Funding for Working Capital is provided by the Friends of KTWU and Go Topeka.

We all have a favorite nonprofit that speaks to our own morals and passions.

Donating to charity makes us feel good and strengthens our personal values.

But we have a lot of organizations vying for our hard earned dollar.

How do nonprofits remain relevant in a world where giving options are all around us?

We're talking passion, mission and stewardship in the nonprofit world.

Please stay with us.

(♪) Hello and welcome to Working Capital.

It's hard for nonprofits these days.

Believe me, we can relate here at KTWU.

Nonprofits are filled with passionate and dedicated individuals, many working on low salaries to further the mission of their organization.

How do nonprofits stay alive in a world where consumers are consistently being approached for financial support?

Here to talk with me about the importance of nonprofit organizations and their mission and the importance of financial stewardship is Kathleen Marker, CEO of YWCA Northeast Kansas, and Allison Marker, Director of Community Engagement, also of the YWCA Northeast Kansas.

We are so glad you're here on Working Capital and it's an exciting time.

But for those who have never heard of the YWCA, that's been over 100 years.

Would you enlighten us about your organization?

So we are a women's organization.

We have been in the Topeka community for 135 years and we are part of a sisterhood throughout the U.S. and then globally.

And so there are a number of YWCAs, we don't call it.

We call it a nonprofit.

We are a nonprofit, but we call it a movement because all of the nonprofits that are YWCAs have maybe different services that they offer.

But we all have the same mission.

And our mission is to eliminate racism, empower women and promote peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all.

And that's a really big mission.

That is a huge mission.

And Allison, she talked a little bit about all the different ones in different states, different locales.

There are different needs.

What in Topeka do we address?

That's right.

So we are actually the only YWCA in the state of Kansas, which can present sometimes a problem with people really understanding who we are and what we do.

But we are the service provider for victims and survivors of sexual assault, domestic violence, stalking and human trafficking for Shawnee, Jackson Wabunsee, and Brown Counties right here in northeast Kansas.

So that can be everything from shelter to case management to community education and prevention on those issues.

We also provide child care right here in central Topeka.

It's the most affordable child care in central Topeka.

And we're often serving working families or single parent families or families that may have a children in kinship care or foster care.

And then we also provide women's leadership programing through our leadership academy and racial justice, education, and also advocacy on our mission of eliminating racism and empowering women.

Because, you know, with such a bold mission, our mission really tells us that it is important for us to be working to put ourselves out of business.

And while that might not be happening right now in our lifetime, it's important that we do that work day in and day out through issue education and empowering our community to take action on our mission.

How are these starting to do that?

I think you have something special going on right now at this time of year.

Yeah, we do.

So we are very fortunate that we have a very generous donor who has offered $100,000 to the YWCA and to match donation that are coming in, because as most Y, as most nonprofits, we see the majority of our fundraising coming in in the last couple of months of the year.

And so it's really important for us to raise those funds to get us off to a good start next year.

And I've seen your website, which is fantastic.

So each of those programs you could donate specifically to that or you could donate in a broad sense.

How so?

So you can donate specifically.

But I will say for us and many nonprofits, what's really needed from our individual community members are unrestricted funds.

It is going back to serving the folks that we serve directly.

But oftentimes we already have a lot of restrictions on how our grant funds can be used.

And so, you know, we need the public support in order to fill in those gaps.

And so I would encourage folks to give unrestricted.

But if they are passionate specifically about, you know, serving survivors or ensuring that we have great youth services and child care in our community, that's certainly something they can earmark in their online contributions.

And now they're worried about what if somebody is thinking, okay, that money is not really going to go where I want?

How can you assure the contributor of how important their funds are and that they are going to that?

Sure.

So we have a very, I would say, complex financial statement with very detailed information.

But every time a donation comes in and it's specific, someone gives us a check and it says it's specific to to a particular area, our business manager make sure that that goes into the account for that particular area.

So we restrict a lot of funds in lots of different areas and our financial statement to make sure that that's being offset.

