SUSTAINABILITY WEBINAR - PART ONE

NOVEMBER 27, 2007


CAROLYN PHILLIPS: We're talking about making sure

that the work that we're doing does actually make a

difference, that it out-lives, you know, kind of, hopefully

us in some ways. I know that doing sustainability planning

actually, believe it or not, is one of my favorite

activities, and I've talked with many of you offline about

this. And I'm looking forward to actually all of us having

some conversation around this.

Before we get started, though, I wanted to make

sure that everybody knew how the system worked. And so

Caroline Van Howe is actually joining us today from ATIA,

one of our partners, and so she's going to kind of walk us

through some of just the basics of how this system works.

So, Caroline, take it away.

CAROLINE VAN HOWE: Thank you very much, Carolyn.

I'd like to share with you some of the

accessibility features of this Webinar platform, and you

can actually see them for yourself.

If you go up to the Options screen, which is the

fourth from the left on the top gray line underneath the

Google, there are a number of accessibility options there

for both the screen -- the screen options and also for the

volume.

So if we look at some of the speech options --

which I think are of most interest -- you can configure

everything about the Webinar to be enabled for speech. So

if you want to see what is on the screen and also if you

want to see what is in the public-chat area, then you can

have those text-roll transcriptions converted into speech.

We can also see who is leaving and entering the room.

All of this information is taped as part of the

Webinar recordings, which are both in an MP3 file, and also

the pictures of the screens themselves are also captured,

and the public-chat area is captured.

If you wanted to make a comment or ask a question

during the presentation, there's two ways you can do that.

You can either use the microphone button once the speaker

has finished speaking -- and to use the microphone button,

you can either use the control key on your keyboard, or you

can use the red microphone or the microphone icon on the

bottom right-hand side of your screen. If you don't have a

microphone -- and I know that not everybody does -- the

other way to ask questions is to enter them into the public

-- the text area just underneath the emoticon, and that's

just above where the list of participants are. You can

enter it just using text and hit the Enter key. And then

there's the public-chat area.

The last area I was going to draw attention to is,

if anybody wants to send a private message, you can put

your cursor on the individual you want to send a private

message to and click the right mouse button, and then you

can send a private message as well. So if you want to send

a private message to another participant or to one of the

presenters to get a particular point across, then that's

another way to communicate.

I think that's everything from the accessibility

point of view.

I'd just like to welcome our speakers and thank

you, once again, for participating in the Pass It On Center

Webinar.

CAROLYN: Thank you so much, Caroline. You do such

a great job introducing us to the system, and I know that

y'all continue to make great upgrades and modifications to

this. So thank you so much.

I really appreciate your sensitivity to

accessibility features. I know that they actually help me

a lot whenever I'm trying to navigate through this system.

So very good.

Rob is actually going to be doing this presentation

with me from RSA, and I really appreciate his input. And

he's done a very good job in the past working with the

AFPs, and also we've had some conversations just trying to

make sure that we're giving you information when it comes

to sustainability.

Rob, would you like to saying anything before we

jump in?

Okay. I'll keep going, and then hopefully Rob will

be able to adjust his system so he will be able to hear.

And, Jane, I see that you said you can't see the

correct screen, so I'm going to refresh my screen just to

make sure that everybody sees this screen. It actually

says "Welcome to the AT Reuse Sustainability Webinar."

Okay. All right.

So hopefully everybody is looking at this screen.

It's got our Web site on the bottom, which says

passitoncenter.org, and we will have this available so that

everybody can see this.

And I've got somebody asking me to speak up a

little more, so I definitely will do that. So just let me

know, hopefully, if you can hear me or what have you. I'll

make sure that I speak up.

Our agenda is pretty simple today. We're actually

going to be doing a basic introduction to sustainability.

This is a series that we're actually going to be doing.

So it's going to be part 1 where we're going to be

covering some information, looking at vision and getting

more detailed about what that looks like -- results

orientation, when it comes to looking at AT reuse in

particular and strategic financing and give some ideas

about how we can really help folks as y'all are trying to

grow your programs, sustain your programs, all of that.

And then we're also going to have, obviously, time

for questions and answers. Feel free to pose questions

that you might have in the public-chat area or raise your

hand if you have a question. We'll be happy to stop and

answer any of those.

So basically, building on what we talked about in

Denver and what a lot of us have been talking about for a

long time, we -- when we had to submit these grant requests

to RSA, we all had to talk about our sustainability plan.

And I think that some of us felt -- some of y'all

probably felt more confident than other folks about your

sustainability plan. I think a lot of us are navigating

all of this together and trying to learn together.

And so that's a lot of what we're going to be

talking about today -- is how the plans that we did submit

-- how we can actually make those a lot stronger and make

sure that our grants actually do survive, that our projects

actually do survive beyond the grant period.

And so our goals today are going to be increasing

knowledge and skills of sustainability planning, developing

more structure to your plan and thus, obviously, to your AT

reuse program, providing some tools to help develop your

sustainability plan further. And I'm going to talk in more

detail about that.

And then also, feel free to jump in because this is

important that we network and that we learn from each other

how to build more effective programs. A lot of you are

doing some really innovative things, whether it's actually

what Beth is doing in Delaware, just getting folks together

in the same room so they can talk on a consistent basis so

they can start laying a foundation together -- that's

sustainability planning -- or whether it's some actual

fundraising or a grant or an innovative idea that somebody

has come up with, all working around sustainability

planning.

So we also want to assist you in developing -- all

of us -- a stronger network of AT reuse programs so that we

can all collectively serve more folks with disabilities

more efficiently. So those are our goals.



PLANNING TO PLAN



It's something that we don't always put a lot of

time and effort into. I think my dad a long time ago

taught me, do it right -- you know, do it once, do it

right, and this whole idea of just laying that firm

foundation and setting aside time so that we can have a

planful approach to how we are actually developing our

programs. And so part of that really does mean putting

some time aside.

Today we're actually going to be looking at three

of the eight elements of sustainability, and we're going to

talk in more detail about those. These actually -- just so

everybody's aware -- come from the finance project. I have

found that the information that we gave out in Denver to

y'all -- and those of you who weren't in Denver, I'd be

happy to give you more information about this -- but the

finance project actually came up with a really cool tool,

and it's got several modules that walk you through how to

actually do a sustainability plan.

And it starts you kind of asking the right

questions, if you will. And when you're looking at this

plan, it's actually not necessarily about the subject. You

can actually replace the subjects.

It could be about AT reuse for us today, and then I

could be actually talking about sustainability plans for

the AFP tomorrow. I could be talking about, you know, a

sustainability plan for maybe our device loan library. You

know, that could be the next thing I'm working on and

actually have done that.

And it really is a helpful process to go through.

It doesn't have to be nearly as complicated as a lot of

people think. I think a lot of times people are alienated

by the language that's used. So if you have a question

about some of the terms that are used, just let me know.

I'd be happy to stop, or let Rob know.

And I also want to let you know that some of the

slides we're using today -- actually, Rob had sent them to

me, and I appreciate that -- and NATTAP actually used some

of these for their AFPs as they were walking them through

the sustainability process. They did a much more in-depth

training than we're doing, but we'd be happy to give you as

much assistance as needed.

Tom Patterson, who is our Pass It On Center

coordinator, actually put up the Web site for the finance

project, if you would like more information.

So basically we're doing sustainability planning,

not just because RSA requested it in our grant proposals,

but because it really is important as we're trying to

express to other folks about who we are, what we're trying

to create, why we're trying to create it.

When we're trying to get people to kind of buy in,

if you will -- whether it's their time, whether it's their

money, whether it's resources, whether it's

gifts-in-kind -- we need to be able to communicate these

things effectively. And us being clear about what it is

we're actually doing, where our gaps are, allow us to be

able to seize those opportunities that may show up, you

know, randomly.

I've had these opportunities happen on a flight

before where who knew that I was going to have a

conversation sitting next to somebody who actually had

thousands of computers to donate. Elevators where we've

actually had people that say, "Oh, gosh, you know, I could

help out with some space in Albany, Georgia." And we got

that information from, you know, just elevator

conversation.

