter registration drives and regular blood drives with Massachusetts General Hospital.

The LEED-certified NonProfit Center also received the 2012 EPA Energy Star Award and continued its commitment to energy conservation through ongoing green initiatives such as single-stream recycling, energy-efficient lighting and use of green building materials and hands-free fixtures.

Third Sector New England plans to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the NonProfit Center in January 2014.

Building community in the

workplace“The NonProfit Center has been a tremendous asset to our organization. The NPC’s central location makes it a perfect hub for all of our program staff who are able to access our program sites easily. Tutors for All offices are located in the shared space area which allows us to collaborate with other small organizations and use each other as a valuable resource. The NPC also has a highly professional building staff who are always available if we need support with the many technological resources or if we make a building maintenance request. In addition to office space, the many options for professional meeting spaces and conference rooms at the NPC allow us to host both small meetings with partners and large social events to show appreciation for our volunteers.”

Aimee Mott, Director of Programs,

Tutors for All

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Senior Leadership TeamAndrew Cox-Stavros, Chief Financial OfficerLyn Freundlich, Director of Human Resources and AdministrationHeather Harker, Director of Consulting and Executive TransitionsKay Snowden, Director of Fiscal SponsorshipJonathan Spack, Executive Director

Board of Directors

OfficersDavid S. Orlinoff, PresidentPrincipalConcord Financial Organization

Sally Sharp Lehman, Vice PresidentPortfolio ManagerStrategic Grant Partners

Karen Wheeler, TreasurerControllerUnitarian Universalist Association

Joel Barrera, Assistant TreasurerExecutive DirectorCommonwealth Seminar

DirectorsJohanna Chao KreilickSpecial Assistant to the PresidentOpen Society Institute

Tammy Dowley-BlackmanDiversity Fellowship DirectorProteus Fund

Rahn DorseyEvaluation DirectorBarr Foundation

Arlene FortunatoPresidentFortunato Consulting Group

Evelyn FriedmanExecutive DirectorGreater Lawrence Community Action Council

Rosette MartinezVice President, OperationsSouth End Community Health Center

Charlayne Murrell-SmithVice President, External Relations and Corporate DevelopmentBoston Children’s Museum

Marjorie RingroseExecutive DirectorSocial Venture Partners

Cheryl SchafferDirector of Administration and FinanceUnion of Concerned Scientists

Robert WadsworthSenior FellowThe Boston Foundation

Financial Statements

Third Sector New England’s financial

statements represent earned revenue from our

programs, tenants and investments, which this year totaled more than

$5.5 million. Our financial statement also

represents program funds managed by TSNE for our fiscally sponsored

projects whose combined revenues total $17.5

million. TSNE makes our financial statements

widely available through Guidestar.

Board and Staff CommitmentsAt Third Sector New England, we value promoting social justice in our work and lives. TSNE strives to increase diversity and inclusivity, values each individual as a whole person, seeks to achieve excellence in the services we provide, and acts as a responsible steward of our financial and environmental resources.

Learn More About Third Sector New EnglandVisit our website, www.tsne.org, or call 617.523.6565for research, publications, information and program updates.

Third Sector New EnglandNonProfit Center89 South StreetSuite 700Boston, MA 02111-2670

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