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Nonprofit Funding Can Get A Little “Cheesy”

It’s suggested that pizza is the perfect meal. You have your dairy (cheese), vegetable (tomato sauce), carbohydrate (dough) and it isn’t fried.

Apparently, it’s also a great metaphor for the charitable sector and the funding process.

Many nonprofit executives don’t find the handcuffs of some funders to be humorous. Well, it’s a little bit funny but more ironic, according to the Human Services Council of NY. The organization unveiled a video during its annual gala last night. “Everyone Deserves A Fair Slice” portrays the frustration and hypocrisy of many large funders with humor as a topping over the course of the six-minute, 30-second video.

It all came together pretty quickly, according to Allison Sesso, executive director of the 170-member advocacy organization. Staff was looking for ideas for videos for the gala and decided to make the event a little less boring.

Most of the services were donated or paid for by event sponsors or members, she said. The Actors Fund paid for the screen talent. The video crew from Key Ideas, Inc., flew in from San Antonio, Texas.

The shoot location, GrandLo Cafe, is a real café in New York City, albeit not a pizza parlor. It is part of a training program on Broome Street in Manhattan’s Lower East Side, and a nonprofit social enterprise of the 102-year-old Grand St. Settlement. The café closes at 3 p.m. each day so it was available for a nighttime shoot. “They threw us the keys, and said, take it for the night,” said Sesso.

When it was shown at the gala, “we got the exact reaction we wanted,” said Sesso. It was therapeutic for the attendees who run nonprofits and resonated with government officials and funders, she said. “We are hoping it goes viral,” she said.

Here’s the link to view the video: https://bit.ly/2QKSHyN