Did you know that the total employment in the United States has dropped between June 2000 and August 2009. This means that even though the population in the United States has grown, we have fewer jobs today than we had in 2000. So, according to Dr. Donald Schunk, the Research Economist at the BB&T Center for Economic and Community Development at Coastal Carolina University, the continuing recovery is very likely to be felt as a "jobless recovery." For non-profit organizations and others in South Carolina this slow recovery could feel like no recovery.
The next part of the meeting was a panel discussion of selected non-profit organizations discussing what they have tried to do to withstand the ravages of the current economy. This session shared some of those things we like to call "best practices" among organizations.
A key idea for me from this panel discussion was the overall agreement among the panelists that keeping their stakeholders at every level informed of what was happening and what was being considered, was one of the most useful strategies. As a communicator, I see most crisis situations as needing some form of strategic communication and the panelists put an exclamation point on my belief. John Singerling, chief operating officer of Palmetto Health Richland, told the audience that he was about to start a speaking tour that will have him in meetings with all of the thousands of employees in his organization. He stressed the need for total transparency in these times and he noted that these face-to-face meetings helped ensure the necessary transparency. Also on this panel were Mac Bennett, CEO of the United Way of the Midlands, Dr. Elizabeth Flemming, president of Converse College and Ken Trogdon, CEO of Welvista.
SCANPO President Mason Hardy and his staff did a good job of putting together a strong, relevant Executive Round Table.
Showing posts with label SCANPO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SCANPO. Show all posts
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
"Tomorrow's Philanthropy Today "
was the theme of the Executive Round Table, an initiative of the South Carolian Association of Non Profit Organizations (SCANPO) that was sponsored by Haynsworth Sinkler Boyd, P.A. in Greenville, SC on October 15 and 16.
The Executive Round Table had been cancelled in 2008 as the crippled economy made it difficult for any organization to think about much more than its own existence. The 2009 Executive Round Table had 80 people registered. Mason Hardy, President and CEO of SCANPO said this was the largest crowd that has participated in this invitation-only event. There was a great deal of interesting information shared among the participants and, as most can imagine, the primary topic of concern was the economy.
Dr. Donald Schunk
Dr. Schunk is a Research Economist at Coastal Carolina University and though he wanted to deliver a Good News/Bad News presentation on the state of the economy, the ultimate conclusion is that while technically he agrees the recession is over, realistically it is going to be another year and, perhaps two, before it feels like it is over for most people.
Here are a couple of interesting bullet points from this presentation:
** This is very likely to be a jobless recovery.
** The government stimulus probably kept us from a more severe recession or even depression but, as an economist, he is ambivalent on the governmental actions
** South Carolina has the second highest level of home ownership in the United States and he said, I believe, that West Virginia is first. The mobile home was one of the reasons given.
** His discussion on job creation was very interesting because it showed just how devastating the job losses have been in this current recession. That was important information for this audience because many of the non-profit organizations in the room depend on contributions from individuals for their life blood of funds.
** A portion of the good news of his presentation was that the Dow had gone over 10,000 but he tempered that good news with the caution that the market might not yet be in a steady upward climb. This was of importance to many in the audience, like the Foundations, whose finances have taken hits in the 23 to 33 percent range over the past couple of years and some upward movement of the Dow feels very good.
Will end this blog here to keep it readable and post more about the Round Table in subsequent notes.
The Executive Round Table had been cancelled in 2008 as the crippled economy made it difficult for any organization to think about much more than its own existence. The 2009 Executive Round Table had 80 people registered. Mason Hardy, President and CEO of SCANPO said this was the largest crowd that has participated in this invitation-only event. There was a great deal of interesting information shared among the participants and, as most can imagine, the primary topic of concern was the economy.
Dr. Donald Schunk
Dr. Schunk is a Research Economist at Coastal Carolina University and though he wanted to deliver a Good News/Bad News presentation on the state of the economy, the ultimate conclusion is that while technically he agrees the recession is over, realistically it is going to be another year and, perhaps two, before it feels like it is over for most people.
Here are a couple of interesting bullet points from this presentation:
** This is very likely to be a jobless recovery.
** The government stimulus probably kept us from a more severe recession or even depression but, as an economist, he is ambivalent on the governmental actions
** South Carolina has the second highest level of home ownership in the United States and he said, I believe, that West Virginia is first. The mobile home was one of the reasons given.
** His discussion on job creation was very interesting because it showed just how devastating the job losses have been in this current recession. That was important information for this audience because many of the non-profit organizations in the room depend on contributions from individuals for their life blood of funds.
** A portion of the good news of his presentation was that the Dow had gone over 10,000 but he tempered that good news with the caution that the market might not yet be in a steady upward climb. This was of importance to many in the audience, like the Foundations, whose finances have taken hits in the 23 to 33 percent range over the past couple of years and some upward movement of the Dow feels very good.
Will end this blog here to keep it readable and post more about the Round Table in subsequent notes.
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