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Category: Accredited and Recognized Organizations

  • Congratulations to Touch Stones Financial Wellness Services!

    Congratulations to Touch Stones Financial Wellness Services!

    The Standards for Excellence Institute would like to congratulate Touch Stones Financial Wellness Services for earning the Standards basics recognition under the Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector.

    To earn the Standards basics recognition, Touch Stones Financial Wellness Services went through an application process, which included a review by Standards of Excellence Institute staff to verify that Touch Stones Financial Wellness Services has strong policies in place for good governance and legal compliance, and a well-defined mission with impactful programs.

    Touch Stones Financial Wellness Services’ mission is to “Improve, strengthen and enrich the lives of low & moderate income families by providing financial counseling & literacy programs that empower individuals to purse their goals, allowing them to achieve financial stability, capability, and self-sufficiency.” They serve individuals of color, single parent households, college students, individuals with disabilities and older adults in the greater Howard County area, as well as parts of Laurel and Anne Arundel County.

    Touch Stones Financial Wellness Services’ programs include Financial Counseling to assist individuals in developing behaviors to become financially self-sufficient and establishing Basic Money Management skills. Their Financial Literacy Programs provide workshops and webinars on topics to build financial skills on debt repayment, managing and rebuilding credit, building savings, student loan repayment, avoiding identity theft and understanding bankruptcy.

    Renee R. McElroy, Executive Director, states:
    Touch Stones used the Standards for Excellence as its road map of how to not only conduct everyday business, but also to engage with the individuals we serve. As a small nonprofit, it is important that our organization is not only organized, but also knowledgeable and informed. The Standards for Excellence provided that for me. It started by allowing me to go through the assessment, which showed me where our strengths were and where our weaknesses were. They then allowed us to bring our nonprofit to the Basic Standards. When I started this nonprofit, it was to help those who did not have access to these services. I wanted to be the “hope” that they needed when they had lost all hope. The Standards of Excellence has allowed me to ensure that I am providing quality service and that I am doing it with integrity. Thank you to the Standards for Excellence Institute and Maryland Nonprofits for assisting me in this journey.

    Congratulations again to Touch Stones Financial Wellness Services for this achievement.

    The Standards for Excellence Institute encourages all nonprofits to check out the Standards for Excellence code and to consider applying for accreditation or recognition. A good starting point is the free online self-assessment, which provides a detailed, actionable report, along with links to resources.

  • Spring is here! Are you ready?

    Nonprofit Leaders – it may not feel like it yet, with many days being marked with cooler weather, but spring is here. When the days finally get consistently warm, you’ll want to be outside, attending events and reconnecting with colleagues. So now is the time to get that spring cleaning done!

    For many of you, spring cleaning involves focusing on the fundamentals of your organization, intentionally dusting off your policies and procedures, checking in on your organization’s health, and putting plans in place. Plans to ensure you have the right set of board members who are working together effectively. Plans to spend time focused on your finances and budgets. Plans to truly look closely at diversity, equity, and inclusion in your organization.

    The perfect way to start this process is with the Standards for Excellence self-assessment.

    Doing this free, online assessment will help you clear out some cobwebs, allow you to focus on best practices, and start you on a clean path to building capacity, accountability, and sustainability in your organization.

    After completing the assessment, you will have a detailed, actionable, professional, polished report, with links to resources, to share with your leadership and guide you forward.

    Start your spring cleaning now with the free Standards for Excellence online self-assessment.

    More information:

    Standards for Excellence code

    Standards for Excellence accreditation

    Start your FREE online self-assessment NOW

  • Congratulations to Our Latest Organizations! (4/25/17)

    Congratulations to Our Latest Organizations! (4/25/17)

    The Standards for Excellence Institute would like to congratulate two organizations who recently earned accreditation or recognition under the 
    Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector.




    Service Coordination

    , located in Maryland, recently earned the Seal of Excellence. Service Coordination’s mission is to provide quality case management services by helping people understand what their choices are and connecting them to resources in their communities in ways that respect their dignity and rights.




