Welcome to the Finance Fund Blog!

Yesterday we were pleased to have Congressman Michael Turner (R-Ohio) join a number of us from Finance Fund at the Miami Valley Childhood Development Center in Dayton, Ohio to celebrate their newly renovated Head Start facility.  We provided $1.05 million in New Markets Tax Credits

funding toward the renovation, which was accompanied

by a $429,000 federal grant. The renovation project brought much-needed updates to the Kings Highway facility, including replacing the two boilers and updating classrooms. Because of the improvements, the facility is now able to serve toddlers and infants, in addition to existing early childhood services. Along with internal and external improvements to the building, updates were made to the now 80,000 square foot parking lot and landscaping, making the surrounding area safer and more convenient for parents. The facility is currently enrolled with 225 students, with a capacity of 240.

Special thanks to center Director Mary Burns for her leadership on this project and her hospitality in helping to host us yesterday.  Kudos to her and her associates for running this outstanding center.

Last week we were in Washington D.C. to attend several meetings and to rally support for two bills currently in the House and Senate.

HR 2628 is a 5-year extension of the New Market Tax Credit program. Last year, through our efforts, we were able to get 11 out of 18 representatives and both senators to sign on to this bill. While it didn’t make it through, the 1-year did. However, Ohio’s strong support of the program (and of Finance Fund) is evident.

HR  1685 is the Child Care Financing Act of 2009. This is  would create a flexible pool of capital for early childhood facilities development in low-income communities across the country. NCFN is pushing this legislation, and as a member, we are too.

This article appeared in the October 2009 edition of Smart Business News.

James R. Klein is a firm believer that every CEO needs a “Radar O’Reilly,” just like the one Col. Potter had on the old TV series, “M*A*S*H.” Radar was always there to deflect some of the less important obligations to allow his boss to focus on what truly mattered at that moment, says the CEO of Finance Fund, a 24-employee nonprofit financial services firm.

“It’s somebody who manages your day-to-day schedule and becomes the triage that moves some of those pieces of minutiae somewhere else to a part of the system that wants to deal with it,” Klein says.

When you have that person in place, you can focus on the business and on keeping everyone in step with what it is you do best.

Smart Business spoke with Klein about how to keep your company aligned with its vision.

Q. What is the biggest hurdle to staying on track with your vision?

The main job of a leader is to be able to have a broader view of what is happening in your corporation. The complexity of this whole thing can be brought down to simple principles: Remember who you are. Know what you’re all about and what you’re trying to do and trying to accomplish. In organizational management, that’s called question zero. It’s the question you ask before you do anything else. You need to ask yourself that periodically, maybe like every morning.

Then you need to figure out what your role is. Have a good idea of who is working with you. Who is on your staff? What are their skills? What is their thought process like? You need to be able to have people you trust and give them specific tasks that you don’t have to micromanage.

What I mean by trust is, you need to be able to trust that what they are telling you is the truth. You don’t want people that are going to tell you what you want to hear. You want them to be able to tell you what the reality is whether you like it or not. You have to establish an environment that fosters that kind of reality.

If you don’t, you head off on a path that’s not real and you’ll find yourself in trouble.

Q. How do you engage these people in your vision?

Create an environment that entices employees to act on their own. If you’re a leader type that needs to be in on every decision, you create an environment that tests the edges of patience for everyone. The corporation becomes inflexible.

Have a number of different teams that have team leaders that have the job of directing thought and activity around certain parameters that you establish. Then you drive yourself to the next step.

Supervisors are encouraged to do things that attempt to maintain the entrepreneurial character of every position. We do that by just talking about it a lot and by looking for people who come with definite skill sets who are able to handle work tasking of particular positions.

But we also want people who have a broader view. They understand what the mission of the organization is or they are willing to listen and learn and get on board.

You can tell when an employee has a role that is changing from a job to a career. It seems as though their passion blooms. You can just begin to see how the passion for the mission begins to impact how they do their job.

Q. How do you ensure that your people really do hear you?

Those leaders that I have observed that are very good at it work hard at it. They establish relationships. They develop a reputation of knowing what they are talking about and being truthful and caring with their staff.

They are willing to concede that the staff is part of the whole mission you are presenting. They are not just an afterthought, but what they are is an essential piece of what you do. Leaders make them feel as though they do an important thing, whether they are putting labels on envelopes or they are saving lives, they all feel part of the whole.

What makes one leader go that way or one leader go a different direction? I think it’s a mix of personality and intelligence and really being able to be brutally honest with yourself.

I’ll tell you the honest truth. I’ve done some pretty stupid things in my time as a leader. There are some things I just wish I hadn’t done. You need to be brutally honest with yourself, admit those mistakes, learn from them and put your face to the wind again.

Q. What’s the secret to being a good communicator?

There is a distinct tendency to be insulated from what’s actually happening so the vision gets tied up in me and everybody else doesn’t get to hear about it.

I try to write every week into a blog that talks about where we are and what we are doing and how we’re thinking about things. That’s connected to everybody. It’s public, and we urge our staff to look at that. I also do writings that move to the staff about things that are coming up, ways we operate as a corporation, different strategies we would like to pursue.

