Nonprofits face many of the same operational challenges as their for-profit business counterparts. NorthBay biz profiles Becoming Independent’s successful strategies.
The Friday weigh-in is part of BI’s “Half a Ton of Fun” employee weight-loss challenge. Launched last January, the goal was to lose 1,000 pounds before champagne corks popped on New Years Eve 2010. Before the holiday season was even underway, the group had lost 905.4 pounds and was racing to the finish.
Individually, the stakes are all about weight loss for health and happiness. Champion weight loser Anna Rea, 51, an instructor in BI’s day activities program, lost 69 pounds by Halloween—10 dress sizes—and was hoping to drop nine more pounds before 2011. “I feel great, and it’s been a life changer,” says Rea, who also won a few dollars in prize money for shedding the most weight.
Collectively, the Half a Ton of Fun program is paying off big-time for BI, especially in the wake of state budget cuts that reduced “fee for service” revenues to BI by $525,000 this fiscal year.
Because of the weight-loss challenge and other staff wellness programs, the organization was able to shave as much as $50,000 off this year’s projected increase in employee Kaiser health insurance costs.
“We’re a no-fail business: Failure is not an option,” says Weaver. “We aren’t going to walk away from all the human beings who depend on us.”
Starting out strong
Men, women and a growing population of young children diagnosed with conditions associated with autism have been depending on Becoming Independent for more than 40 years. The organization was founded when programs for people with disabilities were moving away from big institutions, like the Sonoma Developmental Center, and into the community.
The nonprofit’s origins go back to 1967, when a group of Sonoma County parents organized the first community-based adult services program, the Manual Skills Training Center. Two years later, the state legislature passed the Lanterman Act, the equivalent of an emancipation proclamation for Californians with disabilities, entitling them access to government support, individualized care and personal choice.
Lanterman and comparable legislative initiatives in other states opened the doors to a new era of community-based support and services around the country. Here in the North Bay, a group of programs incorporated in 1980 to become Becoming Independent, which now provides services for 1,300 people in Sonoma, Napa and Solano counties.
With facilities in Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Sonoma and Napa, BI has evolved into a diversified nonprofit business with a staff of 335 people and a monthly payroll of $1 million, serving people facing special challenges because of disabilities they were born with including cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, learning and physical disabilities, mental health challenges and others. It’s a democratic mix of people, BI says in its annual report, and includes all ages, genders, religions, sexual orientations, ethnicities and socioeconomic levels.
BI’s mission is to promote community inclusion and participation for people with developmental disabilities. To do that, BI operates a host of programs and services that include gassing up and running a fleet of 60 vans five days a week, placing workers with disabilities with more than 200 private employers and operating a gallery in the heart of Santa Rosa’s arts district.
“The people who come to us for assistance have many challenges and needs, and we try to be prepared to deliver for them,” says Weaver.
Range of services
BI programs include:
Adult education. Community outings, computer and video labs, gardening, physical fitness programs, music and art training are included. BI collaborates with Santa Rosa Junior College for adult educational opportunities. The ArtWorks Program lets men and women explore their creativity, some of whom have, as a result, received wide recognition in the art world here and elsewhere. The program expanded in 2008 when BI took over management of The Gallery of Sea and Heaven in downtown Santa Rosa, which it operates year-round for both BI and community artists.
Employment. About 450 men and women assisted by BI earn about $1 million in income annually working at jobs both at BI facilities and in the community. Some 145 employers, including Agilent, Benziger Winery, Mary’s Pizza Shack and others, provide steady jobs for BI participants in landscaping, maintenance, office support, assembly line manufacturing, restaurants and others. Employers also contract with BI to have work performed at BI facilities.
Community living. BI helps people with disabilities live independently in their own apartments or homes, providing them with essential life skills to manage their affairs, live safely and happily, and be their own self-advocates.
Resource and advocacy. To respond to the needs of parents with young children facing lifelong disability challenges, BI operates a Family Resource and Advocacy Center, a clearing house for information and training and a free lending library. The center distributes a weekly email newsletter to more than 400 people.
Transportation. BI’s 60 vans and mini-buses travel thousands of miles every month to get participants to and from jobs, programs, school, the doctor, home and BI facilities.
