Over the past three decades, Cause Effective has helped more than 5,000 community-based nonprofit organizations – large and small – work for a better New York.

We help nonprofits raise more money, deepen their relationships with donors, build stronger boards of directors, and get more from their special events and anniversaries – so they can achieve long-term community-based change.

2015 Program Report

Our clients cite the lasting benefits of Cause Effective’s work in 2015:

� Board members are taking a more active role in asking others for money � New allies have reached out on our behalf to donor prospects � We’re including more thanks in our communi-cations � The board increased the recommended personal contribution level for each board member � The board is helping to create cultivation events for prospective donors � We developed toolkits for our house parties and social media campaigns � The board is feeling more empowered and responsible for their commitments � Our program goals are linked to fund-raising � We discovered how to fund-raise on our own terms � Our board has become active ambassadors for our organization � We’ve raised over $40,000 � We have a plan in place and the people to make it happen

PHOTO CREDIT: Cypress Hills Child Care Corp, Brooklyn Boatworks, Legal Information for Family Today, Afropop Worldwide, Dance Theater Etc., Theatre of the Oppressed NYC

PHOTO CREDIT: Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A, Cool Culture, GOLES, Ossining Children's Center, Make the Road New York

Cause Effective 2015 Snapshot

End of Year Net Assets: $199,596

Cause Effective conducted over 25 workshops and trainings in 2015, helping board members and staff work together to uncover core strengths, unleash potential, and achieve sustainability. We deeply appreciate our 2015 funders and partners:

� Association of Nonprofit Specialists� Board Coach / Michael Davidson� BNY Mellon� California Community Foundation� Community Resource Exchange� The Curtis W. McGraw Foundation� Foundation Center� GIFT� Hispanic Federation� The Hyde and Watson Foundation� ioby� Investor’s Bank� Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP� Lawyer’s Alliance for New York� LiveOn NY� M & T Bank Foundation � Management Solutions for Nonprofit Organizations� Mertz Gilmore Foundation� NYC Department of Cultural Affairs� NYC Mayor’s Office of Contract Services� The New York Community Trust� New York Women’s Foundation� Nonprofit Coordinating Committee of New York� Nonprofit Radio / Tony Martignetti� Northern Trust – Chicago Community Foundation� Staten Island NFP Association� Support Center / Partnership in Philanthropy� United Way of New York City

And over 100 individuals whose support means more of New York's vital nonprofits can benefit from Cause Effective's assistance

What we did:

2015 Financials

Special Events/Anniversaries12%

Governance41%

Fundraising47%

Who we served:

� Individuals� Corporate� Fundation� Government� Contract Fees� Other

53%

6% 3% 2%

27%

9%

FY 15 Income: $862,226

� Consulting� Workshops� Publications� Management� Fundraising

FY 15 Expenses: $815,098

65%2%

20%

10%

3%

Our supporters make this possible

Youth Development 27%

Arts and Culture 24%

Social Justice 19%

Health and Human Services 17%

Community and Economic Development 13%

PHOTO CREDIT: Queer Detainee Empowerment Project, Workshop in Business Opportunities, Resiliency Advocacy Project, The Interfaith Center of New York, The Urban Assembly

PHOTO CREDIT: Elizabeta Markuci, Director, VOLS’ Immigration Project

Volunteers of Legal Service (VOLS) leverages the resources and talents of NYC's leading law firms to provide pro bono legal assistance to the city’s neediest residents. By recruiting and training hundreds of volunteer lawyers each year, VOLS helps vulnerable New Yorkers solve complex legal problems that can have devastating consequences for them and for their families.

When VOLS approached Cause Effective, the agency had recently transitioned from a 25-year executive director and completed a strategic plan that required it to raise significantly more money to support enhanced programming. VOLS realized, according to board chair James Windels, “that we had to diversify our funding sources and energize our board.” VOLS asked Cause Effective to develop a fundraising plan to support its new strategic direction, and to ensure that the board understood and could execute on the plan.

