Vermont Legislature SmartTranscripts:

[Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Good morning, everyone. This is the Vermont House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development. It is Wednesday, 03/25/2020. It's at 09:04 in the morning. So we're beginning our day, very committee's day. We're having a discussion with Palm and Good Vermont. We have some members of Palm and Good Vermont, who are interested to talk with us. Hello, good morning.

[Edye Graning (Vice Chair)]: Good morning.

[Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Thank you for joining us.

[Kimberly Diamond (Chief of Communications & Grants, Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire & Vermont)]: Thank you for having me.

[Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: And I'm going to excuse myself, because I have to go over to where you're holding all of your your meetings this morning.

[Kimberly Diamond (Chief of Communications & Grants, Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire & Vermont)]: Yes. Heard that. So have fun over there. Thank

[Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: you for joining us. For the record, state your name and continue with your testimony and vice chair, Graning, will take over.

[Kimberly Diamond (Chief of Communications & Grants, Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire & Vermont)]: Perfect. My name is Kimberly Diamond. I'm the Chief of Communications and Grants at Big Brothers Big Sisters Club, New Hampshire and Vermont. And I'm here today to introduce our organization to the table, talk about a merger that we recently went through, and just kind of promote the good work of nonprofits throughout the state, regardless of what their mission is. So first, Big Brothers Big Sisters has been serving Vermont since 1975, celebrated our fiftieth anniversary last year, and have been through many, many different phases of the organization. Our primary and only goal is to serve youth in mentoring relationships. So, we provide youth ages six through 18 a mentor either in a school or in their community to provide guidance or help with academics, social emotional skills, getting ready for college, anything that that youth in particular needs. And the real benefit from our program is that we can tailor it to the needs of each child. We become an additional voice and pair of eyes for that child. And our mentors are volunteers. So the youth do not feel like someone is being paid to work with them. They're there, they're showing up because they want to be there for that particular child. And so we started as a fiscally sponsored organization under youth services in Brattleboro, Vermont. And about 2017, we decided to expand our services to reach more kids across the state, and we became our own 501c3 nonprofit organization. Since about 2017, it's changed from 18. And then in 2023, after ten years of leading organization, I was very burnt out. It was very hard to restart the organization. Some of our longtime funders said that we had to reestablish ourselves before we could get funded. So, we were working with very little money, very little means. And we did our best to keep going, we did end up growing and serving the kids the way that we wanted to and needed to, but it was too much for a very small, it was like a team of three of us. So, gave my notice in 2023 to the board and said, we cannot hire another executive director in this capacity because they will burn out just like I did. And so, we started talking to our fellow affiliate in New Hampshire. They are a team of 30, so they had grown and merged their own organizations over the years. And so in September 2025, we officially became Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire and Vermont. And the reasonings behind that is because with a larger team that is focusing on the same mission, we're able to really focus on the mission rather than focusing on, is this grant gonna come in? What are we doing? We have a bigger team to kind of lay that burden over. And it's been wonderful for our team, it's given our team opportunities to grow, where in a small nonprofit, we don't have anywhere to go per se, it's expanded our resources, we have access to resources that we did not have before, and we were able to bring our expertise to the table at New Hampshire. So, we've had a really wonderful experience with this. And you're looking at me today with a smile on my face because I am not burnt out. I didn't leave the nonprofit community and I was about to. And I think that there's a lot of people in my former situation. So I am a proponent of any way that communities, local municipalities, the state level can help to support nonprofits because we are hardworking people. It is a business like any other, except that we're not allowed to make a profit. And we have a certain mission that we have to follow and the brand money and the things that come in for the postmark are very restrictive. So regardless of what our needs are, we have to do what we are asked to do by our funders. And that can lead to making an environment which is very challenging to work in. So, would say I am just offering my support for our agency, definitely in particular, because we've got mentoring nailed down and we do it really well and we want to support more and more kids across both states and really increase the capacity here in Vermont. We're very appreciative of all resources that are provided to us. Common Good Vermont is wonderful. They convene for us, they provide resources and assistance, and I know that going through the merger, it takes somewhere in your staff. You have to reset processes, you have to align ways of thinking, or at least come to some sort of compromises along the way. So anything that we can do to help nonprofits either maintain where they're at or merge together and become bigger and stronger, I think that it's all about responsibilities to be different.