“We’re very diversified,” says Ken Maiolini, president of the BI board of directors. “Running BI is really no different than what you’d do if you were running a for-profit business.”
As president of Risk Management Services, a claims administration and risk management consulting firm that focuses on public agency clients, Maiolini’s experience touches all fields of business.
“BI isn’t your typical nonprofit,” he says. “We have that fleet of 60 vehicles we have to manage and maintain. We own two large, major buildings in Santa Rosa that we have to operate and maintain, plus our satellite offices. And we have a full human resources department with all the concerns and issues of having more than 300 employees.
“It might not be for-profit, but BI has to be managed the same way to keep our employees working and our 1,300 participants served,” he says.
Those numbers reflect people directly involved with BI. To that, Maiolini and Weaver add several thousand relatives and friends of participants, hundreds of affiliated organizations, employers, group home operators and others, plus taxpayers.
Money matters
BI, like other nonprofits that provide services for people with developmental disabilities, receives most of its operating income from the state budget. For BI, that amounts to $12,350,000 for the current 2010-11 fiscal year. Without organizations like BI, Weaver says, the state would pay almost 20 times more for the same population to live at places like the Sonoma Developmental Center (SDC).
Weaver says the average cost to the state to support participants at community-based programs like BI is $13,240 per year. At SDC in Sonoma Valley, she says, the average annual cost per resident is about $257,000.
“Through BI and other programs like ours, taxpayers are getting a very good deal,” says Weaver. Nonetheless, she says, the recession and budget crunch over the past several years has whittled away resources for community-based programs like BI’s.
In the public sector, she says, the State Legislature and governor last year cut fees to BI and other agencies by 3 percent, a cut that carried over to the current fiscal year. Then the budget approved in Sacramento in October cut another 1.25 percent. “So now our budget is down 4.25 percent,” she says. “In the three years I’ve been CEO here, there’s been no good news from Sacramento on the budget.”
State budget cutbacks suffered by other public agencies affect BI, too, she adds. Legislative cuts in adult education forced Sonoma Valley School District and Cotati-Rohnert Park Unified School District to withdraw their financial support for adult education programs that BI provides under contract with the districts.
“We understand the schools are under the gun, too,” says Weaver, “but we wanted the programs to continue, so we’ve absorbed the costs ourselves.”
Staying strong
The realities of belt-tightening in Sacramento have forced Weaver and Carin Lawrence, BI’s chief of services, to focus much of their attention on negotiations in the State Capitol while maintaining operations. “It’s a challenge. Beginning in the spring, we have to predict what’s going to happen with the state legislature, which creates months of tension with our annual budget process,” she says. “We’ve had to become closely engaged in the politics in Sacramento as members of the California Disability Services Association.”
At the same time, the private sector economy slammed employers that hire BI workers—some more than others. “Over the years, contracts have been pretty steady. But with the recession, everyone was looking very close to costs, and some small businesses have had to pull their contracts,” she says.
Luckily, Weaver continues, most contractors continued with BI, and the $645,000 in work contracts BI has budgeted for the current fiscal year seem secure. “Very few businesses have gone under, and most have worked with us to find a way to make business work,” she says.
Board President Maiolini says a “whole new business attitude” has been put in place. With eyes on the bottom line, a full-time development department has been established and a long-term program launched to generate community and philanthropic support. BI also is aggressively reaching out to the private sector, recently joining the Sonoma County Alliance.
“We’re letting the business community know that we exist and that we’re a business just like they are,” says Maiolini. “We have our income needs, too, and we have products and services we can share with the community.”
Bottom line improvements
The organization looked inward as well. In the face of revenue shortfalls, all administrators took a 3 percent salary cut. Working with staff, BI was able to meet the challenges of state-mandated furlough days to minimize the impact on BI participants, staff and payroll.
BI also cut costs by “greening” its operation. Lois Shelton, director of administration, says BI replaced lawn with bark to cut water use, reduced garbage pickups and increased recycling. It cut its power bill by installing reflective roofs, changing metering systems, adding new power management software and thermostats, reducing neon lighting and upgrading air conditioning. The estimated savings: $34,000 per year, plus a $5,100 bonus from a city of Santa Rosa water conservation project.
