Members of the 2023-24 Chenango Youth Philanthropy Council. The Place will be hosting their second annual nonprofit showcase at noon on February 7 at the SUNY Morrisville Norwich Campus, and council members will attend to learn about local nonprofits and what they do. (Submitted photo)

NORWICH — The Place will be hosting their second annual nonprofit showcase event, where community members and members of the Chenango Youth Philanthropy Council can learn about local nonprofits and what they do.

The showcase will be held from noon to 1:30 p.m. on February 7 at the SUNY Morrisville Norwich Campus, located at 20 Conkey Avenue in Norwich.

Nonprofits in attendance include Aunt Mary's House, the Chenango County Historical Society, the Chenango County Department of Health, Liberty Resources, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Family Enrichment Network, Family Resources Network, Greater Opportunities Head Start Program, Fidelis, Family Planning of South Central New York, Hospice and Palliative Care, and the Chenango County Area Agency on Aging.

Community members are encouraged to attend and learn more about the variety of resources available in the area.

Local nonprofits interested in joining the showcase can contact The Place Youth Services Coordinator Breanne Heath at 607-336-9696 ext. 106 or youthservices@theplacenorwich.com.

Heath said the showcase is also an opportunity for area high school students participating in the Youth Philanthropy Council to learn more about philanthropy in the area.

The Chenango Youth Philanthropy Council made up of 40 high school students from the Norwich, Sherburne, and Unadilla Valley School Districts. As part of being a council member, students must complete volunteer hours, and sit in on a nonprofit board meeting.

"They have to at least sit in on one board meeting of a local nonprofit. They can choose. Usually I’ll get nonprofits lined up like, ‘Hey do you care if you have a student sit in on a meeting?’ Most of them are really good and they welcome the students’ voices," Heath explained. "If they haven’t found a nonprofit that interests them by the time the showcase comes around, that’s a question they can ask is if they’ll allow students to sit in on a board meeting, and then that opens another door, too."

Students must also interview nonprofits during the showcase and then present a report about the organization to the rest of the council.

"They have a whole list of questions they have to ask," said Heath. "What population does your nonprofit serve? What needs? What are some hurdles that you’ve had to jump? So they kind of get to know the nonprofit in a short amount of time, and then after that nonprofit showcase they'll go back and they’ll have their council meeting and then they have to report back on the nonprofit."

Another component of the Youth Philanthropy Council is fundraising and providing grants to local nonprofits.

"Basically they start the program and they learn about philanthropy, what philanthropy is, what needs we have in our community or what needs are in New Berlin or Sherburne, wherever they live," Heath said. "Then we talk about the needs assessment that’s done between, the health department does one and the Community Foundation does one. So we kind of look at that and look at the needs that have been identified in our areas, and then we talk about fundraising."

She said The Place Executive Director Sharon Vesely applies for a grant through the Community Foundation, which serves as a base amount in their "funding pot." Then, the councils from each school district come up with plans for fundraising, and all money raised is added into the pot.

At the end of the year, Heath said the students create their own Request for Proposals (RFP) which local nonprofits can apply for.

"They can decide, when they go to do their RFP, if they want to concentrate on one specific need that’s in the community or if they want it to be a general RFP and any nonprofit can apply, no matter what needs they’re serving or what population they’re serving," she said.

Heath said the councils from the three school districts meet for a kickoff in October, then meet separately throughout the school year, and come together again in March to determine which nonprofits will receive funding based on the RFPs they received.

In May, they host a ceremony to award funding to the nonprofits that were chosen through the RFP process.

"They really go through the whole process from start to finish about giving up their time, and then obviously they’re not giving up their money, but they are fundraising and then going through that whole process," Heath said.

For more information on the Chenango Youth Philanthropy Council and The Place, visit ThePlaceNorwich.com or The Place Facebook page.