[Edye Graning (Vice Chair)]: Thank you. Questions for Cameron?

[Abbey Duke (Member, Burlington)]: No, thank you. Priestley, Abbey Duke from Burlington. I'm curious what technical assistance was your organization able to utilize, basically, to help with the transition and to strengthen the financial operations side?

[Kimberly Diamond (Chief of Communications & Grants, Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire & Vermont)]: We were able, there was a private funder, private foundation that gave us some funds to of pick up the New Hampshire team, so they had the resources to be able to take us on. And we also got some money from the Vermont Community Foundation to hire a consultant to help us just strategically plan, worked with a board of directors so that we could really merge both the states and working towards representation for both fates, but mainly it was just people coming, and the team weren't really working together to strategize and try to pull things together. It's opened our ability to, where in life, the executive director in small org is all the things, and we do the marketing, and developing, and grant writing, and recruitment of volunteers, they supervise all of the staff, and you have to know everything about that organization. And in this capacity, now I'm using my skills in communications and grants and strategic planning, because that's where I really, really brought into well. And the executive director of the CEO of New Hampshire, she's been in that role for fifteen years now about, and she's really the one that goes after opportunities and really brings in the big ideas, and then I organize that. So it's just been really, really helpful. And we have access to a bit more funding now because with a small operating budget, we don't really get much from funding opportunities in terms of maybe $5.10, $15,000 managing a lot of grants. And so we have opportunities with a larger budget to get larger grants. It leads to the efficiencies that you really need.

[Abbey Duke (Member, Burlington)]: Another question. So, that brings up that interesting idea of scale. I think in any business, there is a scale that is optimum, both balancing service, the operations, finances. And I'm wondering within your sector, if there's some thought in that idea, like what is the optimum scale? And maybe you're at it, or is it a little bit bigger, better? Does that make sense? Yeah, that makes And then there's a point where if you get too big, you create more kinds of new problems.

[Edye Graning (Vice Chair)]: But if you're too small, there's this sweet spot.

[Kimberly Diamond (Chief of Communications & Grants, Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire & Vermont)]: There's a spot, there's a balance. I think it's probably different from the different types of missions that We everyone went from just under $300,000 budget serving about 110 to 100 packets annually a $2,700,000 budget, not all of that is privy to the Lamoille programs because of the way that funding works. But I would say right now, the New Hampshire organization, what they did is they invested in development staff, they invested in not a marketing department but someone who could help with marketing preemptively so that they could grow into that. So I think there comes a point where you have to be a little larger than you need to be so that you can get to where you want to go. Does that make sense? Of course, yeah. It's like working capital basically. Yeah, exactly.

[Abbey Duke (Member, Burlington)]: For profit sector, you gotta have money to grow.

[Kimberly Diamond (Chief of Communications & Grants, Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire & Vermont)]: You do.

[Abbey Duke (Member, Burlington)]: If you don't have money to grow, it's gonna be in a world of pain.

[Kimberly Diamond (Chief of Communications & Grants, Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire & Vermont)]: You try to grow without it. Exactly. So you build that infrastructure and help people specialize more in their jobs instead of being generalists, that's really important too.

[Herb Olson (Member)]: Sorry to be late. Herb Olson, just a little bit of luck that starts off. So I'm curious, what are the major sources that you're finding, trying

[Kimberly Diamond (Chief of Communications & Grants, Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire & Vermont)]: to keep going? Yeah, so under the new structure, we have 48% comes from grants, 20% comes from events, and 35% comes from individual and corporate donations. And before the merger, we were about at 80% grants.

[Herb Olson (Member)]: And where do the grants come from?

[Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Government local government.

[Kimberly Diamond (Chief of Communications & Grants, Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire & Vermont)]: It's a combination of local foundations.

[Herb Olson (Member)]: Local foundations.

[Kimberly Diamond (Chief of Communications & Grants, Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire & Vermont)]: We also, we don't receive direct federal funding, but Big Brothers Big Sisters of America receives funding and we're allowed to apply for that. So it's competitive, but we do receive money from athletic pass through funding through OJJDP. Have not received state funds in Vermont, but in New Hampshire, they receive like for DOE and health and human services.