But, you know, I would say to just encouraging folks, if they are doing their well, hopefully they're they're doing some research way ahead of time before they're making their end of year contributions.

Like you mentioned, websites are a great resource.

You can usually find nonprofits, annual reports, read their blog posts, learn about what have been their needs.

This year, what have been the challenges, what has been their successes?

You can find those stories normally on their social media or websites.

In addition to that, going to resources such as things called Charity Navigator or GuideStar, where you can find a nonprofit organizations nine nineties is better filed.

You can get your own little sneak peek into a nonprofit, you know, financial standing.

How transparent are they being about their governance and their leadership?

All of that is public information.

And so I really encourage folks, you know, do your research or call call staff.

They are always happy to answer questions because we really see the work as something that is a partnership with our community.

And so as donors, you are investing in this mission.

So it's important that you have a stake in that.

That's so it's so true.

We are going to take a short break.

Don't go away, though.

We'll be right back with Kathleen and Allison.

(♪) (♪) (♪) We are back with Allison and Kathleen from the Young Woman's Christian Association, which I hear myself say.

But you don't really talk about it that way anymore.

How so?

That's right.

YWCA is no longer really an acronym.

It's now a noun or actually in my book, almost kind of a verb, because like we've said, it's it's a movement.

So, you know, YWCA, when it was founded 135 years ago in Topeka and almost 160 nationally was founded on Christian principles of serving others, and particularly women.

And we still hold those values to be true.

But we are a multicultural, non-denominational.

There's no faith involved in our organization any longer.

So really, it's more YWCA than what that acronym used to stand for.

But that was historically.

But I love that there's something for the women and getting women back into the workforce.

Or maybe they're just joining the workforce.

How can the YWCA help?

So we can help in several ways.

So we offer a couple of courses.

And really what we offer is for women who are in the workforce in terms of our leadership courses, but maybe need that extra support.

So a lot of times women will be doing a great job in a company and so they're promoted into a supervisory position while they're in a supervisory position.

Nobody teaches you how to lead, how to lead a group.

And so we offer a course called Emerging Leaders for Women who are new to leadership so that they can really enhance their skills and really, hopefully they learn that who they are is enough and that they can compete in a world that is dominated primarily by men, not that men are better or worse, but that they lead differently.

And so understanding your own leadership is really important.

And then we offer a course called the Momentum Program.

And the momentum program is for women who are moving up into middle management or senior management, and it's a six month program.

Wow.

And I know that clothing used to be and sometimes still is important.

There used to be a clothes closet.

They're not any longer.

But what do you do in place of that?

Well, you know, we're meeting the basic needs of folks who often times if they're experiencing relationship violence or dangerous situations at home, they're oftentimes leaving with very little with them.

Right.

They are in a situation of survival.

And so it's important for us to provide a pantry, provide those basic needs, underwear, socks, hygiene items, things like that, whether they are going to be in our shelter or they are going to be transitioning in some other fashion.

But I will say also what is really what we see as crucial to empowering women and families in our community is that affordable child care piece, because, you know, we can't continue to have families.

You know, they're going to continue to be in desperate situations if they don't have child care available.

And so that's where we come in, which we love that.

But you mentioned also providing vouchers.

If they do need clothing, can you go into that a little bit more, if you would?

So we work with partners in the community that thrift stores that actually, you know, we'll offer that for our clients so that they can go there and choose the clothing that fits them that they need.

But we are not really in a in a position to operate that.

And as a nonprofit.

And we try to be as efficient as we can be.

We really focus on our mission in everything that we do.

And if someone else in the community is doing something and doing it well, we want to make sure that that's where those resources are coming from because we are always spread very thin.

And so we don't want to make up what someone else is already doing, right?

I love that you're working together.

Collaboration is such key, but you mentioned that there's a need more for like sweat pants, things like that.

Comfortable?

Yeah.

So oftentimes, you know, we're just in need of things like sweatshirts, sweat pants, underwear, bras.

Really those basic need items help people stay warm and comfortably dressed.

And you mentioned the childcare.

So we not only want for the adult, but children as well.

That's right.

Yes.

