Charity Works Programs
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Charitable Alliance Network
(CAN)
Register for the CAN Program.
Common Ground Project
Teach & Reach Program
CharityWorks pilot project
is called “Common Ground.” This project
involves cooperative purchasing between government agencies and qualified
nonprofits. It is based on the theory that “charities” are
quasi-governmental entities and, as such, should be at the same level and
have statutory access to existing vendor contracts that are negotiated and
managed by federal, state, and local government agencies. Our goal is to
engage all levels of government in supporting cooperative purchasing through
statutory changes that will effectively reduce the duplicative
administrative functions and related expenses that nonprofits now incur when
contracting with vendors to acquire the same products and services.
Today, a significant number of all nonprofits in the
U.S. receive funding either in whole or part from one or more government
agencies. Government officials tend to agree that it makes sense to allow
qualified nonprofits access to government contracts. But, these government
officials are equally reluctant to take on the added administrative burden.
This project establishes CharityWorks as the facilitating administrative
organization among and between government agencies, nonprofits and
vendors.
A few states such as New
York and Texas do recognize the value of allowing nonprofits with certain
restrictions to access their commodity contracts. The
Common Ground project is focused on expanding these state
government initiatives further to provide leverage and other forms of
support for nonprofits.
As a clearinghouse, CharityWorks would serve as the
portal for nonprofits to access government-vendor contracts and provide them
an easy-to-use interface for vendor related information, including new
contracts that are likely be to negotiated with national and other vendors.
Common Ground is designed to leverage the purchasing power of IRS
approved nonprofits throughout the United States. Based on our research,
this project could generate one billion dollars of annual savings for the
nonprofit sector. Even international organizations like Doctors Without
Borders could benefit from having access to government-vendor contracts
through CharityWorks. This project would help to establish pricing parity
with those limited number of nonprofits like American Red Cross that already
have legislative authority to use General Services Administration (GSA)
contracts.
Prudent
Accountability Standards
The
Common Ground project also will establish and promote the
first set of standards for prudent accountability for charitable spending.
By creating a base line price ceiling derived from all levels of
government-vendor contracts, nonprofits will be able to compare and gauge
the effectiveness of their actual spending. Nonprofit trustees and
directors in exercising their fiduciary duties could use these standards to
reasonably measure charitable spending. This project will help to increase
the trust factor for donors, thereby strengthening the financial viability
of the nonprofit sector due to the renewed confidence in charitable
spending.
Support
for Common Ground
Congressman C. W. Bill
Young, (R-FL) was essential to the formation of CharityWorks as a tax-exempt
organization. Today, he is helping position CharityWorks, on behalf of
nonprofits, to become an authorized user of GSA’s Multiple Awards Schedule
program. In Florida, the organization has gained the support of local and
state legislators, mayors, commissioners, and other government officials.
Both national and local vendors favor the idea of CharityWorks serving as
the facilitator versus others establishing duplicative programs nationwide
that would simply add cost and thus reduce the extra value and resources
that could be generated by having a single provider.
Common Ground Project objectives are to
-
Leverage the purchasing power of IRS approved nonprofits.
-
Reduce duplicate administrative functions for qualified charities.
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Create a unified cost-effective solution for participating agencies and
qualified vendors.
-
Establish and promote the first set of standards for prudent accountability for
charitable spending.
Proposed Legislation
CharityWorks favors the proposed legislation
currently moving forward in the House and Senate that would give the
Department of Management Services (DMS) the authority to expand its user
base to include Florida’s charities. Similar legislation was passed
years ago in Texas and New York. Two of the benefits from this type of
legislation for our State’s charities are:
-
the ability to more
prudently spend charitable funding; and,
-
the opportunity to
significantly reduce the administrative burden faced in researching and
determining which vendors are best qualified for trading purposes.
Providing charities with the ability to
access the State’s purchasing contracts on a non-mandatory basis creates
an effective way to gage success in and accountability for charitable
spending. We believe Florida’s charities should not have to pay
more than any government agency does for the same identical products and
services.
Common Ground Legislative Updates
5-24-02
This
week in Tallahassee is very important for our State's charities. Now is
the time to encourage everyone you know who supports charities to
communicate with the Senate and House on the need to allow Florida's
charities direct access to the State's purchasing contracts. The
contacts for these legislative bills are:
-
Rob
Wallace, Chairman, House Committee on Fiscal Policy & Resources
850-488-1601
-
Rudy
Garcia, Chairman, Senate Committee on Governmental Oversight and
Productivity 850-487-5177
The Web
site for these two Committees can be found at:
www.leg.state.fl.us
With
help from others, one day soon government agencies at all levels
will allow IRS approved charities to be "authorized" users
of their existing purchasing contracts. The State Term contracts are
available at:
www.myflorida.com/st_contracts/index.html
If you have any
questions about the Common Ground project or need more information about
Charity Works, Inc. and/or its programs, please contact us soon.
We urge you to contact your
Senators and
Representatives to
encourage legislation that authorizes charities to benefit from government
purchasing contracts.
Teach & Reach
Program
Teach and
Reach, a program located in Clearwater, Florida, is designed to provide job
skills training to people displaced from the workforce. It is a much-needed
program that could be duplicated throughout the country.
Chris
Renfrow founded CharityWorks in 1996 to serve as in intermediary between
donors, charities and businesses. It provides free purchasing advisory
services to benefit other qualified organizations. Charity Works has most
recently embarked upon an ambitious new venture striving to serve the
community by re-training displaced workers, especially those with physical
or emotional challenges as well as the areas senior citizens. The vocational
program also involves the active participation of local volunteers and
student interns.
The Teach
and Reach program established partnerships with organizations such as the
Florida Division of Blind Services, Florida Metropolitan University and the
Senior Community Service Employment Program of AARP Foundation. These
organizations provide CharityWorks with a diverse group of candidates whose
various backgrounds and talents enrich the unique learning environment. The
business cycle is the core focus of the experience. From buying products to
warehousing to selling and invoicing, it provides candidates with the
opportunity to learn new skills and apply individual abilities in a live
business setting. This program serves to fulfill CharityWorks mission of
Helping Those Who Help Others.
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