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May 06, 2009

Council on Foundations
Mayor Bloomberg Outlines Steps New York City Is Taking to Ease Strain on Nonprofit Groups

Michael R. Bloomberg, New York City’s mayor, told a session at the Council on Foundations meeting today that New York City has made a concerted effort to help nonprofit groups struggling because of the poor economy by employing a “three-pronged strategy.”

First, the city is testing a “group purchasing” program for organizations that get city contracts.

If successful, Mayor Bloomberg said, he hopes to expand the program to all of the city’s 30,000 nonprofit groups as a way to help them reduce their overhead costs by offering discounts on supplies, insurance, and other purchases.

City agencies are also making it a priority to pay nonprofit groups quickly for services provided. “Too often, too many nonprofits in New York have suffered because New York City hasn’t paid them as promptly as we should — but not anymore,” he said, to applause.

Thirdly, Mr. Bloomberg said the city is helping charities share “best practices” and get access to advice from business leaders. As part of this effort, the city has created a project called NYC Service to encourage volunteerism.

Mr. Bloomberg said he recognizes and values philanthropy’s role in paying for experimental solutions to social problems.

“The public demands in advance answers to questions that do not exist when you innovate,” he said. “That’s why governments don’t innovate very well.”

Once a nonprofit project becomes successful, however, it “becomes something the public can understand and is willing to pay for,” he said.

Mr. Bloomberg said New York City has striven to “set a new standard for how cities can use philanthropy to advance innovative public policies” through efforts like the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York.

Since 2002, he said, the fund has raised more than $167-million and paid for projects such as giving eyeglasses to schoolchildren, planting new trees, financing domestic-violence centers, and paying for public art projects, including the creation of several waterfalls within the city.

Philanthropy at its best, he said, is “inspirational, entrepreneurial, needs-driven, and, whenever possible, data-driven.”

— Jennifer Moore

Wednesday May 6, 2009 | Permalink

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