And then through our shelter programing as well, we have many children who stay in our shelter.

And so we are always in need of diapers, children's clothing, pull ups, you know, games, coloring books, things like that to help make that transition sort of as as comfortable as possible when they're already under a lot of stress.

No kidding.

But you want to help.

It's time for another break.

We'll be right back to continue our discussion with Kathleen and Allison with the YWCA.

(♪) Kathleen and Allison Marker with the YWCA.

We were just talking about the importance of things donated to the YWCA, not only for adult women but for children of all ages.

Could you elaborate on other ways that folks could give to you?

Yes, absolutely.

But I will quickly to just clarify that while our mission is empower eliminating racism and empowering women, we do serve as victims and survivors of all gender identities.

So we are not in need of only clothing for women.

We you know, we we serve everyone.

And so we want to make that really clear, too.

But just to answer your original question, you know, like I said before, unrestricted funds is absolutely what helps us fill it, not only fill in the gaps, but is what has allowed us to be really flexible and adaptable, adaptive to the needs of our community and innovate when possible.

And so that's when individual donations can play such a huge part.

And one of the ways folks can do that is by signing up to give on a monthly basis, which I know KTWU you know is very, -sustainers, -is doing with sustainers.

And we actually have a very small number right now.

And so there's some real opportunity for growth there.

The benefit of folks making monthly contributions is that we know what to expect.

We know what's going to come in for the budget.

Exactly.

It can be so essential as part of that budgeting process.

It's you know what, I'm so glad you mentioned about the men, because, Kathleen, as we were talking before we came on air about people don't realize the scope, the breadth of everything that happens at the YWCA in Topeka.

Who are you serve?

I love the idea that we're doing research to find out where your dollar goes, because how difficult is it for a nonprofit to raise money?

Yeah, it's very difficult.

And we discovered here in the last year that through research on philanthropy that less than 2% of contributions in the United States go to organizations that focus on women.

Why women?

Why do you think that is?

You know, that's a good question.

If we all knew, we'd be.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's just, you know, we've always think about history.

We've always had to kind of, like, push our ways to the table or elbow our ways to the table.

And it's the same with philanthropy.

And so we just have to be a larger voice and we have to be known in the community.

Yeah, it's important to think about, you know, where does money reside, where does power reside?

Right.

And, you know, we've been in operation for 135 years and studies are showing that it's going to take another 135 years for us to reach gender equality in the United States, not in some far off country right here in our own home country.

And so, you know, part of that is we have a real opportunity to accelerate the work that needs to be done by, you know, if, let's say, rather than 2% of philanthropy going to this issue, if we got to 10%.

Just imagine how much more quickly we could be achieving gender share.

When you said 135, That's so depressing.

We've got to we've got to turn this around.

Okay.

But one of the things that we have heard also is that women are the people who actually contribute or write the checkbook, make make that happen.

So what are you thinking about?

What can we do?

So I think what we can do is women need to step up and say, I want to make that decision about where our contributions go.

And I think that's really important.

We also know that while we have some sustain ERs that give to us on a monthly basis or quarterly basis, we also have folks that give to us on an annual basis.

And it doesn't matter how someone makes those contributions, they're all very important.

What we see is that we are funded.

About 70% of our funding comes from grants and those grants are very restrictive.

And while we appreciate that support and it helps us survive, it means that the other funding that comes in from contributions can pay for those things that a grant might not pay for.

So when we think about overhead and we think about just the cost to have an office space and have utilities, that's not all covered by grants.

And so just keeping the lights on, sometimes it's really important that we have the funding for that.

That might not sound as sexy as saying, Well, I want my donation to go specifically to this.

I want to help this child, or I want to be able to help this group of folks.

It's difficult for nonprofits and what we know is that nonprofits are being relied on more and more as we see all of the crises and the challenges that are happening in the United States.

But in our community as well, there is more reliance on the nonprofits, and we cannot continue to expand the work without the funding.

You guys have made major points.

If you're sitting there thinking, Where can my contribution do the most good before the end of the year?

This is the place.

