Nonprofit Center at Philadelphia's La Salle University School of Business Plans Conference to Help Struggling Nonprofit Organizations Find New Income

PHILADELPHIA, PA, March 6, 2009 — Greater Philadelphia area nonprofit organizations, struggling with declining donations, grants, and government support, can learn new ways to raise revenue through business ventures that support their missions at the Nonprofit Strategies Forum, sponsored by The Nonprofit Center at La Salle University's School of Business, on April 24. This concept of revenue generation, known as "social enterprise," includes partnerships between businesses and nonprofit organizations to expand the resources available to meet society's growing needs.

The forum, to be held at The Hub Cira Centre, 2929 Arch St., Phila., 8 am to noon, will feature Bill Shore, founder and executive director of Share our Strength (SOS), the nation's leading organization working to end childhood hunger in America. He also chairs Community Wealth Ventures, a for-profit subsidiary of SOS, both of which are located in Washington, D.C., that provides strategic counsel to foundations and nonprofit organizations who want to create resources for social causes through profitable enterprises.

Shore refers to this concept as "community wealth" because, in his words, "It is reinvested into the communities that nonprofits serve." He is anxious to help nonprofits find ways to engage in business ventures to support their missions and to encourage businesses to partner with nonprofits to help their bottom lines at the same time.

"As government and foundation funding diminishes," Shore advises, "nonprofits are increasingly looking for ways to generate revenue. Whether through businesses, marketing partnerships, or other innovative practices, nonprofit organizations can learn from pioneers in the field who choose to shape their own destiny rather than accept the priorities of outside funders," he adds.

Shore, who founded SOS in 1984 in response to the Ethiopian famine and renewed concern about hunger in the U.S., also spent several years working in politics on the senatorial and presidential campaigns of former U.S. Senator Gary Hart and as chief of staff to former U.S. Senator Robert Kerrey.