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Chapter 46. Planning for Long-Term Institutionalization >
Section 8. Incorporating Activities/Services in Organization... >
Incorporating Activities/Services in Organizations with a Similar Mission |
Tools & Checklists | Contributed by Contributed by Phil Rabinowitz Edited by Edited by Tom Wolff |
Checklist
Here, you'll find a checklist which summarizes the major points contained in the text.
What does it mean to incorporate your operations into another organization?
__ Another organization absorbs yours as a subsidiary.
__ Your organization ceases to exist at all, and its services and activities -- or only some of them -- are taken over by the new organization as part of what it does.
How to decide when it's time to incorporate into another entity.
__ An internal discussion, involving some combination of board members, staff, participants, and volunteers, says it's time to make the shift.
__ When you knew from the beginning that you would incorporate into another organization, and the agreed-upon time has come.
__ When another organization with great resources makes an offer to absorb your services and activities and staff.
__ When another organization can offer better services to the target population.
__ When you've hit the wall on resources.
How to choose the right organization.
__ Look for an organization with a mission, philosophy, and values similar to yours.
__ Look for an organization you know and trust.
__ Look for an organization that's competent.
__ Look for an organization with the resources to sustain your work.
__ Look for an organization that will benefit from taking on your operation.
__ Look for an organization that actively wants to do the work you've been doing, and is committed to maintaining and improving it.
How to negotiate rolling your operations into another organization or initiative.
__ Decide on negotiating points.
__ Once you've developed a list of negotiating points, decide which of them are absolutely necessary, and which you're willing to give up or compromise on.
__ Decide what you can offer.
__ Negotiate.
__ Once the negotiations are completed, GET IT IN WRITING.
__ Once a draft agreement has been prepared, you need to get it approved by all concerned in both organizations.
How to manage the transition to another organization.
__ As soon as you have a formal agreement, inform individuals and groups who should know before they read it in the paper.
__ If you're transferring the whole operation, staff and all, you need to work with the staffs of both organizations to develop new policies and procedures, and generally make it possible for the staff of your organization to become integrated into that of the other.
__ If you're transferring only some or all of the services or activities of your organization, but not the staff , the emphasis in transition should be on participants and the target population.
How to let go.
__ Use the signing of the agreement as both a public relations opportunity and a marker in the life of your organization .
__ Throw a big party to which you invite anyone who's been involved with the organization from the beginning - - current and former staff, board, volunteers, participants, colleagues, community supporters, members, etc.
__ Directly or soon after the party, hold a gathering of the core members of the organization, those few to whom it really mattered, to grieve its passing.
__ Finally, walk away and don't look back.
Tools
Tool #1: Sample Agreement
The Pearson Young Leaders Initiative (PYLI) and the Pearson Youth Development Corporation (YDC) enter into the following agreement:
YDC will assume responsibility for all activities and services currently provided by PYLI as of the date of the signing of this agreement by both parties. These activities and services include:
Outreach to Pearson youth ages 14-20 for the purpose of enrolling them in leadership development training. For this purpose, YDC agrees to employ one full-time (37.5 hours/week, 52 weeks/year) outreach worker.
Provision of leadership development training for no fewer than 30 youths ages 14-20 per calendar year. This training will include, but not be limited to, courses (using attached curricula) in problem-solving, conflict resolution and mediation, interpersonal communication, and community education. Each course will be limited to ten (10) participants, and will encompass at least 12 hours of instruction, discussion and practical application. In addition, training will include, for each trainee, a minimum fifteen (15) hour supervised practicum in one of the course areas of the trainee's choice after completion of all coursework. For this purpose, YDC agrees to employ two (2) full-time leadership development specialists.
Employment of youth in the practicum area chosen after the successful completion of the practicum. YDC agrees to pay youth for their work as community educators, in-school peer counselors or mediators, or "social entrepreneurs" at the rate of $7.00 per hour to start, with raises (in 50-cent increments) up to $9.00 per hour.
Provision of group and individual support for youth during the training, practicum, and employment phases of the program. Group support will take the form of at least one one-hour group per week for each participant, led initially by a leadership development specialist, and, later, by the youth themselves, with the leadership development specialist becoming a participant. Individual support will take place as needed, and may extend to individual psychotherapy, to be provided by licensed YDC staff. In addition, each youth engaged in employment will have access to at least two hours per month of regular supervision by a youth development specialist or other appropriate YDC staff.
YDC agrees to continue to fulfill the conditions for funding these activities with PYLI's current funders, including the Dept. Of Youth Services, the Miller Foundation, and the Pearson Youth Trust. YDC also agrees to continue to seek funding for PYLI programs from these and other potential funders, and to expand these programs to include more youth as more funding becomes available.
YDC agrees to employ as outreach worker and youth development specialists the current PYLI staff members in those positions. They will receive the same compensation and benefits as YDC employees in, respectively, outreach and education positions with similar seniority.
YDC agrees that four Board members of PYLI's choosing will join the YDC Board of Directors, each to serve indefinitely. They will be added to the current number of YDC Board members (12), but the Board will drop back to 12 through attrition.
PYLI agrees to transfer permanently to YDC the use of its name, logo, and any other identifying symbols, literature, etc. YDC agrees to continue to use the PYLI name as the identifier for the PYLI program.
PYLI agrees to transfer to YDC all monetary and capital assets in its name, including cash in bank accounts, outstanding receivables, endowment and interest income, copiers, computers, furniture, and any other assets in its possession at the time of the signing of this agreement with the exception of one laptop computer, which will revert to its purchaser, PYLI's current director.
PYLI agrees to transfer to YDC all mailing lists, and lists of current and potential donors and community supporters, both on paper and in data base files, as well as any notes and contact information pertaining to them.
PYLI, in the person of its current director, agrees to provide, if necessary, technical assistance to YDC in the operation and maintenance of the PYLI program for a period of up to six months from the signing of this agreement. The same person will also provide, within that same time period, introductions to individuals in the funding organizations named above and to community supporters and key members of the target population.
PYLI agrees to transfer to YDC all participant records, financial records, and any other records or information necessary to the operation of the PYLI program or to fiscal responsibility for it.
With the signing of this agreement, PYLI will cease to exist as an entity, and its functions and assets, as described herein, will be assumed by YDC.
For Pearson Young Leaders Initiative (PYLI)
Printed Name_____________________________
Title____________________________________
Signature_____________________________________
Date_______________________________________
For Pearson Youth Development Corporation (YDC)
Printed Name___________________________________
Title__________________________________________
Signature__________________________________________
Date___________________________________________