The Non Profit Boot Camp, Passion Lives!

Recently I attended and volunteered at the Non Profit Boot Camp in Manhattan (an event sponsored by The Craig’s List Foundation). It was truly amazing with over 1,200 emerging and established community leaders in the non-profit world in attendance. Everyone seemed filled with boundless and contagious enthusiasm; it was remarkable how organized the chaos was.

Most of the attendees were young and idealistic, many just starting out in the non-profit arena, there to soak up as much knowledge as possible during a very long day. Others came with only a dream, hoping to learn from others how set up their own non-profit, each convinced their cause was unique. The event included a day of interesting workshops, keynotes and some great networking. The volunteer staff was terrific, smoothing over any issues that occurred throughout the day and the killer coffee and natural snacks supplied from vendors for free were an added plus especially for those sitting in the trade show section!

So what was my part besides taking a booth at the trade show and drinking some great coffee? For two hours I sat in a small room working one-on-one in twenty minute intervals with 5 different people who signed up to speak to me for help with branding and marketing (the sessions were organized and run by a great organization called Non-Profit Central NY/NJ with its CEO Sue Caruso Green at the helm). I began each session w/, "How can I help you?" and often just being a sounding board seemed to help. Sometimes my "EXPERTISE" was just coming up with a simple solution for them to consider. (after all how much can you learn in twenty minutes?) Nonetheless, I felt very valued, with many of them trying to grab an extra minute with me before the next person came in to take a seat, and each leaving with a heartfelt thank you. Something that doesn’t always happen with paying clients.

It was a long day, but a real breath of fresh air. As one client (a boomer-aged director of an arts organization) once told me "After years of having to raise funds for the pens we use it’s great to see the next generation still idealistic, willing to take the challenge head on!” As I read in a commentary in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, “Millennial (young 20’s) are passionate about causes and, according to the Corporation for National and Community Service, are volunteering in record numbers.” I like to think that as a baby boomer our idealistic generation started the conversation. GO millenials – now you can keep the conversation going and teach us all a thing or two!

Want to learn more go to: www.craigslistfoundation.org

Do Design Awards Matter?

Well of course they do, but not how you might think.

They don’t often get you new accounts, but they certainly matter to your design staff who need and deserve the praise for a job well done. There was a survey going around a couple of years ago that asked people if they had the choice between winning an Oscar or an award for a scientific discovery, which would they choose? Surprisingly most chose the Oscar. It seems being in the limelight and dressed up in front of your peers at a gala event means a lot.

So why do clients care? People in marketing responsible for choosing a firm to work with are always under a lot of pressure. How better to validate their decision to their bosses when the firm they chose wins awards on their behalf. Now please don’t misconstrue this. Awards never replace who the ultimate winners are. They are announced later when you do or don’t get a call for the next assignment after your client evaluates the success of the strategy on their bottom line!
















So with that being said, I want to say kudos to my amazing and talented staff and to our very smart clients for choosing us. The Byne Group Took Home 10 Big W Awards this June including several honors for its work on Nyack Hospital’s Get to Know the Doctors Who Trust Nyack Hospital Image Campaign. Amy Massimo, Nyack Hospital's Director of Public Affairs, said it best: “The Byne Group worked extensively for us to develop cohesive, effective and targeted marketing campaigns and they all proved to be widely successful.” Amy let us know that we succeeded at our most important job by helping Nyack Hospital's bottom line!

The firm also earned Big W's for work for The Hollows at Blue Hill, Dominican College, Catholic Charities and United Hospice of Rockland.

Rockland and Beyond- The Byne Group Staying on Top of the Issues Effecting our Clients

The Byne Group continues to stay on top of local issues and opportunities effecting our clients, particularly those in the higher education, healthcare and financial arenas. Constant vigilance on hot topics concerning our customers keep us on top of our game with ready access to the information and research areas available that can help our clients make useful and financially key decisions.

In line with this thought, Mary Ellen Hoffman, our strategy/business development director, recently attended the 3rd Annual Hudson Valley Regional Economic Summit held at neighboring Rockland Community College. The Summit is a seven-county effort designed to explore local, national and global economic issues. It focuses on the current state of the region’s infrastructure and identifies strategies to address the challenges. The intent is that the strategies will be adopted as priorities by lawmakers and other public policy officials and by leaders in the business and education communities.