[Edye Graning (Vice Chair)]: Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. Anybody else? I appreciate your merger, regionalization perspective. I know we're talking about that in just about every sector right now, And it's nice to hear some success stories, but those aren't always the ones that we hear about. So thank you so much. Yeah, well, you very much for the opportunity to speak and enjoy the rest of your day. Good morning. Ready to be set?

[Kimberly Diamond (Chief of Communications & Grants, Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire & Vermont)]: Yes. Okay.

[Maggie Brey (Practice Development Fellow, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project - VAP)]: So good morning, everyone, and thanks for the opportunity to speak at Nonprofit Day in support of Common Grid Vermont. My name is Maggie Brey, and I'm the trainee and the practice development fellow,

[Edye Graning (Vice Chair)]: or one of

[Maggie Brey (Practice Development Fellow, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project - VAP)]: the two practice development fellows at the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, or DACH. My background before joining DACH, which was just last month and brand new, was in civil legal services. So I worked at Legal Services Vermont, providing civil legal aid to low income Vermonters. But in that role and in this role at BAP, my goal has always been to make the legal process understandable and accessible for everyone who has to navigate it. For many folks, that's not a choice. And if you do choose to opt out of the legal process, the consequences can be and usually are huge. It does feel better to go through the legal process, whether it's court or something transactional, your immigration status, and to go through that with competent help and guidance, and to not walk through those processes alone. So I'm here today to highlight why immigration legal services and nonprofit sector overall and coordination of those nonprofit services are not just important for individuals, but are smart and a cost effective investment for Vermont. When folks have access to immigration legal services, systems work better. VAP exists to provide direct legal services to clients, but also serve as a resource to other organizations. And we're also working towards providing or serving as a central intake point for the entire state of Vermont for folks to access immigration legal services. VAP is also starting to actively work to engage with the private bar. That's part of my work at BAP is to engage attorneys in the private bar to contribute pro bono to, number one, learn how to provide immigration legal services and essentially work with that to try to address increased demand that our very small office is not necessarily equipped to meet on its own. And as that demand increases, the safe zone. Immigration law is extraordinarily complex, constantly changing. My new colleagues are experts, and even they say it's sort of like learning everything every day. It's almost impossible to navigate without trained counsel, yet many folks are forced to do just that. But unlike in criminal proceedings, there's no guaranteed right to an attorney in immigration cases. So that means that individuals, including asylum seekers, on time members of our community, have to represent themselves in high stakes proceedings where the outcome can be family separation, loss of income, and deportation. Immigration legal services are directly tied to workforce stability and strengthen Vermont's economy. Many immigrants are eligible for work authorization, but can't access that without legal help. You can access work authorization documents as an asylum applicant. If you're applying for a visa, while you're waiting for those statuses to come through, you can get work authorization. One of my clients just received her work authorization. She picked up last week. She can use that to get a job. I am advising her on how to take that authorization, get a social security number. She's in college. So this is going to open up all kinds of doors for her while she's on the path to hopefully getting asylum. As I said, ensuring that folks have access to that legal representation is an investment in economic resilience and a strategic investment in the state. Larger coordination of nonprofits, so BAP and other nonprofits as a whole, it is economic infrastructure and benefits the state as a whole. So thank you for your time and your considerations for vital nonprofit work in Vermont. Thank you.

[Herb Olson (Member)]: Thanks, Edye Granington. I am a recovering agent. I'm making progress,

[Maggie Brey (Practice Development Fellow, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project - VAP)]: but I don't feel it yet, but yes.

[Herb Olson (Member)]: It's slower. Anyway, it was my understanding that it was some legislation trying to get some state funding for additional work from the defendant's office to try to help out immigrant kind of issues. And I'd be surprised if they made it through budget process this year. I'm wondering if anyone's thought about alternative means to try to, I mean, bono is great. They'll probably only go so far. And I know there's a license fee to support our foundation. And I'm wondering whether anyone has explored, trying to get some assistance through that means, to find some of the things that you're doing, which I think are very good.

