Cincinnati Cares
1776 Mentor Avenue, Suite 200
Cincinnati, OH 45212
Cincinnati Cares Service Enterprise Program
Cincinnati Cares is certified by the Points of Light Foundation and ALIVE (Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement) to lead an evidence-based change management training and certification program, called Service Enterprise, aimed at improving volunteer-engagement at nonprofit organizations. If every volunteer-engaging nonprofit would better engage their volunteers, the nonprofits' results would dramatically improve and the return on volunteer investment would soar. See https://www.pointsoflight.org/resources/reimagining-service-nonprofit-service-enterprise-overview/ for more information. Cincinnati Cares will lead a cohort of children-focused nonprofits (6-10) through this year-long training and certification program. At the end, each of the nonprofits participating will have identified better ways to engage their volunteers, thereby producing significantly greater results. Cincinnati Cares created the first cohort for Service Enterprise in late 2019. The pandemic disrupted the process, and as part of this grant, Cincinnati Cares will work with the first cohort of organizations to complete their certifications.
Program Goals:
The goal was to lead a cohort of 6-10 child-focused nonprofits through the year-long Service Enterprise program to improve volunteer engagement for these organizations.
Program Results:
Due to a variety of obstacles, the program was delayed. We anticipate results will be as originally anticipated once we complete the program and we remain optimistic about its success.
Due to a variety of obstacles, the program was delayed. First, as we began identifying appropriate nonprofits to participate, the Service Enterprise program transitioned operations to the Association of Leaders in Volunteer Engagement (AL!VE). Then, our CEO, Doug Bolton, transitioned to a new leadership role at The Metropolitan Club. Both of these transitions provided considerable setbacks.
While Doug remains actively involved as a Senior Strategic Advisor and Board Chair to Cincinnati Cares, the transition has taken time and left some initiatives in flux.
Fortunately, we have engaged the team of Lauren Merten and Kelly Brogan Enwright to take over the day-to-day operations and leadership of Cincinnati Cares. As you may know, Lauren is the part-time Executive Director of Social Venture Partners Cincinnati. She has been in the role for eight years and has prior experience in Marketing, Business Development and Strategic Management at large professional services firms like EY, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Thompson Hine. During her tenure. the number of Social Venture Partners in Cincinnati has increased 67%. Among other initiatives, Lauren was instrumental in developing Project XLR8, our region’s only business accelerator program focused solely on the unique needs of nonprofit organizations.
Additionally, Lauren has served on several local nonprofit boards and was appointed by Mayor John Cranley to serve on the City of Cincinnati Human Services Advisory Committee. She has received a certification on Becoming an Inclusive Leader from the Harry L. Davis Center for Leadership at University of Chicago Booth School of Business and another on Dimensions of Diversity from University of Chicago’s Graham School.
Kelly is the part-time Assistant Director of Social Venture Partners Cincinnati. She has been in the role for nearly five years and supports all aspects of their programming. Prior to joining Social Venture Partners, Kelly served as the executive assistant to the president of The Art Academy of Cincinnati. In this role, Kelly managed all aspects pertaining to the Board of Directors and daily supported the president so he could successfully lead the college. Before this, Kelly worked as a community relations specialist in the environmental consulting field and effectively managed several projects, including multiple international and regional conferences.
After this period of transition, we now have the team in place to ensure future success of this Service Enterprise program. We continue to expand our capabilities to best support volunteerism in the Greater Cincinnati nonprofit community through the combined offerings of Cincinnati Cares, Social Venture Partners Cincinnati and Movers & Makers.
Website:
http://www.cincinnaticares.org Amount: $35,000
Date: April 2023
