Realizing The Bookkeeping Center’s Vision

Dear Friends,

This month, we will discuss ‘Vision.’ Along with our mission, our vision essentially drives everything we do as a nonprofit organization. To paraphrase the Foundation Center, while our mission describes how we plan to do our work and for whose specific benefit our organization benefits, our vision is the underlying values and beliefs that inform our work. Our vision is what we ultimately hope to accomplish as a result of our efforts.

TBKC believes in the importance of investing in human capital. All adults deserve the opportunity to develop their full professional potential by getting an education, developing job skills, and eventually becoming leaders in their communities. We are a workforce development organization because we know how crucial a role employment plays in the cycle of poverty. Thus, TBKC’s purpose is to provide talented adults an opportunity to complete the life path to success and break out of the cycle of poverty. Through DISCOVERBOOKKEEPING (DB), our main program, our goal is to provide adults who lack access to affordable quality training the pathway to meaningful employment.

In the future, TBKC will be a leader in workforce development that has the following:

  • An organizational orientation towards accountability and results
  • A strong, engaged, forward-thinking Board of Directors
  • Enriching support services complimenting a solid curriculum to lead to successful, long-term placements
  • A mobilized corps of volunteers to support all aspects of the organization
  • Continued to fully embrace and utilize social media
  • Ensured a clear and consistent communications strategy for all audiences
  • The ability to attract new and divers funding sources
  • On-going, two-way partnerships to access opportunities

We are on our way to realizing our vision. Today we remain focused on results. Throughout this past year we’ve benefited from revitalized governance, added comprehensive workshops (13 workshops and growing), and cultivated 7 new volunteers. Furthermore, our Twitter and Facebook accounts are as active as ever, and our friends, family and partners hear from us regularly. TBKC has also solidified existing partnership with Workforce1 and built new relationships with organizations like SAGE and Henry Street Settlement. We will continue to be efficient with the limited space we have as we maintain our pursuit of corporations, foundations and individuals for funding opportunities.

Can you see what we are trying to do? If so, please contact our Communications Associate, lolita@tbkc.org to join us.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.

Sincerely,
Thomas P. Graham IV
Executive Director
The Bookkeeping Center

P.S. “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me… Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.” — Steve Jobs

RIP Steve Jobs, A True Visionary.

TBKC Wants You to Join Our Community

Dear Friends,

For this month, I would like to discuss “Community.” A community is traditionally considered to be a locality inhabited by a group or a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality. It also means a group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists.

TBKC’s community consists of our staff, our friends and families; our participants, their friends and families; our volunteers; our donors; our Facebook friends; our LinkedIn connections; our E-Newsletter recipients; and our official and unofficial partners in the workforce development community. The specific common characteristics of TBKC’s community are interests in the field of bookkeeping and job readiness skills development. We are committed to providing low-income and unemployed individuals with these tools so that they can find meaningful employment.

Our organization is distinct in the workforce development community because no other organization does what we do. The uniqueness of TBKC is represented in our program. As most of you know, DB teaches bookkeeping. Other programs around the metro area teach bookkeeping, but they do not provide a curriculum on par with DB. Some may teach the fundamentals and most others teach QuickBooks, but you will not find another organization that teaches both the fundamentals of accounting and then the computerized accounting software of Peachtree and QuickBooks, as well as the many other facets of our program. We go even further in our instruction. Check out our website for a full explanation of our curriculum.

We were also fortunate this month to celebrate our second annual, On Top of Success event. Not only did our guests and the staff had a wonderful evening together with delicious food, great drinks, and soothing live music, it was also a big accomplishment for the organization. Our guests witnessed eleven participants graduate from DB, our beloved Susan Goscewski received the 2011 Outstanding Volunteer Award, and our hardworking graduate, Sharon Price accepted this year’s Maurice A. Smith Bookkeeping Achievement Award. From this event, TBKC gained perfect 10’s: raised over $10,000, had over 100 attendees, and received over 10 different corporate donors’ contributions to our gift bags. To say the least, our second annual event was a success!

TBKC is an active workforce development organization with a growing community, and we hope you will continue to support us. Since the summer of 2010, we have received approximately 400 inquiries from passionate individuals all over the five boroughs of New York City who are ready to change their lives. Moreover, 78% of our participants find work upon completion of the program. Even our online audience has expanded to over 900 followers on Twitter and over 100 followers on Facebook.

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. If you are interested in joining our community, please contact our Communications Associate, Lolita Wong at lolita@tbkc.org.

We appreciate your interest in our organization and I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Thomas P. Graham IV
Executive Director
The Bookkeeping Center

Join TBKC’s Facebook Community

Hey, we love Facebook and we’re betting you do too! Not only is it a great place to post photos of your wacky moments and keep in touch with old friends. Facebook is also a great place to share resources, stay informed and spread the news of nonprofits trying to make a difference in your community.

So, here are 3 reasons why we use Facebook:

1) Provide resources on job readiness and career planning
2) Share news on unemployment trends and issues facing today’s job seeker
3) Connect our efforts with the good work of similar organizations throughout the world.

Take a moment to join our Facebook community and click the Like Button.
Who knows! By that single action, you may be connecting your friends to a resource that could change their lives too!

Like The Bookkeeping Center (facebook.com/TheBookkeepingCenter) on Facebook and help spread the cause.

Week 7 of DISCOVERBOOKKEEPING on YouTube

An Inside Look at The Bookkeeping Center: Meet the newest member of TBKC as she talks about her role and we give you a little insight into the ‘good work that we do’ for talented individuals in New York City. Plus, a few tips for staying on top of our latest developments.

Here’s how:
1)
Sign up to receive our newsletter, The Monthly Max
2) Follow us on Twitter @MaxGreenTBKC
3) Get your Aruba Raffle Ticket and unemployed individuals

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