Chamber looks to help corporations, non-profits

With the economy on the decline, the Queens Chamber of Commerce is spearheading an effort to remind corporations about the important work non-profit organizations do and integrate partnerships that can be beneficial to both groups.
“Sometimes doing the right thing is also the smart thing and giving back to the non-profits in the community can be both,” said Chamber Executive Vice President Jack Friedman, during an event the Chamber hosted in September with St. Mary’s Hospital for Children in Bayside.
The event, which was entitled “Integrating Community Partnerships
Into Your Business,” focused on the important role that corporations play in helping fund and promote non-profits.
St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children is one of the nation’s premier providers of intensive rehabilitation and specialized care for children with special needs and life-threatening conditions. St. Mary’s is the largest post acute provider in the state and is committed to improving the health and quality of life for the more than 4,000 children and their families that they serve.
“As an organization we are very much dependent on the public sector for support,” said Dr. Burton Grebin, President and CEO of St. Mary’s Healthcare System for Children. “Non-profits can help non-profits, but for-profits and individuals can really be extremely helpful,” Grebin said.
However, St. Mary’s is only one of many non-profit organizations throughout the borough that depend on help from corporations.
Yvette Dilworth, Director of Development for Queens Community House - a non-profit human services organization that runs 37 programs in 19 sites throughout the borough attended the Chamber’s breakfast at St. Mary’s and came away with hearing a common theme from the panelists - personal connection and involvement between the corporations and the non-profits.
“If you listened to what everyone said, it was all about their personal involvement or their initial engagement with the organization,” Dilworth said. “It was about them feeling like they could help an organization do that.”
The personal connection between the corporations and non-profits was something that a number of leaders spoke about - especially during these difficult and uncertain economic times.
“In a time like this when we are going through economic strife as a country, having the corporations as partners is very important for us,” said Stacy Rodriguez, who is the Chairperson of the Board of Directors at the Ronald McDonald House of Long Island. Rodriguez said that it’s a misconception that McDonald’s completely funds the organization so it’s important that the organization maintains partnerships with other organizations throughout the area.
For Maris H. Blechner, who is the Executive Director of Family Focus Adoption Services in Little Neck, her organization is considered a small to moderate sized non-profit and those types of organizations have their own set of challenges. However, Blechner said becoming involved in the Queens Chamber and attending many of their functions, helps grow the number of potential corporations that her organization can collaborate with.
“We are part of the life of the borough,” Blechner said. “At the Chamber, you get to know what’s going on and meet people that might share similar needs.”
During the breakfast at St. Mary’s John Lee, Director of Communications and Media Relations for the New York Racing Authority (NYRA), delivered the keynote address speaking about the benefits corporations can garner from working with non-profits.
Lee described the recent fundraiser that Belmont Park hosted for St. Mary’s and the synergy and cross-promotion that existed between the NYRA, St. Mary’s the corporate sponsors of the event - something that increased the visibility of the event as well as created additional exposure for all of the organizations taking part in it.
“We couldn’t be happier to be a part of this and learn from St. Mary’s and how they think outside of the box,” Lee said.
Friedman also said that in addition to corporations donating to non-profits, they could get creative and employ different marketing strategies to gain maximum exposure for their company.
“You can incorporate within your advertising and marketing budgets non-profits,” Friedman said. “These are the people that need your help.”