Groceries & More. A Friend at the Door
On Thursday June 20th, Store to Door hosted its annual donor appreciation event for donors, community partners, and corporate sponsors. More than 46 guests filled a beautiful gathering space at Stoel Rives in Southwest Portland, enjoying light refreshments and great company.
We are so grateful to have such a dedicated (and fun!) community of supporters to further our mission to bring nourishment, connection and dignity to Portland’s homebound seniors and adults living with disabilities.
On May 22nd, Store to Door was awarded with an Oregon Ethics in Business Award at a banquet held at the Sentinel Hotel. For 16 years, businesses and nonprofit organizations have been spotlighted to showcase organizations doing the right thing for their customers, employers, and clients through all aspects of their operations.
Store to Door was one of three nonprofit organizations selected for the award, along with Free Geek and New Avenues for Youth. The event also featured keynote speaker Nigel Jaquiss, Pulitzer Prize winning reporter from Willamette Week.
“Store to Door has a strong nearly 30-year track record of providing an efficient, affordable, and ethical service that is critical to the health and well-being of seniors and adults with disabilities. Not only do we continue to provide exceptional service to our clients, but as we’ve continued to grow and meet the demand of services, we have upheld our ethical practices and stayed true to our values of Nourishment, Connection, and Dignity, “ said Michael Beaty, Board President of Store to Door. “We are extremely proud to accept the Oregon Ethics in Business Award and invite the community to join us in helping seniors and adults with disabilities stay nourished and connected.”
“There are many businesses and nonprofits in Oregon and SW Washington that put business ethics as a top priority,” said Mike Rosenberg, Chairman, Oregon Ethics in Business Committee. “We are excited to hear from the 2019 recipients that have really gone above and beyond to lead our community.”
Oregon Ethics in Business Award honors those organizations and individuals who have demonstrated ethical business practice in its broadest interpretation: in the workplace, the marketplace, the environment, and the community. The award is hosted by The Rotary Club of Portland and presented by KGW Media Group.
Store to Door’s quarter as selected non-profit partner with Foundation is coming to and end on June 5th, but interested shoppers still have a month remaining to support Store to Door by shopping at the Portland-based boutique! During the partnership, which began March 7th with a rousing kickoff event at Foundations NW 23rd storefront, Foundation has committed to donate 100% of profits to Store to Door to support independent living for homebound seniors and people with disabilities.
Foundation, founded in August 2018, works to champion a wide variety of social movements through a combination of fashion, philanthropy and community dialogue. Each quarter the women of Foundation research and carefully select a non-profit organization whose mission they strongly believe in. Foundation kicks off each partnership with an Impact event, an evening of fashion, philanthropy, food and drinks, that it hopes brings awareness to each organization’s mission. The community is invited to learn about Foundation’s non-profit partners, celebrate their great work and contribute to the cause by shopping the season’s best styles. Foundation donates 100 percent of profits and features ethical and socially conscious brands in its store.
Entering our planned transition period, the Board of Directors is fully engaged in an organizational assessment of Store to Door in preparation of the search for our next Executive Director. As part of the board’s due diligence, we connected with several search consultants and are in the process of evaluating options. Our aim is to follow a comprehensive plan to cull the best candidates for this critical role and select an executive with the capabilities needed to embark the organization onto its next phase of evolution and growth.
We are pleased to have the practiced hand of Paul Lipscomb at the helm. In addition to leading Store to Door staff as Interim Executive Director, Paul is partnering with the Board of Directors to execute a deliberate and collaborative search for our future leader. The Executive Committee will continue to work closely with Paul during this transition phase.
We are grateful that our former Executive Director Kiersten Ware left Store to Door and its program in such a strong position. During this transition, our amazing staff remain devoted to providing outstanding service to our clients, volunteers, donors, and stakeholders.
This month has started off strong and fruitful. We received a $30,000 grant from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust to support technology improvements for our volunteer management and routing systems. Store to Door has also been selected for an Oregon Ethics in Business Award from the Rotary Club of Portland, which will be presented to us in May at an awards banquet. These recent achievements are prime examples of how Kiersten poised the organization for success. We will only continue to build upon these accomplishments moving forward – together. Thank you for your continued dedication to our shared mission and vision for Store to Door, each and every day.
