Subscribe Subscribe
That has led at least one prominent Boston charity, the Lynch Family Foundation, to decline to fund OneGoal even though it has the backing of several other prominent, wealthy Bostonians because “we found the market to be pretty saturated,” said its executive director, Katie Everett.
“I’m just not sure it’s what we need for our Boston kids at the time,” Everett said, adding that “there’s frustration” among some local nonprofits that OneGoal is being added to the mix.
The situation reflects a broader question often asked usuallyin hushed tones in the nonprofit sector: Are too many nonprofits doing essentially the same thing while competing for donors and struggling to survive? The percentage of active nonprofits in Massachusetts is higher than in many other states with comparable populations, MNN says.
In the case of Chicago-based OneGoal, numerous nonprofit executives said their concern is it may clone the work of similar Boston nonprofits while siphoning away precious philanthropic dollars. She added that “we really do strongly value candid conversations and feedback.”
As for whether, as some critics contend, it would be better to expand or combine existing nonprofits than import new ones, Jacobson said, “I think it is poor judgment for philanthropy to tell nonprofits the work they should engage in.”
Beginning this fall, OneGoal will be based in four high schools in Boston and two in Lawrence, working with between 25 and 30 students per school.
Several dozen nonprofits aimed at increasing college graduation rates partner with the Boston Public Schools, including Bottom Line, College Advising Corps, Steppingstone Foundation, and uAspire. All four Boston schools partnering with OneGoal Community Academy of Science and Health, Excel High School, Snowden International School, and Urban Science Academy have existing college readiness partners.
Citing state data showing that only 15 percent of low-income students graduate from college, OneGoal’s executive director in Massachusetts, Patty Diaz-Andrade, said the organization hopes to expand to Chelsea, Everett, Fall River, New Bedford, and other underserved areas.
“We’re not going to go to a community where we feel the market is saturated and there is no problem,” added OneGoal’s communications director, Monique Zurita. And Houston-based SWAG to College aims to begin working with several local schools this fall.
All the programs say they are distinct from one another in some way, but skeptics say the work they do is often substantially the same.
Still, “thinking that, ‘Oh, here’s yet another college readiness program when we have so many already in Boston’ is a very shortsighted view,” said Jonathan Spack, chief executive of Third Sector New England, a resource center for nonprofits.
“Sure, there may be some overlaps and inefficiencies,” he said, “but the problems nonprofits are trying to address are so immense, and the resources available to them are so little, that the more assets we have to address the problem, the better.”
Sacha Pfeiffer can be reached at pfeiffer@globe.com.
Gloucester store sign criticized for its ‘ugly timing’
Milford teen killed in crash just steps from her house
Does Boston have too many nonprofits?
