Jonnycake Center of Peace Dale: utilizing the Foundation’s Initiative for Nonprofit Excellence to strengthen its board, staff, organization
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| Flanking Executive Director Susan Gustaitis (in pink) at a “Spring for Dinner “ fundraiser are Jonnycake Center board members (l to r) Christina Philippi, Brenda Senak, Paul McDonald, Leigh Reposa, and Renny Serre. | Staff and board members at the Jonnycake Center of Peace Dale are what Jill Pfitzenmayer, vice president of the Foundation’s Initiative for Nonprofit Excellence (INE), refers to as “INE frequent flyers.” Between Jonnycake’s Executive Director Susan Gustaitis, other Center staff, and several board members, they’ve participated in INE’s Board Development Program, Organizational Development Workshops, the Fellows Program, and the Emerging Leaders’ Mentor Program, the latter as both mentor and mentee.
Gustaitis, who has served as Jonnycake’s executive director for the past six years, explains, “In my quest to try to strengthen the organization, I looked to some of the bigger entities, like the (Rhode Island Community) Food Bank, to see how they do things. The Foundation was another one and, since we have our organizational endowment there, I wanted to learn more.” Through the Foundation website and enewsletters, she learned about the offerings of the Initiative for Nonprofit Excellence which, since 2008, has worked to build the capacity of nonprofit organization so they can better achieve their missions.
Noting that she’s a first-time executive director – she earlier served in the military, after which she earned a social work degree from Rhode Island College – Gustaitis recalls looking for ways to strengthen her own capabilities and to develop a more involved board. At Fidelity-sponsored Board Development sessions (now co-sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island), attended by Gustaitis and a couple board members, they learned about staff and board roles and responsibilities. For staff, Gustaitis shares, they would usually say, “Yes, we do that,” but the same was not consistently true for the board.
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| Board member Kathy Delaney (left) chats with Executive Director Susan Gustaitis at this year's Thanksgiving Day food distribution. | As a result of the training, the Jonnycake Center has instituted a process to interview prospective board members, assigns each new board member a mentor, and sees that board members have a good understanding of the nonprofit’s financials. “Through the Fidelity trainings we not only learned we needed to strengthen the board, but we were given the tools to do it,” Gustaitis says, noting that one board member, Leigh Reposa (who is a 2011 Emerging Leaders mentee) recently was published in The Nonprofit Board Report, a monthly newsletter that provides “examples of how various nonprofits have successfully resolved fundraising, management, and financial planning problems.”
One of Gustaitis’ favorite experiences through the INE has been the Fellows program, which she describes with excitement as “awesome…so much fun.” Through her 2010 fellowship, Gustaitis researched the feasibility of opening a restaurant-style food kitchen for children and teens. She became aware of the need for such a facility when, in the spring of 2007, two teachers from South Kingstown High School came to the Jonnycake Center looking for assistance for two boys at the school, one who hadn’t eaten in two days.
“I grew up in poverty and because of that experience, I could relate to these kids and their challenges. I started thinking about opening a café, a place kids could stop in and get a bite to eat,” Gustaitis shares. (The café would complement a program already in South Kingstown and Narragansett high schools, Jonny’s Locker, through which students can obtain food, personal hygiene items, and school supplies.)
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| Board Treasurer Paul Mercer was named the Jonnycake Center's 2011 Outstanding Volunteer of the Year at the Serve RI Outstanding Volunteer Event. He is shown here with Executive Director Susan Gustaitis. | Through her fellowship, Gustaitis researched community cafés which operate with the idea that customers pay what they can. She notes there currently are 17 such nonprofit cafés in the country, with another 50 in planning stages.
The Jonnycake Center’s café is one of those in the planning stage, with a committee currently looking for a space to house the program. “I think it’s going to happen,” Gustaitis says of her organization’s latest venture, which already has a name: Hope Café.
In addition to strengthening the organization, Gustaitis says she has benefitted personally from INE offerings. “The sessions give you another opportunity to interact with your board and to do things as a team. As an executive director, you can feel isolated. Plus, the sessions provide a great forum to interact with other organizations,” she says.
Learn more about programs offered through the Initiative for Nonprofit Excellence.
Learn more about the Jonnycake Center of Peace Dale.
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