The only reason why I knew we really had those gaps

is because we had a sustainability plan. It wasn't an iffy

thing. I really knew what I was talking about. And that's

part of why I would encourage you to actually do some of

this planning because it lets you know kind of where your

gaps are.

It's also good because it creates this kind of

interdependence where we can actually share our successes

and our struggles as we kind of move through this type of

planning process because what we find are trends.

We'll find that, you know, Kansas may be doing

something really successfully and how can we replicate what

it is that they're doing in other states? We've actually

had other folks say, "Gosh, you know, if I could only get

in touch with my state agencies and interact with my state

agencies the way that Kansas has done, then I would be able

to create something that would work in my state."

So that's kind of how we can share these plans, if

you will, and share our successes in a more organized

fashion, if you will. It also helps us build a framework,

and that way we can actually start looking more at: What

is successful? What are some quality indicators? What are

some things that really would make a difference? As people

start out with AT reuse programs, what are some things that

people need to avoid?

It's definitely one of those things that -- when

I'm talking about sustainability planning, it's one of

those things that's actually helped me in helping other

folks because I've been through this process before.

And when we're talking about planning to plan,

we're actually talking about clarifying. You know, it's

really getting to this idea of what direction are we really

headed in? And how are we really going to build strategies

for long-term success? A lot of us are thinking about

long-term success.

As I said -- I've said this many times -- whenever

we were first creating ReBoot, we didn't know how long that

was going to survive. We actually thought we want to have

something that's successful for a year. Okay. Well, maybe

we'll have something successful for three years. Okay.

And here ReBoot has actually been around for ten years, and

it continues to grow and serve people, and that's great.

And providing benchmarks to actually measure

progress -- that gives a level of credibility, and it also

helps folks that are your volunteers. It helps people that

are your board members still stay connected because that --

you know, if you're saying, "We're achieving our goals,"

or, "Gosh, we're not quite achieving this goal, but we did

achieve that goal," it really can make a difference for

getting people's energy focus back on what it is you're

trying to do and also demonstrating to partners and others

the value of our work collectively when you actually have

that information at hand.

So basically it's pretty simple to get started --

and a lot of you have actually done this -- defining your

program because we had to define our programs for our

grants, for our state plans. You know, we've had to define

programs.

And then clarifying the parameters -- how much

time, resources, and all of that do you want to put towards

the process of planning? I would encourage you to put some

time and energy towards this process. I have found that

that's time that's definitely well spent.

Deciding whose input you definitely want to have

and how you're going to structure this and how you're going

to manage it, all those things are important because just

managing the process and saying, "Okay. I actually am

going to have deadlines of when I want people to give me

information back for my sustainability plan" -- that's

important.

And then also, how are you going to collect the

information that you need? And how are you going to

develop this work plan? And it's important to know that

you do need to develop a work plan, something that is going

to make -- that's going to be tangible that's something you

can post and something you can put on your Web site, what

have you.

When we're talking about sustainability planning

for the AT reuse in particular, these are the things that I

have found that are super important to focus on:

Diversifying our funding streams is very important when it

comes to AT reuse, and there's some really cool ways to do

that, whether it's the end-of-life issues and trying to get

precious metals, you know, get money for precious metals.

There's actually a Web site that I'm going to show you

towards the end of the presentation that they're actually

mining gold, and they'll pay you for the gold out of some

of the devices that you send them, and that's cool.

Or whether it's just getting connected with your

state developmental disabilities council, your governor's

DD council. We have found that some of the states actually

are getting some support from them, and that's cool when it

comes to AT reuse. Or whether it's getting really

connected with some of your environmental groups.

Another group that we're actually just starting

conversations with has to do with some of the disaster

response, and there might be some potential there when it

comes to sustainability planning.

So very exciting to see how everything is turning

green and how people are trying to be more proactive in

their safety and planning, and I think that that might lead

to some funding streams that we need to really consider.

Also, building organizational capacity, the whole

thing of "working smarter not harder," and also building

community support. We do know these programs are answering

a need, just like Jeremy has said many times -- that we

don't really know. We haven't defined a lot of that, and

we are starting to define some of that.

Who's actually saving the money? Who's actually

getting served by these projects -- all of those things.

So we're starting to get some of those answers.

And those of you who are actually in the field

actually doing this work know that it is building support

within your community, and so having a sustainability plan

can actually make a big difference of building more support

and also getting a better idea of what is actually

happening.

So the other thing that when we're thinking about

why we're planning to plan and why we're building this plan

and why we want to make all this happen, really has to do

with understanding that the funding sources often are

short-term in nature. I've talked to several of you

about -- that you actually are kind of linking -- you're

saying, "I've got this funding source for two years, and

I've got this other funding source for five years, and I've

got this in-kind support for two and a half years." And it

becomes kind of a GRE question, if you will, of trying to

figure all that out.

So making a plan where you actually can look at

these visually and see, okay, when does this start? When

does that begin? Mapping all this out could be invaluable.

Also, understanding that things are changing.

Political environments are changing. Economic environments

are changing. Demographic environments are changing. And

we're finding that a lot of our culture is changing.

Who knew that everybody would all of a sudden catch

on to this green thing? I don't know if anybody was

watching NBC Television last week or the week before, but

the whole thing was green. Every time you turned on the

TV, it was green this, green that. So there's definitely

this wave of realization that we've got to be more

conscientious about how we are getting rid of things and

all of that. And so y'all are pioneers. So we need to

maybe seize the moment here.

We also have got to do more planning because we

can't afford to lose quality programs. And y'all

definitely have quality programs that you've developed.

Paraquad is doing amazing things when it comes to

evaluation and matching. It would be a big loss if

Paraquad wasn't doing their reuse program.

Also, understanding the important innovations that

are coming out of the different efforts that y'all are

doing. And so we want to make sure that we're planning to

support all of that.

So when you're using this plan, it really does

become kind of a roadmap, if you will, clarifying where you

are, where you want to go, and how -- kind of figuring out

who you need to get there with, who can help you.



MODULE I: BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE INITIATIVE



So the first module is actually module 1, and this

is in the finance project book. And I've got just a couple

of slides to go over here because a couple people had

questions about this when they were looking through their

module and as we were walking through some of this.

Module 1 is pretty simple when it comes to just

building the sustainability initiative. It basically gives

you an idea of what the framework is, the planning process,

and what some benchmarks -- what some of those are by

measuring and identifying your strengths and weaknesses.

And it does this through actually a sustainability

self-assessment. The self-assessment tool actually helps

you kind of assess your progress, identify strengths and

weaknesses.

For example, there are things that you may not

realize are your strengths when you start actually doing

some of the self-assessment. When I was going through some

of this, I actually found that some of the people that we

actually know are our strength -- no doubt about it -- and

we just didn't really realize that.

And we hadn't really capitalized on that some of

the people that are donating to us feel strongly about

reutilization and the environment, and that's why they're

donating. And so how can we actually capitalize on that?

And are we doing the best job we can when it comes to

marketing to those folks?
So our strength would be the resources that are

these people that are coming through the door that really

care about AT reutilization. And maybe the weakness is

that we're not really marketing. We're not really reaching

out to those folks or seizing that moment that they're

there to actually donate and really saying, "Hey, there's a

bigger thing here. We really need your help."

It actually -- this self-assessment tool actually

walks you through various things, including your vision.

Are you really clear on your vision? Do you really have an

idea of what you're trying to accomplish? And does

everybody on your team have an idea of what you're trying

to accomplish?

Same thing with the results orientation. What are

the indicators of your performance? You know, how are you

collecting your data? Are you just collecting success

stories and not really data? Are you collecting too much

data and not really success stories? And how do you kind

of marry all of that, and how do you mix it in a healthy

way?

Have you also included and considered that things

are changing? When it comes to AT reuse, hopefully we're

reusing things today that we were not reusing, you know,

ten years ago. And hopefully in ten years we'll be reusing

things, you know, that are pretty innovative. And we'll

have to kind of get new tools. We'll have to get new

approaches, what have you. And so just thinking of those

things.