Michael Beaty
President, Store to Door Board of Directors
Store to Door’s 2019 Volunteer Appreciation was a rousing success! 65 Store to Door friends and volunteers packed into Airbnb’s “ThirtyAte” cafeteria for food, drinks, prizes, and our hand made Volunteer Awards! Thanks to everyone who stopped by—we are so grateful for our incredible community of volunteers!
A big thank you as well to our photographer for the event, Wesley Lapointe!
Store to Door is proud to share that the organization has earned a 2019 Platinum Seal of Transparency, the highest level of recognition offered by GuideStar, the world’s largest source of nonprofit information. By sharing metrics that highlight progress we are making towards our mission, Store to Door is helping donors and the general public move beyond simplistic ways of evaluating nonprofits, such as by overhead ratios.
“In accordance with our long-held belief in being transparent about our work,” said Terri Wiley, Development Manager for Store to Door, “we’re excited to convey Store to Door’s results in a user-friendly and highly visual manner. By updating our GuideStar Nonprofit Profile to earn a Platinum Seal, we can now easily share a wealth of up-to-date organizational metrics with our supporters as well as GuideStar’s online audience, which includes donors, grantmakers, our peers, and the media.”
Store to Door’s GuideStar profile displays quantitative information such as the number of clients served, the number of volunteers engaged, and the number of volunteer hours contributed, just a few metrics which represent how hard we are working toward achieving our mission to ensure that all our clients are nourished, included, and can age with dignity in the setting of their own choice. By taking the time to provide this information, Store to Door has demonstrated its commitment to transparency and to giving donors and funders meaningful data to evaluate nonprofit performance.
In 2018, Store to Door met a 15% increase in demand for programs without sacrificing the personalized level of service or raising the delivery fee, and the need for services continues to grow. Our service area is experiencing a long-term demographic shift to a more aged society. By 2025, there will be approximately 182,000 people over the age of 60 and nearly 13,000 people over the age of 85 living in Multnomah County. An estimated 10% of these individuals will live in poverty and 30% will experience a disability. These changing demographics will have a profound impact on the demand for social services.
“I encourage you to visit Store to Door’s Nonprofit Profile on GuideStar to see what we’re all about,” added Terri Wiley. “We’re thrilled that our Platinum Seal of Transparency help us better communicate our organization’s efforts to bring nourishment, connection, and dignity to all seniors in need in Multnomah and Washington counties.”
After deep contemplation, I will be transitioning out of my role as the Executive Director for Store to Door on March 31, 2019. Planning for this decision began in December of last year and making it was truly challenging because of my love for the people I work for and our shared mission.
Next year my youngest child will begin high school and my son will be a senior. I want to be more present with my kids during these pivotal years of their lives and the commute to Store to Door from our home makes that challenging. Additionally, I have been offered a position as COO for a company that provides fiduciary and guardianship services for those with special needs. This opportunity allows me to expand my professional experience to a population I am deeply committed to, while working much closer to my home in Vancouver.
During my service to Store to Door, which began in December of 2012, we have brought nourishment, connection and dignity to more home-bound members of our community than ever before. I am grateful to be leaving the organization well poised for the future, with talented staff, a strong program model, a solid operational foundation and stable financial position.
As I make the final preparations for my exit at the end of March, Store to Door’s Board is steadily leading the transition and has engaged professional support to make the most of the opportunity. This includes our Interim Executive Director Paul Lipscomb from Page Two Partners, who has deep experience in nonprofit executive transition work. The Board has also lined up a consultant to support their search process as well.
Over the past month I have had a reassuring experience handing over responsibilities to Paul, to be certain that staff has everything they need to continue their important work. In addition to wrapping up all of my current tasks, I’ve been providing extensive onboarding for Paul so he has a strong introduction and orientation to Store to Door.
I want to give my deepest gratitude to all of our community partners who have been so supportive of Store to Door over the years. Without you, the organization would not be as strong and vibrant as it is. Although I am leaving this position, I will continue to be an advocate for the needs of seniors and people with disabilities. Thank you for the opportunity to work with you in service to our community.
With gratitude,
Kiersten Ware
Last Month, Store to Door received a $5000 grant from U.S. Bank to support independent living for home bound seniors—and we even got a giant check to prove it! We are extremely grateful for their support!