    The Joshua M. Freeman Foundation

    , located in Delaware, recently earned Basics Enhanced recognition under the Institute’s Standards Basics Enhanced program. The Freeman Foundation’s mission is to partner to present memorable performances & provide inspired arts education for all while creating opportunities to elevate the human spirit.

    Many congratulations on these significant achievements!
    Click here to learn about our accreditation and recognition programs.

  • Congratulations To Our Latest Organizations! (2/10/17)

    Congratulations To Our Latest Organizations! (2/10/17)

    The Standards for Excellence Institute would like to congratulate several organizations who recently earned or renewed their accreditation under the Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector:


    The Standards for Excellence Institute would like to congratulate the following organizations that has earned their recognition under the Institute’s Standards Basics Enhanced and Standards Basics programs:

  • Pennsylvania’s Standards for Excellence – A Video!

    Pennsylvania’s Standards for Excellence – A Video!

    The Standards for Excellence Institute would like to congratulate Replication Partner Pennsylvania Association of Nonprofit Organizations (PANO) on the success of their recent annual conference, “The Art of Courageous Risk-Taking.” The Standards for Excellence was front and center throughout the conference activities. We are delighted to share this video that was a highlight at the conference, and  features organizations that have participated in PANO’s Standards for Excellence program. Each organization produced and submitted their own segments, and discuss how they are utilizing the Standards for Excellence to create positive impact with their missions. 

  • Sealholder Spotlight: Families Helping Families of Northeast Louisiana

    Sealholder Spotlight: Families Helping Families of Northeast Louisiana

    Families Helping Families of Northeast Louisiana is a nonprofit organization focused on providing a network of supportive services to disabled individuals and their families. Disabilities include physical, mental, emotional, behavioral, and/or learning disabilities. By connecting families that have similar experiences, Families Helping Families of Northeast Louisiana provides a channel for first-hand advice, knowledge, and information. 

    Families Helping Families of Northeast Louisiana has been accredited with the Standards for Excellence Institute since 2009 and I recently had the opportunity of speaking with Executive Director, Stacey Guidry to learn more about the organizations mission and some of its most recent accomplishments. 

    To begin with, tell me about how your organization came about and the type of support it offers. 

    The organization came about from funding from a local university because they noticed a need for resources for  children with disabilities and their families. It all began with a tiny little room with one person and has expanded over the last twenty-four years to nine staff members. All nine have family members with disabilities so they understand the journey and the difference that support can make.

    Families Helping Families of Northeast Louisiana 1 

    How are the lives of members impacted by the efforts of your organization? 

    Often when you find out that your child has a disability you only receive the pertinent information. Everyone is focused on telling you only what you need to know right now rather than what this means for the long term. This organization goes beyond that scope and helps to plan for the future. When members are seeking information or advice, volunteers from Families Helping Families will go with them to ensure that they know what questions to ask and that they get answers for all of their questions. We give them the resources to advocate for themselves. Through this support, Families Helping Families makes it so that members of the community with disabilities are able to remain in their communities rather than being institutionalized. 

    Families Helping Families of Northeast Louisiana 2 

    What is the volunteer process like within your organization?Individuals who would like to volunteer can call in and request more information about upcoming opportunities. We can take down their information and keep them updated via email whenever an opportunity arises that they may be interested in coming out for.
    How has the relationship with Standards for Excellence impacted your organization?
    It reflects very positively on the organization. When writing grants, especially, the topic of accreditation will often come up and people are very impressed when they learn that you have been accredited by Standards for Excellence.

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    Families Helping Families of Northeast Louisiana 3 

    Are there any recent achievements that you would like to highlight? 

    We just hosted our first Family Fun Day at the local zoo with 256 attendees! We often emphasize the importance of inclusion and this was an opportunity to reach out to the community and have a day of fun for families with disabilities and without where we get to see kids be kids and realize that they all share the same hopes and dreams. 

    To learn more about Families Helping Families of Northeast Louisiana, Inc. visit their website at http://www.fhfnela.org/index.php.