I would like to have an environment that is free and open and trusting, but the environment becomes what it is. I have to put trust in certain leaders within my organization to move this message.

How to reach: Finance Fund, (614) 221-1114 or www.financefund.org

Finance Fund recently welcomed Moniqua Spencer to the position of Chief Program Officer. Moniqua brings with her 13 years of experience in the banking sector. In an effort to learn a little more about the role she’ll be playing within our team, we recently sat down and did a little Q&A where Moniqua talked about her goals and visions for her new position.

After 18 years in the private sector, and particularly in banking, what was the motivation for switching to the non-profit side of the world?

Switching from the private to the non-profit sector wasn’t the largest consideration. It was more about taking what I already knew about finance and commercial development, and coupling it with my passions. When I was at the Huntington National Bank we had an internal initiative called Huntington Hometown Partnership. It was the bank’s plan to meet a $250MM commitment in residential loans, community development, and small business lending, as a part of Mayor Michael Coleman’s 21st Century City Initiative. I was the point person in the small business lending area. Part of our goal was to make our lending more prudent in low-to-moderate income areas. We realized that when lending in re-developed or economically depressed areas, customers don’t necessarily fit in the established underwriting “box.” We worked to adjust guidelines and find partners like Finance Fund.

In essence, my biggest switch will be staying mission focused and less profit driven. Although, I will review projects with a business mind set because at the end of the day, it’s of no benefit to Finance Fund and the community at large if we lose money.

What makes you most anxious about taking this new direction in your career?

The stability of non-profit funding sources – and the future comfort level of those sources.

Additionally, after being with an organization for 13 years, you are a bit on cruise control when it comes to knowing the internal systems. Now, I’m starting over again from learning the voicemail system to new products and services. I am in the process of learning how to be focused on our bottom line, while not making decisions that will compromise our mission.

The banking industry has obviously gone through many changes in the last few years. What was the hardest loss you saw during that time? What was the greatest lesson you were granted?

The hardest lesson learned is making sure that you stay in your own back yard (rather than follow customers out of market where you don’t have a presence). There are some times when you want to say yes – that you have to say no. I also learned a great lesson on how to do business: the way you do it in the bad times is how you need to do it in the good times.

Finance Fund has a unique position within the State of Ohio. Given what you’ve learned about it in your few short weeks on the job, what’s your greatest hope for where it will head in the next 10 years?

We are a sideline partner right now. We want to be on the field playing with everyone else. This means being more proactive in the effort to re-invigorate historically economically depressed areas – and being very “loud” about how we can help you. We miss opportunities to impact communities every day by not being on the field. Bankers need to know that we are here and we can help diffuse exposures and give creativity to a project.

Lastly, as someone that will have the distinct opportunity to report to Jim Klein, how will you “herd his cats” of ideas?

Jim reminds me of a lot of small business owners I worked with over the years. I’m going to take his vision, and work hard to actualize it – with him and for him. I’m a thorough researcher – I am likely to pick up an idea that he threw out and check it out. No idea is a solution until we’ve proven it to be or not.

I have a checklist to make sure I know if I should propel a project along the line. What is the project, planning stages; I will communicate to the potential client what I need from them to be able to help them.

I will say no quickly so that I won’t string out any potential project for months and months. And when I say no, it will always be with a path to get to “yes” or clear reasons why it couldn’t be done.

It was bound to happen. Today I walked into a discussion of diapers. Being old school I place diapers in four general categories; cloth/disposable and empty/full but come to find out there are all kinds of sub groups of the first categorization and all kinds of options for the second. It appears “diaper” technology has leaped ahead. It is my hope that other technologies that help children develop and learn will experience the same leap. I’m encouraged by some examples.

We recently funded a renovation of the Kings Highway Head Start project, a part of the Miami Valley Child Development Centers Inc. This is one of many projects that Finance Fund has been privileged to work with. Those that know me, know I’m a passionate advocate for Head Start and this one was no exception.

Miami Valley Child Development Centers, Inc. serves Clark, Madison and Montgomery Counties in Ohio. Their overall goal is to prepare children, ages zero to five years, to be successful students when they enter kindergarten. Programs work holistically with families and children, balancing parent involvement, health and nutrition, social skills, literacy, and numeracy development. More than just a childcare center, Miami Valley Child Development Centers empower families by teaching parenting and life skills.

When our program team met with Miami Valley Child Development Centers, Inc., we saw their need to repair and renovate their Kings Highway facility. Using New Markets Tax Credit funding, the repairs and overhaul at Kings Highway MVCDC are underway and should be completed in October. As you can see in these pictures, the improved facility will soon provide a safe, clean and happy learning environment for the children of Montgomery County.

The Kings Highway MVCDC Entrance

Renovated Bathroom at MVCDC

Hallway at MVCDC

Stay tuned for updates on the upcoming celebration for the improved facility. And in the meantime, if you are Head Start seeking assistance in enhancing your facility, contact us. Call at 614.221.1114 or send me an e-mail at jrklein@financefund.org.