[Maggie Brey (Practice Development Fellow, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project - VAP)]: So, as I said, I started last month, so I'm brand new. But I do know that the director of VAP is Jill Martin Diaz, and Jill has created an extremely robust network and does have relationships Foundation. So I'm sure that is being explored. That's certainly a possibility. Do know that VAP is coordinated with Vermont Legal Aid. And so there's two lawyers now at Vermont Legal Aid who also just started last month coordinating with VAP. So I think any and all avenue is being explored. VAP received a lot of private donations in response to how topical immigration has been. That is not sustainable. Tends to ebb and flow with the news. So we're grateful for that, but it's not gonna be, those donations will not continue at that level.

[Herb Olson (Member)]: Just seems to be that, well, a fee structure tends to spread the contribution over a larger litigant population. Anyway, thanks Of for your

[Maggie Brey (Practice Development Fellow, Vermont Asylum Assistance Project - VAP)]: course, lawyer licensing fees?

[Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Is that okay? Yeah.

[Herb Olson (Member)]: It goes into the Vermont Water Foundation. Right. So to support, I think, for the long run.

[Edye Graning (Vice Chair)]: Sounds like you have a bill for next year. Other questions? Thank you so much. Thank you.

[Kimberly Diamond (Chief of Communications & Grants, Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire & Vermont)]: Jesse.

[Edye Graning (Vice Chair)]: Good morning to the committee. I'm happy to be back. My name is Jesse Bridges. I'm the CEO at the University of Northwest Vermont. You're also to talk in support of Common Good Vermont and the great work that nonprofits are doing throughout the state of Vermont.

[Jesse Bridges (CEO, United Way of Northwest Vermont; Program home of Common Good Vermont)]: One of the interesting things that I'm listening to my colleagues testify about what's made their work really impactful is that supportive network of other organizations, other leaders, other people doing this work. And I think it's one of the things I really appreciate about this committee is that commerce has a given nonprofit to seat at the commerce table because we are businesses, one in five working group partners works for a nonprofit. We represent about 58% of the GDP. And so it's a significant part of Vermont's ecosystem, including the economy. And so it's vital important that we're a successful sector. As you might remember, I was here testifying in part of additional technical assistance support from the state so that we can continue to provide the work to make it possible for these organizations to thrive. Whether it be in these great conversations about how we do things differently in mergers, lots of lessons to learn for colleagues across the state, whether it may be in some school conversations going on, and other things where we have to think differently about structure, how we work together as a state, as our demographics shift, as our economy shifts. Thinking differently is vitally important, and you need support to do that. You need to be able to lift your head up out of the day to day. You need that working capital to invest in your infrastructure, your financial operations. You need experts in the field to provide assistance for you. Maybe you don't need them ongoing all the time, but you need them to help you scale. And so whether you're an emerging organization or a fast growing organization responding to emerging needs in our community, that technical assistance is vitally important. Our appropriations request right now has been recommended by Senator Clarkson to work through S-three 57 that's coming now through the House. The sector gets no public funding for technical assistance, unlike businesses and municipalities, which I know a number of which I've seen on the one time funding list and have for years been funded to provide that level of support. This is a huge part of our economy that needs that support as well. We have the infrastructure in place. We've been able to leverage philanthropy, and I think you're hearing it in these circumstances. In fact, we actually provided the funding through the Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund to get the additional capacity in that recently. We have the infrastructure in place to grow quickly to support nonprofits. We've started a number of fiscal sponsored programs. We have a Vermont Legal Hub, different than the Immigration Fund, but to provide nonprofits with the legal support necessary. One of the big things when you're merging or thinking differently about your structure, you do need legal support. We are creating a nonprofit help desk, something that allows for nonprofits to call in, whether and triage that support, whether it's getting them connected to a consultant or legal support or being able to directly provide that support for them. We've also started a shared services collaboratory, which is looking at how we merge back end services, how we think differently about strategic partnerships. All of that has been funded by private philanthropy and private support. And so we've already used that to be the capital to start to get our infrastructure in place. What we need is the support from the state to really increase that access and make it possible. Again, you're seeing how these funds can be used to support successful mergers that make sure that we keep these opportunities alive for Vermont communities. Nonprofits are going to continue to face significant headwinds and changes in funding structures at the federal and state level. Philanthropic funding has shifted dramatically as gas creeps up over $4 a gallon, as inflation continues to rise, as housing costs remain high, private philanthropy individual donors don't have as much to give, so we can't always just rely on the goodwill of our neighbors. It really needs to be a core piece of the infrastructure. So, really, again, appreciative. And as chair walks back in, I just want to re thank him for his leadership in making sure that nonprofits have a seat at the economic table. I really appreciate all the work that you all are doing. I know these budget decisions are difficult, but I do hope we look if it says something that could significantly amplify work that needs to happen in her community. Thank you. Questions for guessing? I can say thank you. Work here in Maine and the Life.

