Catholic Charities in reorganization process

A steering committee of 11 members of Catholic Charities' board of trustees has been formed to look at five areas in need of redesign: general management, human resources, fiscal responsibility, technology, and development and public relations.

The committee will make preliminary recommendations about changes to the full board at a June 4 meeting.

Overhaul studied

"We have multiple services in each county of the Diocese, unique to the county," she said. "We have to step back and evaluate who we are according to the mission of Catholic Charities."

On the financial side, she noted that there has been a "real shift" this year in funding for Catholic Charities. Federal, state and local sources have kept funding levels the same even as the cost of providing services has risen, and Catholic Charities must find new ways to keep serving the poor and needy in the 14 counties of the Diocese.

'Challenging time'

Catholic Charities has also been faced with employees leaving because salaries are higher elsewhere.

"It is a very challenging time," Sister Maureen said "The trustees of Catholic Charities have said that no matter what the pressures are for delivery of services and the needs of the people who come to us, we have to work within our budget. The pressure as a Church agency is to say, `How can we not serve these people?' But the trustees say, `If you're not fiscally responsible, there is no mission.'"

Streamlining

If a staff member leaves an agency in one county, that person's position may also be combined with one from another agency, so one employee might do the billing for three Charities agencies.

However, "I don't think we will be laying off people," Sister Maureen noted. "This [process] is not to lay off people, and I would call it that if it were."

She also said that the redesign is not an effort to cut Catholic Charities services, though programs will be evaluated to see whether they're relevant today. Sister Maureen said that one state-funded program that provided AIDS services has already been cut because New York State would no longer fund it, and Catholic Charities could not afford to do so.

Possibilities

* Human resources may see common training for employees in different agencies, uniform salary ranges and benefit packages, and common job descriptions and titles.

* Fiscally, Catholic Charities has already instituted a consolidated audit instead of individual audits of its agencies. Other changes might include wire transferring of funds to speed the transfers and save on resources like paper, and each agency's submitting a monthly financial statement to diocesan Catholic Charities by ten days after the close of the month.

* Sister Maureen said that technology has not been a priority for Catholic Charities; she admitted she can't even e-mail staff outside the diocesan Pastoral Center directly. The office will look into improving technology to track clients and to save time and resources.

* In terms of development and public relations, the director said that an organization the size of Catholic Charities should really have one person designated for that position, not "someone who has three or four other jobs." The committee will also address issues like fundraising, grant writing and communication with the media.

* In the area of general management, Catholic Charities hopes to create one management structure that includes the 20 Charities agencies and diocesan-level offices (for instance, the Commission on Aging).

"We don't intend to cut back on our revenue, so we're looking to utilize our revenue better," Sister Maureen stated. "Is there fear and anxiety [among the staff as a result of this study]? Absolutely. [But] we are looking at delivery and service. This model is 30 years old. If we're going to sustain the service delivery, what do we have to do?"

(03-21-02) [[In-content Ad]]