NYer Of The Week: Local Consulting Firm Guides Hundreds Of Nonprofits
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
The latest New Yorker of the Week had an idea 30 years ago that now helps hundreds of non-profit organizations in the city today. NY1's Rebecca Spitz filed the following report.A company that offers professional advice for free might sound strange, but to Fran Barrett it was the idea behind Community Resource Exchange.
"I had decided to form a consulting firm where by design the clients had no money to pay," says Barrett.
Founded in 1979, CRE now consults for more than 300 not-for-profit organizations organizations, and 83 receive advice free of charge.
"I didn't know any other place to turn to. Basically CRE was it," says Darnell Benoit, the director of the Haitian Literacy Project, a CRE client.
"If we can help them with the business side, all the better, because they will be that much stronger and they will be able to offer that much more service," says Barrett.
CRE's 32 staffers help community-based organizations gain the knowhow to be successful and effective.
"The one-on-one consulting work was extremely important for us, because it got us to analyze the different facets of the organization, planning for the organization, budgeting, fundraising, proposal writing and sustainability," says Benoit.
CRE also holds free workshops for their paying and non-paying clients.
"There's a lot of leadership workshops going on right now, and I don't see that happening anywhere else," says CRE board member Anne Hess. "I think that kind of work makes us unique."
In March, the mayor's office connected CRE to the 311 system.
"If they called 311, and they should call 311, they will eventually get patched through to us and then we have any one of our five top people standing by to take their call and give them expert advice on the spot," says Barrett.
Last month, CRE held their annual fundraiser for their free services.
"They are the ones who get up every day and try to run a daycare center or try to run an after-school program or a shelter, so the least we can do is if they come to us is to try to help them," says Barrett.
So, for helping those who are trying to help their own communities, Fran Barrett is the latest New Yorker of the Week.
•If you'd like to nominate someone to be NY1's New Yorker of the Week, send an email describing their qualifications to: nyer@ny1.com or mail a letter to:NY1 News
New Yorker of the Week
75 Ninth Avenue, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10011