Impact and Programs
Accomplishments
In 2016, the impact of our work showed up in our strategic goals and objectives under four major areas. #1 Community Awareness - In an effort to be more visible, we branded the Community Thread name with our community-wide service initiatives; we built relationships with faith based organizations, schools and youth-related organizations to promote community volunteering opportunities; and we cultivated relationships with Civic, Service, and Neighborhood organizations to promote volunteerism; we engaged 5 corporations in service initiatives and special events.
#2 Streamlined operations - We invested in technology that could help improve efficiency; we process mapped areas of overlap in the organization and centralized operations in our volunteer management and communications areas; we outsourced a printed newsletter; and we streamlined the tax appointment process, serving over 1,000 tax clients with free tax assistance services.
#3 Sustainable funding- We increased contributed revenue from individuals, foundations, municipalities, faith-based and civic organizations, business partners by 2%; we decreased earned revenues due to a loss of a county contract. We explored new programs to offer in 2017 that would meet our mission while providing a source of sustainable revenue.
#4 Active board engagement - Board members engagement was measured by how many meetings they attended and the number of events they volunteered for; in 2016, they donated an average of 43 hours (an increase of 20% over 2015) and made personal average gifts of $501 with 100% of board members making a donation.
Current Goals
Community Awareness: Develop new projects and events to address the need for short term volunteering as a way to create awareness of our mission.
Streamlined operations: Implement data collection system to improve efficiency and reporting.
Sustainable funding: Explore feasibility of "the Village concept" as a way to support aging in place seniors in our community.
Active Board: Engage board in making more connections for support and engagement in the community as representatives of Community Thread.
Community or Constituency Served
We serve anyone but our focus is to assist older adults in need of services to support their independence, low-income families and anyone interested in volunteerism.
Geographic Area Served
The St. Croix Valley.
