Commission to Examine Nonprofit Human Services Organization Closures

Press

• The unintended consequences of ethics reform

  08/30/2016

  Without question Albany needs to make ethics reform a priority, which is why the goals of the recent anti-corruption bill signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo should be supported. At the same time, it’s important that we…

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• Nonprofit heads say city failed to address cost 'crisis'

  06/20/2016

  De Blasio's $82.1 billion budget, adopted last week, did not provide the $25 million nonprofits had wanted to help pay for the increased cost of supplies and repairs, equipment, technology, food and rent. “The administration has…

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• Nonprofit Funding Boost, Pre-K Pay Parity Left Out of City Budget

  06/14/2016

  In the weeks leading up to Wednesday’s budget agreement between Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council, a number of Council members decried what they said was underfunding of top Council priorities including summer youth…

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• HSC Commission Report Panel at NYN Media's OpCon

  06/09/2016

  City Councilmember Helen Rosenthal, Allison Sesso, HSC's Executive Director, and Gordon Campbell, Chair of HSC's Commission to Examine Nonprofit Human Services Closures, spoke at NYN Media's OpCon on June 9. The panel discussed the recommendations from…

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• NYN Media Podcast: Surveying the Nonprofit Operating Landscape

  06/09/2016

  For NYN Media's inaugural podcast, Lilliam Barrios-Paoli, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s former Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services; Jeremy Kohomban, Executive Director of Children’s Village, which serves struggling families throughout Southern New York state; Susan…

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• Push Continues for Budget Boost to City Contracted Nonprofits

  05/27/2016

  On a hot and sunny day, dozens of nonprofit workers took to the steps of City Hall to call on Mayor Bill de Blasio to fund a 2.5 percent increase for the administrative costs of nonprofits…

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• On the Brink—Providers Under Pressure

  05/25/2016

  In January last year, on the back of a $19 million loss, New York’s largest nonprofit human services provider, Federation Employment and Guidance Services (FEGS), abruptly shut its doors. FEGS was a $250 million nonprofit organization…

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• PhilTV: Funder Advocacy Is Powerful in Conversation on NP Sector Sustainability

  05/24/2016

  With the high-profile collapse of FEGS last year, New York's nonprofit sector has been seriously investigating and documenting what went wrong, with an eye toward changing harmful funding practices that contributed to its, and others’ demise.…

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• Weighing the Risks…Before It’s Too Late

  05/11/2016

  Too many nonprofit institutions across the country are facing major financial hurdles that put their survival in jeopardy, but too few have systems in place to know just how close they are to the brink.The loss…

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• Nonprofits still facing challenges in city contracting process

  04/12/2016

  If we were looking up the phrase “procurement reform” in the dictionary, the definition would be the Human Services Council Report, “NY Nonprofits in the Aftermath of FEGS: A Call to Action.” New York City spends…

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• NYC Service Providers Getting Squeezed by Problematic Government Contracts

  04/11/2016

  Human services nonprofits in New York serve the city’s most vulnerable populations through critical programs like foster care, homelessness services, after-school programs, mental health care, childhood education, senior care, job training, and food pantries. But, reports…

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• City Approach to Nonprofit Contracting Questioned

  04/06/2016

  Human services nonprofits serve the city’s most vulnerable populations, providing a range of critical programs like foster care, homelessness services, after-school programs, mental health care, food pantries, and more. But, many of these organizations are faltering…

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• Council Hearing Examines Nonprofit Financing Concerns

  04/04/2016

  City Councilwoman Helen Rosenthal held a hearing on Monday to discuss the financial viability of the human services sector, admittedly “not a sexy topic,” she said, but one that needed to be addressed in light of…

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• NY City Council Reexamines Nonprofit Contract Policies

  04/04/2016

  In response to calls from New York City nonprofits to revisit procurement policies that they say have contributed to a “harsh and threatening” operating environment, the City Council’s Committee on Contracts held an oversight hearing on…

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• The Financial Health and Viability of Human Services Nonprofits

  04/02/2016

  Two recent reports have given us an important perspective on this critical situation in a timely, comprehensive and professional fashion. It would serve nonprofits well to reflect on and understand the implications of these reports and…

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• How to Keep Troubled Charities From Failing

  03/31/2016

  The bankruptcy last year of New York’s largest social-service charity, FEGS, sent shock waves through the nonprofit world. Nobody expected that a venerable, $250 million organization could go down so fast...

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• What we learn when a nonprofit closes its doors…

  03/16/2016

  A year after the largest human services provider in New York City suddenly collapsed and closed its doors after 80 years, we can learn valuable lessons through two “post-mortem” reports...

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• Second report in wake of FEGS collapse urges nonprofit boards to ‘do better’

  03/15/2016

  Board members of the city’s nonprofits must take more responsibility and become better stewards of their organizations, says a new report released Tuesday, the second self-examination of the sector to come out in the past month...