Also, it walks you through strategic financial

orientation -- just a few questions about that when it just

asks, you know, "What is your funding? What's the timing

of your funding?" things like that.

It also asks broad-based community-support

questions. "Who is, you know, involved with your project?

Who do you really want to be involved in your project? Do

you feel like you have strong leaders, or do you only have

one person that's heading this up? And is it a good

cross-section of people that you're actually serving?"

We serve a lot of people with AT reutilization, and

do we have those folks really as our champions? Are we

building champions? That's the next piece here when it

comes to self-assessment is, who are your champions, and

how are you actually tapping into them? Do you have

information about them and who their network is? Do you

have any idea if they could lead to new funders or a new

funding stream?

I've actually been very surprised. I remember a

couple of years ago we had somebody come in, donate a

computer, and they really liked -- we took them, really and

truly, on a ten-minute tour of the project and thought that

was it. We were like, "Thank you so much for coming."

A couple of weeks later a check comes in the mail

because they were so impressed with what we were doing --

$1,400. And that helped several more people get computers.

And it was just taking that little time. And we've kept in

touch with that person, and that's a good thing.

Also making sure when you're doing your

self-assessment that you have strong internal support

systems and really measuring some of that and trying to

figure out kind of where you're headed.

So the thing is that you want to go through all of

these different aspects of self-assessment and make sure

that you're actually looking at each piece and that you

have a planful approach and an honest approach as you're

going through this of how you're answering these questions.

And you also want to make sure that you're

including other people, including volunteers, that it's not

just you that's answering this because sometimes we can be

a little biased. We may not see all of our weak spots, if

you will -- that you have staff members that are going

through this kind of self-assessment.

We can get really creative with this and make it an

activity. And I'd be willing to bet that there are people

within your community that you're helping with the AT reuse

program that you've developed that would actually really

get into helping you develop what it is that you're trying

to create when it comes to self-assessment and looking at

the bigger picture.

So it's very cool. And what I would encourage you

to do is actually -- and you can get somebody to help you

with this. I've actually done this before where I have

other folks that actually help prepare a summary. And

that's been very telling because then people see, oh, gosh

you know, they have more buy-in, if you will, as to what

the results are, and then they actually help me present it

to advisory councils, program staff, what have you. And

it's a good way to get people to start building your

championships, to get more buy-in, if you will.



MODULE II: CREATING A VISION AND RESULTS ORIENTATION



The next module is actually creating a vision and a

results orientation. Very important. And in here

basically it's just clarifying, what is it that you want to

sustain? What do you mean by "sustainability"?

And Nell Bailey and I were talking earlier this

morning about how everybody defines "sustainability"

differently, and that's actually a good thing. And so what

do you mean? What does sustainability really mean to you?

And how long do you want to have this project around? And

how do you want to measure your progress? And what are

your goals -- all of those things.

So the tool here is a logic model. And basically

this model actually helps us answer questions. And they're

very simple questions. The basic question is: Will the

strategies and activities that you're implementing get you

to the results you want to achieve? It's very simple. So

that's all this logic model is designed to do.

It's basically a little graph representation of

your theory, and it's something that you can share with

other people. And I would encourage you to share it with

other people. It's something that you can post and say,

"Hey, this is where we're really headed." It actually has

been something that we've used to work marketing plans, you

know, used it as a marketing tool.

And it also helps other folks, the wider community,

understand what it is -- or the greater community

understand what it is you're trying to do and that you

actually have some way that you're measuring this and that

it's logical.

So what you would do is actually clearly define

what it is you want to sustain. So what activity is it

that you want to sustain? And you can get very specific

with this.

So for example, in Mississippi it would be looking

at computer reutilization. You know, getting those

computers out to people in the rural areas. So a logic

model would work, you know, that way, working with that.

It would help you look critically at existing and new

strategies and trying to figure out, you know, what does

exist in Mississippi, which a lot of us -- a lot of you

know what's going on in your states, but sometimes you get

surprised. So it kind of walks you through that. Then it

helps you kind of make some decisions regarding the

activities and strategies that you want to sustain at what

scale over what time frame. And that's important.

We all define success differently probably. There

are people that I've talked to, and they'll be reutilizing

AAC devices. And they have gotten five out in a year, and

they are so excited about that. And they have decided that

that is great success. And indeed that is great success

for what it is that they're trying to accomplish.

I was talking to somebody the other day who's doing

AAC reutilization in the ALS community, and she said that

they had gotten out 1400 systems -- you know, they've

gotten them out to people -- which is huge -- that they

still want to do more. Within their model that is not

enough because the need is so great.

So it also can help you -- when you're trying to

make some estimates of the amount and type of resources

that you are going to need to sustain -- to support your

work. And once again, that informs kind of where you're

headed. Who do you need to be talking to? Those types of

things.

The logic model can also help you clarify what it

is that -- those results, just like I said, and help you

figure out how you're going to track your work so you have

a better idea of what it is that you're trying to

accomplish and how you're actually tracking it.

So this is basically what this looks like -- the

elements of the logic model, very simple. Two columns.

What you want to sustain -- that's the question. And in

there that's where your vision and results, your conditions

and causes, your strategies and activities would go.

And on the next column it's, how will you measure

your progress indicators and performance measures? So

that's very simple. So steps, you know, for completing

this -- it's basically a lot of those things that I was

just talking about, but I wanted to give it in a different

format here where you're defining and clarifying vision --

identifying conditions, causes, defining scale and scope,

and the measures of your progress. And once again, the

measures of our progress -- it's not just for us. It is

for the greater community. It's for the people we're

serving. It's also a national thing. We want to make sure

that everybody is understanding what we're trying to

accomplish. Basically when you're looking at your vision,

it needs to be pretty simple, and hopefully it is. And I

think many of us have sat around tables for hours hammering

out vision with folks.

(Audio went down) . . . basically what it would

look like -- vision -- and you would put it, whatever you

feel like your vision is. I just put a simple one here

that we've actually used before, which is "People with

disabilities will have access to assistive technology and

they're able to acquire AT." It's a very simple vision.

The desired results would be "That persons with

disabilities are able to fully participate in their

community and work place." So that's kind of how that

works.

We can go -- I think somebody said that they would

like to go a little slower with the slides. I can

definitely slow down with the slides. That's no problem.

The tips for completing this first step are that

you want to remember that the results are the ends.

They're not the means. You want to define the results that

are true priorities. You want to consider whether your

results align with existing agendas.

So this is where you start having those real

heart-to-hearts about what is it that you're really trying

to accomplish with your AT reuse program, when you really

start talking to the volunteers and donors and other folks,

saying, "Is this really serving our community?" And you

start clarifying specific language for the vision.

As I said before, that can be really difficult for

a group. And it's good to actually assign that to folks.

And this is -- once again, as you start buying -- you know,

creating that buy-in and all of that by saying, "Okay.

What do you see as the vision for our initiative here, for

our project?" Some of the causes and conditions are ones

that are actually kind of universal for all of us when

we're talking about AT reuse.

There are factors and circumstances that you need

to know about that affect what it is that's going to --

that would affect how you're going to achieve your results.

So identifying the conditions and causes can be based on

trends. It can be based on growth. It can be based on

target population and perspective. It could be based on

research. It's also experience and best practice.

And that's one of the things that we're really

trying to work on here at the Pass It On Center -- and

we're trying to do this with all of our partners and

obviously all of you -- is look at what some of these

conditions and causes are.

Liability. Sometimes that's kind of the thing that

people put in there, and they still haven't been able to

move beyond that in their logic model, and that's what's

holding up their whole AT reuse program development.

It could be something, you know, like, "We don't

have a good transportation system." And that's something

that you would actually put into your logic model and say,

"Gosh, this is a condition we've really got to think

about."

I talked to some folks that are out in those huge,

huge states. We think Georgia is big just because it's the

largest state east of the Mississippi. But some of the

states out west -- Wyoming, Montana -- huge states --

Kansas. Transportation can be an issue. So really looking

at that and seeing, how do we actually get equipment from

point A to point B? So those are things that you would

consider.