Weaver says staff also participated. She and other administrators held “town hall” meetings throughout the organization to discuss budget challenges and gather ideas. “They knew things were looking wonky,” says Weaver, “so we began telling the troops about the budget—what costs we could control—and that we needed to know how else we could improve the bottom line.
“They were surprised we opened the books to them, and a lot of people said they’d never been asked how to help the business through hardships,” she recalls. “They had fantastic ideas.”
Print on both sides of paper when appropriate. Establish a “use it or lose it” vacation policy. Provide a voluntary work day reduction. Many ideas were implemented. The belt-tightening went personal, too, and this is where the weight loss program came in.
Staying healthy
Calorie-rich soft drinks were removed from vending machines. Exercise and stretching programs became a regular part of the work day. The staff now rises in unison at 10 a.m. when the company intercom announces stretch time.
BI became one of the first businesses or nonprofits to incorporate iWALK, the walking program launched two years ago by Sonoma County Health Action. BI also offers staff yoga classes and is launching a weekly Zumba dance class this month. Add to that the “Half a Ton of Fun” challenge, an organization-wide program involving entry-level employees, administrators and even the CEO herself.
Human Resources Manager Luana Vaetoe credits all of these with reducing between $40,000 and $50,000—depending on the number of employees on the payroll—from the annual increase in the cost of Kaiser health insurance that BI offers staff.
BI pays Kaiser $1.27 million annually for health care. Employees contribute $20 or $40 to the cost of their monthly health care premium, depending on the Kaiser option they select, or $179 per month if family members are included.
“We’ve seen annual rate increases as high as 18 to 19 percent,” says Vaetoe, who asked BI’s broker, Jani De La Rosa of Heffernan Insurance, to see if BI’s wellness programs carried any weight.
“In our pre-renewal estimate with BI, we had projected a 12.5 percent increase,” says De La Rosa. After she factored in BI’s wellness program, the Kaiser increase ended up being only 3 percent.
De La Rosa says BI’s experience is unique. “I can tell you right now that none of our other Kaiser clients got only a 3 percent rate hike,” she says. “I hope we can take this BI experience, bottle it and give it to other clients.”
“This is a big deal,” says Alena Wall, executive director of the Northern California Center for Well-Being in Santa Rosa, who points out that, in addition to cutting costs, a company wellness program increases staff morale, loyalty and performance.
“BI has a very good program,” Wall says, praising BI’s efforts alongside other leaders in employee wellness such as Kaiser, St. Joseph and Sutter health systems, Medtronic and Agilent. “They do a great job.”
Soul food
BI is getting some high marks these days. The Center for Well-Being named BI a leader among other businesses honored in September for their health and wellness programs. In October, the Sonoma County Mayor’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities presented BI with its Service Provider Award. Efforts by BI and other similar agencies were cited in a resolution by the city of Santa Rosa recognizing October as National Disability Awareness Month and marking the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
BI staff was reminded of that during the recent talent show, an annual event held each fall at BI’s Santa Rosa facility. One young woman, an artist whose work appears on the label of an Imagery Winery bottle, sang “When You Wish Upon a Star.” Another sang “Over the Rainbow.”
In the audience were Ted and Liz Theiss of West Sonoma County, who watched their 46-year-old daughter, Liza, perform a modern dance routine with other participants. “I’ve never seen Liza so excited about anything before,” said the proud father. “This was real soul food. I was really moved.”
With systems in place to provide jobs, education, creative outlets, friendship and independence, next up is what Weaver and her staff see as one of the country’s last great civil rights movements: to give people with disabilities equal and full billing in the community.
BI is embracing People First, a national movement that helps and encourages people to take the next step and take charge of their lives. It requires people like Weaver and her colleagues to learn to step aside and let people with disabilities make their own decisions.
Ultimately, Weaver says, “we all want the same primary things—love, acceptance and respect.
“It’s that simple. They aren’t developmentally disabled people or especially challenged people. They’re just people,” she says. “As for their disabilities and all the rest, we urge people to just get over it.”