Cause Effective encouraged board members to embrace their role in raising additional funds. In the process, VOLS’ board increased the recommended personal contribution level for board members and became more active approaching law firms and foundations. In addition, explained executive director Bill Lienhard, “Cause Effective helped us realize there’s no magic wand out there that will bring in money for VOLS – that fundraising is

something that everyone who’s involved with VOLS has to engage in.”

Cause Effective strengthened the board-staff fundraising partnership: “The more we can engage board members the better,” realized Lienhard. “If we’re doing something a board member should be doing, we’re taking away that board member’s ability to help VOLS.” On the board’s part, according to Windels, “we now take personal responsibility for raising funds and approaching individuals who would be interested in VOLS’ mission.”

Lienhard sees the link between strategic planning and development planning as critical: “Our strategic plan says: This is the way the car is going. Our development plan says: This is how we‘re going to get the gas to get us there.” Having a develop-ment plan gave VOLS the confidence to invest in two new Project Directors, enabling VOLS to provide better legal assistance to more clients.

In 2015 more than 1,000 nonprofits in the New York metropolitan area benefitted from Cause Effective’s expertise. Nonprofits committed to expanding their impact – for a wide variety of causes – turned to us for help in developing a roadmap to diversify their funding and increase board involvement.

Through workshops, via the web, and face-to-face, Cause Effective led nonprofit board members, staff and volunteers, like those below, to break new ground and build more sustainable futures:

Cause Effective In Action

The Sadie Nash Leadership Project empowers young women age 12-22 in New York City and Newark to recognize and amplify their unique voices as leaders. The program strengthens, empowers, and equips young women to be agents for change in their lives and in the world.

In 2013, Chitra Aiyar joined Sadie Nash as executive director, succeeding a charismatic founder. “Sadie Nash had done really well fundraising-wise,” explained Aiyar, “but we needed to figure out how to get people excited about fundraising – not because it was urgent, but because it was important.” Demand exceeded capacity: “In 2014 we turned away 275 women from our Summer Institute. We want to welcome everyone, so when we turn women away, it’s devastating – we’re acting in a way that’s not aligned with our values.”

As a first step, Sadie Nash “prioritized

fundraising on the board by creating a robust development committee, and inviting non-board members to participate.” Board members started to see fundraising as “feminism in action – asking for resources for communities who need it,” reflected Aiyar. “Asking people to fundraise for our organization, which feels terrifying for many people, is a way that people can confront their fears but be supported in a collective manner.”

“Cause Effective’s approach allowed board members to identify where they wanted to grow in fundraising,” described Aiyar, asking board members to work on “something inside their comfort zone – but also something that was a slight stretch for them.”

Reframing fundraising as relationship-building really helped the board, remembered Aiyar: “We realized that we’re seeking engagement – allowing other people to share our passion with us. We’re

offering them a gift” – to make a difference in the lives of young women.

The final result? “With the support of Cause Effective, we’re moving from serving 400 women to serving 700. Every time we let someone into our program, I’m reminded of why we do what we do in fundraising.”

PHOTO CREDIT: CONNECT, Center for Family Representation, Faith in New York, Just Food

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Jacqueline Ebanks (Chair)Women’s City Club of New YorkMartine Broeders (Secretary)High Spark AdvisorsGabriella Polur (Treasurer)TIAAChelsea AmegatcherDeloitte Consulting, LLPYvonne MooreMoore PhilanthropyMichael RochonTIAAClaire ScanlonBNY Mellon

EMERITUS BOARD MEMBERS

Nelson FernandezAPCO WorldwidePatricia JennyThe New York Community TrustAnita NagerPhilanthropic ConsultantLata N. Reddy, Esq.Jeffrey S. Trachtman, Esq.Kramer, Levin, Naftalis & Frankel

STAFF

Judy LevineExecutive DirectorGregory CohenSenior AssociateRashi DesaiProgram AssociateLilia Epstein-KatzProgram ManagerSusan GabrielSenior AssociateJennifer MonahanAdministrative AssistantNgozi OkaroSenior AssociateShyla RiveraOffice Manager