So you see that the model -- the logic model starts

to change a little bit here. So underneath "What do you

want to sustain?" we've got the vision, the results, the

results, once again. "People with disabilities will be

able to participate -- fully participate in their community

and work place."

And then "Conditions" would maybe be limited

assets. You know, folks just can't afford it. So the

individual that's receiving the equipment is not able to

afford it, and that can definitely be a condition that

would affect the success of your program and something you

need to consider in the results of your program.

Also a lack of access to reused equipment, that you

don't have enough donors coming in with equipment and so

things that you need to consider.

So the next thing that you need to do is actually

gather and summarize research and conditions and causes,

you know, before your meeting with everybody so your

understanding -- so understanding it yourself.

So you're summarizing this research and using

existing data sources for demographic information. We've

done that a lot, and that's actually helped tell the story

in Georgia and other states where there is a huge gap, and

that actually speaks to a lot of people when they realize,

gosh, you know, we've got over a million people with

disabilities in Georgia, and we've gotten equipment out to

200,000 people -- not 200,000 people -- but we've gotten

equipment out to lots of people, but it's not even touching

the big need.

And so how do we actually look at that research and

make sure that the information that we're getting from our

data -- our demographic information -- actually helps us

with this logic model to tell the story in an accurate way.

You can also interview folks. You can have focus

groups. You can have group meetings to gather more

perspective from key stakeholders. We actually did a tour

around the state where we actually sat down with close to

300 people and talked about AT reuse. And that was

actually a very, very helpful thing to do. We got a lot of

buy-in, and we're actually seeing that people are still

talking about that and still feel some investment in that

we need to reach out further. And they are owning this, as

part of their being part of the community -- is that they

need to help us. But it just all can't happen in one

place, in Georgia.

We're finding that this is also happening in our

neighbor state, South Carolina. We met with them last week

and talked about sustainability and all of these things

that we're talking about today, and we found that, you

know, they want to actually do some focus groups, things

like that.

Delaware did a great job. Beth Mineo just did a

great job up there talking about sustainability. The first

thing that -- her group of champions, if you will. And

that was a great way to get perspective and really came up

with a very cool assessment tool that would help inform

kind of how you measure success and what do we really want

to see happen in Delaware? So that was very cool the way

that you pulled that together.

The next thing that we want to do is identify and

prioritize the strategies and activities. This -- the

strategies are really the broad-practice approaches, and

the activities are very specific services. And that can be

confusing to some folks, so that's what step 3 actually is

looking at.

It's looking critically at the current strategies

and activities, considering whether there's a need for new

strategies and activities, and determining which strategies

and activities are priorities that you want to sustain.

Very important to look at these because we have

found that, as we start talking to people, we -- you might

want to cut out an activity that you thought was really

valuable, but when you look critically at the data, when

you talk to all the people, you've done kind of all this

groundwork or you've looked at the data and you see, you

know, nobody's really using this service. Even though it's

a cool service, maybe we need to focus our resources in

another area.

So as you see here in step 3, we have actually

added, you know, within the strategy, you know, "Develop an

AT reuse program." So that's kind of what's happened in

this next one.

So number 4 is actually defining the scale. What

is the scale of what it is that you want to sustain? You

know, how many people do you want to serve? What are the

ranges of services that you want to offer? And who's

actually going to do that work?

You may really, really want to provide amazing

evaluation services, but do you have somebody who's

qualified -- and just paying attention to that.

So when you're defining the scale, you actually

need to consider the need, evidence for demand of services,

the capacity, what stage of development is this initiative

in, and then the funding status, and also the climate.

Does the initiative have the capacity to raise and

track funds? Can you actually raise money if you decide to

add an evaluation component to your AT reuse program?

Probably. You know, and we need to start looking at who

needs to be involved in that in order to make sure that

that actually is successful and that it actually grows.

So the next piece would be actually identifying

measures of progress. And this is important when it comes

to making sure that other folks -- other folks that are not

necessarily with our programs day in and day out -- see the

importance of the programs. But that we're capturing the

effectiveness of the programs and we actually have a good

idea of who's being reached by these programs and how

they're making positive changes.

So the measures of effect are actually the changes

in the persons with disabilities and the measures of effort

are the quantity or the quality of work.

So indicator is actually a pretty simple thing to

understand. It's just the thing -- it's the means of

capturing the community-wide progress towards your result.

So that's basically what it means.

So you see that our logic model is actually filling

out now, and the indicator actually would change as far

as -- you know, as you're creating your own logic model

because it's the percentage of people with disabilities who

have access to AT.

And the performance measure, measure of effect,

would be the number of people with disabilities that you

served. And the measures -- I mean of effort would be the

number of people with disabilities that you served. And

the measures of effect would be the number of people with

disabilities who actually were able to acquire AT.

So those things could be some things that you would

actually measure. And that's important to pay attention to

as you're developing this logic model. And once again, you

can create it to help tell your story in the way that you

need it to be told, and you can also change some of that

information as far as indicators and all of that. It

doesn't necessarily have to be the numbers of -- that's

just an example.

So we want you to, as you're creating those logic

models, to be really realistic about the amount of data

that you can collect and how you're going to use that, use

measures also for existing sources of data that does exist.

It's not helpful if we're kind of saying, "Oh, I

think about 5 people who live in, you know, this part of

town, and I think maybe 20 are over there." It's good to

actually have real data.

And also just make sure that, if you have a lot of

measures, you want to prioritize those on availability of

the data, the relevance of the data, and also the power of

that data. There's a lot of data that we actually have.

A lot of you have a lot of data when it comes to AT

reutilization, you know, because if you're -- for

example -- and the story changes. This model kind of

changes depending on who you're talking to. So, for

example, whenever we're talking to folks that are in the

environmental community and we're talking about, you know,

the importance of our projects, the AT reuse movement, and

what we're actually creating, they get excited about that,

and independence does matter.

You know, if somebody had a wheelchair, that's

wonderful, and they're able to move about their community

in the way of their own choosing. That's wonderful.

But the thing that I've seen that has turned a lot

of our environmental partners on is, how much did you keep

out of the landfill? What did you actually do with the

equipment after you reused it? Where did it go? And those

things seem to tell the story in an even more powerful way.



MODULE III: CREATING A STRATEGIC FINANCING PLAN



So the next piece that I want to talk to you

about -- and, Rob, feel free to jump in. I don't know if

your headset is working now or your microphone is

working but -- is the strategic financial plan. And in

here I've got some pieces that I wanted to talk to you

about when it comes to kind of identifying the financial

plan and then also some resources that I would encourage

you to check out.

And this is going to be something that is going to

continue to grow. Every time we do the sustainability

planning, we're going to talk some more about these

financial aspects that are -- and opportunities that are

out there.

The tools here would be some of those fiscal

worksheets that, once again, are provided by the finance

project, and I'd be happy to walk through some of those

with you. If you would like me to do that with you at some

point, that would be no problem.

And basically, though, what we're looking at here

is clarifying what it is you're trying to finance; what are

your estimated fiscal needs; mapping your current funding,

kind of assessing what those gaps are; and also identifying

funding sources; and also financing strategies.

These five things are really, really important.

Those are the things that, whenever you're having those

conversations with potential grantors, with potential

funding streams -- when you're actually walking people

through, where are we now, where do we want to be with AT

reuse in three years, where do we want to be with AT reuse

in five years, you know, those types of visions, it's

important to really understand, how are you really going to

pay for it? Because this is the thing that gets a lot of

people very frustrated.

We definitely -- I saw a question here from Jane --

and hello, Jane. You asked if you'll be able to download

the slides. And absolutely you can. We're going to be

putting this up on the Web site, and we're hoping to have

that up by Friday. So you'll be able to download these

without any problem at all.

So we're going to clarify, financing for what?

Basically the information you're looking for is basically

what's the scope of support and services? Some of the

things, the work that you've done, if you've done some of

the planning to plan and all of that vision and results

orientation and your logic model, it's going to inform

this. What's the population and geographic area and types

of services? Things like that.

