Case Study Executive Summary
The Glasser/Schoenbaum Human Services Center needed a way to demonstrate their collaboration to donors, and identify how their partners were working together to serve patients. They created a PARTNER Evaluation project with our assistance to measure what matters most in networks like theirs. With their results they’re able to visualize their network of partners for their stakeholders and make more strategic decisions about the future of their network.
A Hub for Human Services in the Sarasota, Florida region
The Glasser/Schoenbaum Human Services Center is a nonprofit center in Sarasota County, Florida. Their 5-acre campus – the “Campus of Caring” – serves 18 human service nonprofits with connection, support, and overhead sustainability. The collective impact of their network reaches far into the community, with the goal to improve the quality of life for all residents.
The Center needed to demonstrate the breadth and strength of their partnerships to stakeholders & funders
The Sarasota County area is home to a highly-competitive, highly-involved nonprofit industry because of its attraction to retirees who come for their robust arts and culture scene. The Center’s donors felt bombarded by the number of events and requests they get for support from community nonprofits. They wanted to know, “Why weren’t they working together more” and, “Why are there so many silos? Why are you duplicating efforts?” While the Center knew a different story, they didn’t as a community have a way to illustrate just how well connected and non-siloed they were.
We helped the Center visualize their networks to tell their network story more effectively.
The Center created a PARTNER survey to send to their network of nonprofit human service organizations in Sarasota County, FL. They customized the default survey with two specific questions in mind:
- First, how are human service nonprofits and other organizations working together in Sarasota County?
- Second, how are patients/client referrals working between human service nonprofits and the local hospital system?
The Center used a collaborative process among stakeholders to create a list of network members. The survey was created with consulting assistance from VNL staff and sent to the network. A total of 41 respondents answered the survey, providing a wealth of knowledge about the connections in the human services field in the County.
The time and effort has been a game changer for the Glasser Schoenbaum Human Services Center
Illustrating the specific relationships between their hospital, nonprofit service providers, and local foundations has been a game-changer for the Center. As Director Kameron Hodgens put it, “It’s a win-win-win for our integrated community of donors, foundations, and nonprofits. Funders are now able to see the relationships the human service system has with them and with each other. The nonprofits can clearly see where opportunities are available for enhanced or more strategic partnerships, and donors can dispel beliefs that we are operating in silos.”
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