[Monique Priestley (Clerk)]: I've been a nonprofit for over ten years, and having this couple of state life organizations is something I've not seen in many places I practice. I really, really appreciate it.

[Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: I like that you all are doing.

[Abbey Duke (Member, Burlington)]: So I have a question about, kind of more specifically about Common Good, which is, know it's a membership organization. So I'm kind of curious what your revenue strategy is with membership, membership fees, membership numbers. Mean, 400, actually, I'm looking at the data right now, 6,400 nonprofits in the state which, like many things, is both probably a great strength and a great weakness. That's a lot of organizations, half of which don't bring in any revenue runway, or more than half. So that's the background of the question. But I'm curious about long term strategies of using the power of membership to fund a lot of the work and how

[Jesse Bridges (CEO, United Way of Northwest Vermont; Program home of Common Good Vermont)]: you see that working. Sure. So I should add, Common Good Vermont is actually a program of fire organization, United Way of Northwest Vermont. We are the result of a successful merger. Back in 2021, Comm Good was looking for a new home when Marlboro College closed. And we started as a fiscal sponsorship. We had planned two years, we did it for a year and a half. The fit was so great that the advisory council and our board said, Let's put it together. Common Good has fundamentally been funded historically through fees. It's got a fee for service structure through the programming that it offers. We offer two core certificate programs, nonprofit management, and fundraising and development. So, not membership fees as much as We only launched membership a year and a half ago. So, membership is a new diversified revenue stream. But the idea being that there are lots of nonprofits that can contribute. It's a sliding scale, fee scale, to help everybody contribute to the work that we're doing to provide that capacity. And that's allowed us to increase our capacity as a staff to be able to provide better voice here to work with the nonprofits and with you all. We've doubled the amount of webinars and other trainings that we've been able to do. Those also then bring in a fee, there's a mutual shared service that exists from that. And we've had a small amount of philanthropy, small private grants and other funding sources. So grants have been a very small part of common goods fee structure and philanthropy has been a very small part of the budget structure. And again, I mentioned no state support at all. And so if we can change that pie to be a more equal breakdown, we're very reliant on fee for service. We'd like to have a little bit more of the other investments available that allow us to grow, to expand the capacity. You mentioned all those nonprofits, not all of them need technical assistance. Some because they're bigger. So, some of the employer in our state is a nonprofit at UBM Health. And then of course, we've got a lot of new staff. So when I

[Kimberly Diamond (Chief of Communications & Grants, Big Brothers Big Sisters of New Hampshire & Vermont)]: was in Burlington as the Parks Director,

[Jesse Bridges (CEO, United Way of Northwest Vermont; Program home of Common Good Vermont)]: I started at Parks Foundation of Burlington to do no staff. It's just a five zero one(three) to raise funds to support the park system in Burlington. It's all done through city staff and volunteers. A lot of nonprofits are like that. But also, like many of our businesses in the state, our small nonprofits are small businesses. They're fewer than 50 employees, many times like five, less than half $1,000,000 in income. Really requires a lot of support. I think as Kimberly was saying, a lot of that then falls off one person. And there's a lot to ask people in person.

[Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: And you can do quite a

[Jesse Bridges (CEO, United Way of Northwest Vermont; Program home of Common Good Vermont)]: bit more with fewer people, full time people, if you've got a network of support and other things. There's lessons to be learned. We know how to do this. There's a form for that. We can show you the best practices. One of the benefits we have in this is it also makes us a better partner with the state. So when the state's providing funding to all these nonprofits, the state contracts with nonprofits to provide many of the services that the state would otherwise have to provide. We shouldn't be doing that on the backs of cheap labor in the nonprofit sector. We should be doing that because it's closer to our communities and more responsive and effective. We've got to be able to provide the support so that those organizations have health insurance, those organizations have the human resource, the financial support to be really effective partners. So when we're reporting on our grants, giving you back information on what you've invested in, it's that much more beneficial. So this is where that type of funding really will accelerate things. But right now, yeah, we're 75% fee for service funded, which for a nonprofit's great place to be.

[Abbey Duke (Member, Burlington)]: And that includes the membership fees.

[Jesse Bridges (CEO, United Way of Northwest Vermont; Program home of Common Good Vermont)]: Correct. And that's a very small percentage of the overall budget.

[Abbey Duke (Member, Burlington)]: That's kind of the question. Okay, thank you. That's really helpful. And I appreciate very much that you're here. I think nonprofit sector is a really important part of our economy and very much is commerce and economic development. And I'm interested in your connections, or maybe your vision of more connections with the more sort of for profit technical assistance sector, for example, development center, and also the legal help for nonprofits, and is there connections with the small business law center?

[Jesse Bridges (CEO, United Way of Northwest Vermont; Program home of Common Good Vermont)]: Connections with the people? Yeah, we've certainly, and my colleague, Emma Paradise, who we've talked to a few times, has connections with those and can work in partnership with them, but they don't serve nonprofits because not There's a specialty to each of our operations. We file in our 990s, nonprofits have a tremendous amount of oversight, both from independent boards, as well as through our nine ninety filings and our federal IRS, rules and regulations, all of our grant stipulations and grant regulations. So there's a lot of additional layers on top of the nonprofit sector to provide compliance, to provide oversight, to provide added accountability. I'd say it's much more actually than the for profit sector. And we embrace that, but we need capacity to respond to that. And so that's where I think you need the specific expertise of the sector.

[Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: We need to be able

[Jesse Bridges (CEO, United Way of Northwest Vermont; Program home of Common Good Vermont)]: to pull together executive directors that are holding all of those things so that they can work together so that we don't experience burnouts, so we don't lose the pieces. And it's just different than running a small business. At the end of the day, is a business, but it is a different type of business. And I think we do that well in a lot of the other sectors. We don't ask our cities and towns to use the small business center. We have a league of cities and towns. We have other technical assistance for for departments, we have many trade organizations and other things. And so I think what we're really saying is we want to see not the same, but a greater footing for us in terms of being able to provide that direct support and that unique support. We collaborate. One of the benefits of that common good is part of right way. It's the way we work. It is the way we work. We work at the intersection of government and business, nonprofit and community. We're not going to change any of the issues that affect our state by only pulling on one thread or one string. We can't just pass a law. We can't just fund this thing. We can't just ask Howard Center to do more or beta to hire more. We all have to think differently about how we're functioning in the ecosystem, and that's what we're bringing to the table. Yeah, thanks. I appreciate that.

[Herb Olson (Member)]: Thanks very much. I was intrigued about the notion that you combined forces, I guess, with Chittenden County Franklin. So that Yes. Yeah. Just a few years ago. Right?

[Jesse Bridges (CEO, United Way of Northwest Vermont; Program home of Common Good Vermont)]: So ten years now for the Franklin and Grand Isle merger and five years now for the common good and United Way.

[Herb Olson (Member)]: So I asked because I've been through it twice. I think that must have been an interesting conversation because people have their own affiliations and sometimes even culture, right? Yes. Depending on where you are in the state. Yes. But it sounds like it's been successful in terms of being able to share services and accomplish more. And I ask, I live in Addison County. I think we still have our separate

[Jesse Bridges (CEO, United Way of Northwest Vermont; Program home of Common Good Vermont)]: highway. Exceptional unit.

[Herb Olson (Member)]: Yeah, And I'm just, gonna go out on all of them here. People do like, there are different cultures, and so I think you have to try to maintain that, but at the same time, I'm wondering if you had any conversations

[Jesse Bridges (CEO, United Way of Northwest Vermont; Program home of Common Good Vermont)]: with

[Herb Olson (Member)]: them.