We'll be back in just a moment to continue our discussion.

Don't go anywhere.

(♪) (♪) (♪) Thank you for staying with us.

Kathleen Parker and Allison Marker of YWCA of Northeast Kansas are our special guests.

We have so many things to talk about that are so important to everyone, not just women.

And this is the end of the year.

So what can we do?

You have a special going on now, but let's finish that.

And then we want to hear about the exciting things that our money can help in 2024.

So could you elaborate?

Yeah.

So as Kathleen had mentioned before, we've got a match going on right now from now until the end of the year.

So folks, donations will be matched dollar for dollar, up to $100,000 total.

So we currently have a little less than $70,000 left on the table right now.

So we really have an opportunity to make an impact.

We know that the last two weeks are going to be when the bulk of that is going to come in.

So we're right on pace right now.

But yeah, there's still absolutely a lot of opportunities for for folks to make a difference.

And one of the really exciting things about their donation being doubled is that it's going to help us more than double our shelter capacity.

-wow!

-in 2024.

So Kathleen might want to talk.

yeah, that is so critical because like what you were saying also, there's just more of a need everywhere.

And so the YWCA is stepping up big in 2024.

Yeah.

So we're very excited.

We purchased a property earlier this year that happens to be adjacent to the current shelter that we have because that makes it a little easier to operate two different residences.

And as you can imagine, it's very important that the folks that we serve, that this is their home.

So this is a place that is for them.

And so we're really excited that we received the grant funding to remodel a home and make it our second shelter.

And we'll be more than doubling our capacity, which is really important.

We've been housing folks, we've been over capacity for the last quarter.

Wow.

And we've been housing folks in motel rooms, which is not ideal and it's very expensive.

But we have to make sure that we are keeping folks safe.

That's also planning, though, too, because you can share resources between the facilities.

Absolutely.

And staffing as well.

And so and the services that we are providing.

So we're doing a lot of case management with the folks that are staying with us in the shelter.

And so it's important that for our staff, they can't be two places at one time.

So it's going to be important that we have that convenience as well to build the rapport and relationships with the folks there, because it is all about building those relationships and supporting them, whatever their journey and their path that they're going to take.

Right.

Because when they get to you, I mean, they might have exhausted any other hope they had.

Yeah.

Essentially, if someone is in shelter with us, it is precisely that for that reason and also because they are in a situation of really high lethality risk.

So it means that in their situation, when there may have been firearms present or their cases of violence have been very extreme, where there may be extreme cases of financial control or coercion.

So and that usually goes hand in hand with physical violence or it's a part of the whole sort of spectrum.

And so if folks are coming and staying with us in shelter, it usually means that we're helping them with basic things like establishing an ID card or driver's license, finding potentially a new job, you know, securing housing or other resources, depending on what decisions they're going to make.

And that's a crucial part of a shelter stay as well in allowing folks that time and space to find some healing, find some peace and some safety in order to make decisions that are beyond pure survival so we can get folks to a place where they are thriving and they know if they can bring their children as well, possibly pets.

But I know there's other organizations that help there because I know women will stay in a situation that is unsafe because of those things.

Yes.

And it's important, actually, that you do bring up pets, because we do know that that can be one of the main reasons why someone may not leave a dangerous situation.

Their pet may be their only source of solace, solace or, you know, healthy love.

And so we partner actually with Hill's pet nutrition to have a foster program.

So pets are taken care of in lovely, dedicated foster homes until Survivor is ready to move on to their next housing situation so that, you know, leaving a pet behind or having to say goodbye to a pet is never going to be a decision they have to make.

I love you guys so much.

That's all the time we have for today, dog on it.

But I want to thank Kathleen Marker and Allison marker from the YWCA for joining us today.

Thank you.

And if you're thinking about, hey, who can I donate to?

That could be great.

Okay.

So if you're interested in the business or you have a business, we want to hear from you.

Give us a call.

Drop us an email or send a letter.

Tune in next time.

And we thank you for watching.

Working Capital (♪) Funding for Working Capital is provided by the Friends of KTWU and Go Topeka.