  • Sealholder Spotlight: DuPagePADS

    Sealholder Spotlight: DuPagePADS

    DuPagePads is an organization committed to ending homelessness in DuPage County, Illinois. Founded in 1985, the agency focuses its efforts on creating a change in people’s lives that will lead to self-sufficiency by providing interim and permanent housing to individuals and families in addition to supportive services. By providing resources that assist individuals in receiving life coaching as well as employment opportunities, DuPagePads helps to successfully put an end to the cycle of homelessness.
    DuPagePads has been accredited with Standards for Excellence since 2009 and I recently had the opportunity of speaking with President and CEO, Carol Simler to learn more about the organization and the difference that it is making in the DuPage community. 

    Tell me a little about your organization’s mission and how DuPagePads has grown since it was founded. 

    In the mid 80’s people were being released from mental institutions with no plan for their future. The Homeless Needs Coalition recognized a need for shelter which just didn’t exist at the time. So in 1985 our organization looked to congregations to open their doors in the evening to provide food and safety to those who needed it. We wanted this to be a philosophical change for people. Now we have over 4,000 volunteers and have served over 1,200 families. In a sense we are a folding motel, we move every night. 

    How do volunteers make an impact when working with your organization? 

    Our volunteers are the heart and soul of this organization in the fact that we operate from 7 pm every night to 7 am the next day. Volunteers start at 6 pm and work with our staff until 10 pm. Then, they will stay the rest of the night and in the morning make breakfast, make bagged lunches and restore the site. The volunteers have a tremendous impact. 

    Are there different ways for volunteers to get involved with your organization? 

    Yes there is definitely a variety of ways to get involved. The ideal situation is for us to have nightly volunteers, however, we have other areas such as our career solutions and development efforts where volunteers can help out as well. 

    Can you tell me more about your development efforts? 

    Of course, so we have four events a year such as our upcoming 5k/10k run in September as well as our Wake Up Your Spirit Breakfast where we will have Dan Hampton from the Chicago Cubs as a guest speaker. Then we also have a Taste of Hope Dinner where we feature samplings from over twenty-five high end restaurants. That is a really great event because it gives us the opportunity to bring the community out to enjoy some really great food. Then we also have a bowling event which is of course quite interesting and for that we go to the alley and fill all 30 lanes.

    “

    An outside look into your agency is very important and Standards for Excellence gave us that.”

    So, what was it that brought you to Standards for Excellence Institute? 

    An agency like ours wanted outside accreditation. We took it very seriously and completed the registration and then from there we really had to look at our policies and examine our organization. An outside look into your agency is very important and Standards for Excellence gave us that. 

    How do you feel your organization benefited from going through the accreditation process. 

    It played a huge role in us writing our policies. Just yesterday I gave an orientation for three new employees and used Standards for Excellence for guidance. It’s a process that I use for every new employee and board member, especially, because it helps them to understand the depth of being recognized and certified and how strongly our policies define our mission. This past year we have really been working towards being focused and accountable with new employees and emphasizing that importance. 

    Are there any recent achievements that you would like to highlight? 

    This past November, we put an end to chronic veteran homelessness and we are now continuing on with our mission to work with individuals and families. We also just recently had a Go-kart race fundraiser which was very intensive and lasted four hours, raising $35,000. We started these races six years ago and it’s been incredible to see the professionalism and endurance of these eleven teams that each have about five to seven people.
    I also think our board has really grown and changed. Our board is full of advocates who act as ambassadors out in the community. They are all so forward thinking and future-focused which is something that is just so great to see. We also have all of our intakes computerized now which allows us to analyze our data much more efficiently and spend more time engaging with the evening program. 

    To learn more about DuPagePads and how you can work with the agency to make a difference, visit their website at http://dupagepads.org/.