[Jesse Bridges (CEO, United Way of Northwest Vermont; Program home of Common Good Vermont)]: Yes, I talked to him yesterday. We United Way to meet regularly. The issues that are facing our communities in Vermont, I was born in St. Johnsbury, I live in Jericho. The issues that are facing our communities are the same issues. How we address them needs to be local. And what the benefit is, is that we can use scale, because we're not big in Vermont. So we have to think about how we use and leverage scale. So that's a benefit of having a statewide nonprofit network that allows for local nonprofits to shine. It allows us to use the local to lift up the whole. And so we can address the unique issues that are happening in the community each United Way. If you've met one United Way, you've met one United Way. But we all have this interconnection and work together to provide the support that our communities need to fill up those gaps that our communities need. And I think nonprofits do a lot of that well. And it's about thinking about, okay, the housing issue that I'm trying to address is, we've got housing issues across the state, right? But what we might be able to do in terms of housing development, what we might need to be able to do in terms of shelter capacity and resources and services are gonna be unique. They're gonna have to be different. Transportation is gonna have to look differently in each community. Having local voice allows us to collaborate and think differently about how we address the issue for the whole.

[Herb Olson (Member)]: Thank you.

[Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Question. How many members do you have? 200 members. What did you say? 6,400. Yeah. Not all of

[Jesse Bridges (CEO, United Way of Northwest Vermont; Program home of Common Good Vermont)]: them have budget, so can't ask them for the

[Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: $50 Maybe half of them. Are you actually looking at a campaign to bring more members?

[Jesse Bridges (CEO, United Way of Northwest Vermont; Program home of Common Good Vermont)]: Yeah, want to grow membership for sure as part of bringing more people into the fold to understand what the resources that we have available are as well as to bolster the ranks of what we're trying to do. We do think there's capacity out there. We've tried to make membership really affordable, it's based on the size of your budget. So yeah, half of those organizations are potential members. And we have this incredible range of membership, parts of the nonprofit sector, so whether arts or environment or health and human services, all parts of the state represented. And so we're starting to grow that. And again, we're only a little over a year into Abbey membership, our second year membership. And I think being here, seeing the value of this, it's allowed us to make sure people know we're here for them. We're out there. We're trying to do this work. And we're trying to figure out how to invest in that scale. So we have Ameripar Vista that's managing our membership right now, So great leverage of resources, but that needs to be an ongoing full time position to maintain that relationship with nonprofits if everything is succeeded. That's where additional funding streams need to be dropped there. I curious to know, I see a number

[Monique Priestley (Clerk)]: of these sort of consortium type models, some of the concern that has come up in these various models is that smaller non profit states tend to be more in touch and need a lot more attention. And so I'm curious to know about how you're able to kind of balance that with the needs of the other folks that you're serving.

[Jesse Bridges (CEO, United Way of Northwest Vermont; Program home of Common Good Vermont)]: That's a really good question because we have this incredible scale. So I was just meeting with Sandy Gabbard, who's the ED at Howard Center, 1,500 employees, and we're talking about how we can support their employees because one of things the I really believe in is that you have to support the people who do the work as much as the work itself. And that's really fundamentally what a lot of what we're doing with fountain good is about, it's about supporting the people who do the work. And so our goal is to work with an organization at any size to meet their needs, just like we work with a community of any size to meet their needs. How do we get a small organization connected to other resources? We're not right now providing all of that technical assistance directly to them, and so they're not going to use up a disproportionate amount of the resources. We would get them connected to consultants or others to help advise them on where they should go in order to be successful. And I think what the last year and a half has brought to bear for London on Prophecy is thinking differently about how they're structured. Can I achieve what I'm trying to with the size of the organization that I have? Do I need to start a whole another organization to achieve the idea that I have? Not every good idea needs its own organization, and that's for profit and nonprofit. How do we think about scale? How do we help that small nonprofit see, Oh, well, if I partner here or that project that's not a nonprofit yet, Well, actually, if I work with this organization, we can do things more successfully. The Vermont Immigration Legal Defense Fund is a good example of that. Instead of starting a whole other organization, we've created a fiscal sponsor program where we're working to raise dollars to support organizations like ALB and VAP and Family Room and the Afghan Alliance and others that are providing those legal support. So let's not start a whole bunch of new organizations to do that. Let's increase the capacity of the existing organizations. VAP was one person, one and a half people, just two years ago. Needs have changed, what they're providing for services and the needs have changed, but we've been able to scale, oh, let's go create a whole another thing to do this one thing. So I really think it's about how do we enable people to build their own capacity and look at, Okay, well, if we get a few extra touches for a small nonprofit, that's okay. If it goes on forever, that's something we have to have a conversation about. Is this sustainable? And we've had some real conversations about that recently. It's good. There's been some nonprofits that have closed. In Burlington, the Sarah Holbrook Center closed. It's now a wonderful childcare facility brought by One Arts. Center for Health and Learning closed. Their You Matter Suicide Prevention Training is now a vampire, which is great. It's an example of, we don't need this, we can move this over, keep the things that really matter. We're gonna have a lot more of those conversations and we need to be proactive about it. We need to be able to get ahead of losing a service or losing an organization, not just to keep it alive, but to think about what are the vital services that that organization or that program is providing regardless of their size.