The scale of supports and services. I think that's

where some of the folks with an AT reuse, you know, get

into some trouble, is that the need definitely far

outweighs what a lot of people are able to support at this

point. And so they kind of overextend. And it's important

to, you know, just be aware of where your gaps are so you

can, hopefully, fill those gaps in a planful approach.

And then also looking at, what are some of the

assumptions? If you're expanding over a period of time,

how are you expanding? When do you need to expand? If

somebody comes and says, you know, "I have a 6,000-foot

building I can give you," do you actually need that? And

what's involved in that? And have you planned for those

type of opportunities? Or if somebody comes in and says,

"I have a 60,000-foot building," oh, okay, you know -- so

planning for those kind of opportunities, being aware of

that.

Looking at some of those fiscal needs and really

estimating that and putting in there, where are we going to

be in a year with AT reuse? And where are we going to be

in two years? And how much money do I need to have in

order to make sure that this is a sustainable effort?

So program costs -- looking at both your startup

and operating, infrastructure costs. How are the costs

distributed? And also with your strategies and by your

activities, how are you spending your money?

A lot of people, when they actually get to looking

at this -- and as I've worked with some of you, some of you

were surprised at how much money you're spending in certain

areas -- how much you're spending in transportation, how

much you're spending now that gas prices have gone up, how

much you're spending when it comes to telephone and

Internet services and all of those things and going back

to, how can we work smarter and not harder and just be more

efficient?

So one of the things -- one of the activities I

would encourage you to do is actually create a map. And

you can do this in several ways. We've used Excel

spreadsheets before. We've used graphs before. Sometimes

even if you just do this in pen and paper, it can make a

difference in helping people really understand, what is

your situation and how they can help. So identifying, you

know, what's needed and getting the information can be

critical to helping in marketing and all the other areas

that we're trying to increase and increase awareness in all

of that.

So basically you would look at, what are the

current sources of your funding, both -- you want to look

at in-kind support. You also want to look at, you know,

what kind of funding is coming in? You want to look at,

how are the funds used? You also want to pay attention to

how they're restricted.

And there are -- honestly, there are opportunities

that we have turned down. And I've worked with other folks

who have turned down opportunities because the funds were

restricted, and it was going to be more trouble than it's

worth when it comes to AT reuse. So they said, "Okay. I'm

not going to do that."

Also, what time frame are they available, and how

stable and reliable are these sources? Is it relied

upon -- you know, what party is in office? Is it relied

upon -- how well a certain business did? And also, how are

they divided amongst your strategies and your activities?

All of these things are very important.

Looking at your gaps is also important and seeing

where your gaps are. You know, once again, I really

appreciate the AFPs kind of going through this process

ahead of time because it's helped in some ways because I

was working with our AFP specifically looking at assessing

the spending gap and seeing, what are some of the gaps that

exist there between current spending, and where do you

really want to head? What are your projected fiscal needs?

And this actually helped us make some really good and

thoughtful decisions when it comes to growing our AFP.

Same thing when it comes to AT reuse. This helps

folks, I think, probably in a bigger way -- especially our

volunteers and our advisory councils and all of those folks

understand this is where we want to go, and here's the gap.

And how can we fill this gap, especially if that gap is a

need that somebody has for equipment in order to get out of

a nursing home or to transition in a smooth way or any

number of things? So this gap analysis can be invaluable

in really helping people understand your story and the

power of your project.

So identifying funding sources -- I think a lot of

people -- y'all are obviously very, very good at this, and

I think a lot of people -- we can all grow in this area.

So what you want to do here is actually look at what it is

you need and when you need it, review your funding mix

right now.

There's an AT reuse program that I was working with

who actually wanted to get funding -- they actually had an

opportunity where they could get funding from a local

business, but it was an alcohol distributor, and that was

going to mess up some of their relationships because they

had a lot of support from a local church.

So looking at that mix and also getting an idea of,

gosh, not only is the mix good, but is it a good mix of

public and private funding? But also is it -- how are

these funders going to relate, and is this a good mix for

our overall mission and our values and all of that?

So just paying attention to that and what's the

long run there but also what are some of the sources that

we're not tapping? Getting information about all of that

can be important, and also determining what funding sources

are the most appropriate.

And as I said before, I think that some of our

environmental groups are going to become much more

important to us. And I'm also wondering if some of our

emergency preparedness and disaster-planning groups are

going to become even more important to us. I have a

feeling that they are.

So when you're clarifying what you need and when

you need it, basically you're looking at long-term and

short-term goals, and you're trying to kind of match these

in figuring out, you know, okay, if I need a hub scrub in

order to make my wheelchairs totally sanitized and that's a

gap we have, can I get some short-term funding to meet that

long-term need? And trying to match that up and who might

be interested in helping us with this one device?

Also, you know, seeing if there are other ways that

we can work on saving money and really practicing what

we're preaching when it comes to reutilization. It doesn't

make a lot of sense in some ways if we're AT reuse programs

but then we're spending a lot of time printing off papers

and not reusing, you know, paper and other things. So are

there inconsistencies there, too, that other funders would

pay attention to in looking at our overall practices?

So when you're looking at your funding mix, as I

said before, it's looking at that public versus private and

also getting percentages. A lot of times those percentages

are very interesting.

I was working with somebody the other day, and they

were really surprised about how dependent they are on

public funding. When they were talking to other people and

saying, "Oh, you know, it's about 50/50." Well, it really

wasn't. It was really more like 79 percent of their

funding really came from public sources. And that

surprised them, and so they started thinking, you know,

"Gosh, I need to do some more fee-for-service when it comes

to AT reuse." And we started exploring what that might

look like.

So sustainability and -- I mean, stability when it

comes to percentages of support and also reliability as we

talked before -- very important to look at those mixes.



EXPLORING POTENTIAL FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES - ENVIRONMENTAL



Some of the potential funding sources for AT reuse

that we want to make sure that we're paying attention to

are ones that some of you have definitely tapped and some

that not all of you have tapped, some that probably some of

you probably haven't thought about. So we're going to

explore some of those now.

And some of you -- and I appreciate -- I've talked

to several of you about some of these funding sources, and

we're going to be getting a lot more information about

these funding sources out to you. So it will be via our

Web site and also through some more Webinars so you can get

an idea of how these funding sources have helped.

So environmental groups is one and then also some

of the social services, education, environment, obviously

RSA. We're very thankful for the funding that RSA has

provided and the commitment they've provided -- private

sources that are out there and also some other funding

options that we might -- that you might want to be aware

of.

In the environmental arena, I actually have spent

some time looking at different Web sites and talking to

different folks. And I actually just wanted to bring up a

couple different Web sites because I want to, obviously, be

aware that we don't have all the time in the afternoon to

talk about all of this, but it will be a continued

conversation.

But I wanted to show some examples of things that

you can find that are out there. So for example, there's a

county that actually, you know, is very committed to

recycling. I know that that's actually happening more and

more where people are putting in their budgets the

importance of different initiatives when it comes to

recycling. And RecycleWorks is the name of this Web site.

It's recycleworks.org. And here they actually have

nano-grants that are available for under $2500. And I

think a lot of us -- a lot of people I know would just say,

"$2500 is not worth my time," but there are lots of us that

would say, "Oh, $2500. Gosh, you know, that could help

with X, X, X. That would get our trucks a little further

down the road. That would keep our Web site up for X

amount of months. That would, perhaps, buy a pallet mule.

That would buy some tools."

You know, really and truly, it's important to kind

of pay attention to this. Not a lot of strings attached,

so, you know, just paying attention to, you know, what are

the opportunities that are out there? And just being aware

of what it is that's going on in your county.

Because I think a lot of times we aren't paying

attention to our local governments and also not just where

I reside but paying attention to, gosh, in Savannah,

Georgia, they actually have a grant for reutilization down

there. And, you know, how can we apply to that? And how

can we get involved in that? And how can we work with our

independent living center in Savannah to make that a

reality?