  • Congratulations To Our Latest Organizations! (5/24/16)

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    The Standards for Excellence Institute would like to congratulate several organizations who recently earned or renewed their accreditation under the Standards for Excellence: An Ethics and Accountability Code for the Nonprofit Sector:

    The Standards for Excellence Institute would like to congratulate the following organization that has earned their recognition under the Institute’s Standards Basics program:

  • Sealholder Spotlight: SAVE – Saving Animals Volunteer Effort

    Sealholder Spotlight: SAVE – Saving Animals Volunteer Effort

    SAVE

    SAVE – Saving Animals Volunteer Effort – was created in September of 2009 when concerned citizens from two Alabama counties came to together to address the problem of animal homelessness and overcrowding in animal shelters. Their efforts have been to spay and neuter pets, and feral cars, to reduce the population of unwanted animals, and hope for a day when every pet has a home. SAVE has been accredited with Standards for Excellence Institute since 2015. I recently got the opportunity to speak with Michal Vasseur from SAVE about the organization’s mission and its experience as a recently accredited organization. 

    Tell me a little about why and how your organization was founded, and your mission as you’ve gone forward.
    I

    n 2009, concerned citizens got together to figure out a solution to homeless animals in the area. We only have 3 animal shelters, and only 1 is no-kill. The shelters were overcrowded and we had a large population of animals that were in the streets. After research, it was decided that the only effective way to control the population of animals would be to implement a spay and neuter program. Our vision is that one day all these pets will have homes, and that the shelters will be empty!

    KittenPuppy

    What are some of the services that your volunteers provide? 

    Our entire staff is volunteer. Twice a month we offer a pick up for people to get their pets spayed or neutered with the clinic that we use. Our volunteers take the pets to the clinic, drop them off, and bring them back to their owners the next day since it’s an overnight stay at the clinic. We also have a TNR (trap neuter release) program for feral cats, to prevent colonies from growing. Our volunteers are involved in giving people the materials to safely trap the feral cats, and they will trap the cats if they have to as well. Depending on funding, we try to do a yearly Neuter Day event where people can bring their pets and get them neutered for free. We did this in 2014 with grant funding. 

    How have the efforts of your volunteers made an impact on the community that you serve? 

    Data from the pet shelters has not always been forthcoming. It’s been a real challenge to try to quantify the impact that we’ve made because of that. We are actually working on legislation to make it the law for the shelters to make data about the animals they house available. But, we do have anecdotal evidence that we have been successful, people working in the shelters have reported a reduction in the intake of animals. Plus, there is data about the rate at which pets reproduce and their litter sizes, so we can guess from that information that we have prevented the birth of about 5,000 new animals. Also, in some ways, we have become a victim of our own success. We’ve become very well known in our community so we get a lot of calls for help now so people have come to think of us as a positive in the community. 

    SAVE has been accredited recently, last year in 2015, tell me what going through the accreditation process was like for your organization. 

    Grueling but worth it! It was a long process, especially for a new and small organization, that we started in February of 2014. We had a lot of support from the Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama, which we can’t thank them enough for. They really made it possible. I spearheaded the process since I already had experience as an executive direct of nonprofit organization. There were a lot of steps from setting up a committee, making drafts, and having discussions before even taking it to the board for full approval. You really need an engaged board to get this done! 

    What factors brought you to Standards for Excellence Institute? 

    We wanted to implement the best practices, and give our donors confidence. Standards is great for standing out in the community, and also we were hoping that it would be helpful in finding and receiving grants. The more in depth look at conversations and decision making for the board is great, and it gets more in depth as you approach decision making with Standards. 

    Can you recall a recent time when you used the Standards for guidance in a situation? 

    We need to know more about our programs’ impacts, and Standards makes us think about new and better ways to do that. Now we do surveys of participants and ask ourselves more questions about impact and outcomes. Also, Standards has helped us look at more useful ways to track finances. While our financials were never wrong, they didn’t use to track what they really wanted to – now we do better. 

    How has your new accreditation been useful to your organization? 

    We received two new grants! One was offered by the Community Foundation of Northeast Alabama, and the second foundation found the Standards to be impressive! Also anonymous benefactors provided matching funds, so that enabled us to turn $10,000 worth of funding into $20,000! That money really enables us to meet our mission. 