[Abbey Duke (Member, Burlington)]: Yeah, that's great to hear. I think there's a lot of examples of nonprofits that are started as a person's passion project, and then there's really no way to, like hands is a great example in end of Burlington, where it was Megan's packing project. And then when she was ready to move on, the organization determined they actually couldn't maintain it and found homes for the programs. And watching that process unfold was interesting, and I thought made me optimistic for ways to Because I think that's important work, and I like your approach. Yeah, we

[Jesse Bridges (CEO, United Way of Northwest Vermont; Program home of Common Good Vermont)]: don't want to have the suddenness of Sarah Holbrook or pride. We want to have the thoughtful transitions like hands, center for health and learning. And that's not possible without the state investing in a robust amount of technical assistance for the sector.

[Abbey Duke (Member, Burlington)]: Agree. The Sarah Holbrook Center suddenly closing was, yeah, that was stressful for a lot of folks.

[Jesse Bridges (CEO, United Way of Northwest Vermont; Program home of Common Good Vermont)]: Yeah, and then people are scrambling, and thankfully, what comes out of it has been positive, but we wanna be as proactive as possible. We should be able to see these things come in, and that's with good financial oversight, good accountability, good governance. We need to invest in board development. We need to serve on boards, volunteer boards. It's incredibly important work. We need more people to do that. We need more diverse age and gender and populations and sectors that represent in board service.

[Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Questions for Jesse? Thank you, Kimberly, Maggie, Jesse, thank you for joining us this morning. Thank you. Thank you for the recognition. I know you weren't there. Much appreciated.

[Jesse Bridges (CEO, United Way of Northwest Vermont; Program home of Common Good Vermont)]: Here with the As

[Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: I told them, our door is always open. We're always willing to hear from you, understand how things are going in the nonprofit sector, What can we do to help? I know in our budget recommendation, we give recommend funding for common good. Don't know how far that went, but

[Herb Olson (Member)]: It's coming

[Jesse Bridges (CEO, United Way of Northwest Vermont; Program home of Common Good Vermont)]: back around, we're hoping through S three twenty seven. Thank you.

[Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Very good. Thank you for joining us this morning.

[Jesse Bridges (CEO, United Way of Northwest Vermont; Program home of Common Good Vermont)]: Yeah, thank you all for very hard work. In short

[Abbey Duke (Member, Burlington)]: periods of time, too.

[Jesse Bridges (CEO, United Way of Northwest Vermont; Program home of Common Good Vermont)]: Hang in there. You. You. Thank Lee, stop.

[Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: You. You as well. Thank you

[Jesse Bridges (CEO, United Way of Northwest Vermont; Program home of Common Good Vermont)]: so much.

[Michael Marcotte (Chair)]: Too. The committee, we're on the floor and for caucus of the whole, then 10:30 we have judicial retention. Hopefully we get some lunch and then we're back on the floor and then it looks like floor is estimated to go to 06:45 tonight. Yeah. Like But it is another wonderful day on the floor. I'll take lunch.

[Edye Graning (Vice Chair)]: Does anybody have an extra seat pad?