We're actually finding that's popping up all over

the country, which is nice. Best Buy -- I actually sent

this out to all of y'all, and we actually had a couple

people that applied for this, and I think actually a couple

people received this. And it's a new recycling program

that they have where they were providing grants to

communities, and the grants were actually $500 to $1500,

depending on the size and scope of the program and -- Best

Buy. That's pretty cool that they actually have this whole

initiative when it comes to grants, when it comes to

recycling. And once again, they're using a term that we're

moving away from because we're using "reuse." But it was

nice to see. And I was glad that so many people did jump

on that one.

The other ones -- the other groups that I think

it's important to pay attention to -- and I've actually

talked to a couple of these folks recently -- are the whole

Keep -- and you can put whatever state you want in there --

Beautiful so Keep Arkansas Beautiful is the one that I

pulled up here. And they actually, on their Web site, have

grants and awards that are not just for Arkansas. They

actually have several that are national grants.

So, for example, the Weyerhaeuser Family is

actually a national grant, and I thought that was very

interesting that they have that available. They also had a

good link here for the National Association of Counties

where it actually talks more about some of these Keep

Beautiful, you know -- whatever state it is -- different

initiatives that you can actually go after for some funds.

So I thought that was very interesting and worth pursuing

and talking about.

So there's a lot more there that we want to

consider. There are a couple of you that actually I know

have talked to the Department of Agriculture, and a couple

of folks have gotten some funding when it comes to AT reuse

in agriculture, which is great.

There are a couple of folks that we -- one state

actually that we're working with that's actually trying to

get some -- and they just submitted for some equipment

within their Community Development Block Grant Fund, and I

thought that was very interesting. Somebody was actually

going for a hub scrub under that, and that's nice to see.

Also some of the Economic Development

Microenterprise -- I think there's some opportunities

there. We've actually discussed that a little bit about

small businesses that could pop up out of our AT reuse

activities. And we're actually -- we're talking to one

person who is actually going through this right now and

trying to see if they can actually get some money for the

microenterprise, and it's AT-reuse-related, and that's very

exciting.

So once again, looking at the whole picture here --

obviously social services; Medicaid; DD councils, as we

talked about before, and some of their innovative grant

initiatives and trying to, you know, go after some of

those. Working with the Centers For Excellence on

Disabilities -- some folks have been successful in that in

getting some funding for their AT reuse activities in that.

And then right now in Georgia we're actually

talking with our Department of Aging to see if there's

potential for incorporating AT reuse on some scale within

their overall vision. And what would that funding look

like? The Workforce Investment Board -- this is a very

interesting one -- and I was talking to some people in

Florida who actually had received a little funding from

them for their AT reuse initiatives -- once again, it was

very specific, and it was on a local level.

And state-level funding also looking at, you know,

if you're helping people get to work, maybe AT reuse can

help make that vision. And we do know that that actually

happens and becomes a reality. And looking at resources

when it comes to workforce development.

Obviously, education -- vocational rehabilitation

-- a lot of folks have gotten connected with that. As a

matter of fact, the meeting we had last week with South

Carolina, vocational rehabilitation was sitting at the

table with us. Same thing in Delaware. Same thing in

Georgia. Same thing happened in Minnesota where vocational

rehabilitation was saying, "Okay. How can we help? How do

we collaborate?"

So getting creative with that and seeing that as a

potential funding source. That may be a fee-for-service

activity that you provide and just being aware of that.

Some of the private sources -- universities. We're

actually finding that some universities are very interested

in making sure that they have AT, that AT changes all the

time. And so -- as some folks move on and what have you.

So making sure that we are connected with the AT -- with

the appropriate folks, disability student service providers

or what have you, at universities and seeing if there's

potential for funding there. Once again, it may be a

fee-for-service that we're offering when it comes to AT

reuse. It could be, you know, different things.

There's a -- there was an opportunity that we had a

few years ago where we were working with a large university

here in Georgia, and we actually ended up doing some

services for them, and the AT reutilization project

actually benefited greatly from that. They ended up with

almost $50,000 for the work that was provided, and that's

great.

Our faith-based organizations and, once again,

looking at all of them within your community and the

communities that we're serving can really make a big

difference. One model that we're actually looking at that

I think is very interesting where the faith-based

organizations have helped is in transportation and actually

seeing it as part of their mission within their own

community to provide transportation for AT reuse. Very

interesting. And once again, that can be an in-kind

support that fills that gap that you have identified in

your logic model.

A lot of people are familiar with the Lighthouse

and their initiatives when it comes to vision and, you

know, related issues. But the Rotary Clubs have gotten

very interested in this. Internationally also, the Pilot

Club is another one that has actually been very interested

in this and any other number of organizations -- Kiwanis,

just making sure that we're getting connected with those.

Also paying attention to other private nonprofits and

making sure that we're getting connected with them.

So one of the questions that I would have you

really think about -- actually three here. And once again,

these are ones that the AFPs, when they were going through

their -- as they were moving through their sustainability

planning, they posed these, and these are good ones to

think about: Are there funding sources that you know of

that might provide support for your organization? Who are

the decision makers that have -- that administer these

dollars in the community? And how can you engage them in

supporting your program?

Those are three very, very, very important

questions. And we've seen where some folks have been just

dynamo when it comes to their -- and it's important to kind

of watch and learn and also start taking part in those

opportunities and making sure that you're at those events,

that you're engaging in conversations with folks, that

you're sitting at the table.

Other funding options -- the legislative

appropriations fee for service. Community fundraising.

And I'm going to talk about that a bit more and then also

some things that we've found that I have found pretty

interesting that have started popping up.



EXPLORING FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES - SETTING UP A STORE



This idea of setting up a store -- a couple of the

AT reuse groups that are out there have actually set up a

store where they have a wide range of things that are

available to the public, including clothing and any number

of things.

Many of you are familiar with FODAC's model where

they have a thrift store that actually is a great

fundraising source. It can also be a headache, but there

are other groups that have actually set up very specific

stores where it's related directly to just computer

equipment, or it's related to other types of equipment --

cell phones, for example, any number of things.

And that can make a big difference when it comes to

actually, you know, making people aware of, first of all,

here's our need. You've got people coming through that

could be potential donators of equipment but also donors of

time, different resources of money.

So SCRAP is actually a store that's in Portland,

Oregon. And it's actually an acronym for School and

Community Reuse Action Project. And this group actually

has a store where they actually have all kinds of

equipment, you know, all types of different things that are

available.

And they're actually making really good money, and

they've done a good job in their marketing of this. They

actually have on their Web site -- it's a very interesting

Web site in some ways because, you know, I haven't really

seen a lot of things like that that are out there. But

they have a list of all the organizations that they're

interacting with that are helping them and then also all of

the businesses.

And once again, just putting their partnerships out

there can be a helpful thing. And then also making sure

that people are aware that they are a resource for getting

some of that older equipment. So that's a good thing.

Other potential funding opportunities -- scrap

metal, scrap anything can actually lead towards funding.

And so being aware that some of this actually that we're

working with can actually generate some funds. And I'm

giving you several examples of that.

One I talked about earlier, which is the precious

metals, and there are organizations that are looking for

those precious metals. We're finding that there's actually

more mining for gold and things like that that are of

things that already exist than actually is happening, you

know, in gold mines. And that's very interesting to pay

attention, once again, to that trend.

Earth 911, earth911.org -- it's a Web site that is

focused on helping businesses help the environment -- is

what they say. And here they actually have a list of folks

that work with waste exchanges and all of that. They've

got national folks.

And the waste -- actually, it's not just about AT,

obviously. It's not just about the scrap metal and all of

that. They have a wide range of things they're looking at.

But on here you can actually find groups that will help

when it comes to getting rid of your equipment and getting

some funds for that. And sometimes it's very specific

equipment.

So, for example, somebody may be looking only for a

certain type of battery, and you may have those batteries.

They may be looking only for a certain type of wire, and

you may have that wire. So you can enter your ZIP Code,

and it will actually give you specific resources in your

community.

And when I entered my ZIP code, which is 30345, I

found a whole bunch of resources that I didn't even realize

existed, and I thought that was very interesting. I

entered some of y'all's ZIP codes also and found resources

there.