    Are there any recent achievements that you would like to highlight? 

    Well, we were very excited about those grants, since they put so much toward our mission. But we’re definitely most proud of achieving our Standards accreditation! 

    To learn more about SAVE, or to donate, visit their website here: http://alsavepets.org/

  • Sealholder Spotlight: Public Justice Center

    Sealholder Spotlight: Public Justice Center

     The Public Justice Center was founded in 1985 as a nonprofit legal advocacy organization. Since its inception the PJC has been focused on systemic change through legal services. The PJC’s efforts focus on confronting unjust laws, practices and institutions, particularly those affecting people living in poverty. The PJC takes a dynamic approach to systemic change by functioning as a legal services office as well as a policy campaign leader, and a community action partner to attack systemic problems of injustice at their roots. The Public Justice Center has been an accredited sealholder of the Standards for Excellence Institute since 2013.  Kayleigh Harper, Social Media and Marketing Intern for the Standards for Excellence Institute, got the chance to have a conversation with Director of Development Jennifer K. Pelton, CFRE about the organization and their experience as a Standards for Excellence sealholder. 

    Tell me about why the PBJ was founded and its mission. 

    The Public Justice Center was founded 30 years ago in order to fight injustice and discrimination at the root cause. We use every tool in the lawyer’s toolbox to create systemic change in areas like housing, work, health care and education. We will provide legal services help to a case if it represents a larger issue. 

    What are some services that your staff provides? 

    The common thread in all of the Public Justice Center’s work is to improve access to justice. We are providing civil legal services for low-income tenants in landlord/tenant disputes, for low-wage workers claiming wages they rightfully earned, and for homeless and foster kids seeking educational stability to name a few. We are focused on getting the right to counsel in civil cases, which is not a universally protected right in the United States.  We are also advocates for reformed policies and provide workshops to help people better understand and enforce their rights.

    How has your accreditation with Standards since 2013 benefitted your organization? 

    Well, it raises the standard! We looked into the Standards and began working on the processes of good governance long before applying. It definitely made us stronger in every area. It was like laying bricks for a strong foundation. 

    What factors brought you to Standards? 

    We had the desire to be known as the effective organization that we are. The Public Justice Center has a credible reputation as a civil legal organization. The seal expands that and declares that we are also meeting the high mark as a well-managed nonprofit organization. 

    Can you recall a recent time that you turned to the Standards for guidance? 

    One of the new requirements from Standards is for the board to be involved in planning the organization’s fundraising efforts. While we are planning the next fiscal year’s budget, the board is also planning what fundraising activities they will be doing in that coming year. This gets the board involved in not only setting goals but also encourages them to be accountable for their part, which really takes it to the next step. This is a rounder view of revenue and expense that’s really helpful. 

    Are there any recent achievements from the Public Justice Center that you’d like to highlight? 

    Yes! In the fall we released our report, Justice Diverted which can be found on our website. It’s a look at the rent court system, and a look towards how the landlord/tenant system can be reformed. We are also active members of the on Working Matters coalition, that is driving momentum behind pass new laws to Marylanders the right to earn paid sick leave which made significant progress through Maryland General Assembly this year. We are settling a decades-old law suit case regarding healthcare in the Baltimore City Detention Center. The results will improve the way that healthcare is given to the incarcerated.  More information is available about the PJC website about our work.
    In 2016, the Public Justice Center celebrates 30 years. 

    The Public Justice Center’s mission is to build a just society.  If you’d like to learn more about any of their activities, strategies or achievements or donate to the Public Justice Center, visit their website at http://www.publicjustice.org/index.cfm 

    Public Justice Center contact information: 

    1 North Charles Street, Suite 200 
    Baltimore, MD 21201 
    Telephone: (410) 625-9409 
    Fax: (410) 625-9423 

    Kayleigh Harper has been a marketing and communications intern with the Standards for Excellence Institute since January 2016. She is a junior at Towson University where she is completing a bachelor of science in Law & American Civilization. She is active in the campus community, especially in areas involving community service and volunteering.