� 505 Eighth Avenue, Suite 1212 New York, NY 10018� (212) 643-7093� www.causeeffective.org

5 Boroughs, 50 Neighborhoods:Our 2015 Clients

� A Call to Men � Afropop Worldwide � American Renaissance Theatre Company � Arab-American Family Support Center � Artists Alliance � The Billie Holiday Theatre � Brandworkers � Brooklyn Bar Association Volunteer Lawyers Project � Brooklyn Boatworks � Brooklyn Historical Society � Brooklyn Legal Services Corporation A � Brooklyn Queens Long Island AHEC � Brooklyn Workforce Innovations � Business Center for New Americans � CAAAV Organizing Asian Communities � Cave Canem Foundation � Center for Anti-Violence Education � Center for Family Representation � Center for Frontline Retail � Center for Urban Community Services � Chhaya CDC � Children's Arts Guild � Children of Armenia Fund � Chinese Theatre Works � Choices in Childbirth � Church Street School for Music and Art � Cidadao Global � Coalition for Asian American Children and Families � Community Action for Safe Apartments � Community Health Action of Staten Island � Community Impact at Columbia University � CONNECT � Cool Culture � Corona Youth Music Project � Cypress Hills Child Care Corporation � Dance Theatre Etc. � Day One � DoughMain Education Foundation � ECPAT-USA � Edwin Gould Services for Children and Families � Elders Share the Arts � Empire State Pride Agenda � Enlace � Equality Charter School � Families for Freedom � The Financial Clinic � Fountain House � Friends of Brooklyn Heights Branch Library � Gideon's Promise � Girl Be Heard � Girls Write Now � Global Potential � GOLES � Gowanus Canal Conservancy � GRIOT Circle � Heights and Hills � Hester Street Collaborative � Hetrick-Martin Institute � Hip Hop 4 Life � The HPV and Anal Cancer Foundation � IlluminArt Productions � Institute of Digital Media and Child Development � Interfaith Center of New York � JCC Association of North America � The Jewish Education Project � John A. Reisenbach Foundation � Just Food � Just Us � Kaufman Music Center � Kundiman � Latinas On the Verge of Excellence - L.O.V.E. Mentoring � Learning Leaders � Legal Information for Families Today � Lineage Project � The Little Lighthouse Foundation � LiveOn NY � Magic Box Productions � Make The Road New York � Mental Health News Education � Mercy Center � Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts � Music-Theatre Group � National Aphasia Association � New York Asian Women's Center � New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault � New York Paid Leave Coalition � Norte Maar � Ossining Children's Center � Pearl Theatre Company � Per Scholas � Poets House � Pride Center of Staten Island � Qualitas of Life Foundation � Queer Detainee Empowerment Project � Read Ahead! � Red Umbrella Project � Resilience Advocacy Project � Rise Magazine � Rise Up & Walk � Sadie Nash Leadership Project � SAMFund � Sapna NYC � Sexual Health Innovations � Shadow Box Theatre � Sky Light Center � Southside United HDFC � Spoons Across America � Stanley M. Isaacs Neighborhood Center � Streetwise and Safe � Theatre of the Oppressed NYC � The Transition Network � Universal Temple of the Arts � UPROSE � The Urban Assembly � UrbanGlass � Voices Unbroken � Volunteers of Legal Service � Whitebox Art Center � Workshop in Business Opportunities � YWCA of Queens

1,200 nonprofit leaders inspired by Cause Effective’s consulting, coaching and training

122 nonprofits guided, one-to-one, through board trainings, intensive coaching and year-long fundraising residencies

Over 1,000 readers every week accessing Cause Effective’s blog and e-newsletter’s hands-on advice on topics ranging from board motivation to donor appreciation (total: 52,000+ hits in 2015)

In 2015, Cause Effective commissioned our first third-party long-term outcome evaluation. Among the findings: Over the past 3 years, more than 50% of our clients' board members became more active in fundraising – and increased their own gifts. Total revenue for the groups surveyed grew 27%.

Cause Effective Impact