Collective Good is another group that I just want

to make sure that you're aware of. And if you've had --

we've had a strong relationship with them here in Georgia,

and they're a mobile phone recycling group where it's

pretty simple to interact with them.

There are several of these groups that are out

there, but I want to make sure that y'all are aware of them

because basically it's as simple as putting out boxes

either in your facility, or if you have career centers or

one-stop shops or libraries -- local libraries, they're

getting connected with the library or the school system

and, you know, just putting out these boxes where people

can throw their cell phone in there or any number of

things, and you have your own sticker that goes on that.

Somebody seals it up, sends it off, and you actually get

money as a result.

And we have found that a lot of folks actually

are -- several AT reuse programs that we've talked to about

this are getting anywhere from a hundred up to -- somebody

told me that they're making about $1200 a month off of

this, and I was like, gosh, that is pretty good. I think a

lot of us -- I would be happy with $100, but I sure would

be happy with $1200 a month.

RBRC is actually the battery recycling -- it's

actually a recycling program, and what they're looking for

is actually batteries. They're looking for any number of

batteries. Before it was a headache to get rid of some of

those batteries, and now people are actually looking for

them. And so you can actually go to this Web site, which

is rbrc.org, and it talks to you. It gives in detail how

their program actually works.

And I also have another site here that actually is

a graphic. I kind of like the graphic of how things work

with them. And basically what they do is they -- you can,

once again, put out a box and collect all these batteries.

They're looking mostly for rechargeable batteries. But

they'll take them -- and I think a lot of times people

think, "Oh, it's just for cell phones." But they're

actually looking for cell phone batteries, batteries from

drills, batteries from laptops, batteries from any number

of devices.

And then what happens is they go to a recharging --

rechargeable-battery-recycling facility, or if it's a cell

phone, it goes to a cell phone-recycling facility. And

once again, something that used to be something that would

cost us a lot of money is not costing as much as it once

did.

The next few Web sites that I wanted to talk to you

about are things like eScrip. And I don't know if any of

you are familiar with this group, but this actually was set

up for schools, helping schools, but now they've opened it

up to organizations. And once again, another one of the AT

reuse programs that's out there that's a bigger one turned

me on to this.

And what they did is they actually sent out an

e-mail, and they market this pretty well. And they say,

"Hey, if you're shopping online" -- because a lot of our

folks do shop online -- "If you're shopping online, would

you mind just shopping through our Web site with our

number?" And that way it worked where they're actually

getting percentages off.

So, for example, with Land's End, if you shop

online, you can contribute five percent to the organization

that you're shopping for, which is kind of cool. Old Navy,

two percent. And the list goes on and on and on, which is

nice. And then they also have a whole

reuse-aspect-fundraising initiative within eScrip, and I

thought that was interesting.

The other one that I wanted to make sure that you

were aware of is BCS. It's a recycling group that's been

around since 1988. And they actually do a lot of very

interesting things when it comes to recycling. They're

very good about getting rid of -- properly getting rid of

equipment, and they actually will pay for some equipment

and then some things if you can just get it to them,

they'll get rid of it at no cost to you, which is nice.

They're the ones that are actually doing and really

marketing their precious metals reuse, and I thought that

was very interesting. They actually have a

monitor-recycling project. They also are doing pull, like,

auctions of equipment and things like that. But they can

also permanently destruct equipment, and that's sometimes

what people really want. And I just want to make sure that

you were aware of that resource there.

The Funding Factory is another organization that I

wanted to make sure that you are aware of. They

actually -- their tag line is "Unlock the power of

recycling." And in here, this is where you can actually

very simply -- and I know of an organization -- AT reuse

organization that's doing this where they're actually

getting -- they have all these different collection boxes

for different cartridges, things like that that are just

set up next to printers in different businesses.

The people, once it's full -- they ship it off, and

the reuse project actually ends up getting some money as a

result, which is very nice. They've actually given out,

through their project, over $10 million. And that's pretty

cool. It's been one that's been around and has been pretty

successful, and they're actually expanding their services

into PDAs and other devices.

So as we're looking at all these funding sources,

it's important to kind of figure out what's the most

appropriate for you. Some people will look at that cell

phone recycling, and they're like, "Oh, I don't have time

for that. I don't have the connections for that. I don't

want to bother with that."

Others of you may have heard about that and say,

"Wow, that's something that I could really make work in my

community." And I would encourage you, if you want to know

more about that, we can talk more about that.

But the thing is, I would encourage you as you

heard all those different options and opportunities out

there is to think, does this funding source fit with your

mission? Is it something that really kind of helps you

stay true to your vision, if you will? Is the source

appropriate when it comes to -- and does it have the right

time frame if it's a matching-funding source for the funds

that you're trying to get? Does it add -- does it have

value that's added? Is it important to what it is you're

trying to do? Do the benefits outweigh the administrative

costs?

And there are lots of grants out there that are

wonderful and easy to manage, and then there are other ones

that really are pretty darn difficult. And so talking to

each other and figuring, "This grant was a great grant when

it comes to AT reuse, and, gosh, that Sierra Club was easy

to work with, but I'd stay away from this other

organization." And that's something that we can all

communicate about and learn from each other.

Diversifying your portfolio, once again, that

mix -- does your source expand and create balance in your

portfolio? Is it something that you'd be proud of? I know

that there are partners that we have that I just love that

we're a partner of theirs and making sure that it fits with

the vision and the mission of your AT reuse program.

And then also the politics. You know, is it

appropriate, especially in the funding source? Is it

politically feasible? Those are all things that I would

encourage you to pay attention to.



QUESTIONS



What questions do y'all have? Y'all have been

absolutely wonderful.

And, Rob, what would you like to throw in?

ROB: Hi. This is Rob. Hopefully everyone can

hear me.

We've gone through at least the first three modules

of the financing -- the finance projects set of modules.

And just kind of to talk a little bit about what

Carolyn was saying, she mentioned green initiatives and,

you know, the environmental arena. And I actually saw an

article in yesterday's Washington Post on sustainability

that focused on green business practices. And essentially

that's one way of looking at AT reuse programs.

Not too long ago, you know, I was asked how RSA

defines "sustainability." Carolyn had mentioned that

everybody defines "sustainability" differently. And I

suppose that's true.

But from your perspective, what does it mean to

sustain a program? Does it mean to maintain? continue?

support? Carolyn even mentioned expand a program. And

hopefully, you know, within our definition -- it does not

include to endure or to suffer.

I mean this is certainly something that, when you

look at the key elements of the sustainability plan that

are described in that actual first sustainability

self-assessment tool that you go through, those eight

elements there -- once you are able to address those, then

you can come up with a foundation or an actual logic model

for your organization or your program. And that's actually

the first couple of parts of your sustainability plan.

And what Carolyn was talking about toward the end

there was looking at the financial side of things that go

into the plan. You know, how is it that, when you look in

that section of the financing plan, that you're going to go

after the individual donors, the foundation grants, the

possible state-level support, fundraising, and things like

that?

So hopefully this is a good overview for y'all --

hopefully I said that okay, Carolyn -- for y'all down there

to explore opportunities for your programs to expand

because, I mean, this is really important. The

sustainability of these programs -- because these are

innovative programs, good quality programs that we want to

keep going.

CAROLYN: Rob, thank you so much. That's so

helpful. And I appreciate you chiming in. And, of course,

saying "y'all" is great.

It looks like Jane has a question. And basically I

think she's asking here, is there any type of national

initiative that would benefit the various states who are

doing reuse?

So, for example, marketing to national resources

media -- that's national. And you gave, obviously, Oprah

would be a great one to market to. And I think that that's

something that we need to look at, obviously, from the Pass

It On Center but also from the national perspective working

with our partners at RESNA, NATTAP, and ATIA and looking

at, what would that look like nationally?

What other questions do y'all have?

And, Jane, I appreciate you asking that question.

We'll definitely talk more about it.

What other questions do you have? What other

thoughts do you have?

I do hope this was helpful. I tried to cover the

information that y'all had requested. So what other

questions?

