Delaware Valley Nonprofit Partnership is Surveying Nonprofit Leaders Throughout the City

A group of nonprofit leaders have come together to consider creating the Delaware Valley Nonprofit Partnership, a new organization to advance and advocate the interests of the nonprofit sector in the city. (Read our initial article about the organization here.)

The concept of forming a regional nonprofit advocacy group was developed by professionals in the nonprofit and business community about a year ago and is modeled after a similar group in Pittsburgh, the Greater Pittsburgh Nonprofit Partnership, which has over 400 members.

DVNP would be an advocate for the common causes of nonprofits in the Delaware Valley.

“There is currently no single, unifying organization in Phila. area that speaks for the nonprofit sector. There are many common issues that this sector has and although the nonprofits in the region do speak out, they do so in many voices. DVNP wants to be an advocate for common causes that nonprofit organizations have,” said Alan Kober, one of the organizers, in an email.

“DVNP could speak out on shared issues and values to the public sector concerning funding and policy making. DVNP might also serve as a sort of purchasing co-op that would allow members to buy some equipment and services at reduced costs,” he added.

The group of nonprofit professionals who created DVNP is currently circulating a survey that asks leaders of nonprofits (executive directors, other nonprofit officers and board officers of local nonprofits) in the region which types of services they would want from DVNP. The survey is a follow-up to one conducted earlier in 2014 that investigated whether a nonprofit public advocacy group would be of interest to Philadelphia nonprofits.

Examples of questions in the survey:

• what type of advocacy services should DVNP provide (process for awarding and funding government contracts, monitoring and influencing of legislative efforts that affect the nonprofit sector, etc.)
• the types of professional services that members want (capacity building training, project evaluation, etc.)
• the types of collaboration that would be of interest to members
• what types of good and services purchasing are of interest to the members

The survey will be open until January 15, 2015 and is available here. Only one should be filled out per organization.

Photo via Flickr user Kevin Burkett