Since 2007, 400 nonprofits in the state have relied on free help provided to them by a group known as TANGO — The Alliance for Non-Profit Growth and Opportunity.
TANGO’s niche lies in finding and vetting discounted service partners for nonprofits, which range from marketing and web design firms to health insurance companies. On average, TANGO is able to knock 20 percent off the cost of a service for a nonprofit, according to Rollin Schuster, founder and president of TANGO and owner of the employee benefit company, Schuster Driscoll LLC.
Schuster says the nonprofits TANGO works with in Connecticut come from all walks of life, including those as large as St. Francis Hospital and as small as grass roots organizations just starting out. TANGO ‘s 42 service partners pay membership fees. As a group, these partners rely on nonprofits for about 62 percent of their total revenues, says Schuster.
Schuster was one of the first to people conceive of TANGO. After doing business with many nonprofit clients through his work at Schuster Driscoll LLC, he began to realize how many of them were struggling to keep costs down.
“They were looking for a way to band together and gain some purchasing power,” he said. “It was one of those sort of epiphanies that there’s got to be a way for nonprofits to acquire services.”
Schuster sees that right now many nonprofits are being forced to change their way of operating because of economic pressures.
“One of our tag lines is ‘lower your overhead so more money goes to support the mission’,” he noted.
Although Schuster says TANGO as an entity does not monitor how nonprofits use the money they save, he hopes to be able to quantify that in the future.
“We think we’re on to something. Our longer term goal is to be a national resource to the nonprofit sector. Our way to give back is in a unique way. We all play a lot of golf tournaments and donate a lot of money, but this is something different,” he said.
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A conference entitled ‘Populations at Risk: The Crossroads of Mental Health and the Criminal Justice System’ will take place on Sept. 14 at the Connecticut Convention Center.
The full-day event is sponsored by InterCommunity Inc., a nonprofit based out of East Hartford that provides comprehensive behavioral services to those who suffer from mental illness and addiction disorders. Proceeds from the conference go to supporting the organization’s mission of helping people living with mental illness and addiction disorders improve their quality of life by providing opportunities for healing and recovery.
For more information, call or e-mail Robin Abraham, director of rehabilitation services and community integration, at 860-291-1348 or robinabraham@icmhg.org.
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Holcomb Farm, located at 113 Simsbury Road, West Granby, will hold its annual Hayloft Harvest Dinner fundraiser on Saturday, Sept. 25. The dinner supports the farm’s Fresh Access program, which grows fresh vegetables and distributes them to populations through social service agencies in Hartford and Granby. For over 16 years, Fresh Access has grown and distributed between 15,000 and 30,000 pounds of vegetables annually to these agencies who in turn distribute the produce to residents who lack access to healthy food.
Joanna Smiley writes the weekly Nonprofit Notebook column. Reach her at jsmiley@HartfordBusiness.com