Much of the dialogue of the day was how transportation and economic health go hand in hand and how to retain more of the 200,000 Hudson Valley commuters going to NYC, NJ and CT on a daily basis on roads and bridges over 50 years old. What was striking about the consortium of speakers was how they all must work in such minute detail to get anything done, i.e. – the traffic light on College Road entering Rockland Community College campus – a state road, a county road, a town road…finding out who was in charge took quite a while for President of RCC, Dr. Cliff Woods, but ultimately resulted in the needed traffic light. Pattern for Progress President & CEO, Jonathan Drapkin, opened the seminar with 15 Transportation Priorities needed in the Hudson Valley. Pattern is a regional planning organization that has for more than four decades shaped public policy initiatives to improve life in the Hudson Valley.

We applaud RCC for hosting this event and urge our colleagues, clients and friends to visit Pattern’s website at www.pattern-for-progress.org to learn more.

2008 Healthcare Reform Summit

At The Byne Group, it is important for us to stay on top of the trends, issues, threats and opportunities that effect the industries of our clients. With several healthcare clients, ranging from large hospitals to regional visiting nurses associations and hospice groups, we pride ourselves in staying on top of the news and bringing an understanding of current events into the work we produce.

As members of the Healthcare Professionals Public Relations and Marketing Society, we consistently attend symposiums and educational forums to maintain our status as knowledgeable marketers who also collaborate with strategic communications partners to bring the best possible end product to our customers.

Our principal, Ann Byne, recently attended the 2008 Healthcare Reform Summit in New York, hosted by an organization called the Executive Council. "The Executive Council is a dynamic, innovative forum for senior executives, their advisors and capital markets professionals to network in a highly collaborative and stimulating environment,"Ann said.

She continued, "The event was designed to provide healthcare leaders with insights into why and how healthcare reform is critical to our country and our businesses. The event focused on whether we can rely on our marketplace forces to address healthcare reform and the overall impact of reform on our academic health centers and medical schools, the Life Sciences community, small businesses and Wall Street.

It was a cutting edge session with powerful business and policy leaders from some of the world's most innovative healthcare institutions. Some of the speakers included Pamela Brier, President and CEO, Maimonides Medical Center, Dr. Ronald M. Davis, President of the American Medical Association and Mark Wagar, CEO & President, Empire BlueCross BlueShield.

Cathy Schoen, SVP, The Commonwealth Fund opened the conference with a fascinating discussion on "Bending the Curve: Options for Achieving Savings and Improving Value in US Health Spending." In this report prepared for The Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System, the authors examine 15 federal policy options that have the potential to lower health spending relataive to projected trends. The full report is available at www.commonwealthfund.org.

The interactive sessions covered topics high on the list of issues facing our US candidates. Everyone would agree that the current healthcare system is unsustainable. What is the best way to change the system? Full market-based? Governmental-run? Speakers touched on Universal Coverage, Rising Health Care Costs, Gaps in Quality Care as well as the roles played by state and federal government."


~Mary Ellen Hoffman
strategy/business development, The Byne Group

We "Indulged Our Health And Our Spirits" at Nyack Hospital

"Indulge Our Health and Our Spirits", the 10 Best Ways to Save your Life--an evening of interesting conversation and indulgent chocolate with Dr. Michele Blackwood was a huge success!

It was truly a delight to be part of such an exciting and engaging evening at Nyack Hospital, where over 100 women from the community were in attendance. Of course, it was Dr. Blackwood herself the new Director of Breast and Women's Health Prevention Services at Nyack Hospital, who made it an amazing, insightful, informative and memorable evening.

This was the Byne Group's first official event planning project, although two members of our team have experience as event coordinator for the Black Bear Golf Club, event coordinator for Chase Bank, and travel event coordinator for Maxwell House for the 1988 Winter Olympics.

We would like to thank everyone on the project team for their hard work and creativity as well as Nyack Hospital for giving us the opportunity to plan this fun and important event for them.

Thank you also to Chef Paul of Cook For You Gourmet in Sloatsburg, NY who generously donated and served an array of amazing chocolate delights-from fondue to gelatto, and mostlychocolate.com for donating the fabulous Lily O'Brien chocolates.


For more information on Dr. Blackwood visit
Nyack Hospital's Website