As the state’s largest soup kitchen, mass food preparation is one thing the
Amos House in South Providence knows how to do.
With federal and state funding eroding in recent years, and tragedies like the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks or The Station nightclub fire pulling from private donations, Executive Director Eileen Hayes said the soup kitchen and homeless shelter was looking for a way to find new revenue by capitalizing on its natural strength.
This fall, Amos House started serving the International Charter School and the Blackstone Valley Academy, two side-by-side schools in Pawtucket. In three years, the plan is to hire 34 of the graduates of the Amos House’s culinary program and be producing about 2,500 meals a day for 12 to 15 schools. First-year profits should be about $5,000. By the third year, Hayes said those profits should be about $50,000 and adds that she is already mulling over a construction/landscaping endeavor.
Hayes is the first to point out that her expertise lies in social work and not getting a business off the ground. Speaking as part of a series of workshops organized by Social Venture Partners Rhode Island and hosted by the Rhode Island Foundation during the week of Sept. 20, Hayes told other nonprofit groups the key to new revenues could lie in developing something they already have an expertise in.
Targeting the lunch business of charter schools was a way of expanding the shelter’s culinary training program, which makes meals for after-school programs at sites in Pawtucket, Providence and Woonsocket. Hayes said the only problem had been that there wasn’t enough room in the kitchen for eager participants. Revenues from the meal services will likely be funneled back into the culinary classes.
Hayes said the local Social Venture Partners helped provide encouragement, as well as a startup loan. “They have business sense,” she said. “I’m a social worker. They helped me think about a way to build on Amos House’s success and find a way to get this program going and make this program successful.”
Talking about private donations, she continued: “You can’t keep going to the same till again and again. You want people to see that your organization is worth putting their money into. Talk to people about this program and how we’re a social service agency offering a complete set of services – it’s a very different sell than just asking for donations.”
Lorne Adrain, one of the partners of Social Venture Partners Rhode Island, said the collaborative group brings together local professionals who donate money to one fund. The locals are part of a larger network of venture partners throughout the United States. The venture partners organized the workshop series, bringing in a number of experts from around the country to help local nonprofits think about ways to form profitable ventures on their inherent expertise, as well as subsidizing the cost for people to attend the program.
“Money continues to be tough to come by,” Adrain said. “These are all excellent groups who all want to accomplish a number of great missions. Getting them together in one place, hopefully they can discover what combination of their talents might translate into a new revenue stream.”
More than two dozen groups were represented at the workshops, including a trio of people from North Providence’s Turning Point Ministries. The group has been around for a little over a year and Charlotte Thatch, who started the organization with her husband Tim, said they’ve been relying on donations from individuals to fund their programs, which have included a backpack giveaway to the community, tutoring services and a retreat for women looking to re-enter the work force.
They want to provide a variety of after-school programs that are more than just “baby-sitting,” teaching computer skills and offering music and dance classes.
“It’s been great having a chance to network with people in the small group sessions,” said Thatch, whose goal is to have a facility a year from now. “We don’t want to have to rely on grants for this. We’ve been talking about getting the word out and getting a strategic plan together for the future.”
Nearby, two participants from Saunderstown’s Fantasy Works Youth Theater discussed some of the ideas that had come out of the first day. Executive Director Ann O’Grady and Business Manager Elisa Cardone said their organization became a nonprofit just two years ago and has shifted its focus from putting together general fine arts performances to keying in on offering projects targeted at meeting the standards of the National Education Association in terms of curriculum development and literacy programs.
O’Grady, who writes grant proposals, said only about 10 percent of their budget comes from grants, but they are now looking to pursue larger awards and want to show they are self-reliant. They are already considering expanding their costume and equipment collaborative, and are in talks with paperless publishing companies about marketing the songs and plays they develop to other groups for a small royalty fee.
“For a long time, we’ve only been thinking about the concrete things we can
offer,” O’Grady said. “This has made us start thinking about the knowledge and
expertise we have and how we might be able to market that.”