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• New report highlights nonprofit risk management in post-FEGS climate

  03/15/2016

  Late last month, New York’s nonprofit community turned its attention to the Human Services Council’s examination of the pressing challenges facing nonprofits in the state...After just a few weeks, another report has come along to pick…

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• Another Voice: Reform is needed now for state's nonprofit sector

  03/15/2016

  In late 2014, the New York City social services mega-agency FEGS (Federation Employment and Guidance Service) suddenly closed, to the dismay of funders, service recipients, staff and investors. How could the failure of a $250-million social…

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• Helping New York Nonprofits in a Time of Crisis

  03/14/2016

  It has been nearly a year since Federation Employment and Guidance Services (FEGS) filed for bankruptcy, leaving 120,000 New York households without essential services, 1,900 employees without jobs, and unpaid creditors holding more than $47 million…

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• NY1 Online: Panel Talks Lessons for Nonprofits After Collapse of Social Services Agency FEGS

  03/04/2016

  Errol Louis discussed the collapse of the social services agency FEGS, and the lessons for nonprofit organizations, with Allison Sesso of the Human Services Council; Gordon Campbell from New York University's Wagner Graduate School of Public…

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• Social Bankruptcy in the Era of 'Too Big to Fail'

  03/03/2016

  Most New Yorkers are aware of the homelessness crisis because they see people sleeping on the sidewalks and read tragic stories of families in terrible shelter conditions. Largely unnoticed, however, is another crisis: the impending insolvency…

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• Rush to the rescue of NYC’s nonprofits: It's a crisis moment

  03/02/2016

  Most New Yorkers are aware of the homelessness crisis because they see people sleeping on the sidewalks and read tragic stories of families in terrible shelter conditions. Largely unnoticed, however, is another crisis: the impending insolvency…

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• The FEGS Autopsy: Bad Nonprofit Business in a Tough Operating Environment

  02/26/2016

  When the New York social services mega-agency FEGS (Federation Employment & Guidance Service) suddenly declared its closure at the end of 2014, onlookers were shocked and more than a little confused. How could the failure of…

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• Nonprofit and government leaders grapple with post-FEGS realities

  02/25/2016

  One year after the shocking failure of FEGS, at a time when the human services sector is facing increasing uncertainty, leaders from nonprofits and government convened in lower Manhattan on Wednesday to assess the systemic threats…

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• Nonprofits Grow Wary of Financial Squeeze

  02/23/2016

  On Wednesday, the Human Services Council, a New York-based nonprofit trade group, is expected to release its recommendations for the organizations and agencies that have some part of the $5.8 billion in government-funded human-services contracts in…

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• In the aftermath of FEGS, human service providers warn of crisis

  02/23/2016

  The collapse of the Federation Employment & Guidance Service a year ago sent shock waves through the New York nonprofit world, with executives wondering who might be next. FEGS, the largest human services provider in New…

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• N.Y. Charities Find Government Contracts Don't Cover Costs

  02/24/2016

  With the collapse last year of the large and mostly taxpayer-funded New York City charity FEGS, other area nonprofits are growing wary of the financial squeeze that can come with relying primarily on government human-services contracts,…

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• In FEGS’ Wake, Jewish Board Set For New Scrutiny

  09/22/2015

  Overnight, The Jewish Board — with a history going back to 1874 — mushroomed in size from a $175 million agency with 34,000 clients (12,000 of whom were children) to a $250 million agency with 43,000…

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• Antiquated View of a Modernized Sector

  08/14/2015

  The conclusions Steven Malanga reaches in his piece “Charities on the Dole,” demonstrate a real lack of appreciation for the history and complex relationship between government and mission-driven social service organizations. The mere fact that he…

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• FEGS: Canary in the Coal Mine?

  04/07/2015

  Some people see FEGS as a poster child for the phenomenon resulting from government contracts that don’t cover the full cost of services, especially administrative costs. But was that really what led to FEGS’ downfall?

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• Blue-Ribbon Panel Chaired by NYU Wagner Prof. Gordon Campbell to Look into Closures of Several Nonprofit Organizations

  03/31/2015

  Gordon J. Campbell, Professor of Practice at NYU Wagner and Director of the school’s Executive MPA Program, is among two dozen seasoned nonprofit human services executives who have been named to a blue-ribbon Commission of the…

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• Special HSC Commission Will Autopsy Failures in NYC Human Service Groups

  03/13/2015

  To examine the reasons for the rash of high-profile closures among large social service nonprofits in New York, two dozen executives of human services nonprofits and other experts have been named to a blue-ribbon commission of…

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• The Wrecking of a Blue-chip New York Nonprofit

  03/13/2015

  When Federation and Employment Guidance Services announced a month ago that it planned to close amid a $20 million revenue shortfall, the nonprofit world was shocked...

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• PNY Members Named to Commission Examining Closures of Nonprofits

  03/10/2015

  Chaired by Gordon Campbell of NYU's Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, former government official and nonprofit executive, the Commission is made up of seasoned nonprofit human services executives, members of the HSC's Chair's…

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• UJA Exec Named To FEGS Probe Group

  03/11/2015

  UJA-Federation of New York CEO Eric Goldstein is among the two dozen nonprofit human services executives and other experts in the field named to a blue-ribbon commission to examine the sudden shuttering of FEGS and other…

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