And actually, Jane, and -- I think that we also

need to figure out, obviously, the answer is no, so it

would be good to see that. Let's see what we could do to

create that national initiative. And I think that goes

back to some of the work that NATTAP's doing when it comes

to trying to help everybody understand what assistive

technology is in general and what the AT Act programs are

doing.

Ron says that one of the slides mentioned bonding,

and how would that work?

And, Rob, do you want to jump on that? It looks

like Tom has something to add too. And we'll get back to

your question, Ron.

ROB: Okay. I'm not sure if Tom actually --

TOM: Go ahead, Rob. 10-4.

ROB: I was just thinking some of the examples

Carolyn was showing of the various Web sites -- that same

concept could be applied to a national marketing plan that

there are probably resources out there doing pieces of it.

So maybe part of what we can do is identify those pieces

and somehow help bring them together.

Also Paul has a question: "Do you have a listing

of those Web sites used as examples?"

And we sure do. And we can get that to you.

JOY: And I think that we need to be able to get

back to Ron about bonding. And I know that there are some

people who have worked on that nationally in some different

venues. And so, you know, that's something we definitely

want to be able to collect more information about and get

back to you on.

CAROLYN: Yes, we sure will get back to you with

that answer. That's no problem -- in relation to bonding.

And also it looks like, Jane, you had said the

level -- the national level of marketing could generate

equipment donations.

Absolutely agree. I think it would be really

great, and I think we need to think collectively, as we're

creating this national AT reuse network, of how we can

generate national marketing so that folks do know what

we're trying to do and how we're trying to do it and why

we're trying to do it and all of that.

Thank you for the comment.

And as Tom said, we definitely will have all these

Web sites available and a lot more.

What other questions do y'all have?

JOY: I was going to mention, Carolyn, too -- and

this goes back to what Jane was suggesting -- is that hand

in hand if we were to, say, do more of a national marketing

effort about something like, say, donations? I think one

thing that would be very important is for all of you to

look at the local level -- and I know you're doing this --

as to the kind of storage capacity that you already have

and issues around that.

And I know that our next Webinar will be dealing

with issues of storage and looking at what a couple of

different programs are doing around that issue. We know

that that is an issue for some of you.

CAROLYN: Thank you, Joy. That's really helpful.

Tom is going to read our next question.

ROB: And Jamie's asking a very relevant question.

She says, "We're so busy meeting consumer needs in

Louisiana, how do y'all have time to manage all the

different funding sources you need to run these AT reuse

programs?"

CAROLYN: That's a great question, Jamie. And

thanks again for joining us.

Does anybody want to address that? If not, then I

sure can.

JOY: I think it's, you know, a long -- it is a

planning issue. I think that one of the things that's most

important is being able to somehow etch out some piece of

time where all of you who are working on this can

literately have a retreat away and close down your

operations.

And I know that, since you're in Louisiana, that

obviously you haven't been in a position to do that.

You've been inundated with demand that probably far exceeds

what everybody else has experienced.

But I know here in Georgia when we have needed to

work on long-range-planning issues, we've had to literally

retreat away from the office, get away from the phones, get

away from, you know, the continual demand for services.

And that has been one of the solutions we found.

And we've also found that kind of helps us to sort

of regenerate a little bit and be able to go back out and

do what needs to be done where a little piece of all of

these activities is shared by all staff, and it's not on

any one person's shoulders.

CAROLYN: Thank you, Joy. That's very helpful.

And, Jamie, I think that it can be very

overwhelming, and that's why it's very important to -- as

you're building this sustainability plan, to really

identify your key champions and create champions that can

help you. Because looking at all these different funding

sources, it takes time. It's research and then also

developing those relationships and going after that

funding.

And so it's that whole thing of working smarter,

not harder and letting, you know, some of the volunteers

help with some of the other activities or some of the other

staff members or what have you and then making sure that

you can, you know, have some dedicated time to look at some

of these funding sources and then also getting everyone to

kind of feel like they're part of this where everybody has

a role and tries to see the bigger picture.

And that's where making sure that everybody is

aware of your sustainability plan can help raise the

awareness of your gaps and hopefully potential funding.

Going back to the bonding question. And I

apologize. Sometimes reading the public chat is a little

difficult for me, so I didn't quite understand the

question, and I apologize for that.

But the way that has actually related to AT reuse

is that there's one state that I'm talking to right now --

one group that I've talked to that actually was trying to

get -- they were doing a bond. It was a local bond, and

what they were trying to do is get AT reuse to be a part of

that bond.

And so it was something that was going to go before

the voters. It hadn't gone before the voters yet, but it

was just a small part of a percentage. But just making

sure that people were aware of that. And that's actually

huge if you can get, you know, even a percentage of a penny

that's spent in taxes in your local county or your city or

your state. That could make a huge difference in your

overall outlook, you know, for the future.

And so I know that Georgia is not really a gambling

state. We do have a lottery. But there are other states

that actually have bonds that are associated with their

gambling. So paying attention to some of that and seeing

if you can buy in or get in on that.

Our time is up pretty much, but I'm so glad that

y'all were interested in this and that you are interested

in this. And as I said, I hope this really has helped.

Rob, I know -- I appreciate all the groundwork you

did to help me prepare for this and all the ideas that you

helped me with when we were bouncing ideas off each other.

I know that he'll be much more involved in the next

one, and so thank you very much, Rob. And you'll have a

lot more to say, I'm sure, in the future ones. You've got

so much wisdom.

I saw that James said -- you wanted to know if the

Web sites are going to be -- I mean if this information is

going to be on the Web site. It absolutely is going to be.

We're hoping to have that up -- we're hoping by Friday,

this Friday. We'll send out an e-mail to everybody.

Tom has done a great job as our Pass It On Center

coordinator in trying to get the word out. So we'll make

sure that he gets the word out to let all of you know that

it's up.

And, Paul, I see that you want to know that too.

Heather, thank you for the positive feedback. And

you want to know about other Webinars addressing

reutilization in the future, and we'll definitely keep you

in the loop with that.

Rob, anything that you want to add to this

discussion before we close?

ROB: Actually, I think that was very well done.

It was a lot of information we covered, essentially, as I

said earlier, modules 1 through 3.

So, you know, perhaps people will have the

opportunity to, you know, look at their self-assessments of

their programs or, you know, start looking at having a

local planning meeting with whoever they work with to start

up on a logic model.

And when we think about a logic model, I mean that

really can fit on to one page, and it's a really good

document for showing what type of progress you're trying to

achieve as a program in your community.

So thanks for everyone's participation.

CAROLYN: Thank you so much, Rob. I really

appreciate it.

And I also wanted to let everybody know that this

Thursday we're actually going to be working with NATTAP,

and we're going to be doing a Webinar about the Pass It On

Center. We're going to be -- Jeremy is actually going to

be joining us with that -- Jeremy Buzzell along with

Jessica Brody and Joy Kniskern and Tom Patterson.

We're going to be walking y'all through

reutilization -- AT reutilization, what the initiative

really is, and also what the Pass It On Center is doing,

looking specifically at liability issues and all of that.

So please join us for that.

And I also wanted to remind all of you that we are

going to be having a mini strand at ATIA. We've got

several sessions that are going to be going on down there,

and we're very excited about that.

Once again, I appreciate Sara Sack and Beth Mineo

helping us out with that and, obviously, Caroline Van Howe.

Thank you for your collaboration with that.

Thank you again for all of your interest, and we

look forward to meeting with you, if not before, on

December 11th when we're going to have a Webinar about

storage -- how to store things efficiently, and also how to

kind of just set up your operation in a physical way. What

does it really need to look like in some ways? What do you

need to consider? Things like that.

So anyway, y'all have a wonderful afternoon, and

thank you so much. Take care.

Heather, I actually see your question, and I think

you're asking if you'll be in the same room. And actually

we'll be in the room set up for NATTAP for the Webinar on

Thursday. I should have said that. I apologize. Thanks

for asking. And Nell Bailey will be sending out an e-mail

with the address.

You're welcome, Heather. Happy to help.

Thank you so much, Caroline.