The Newark Partnership: SWOT Analysis

LEAD340/366

Contributions:

Julianna Dorsch: Introduction, Information for SWOT Analysis, SWOT Analysis -

Opportunities and Threats, Project Proposals, Editor

Ethan Downs: Project Proposals, Conclusion

Julia Hirs: Introduction, Information for SWOT Analysis, SWOT Analysis - Strengths and
Weaknesses, Project Proposals, References

Hannah Rigoglioso: Introduction, Information for SWOT Analysis, SWOT Analysis -

Weaknesses, Project Proposals
Table of Contents
Introduction 2
Introduction to Team Members 2
Introduction to The Newark Partnership 6
Interview Insights 8
Information for S.W.O.T. Analysis 9
Mission Statement Application and Analysis 9
Short-Term and Long-Term Goals 10
Finances 11
Branding and Marketing 12
Board of Directors 13
Volunteers 13
Location and Logistics 14
Social Entrepreneurial Ventures 14
Comparable Agencies 15
Wabash Economic Growth Alliance 15
Delaware City Main Street 15
Nonprofit Westchester 16
WACO Foundation 16
COVID-19 Impact 17
Good to Great 17
Defining Great 17
First Who 18
The Hedgehog Concept 18
The FlyWheel 19
Level 5 Leadership 20
Head, Heart, Hustle 20
SWOT Analysis 21
Conclusion 23
Project Proposals 23
References 27

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 I. Introduction
A. Introduction to Team Members
Our team is composed of four undergraduate juniors at the University of Delaware:
Julianna Dorsch, Ethan Downs, Julia Hirs, and Hannah Rigoglioso. As Community Fellows in
Tier 3 of the Blue Hen Leadership Program (BHLP), we have built upon our knowledge of
personal and group leadership gained in Tiers 1 and 2 by growing in community leadership. This
growth will allow us to serve The Newark Partnership (TNP) and the broader Newark
community. Each member comes from a unique background, has a unique major, possesses
diverse skill sets, and has different strengths, all of which have been applied to identify and
analyze the everyday functions of TNP. Regardless of our differing backgrounds, we all share a
passion for community development, which attracted us to pick TNP as the nonprofit to work
with and support this year. To maximize our impact, we created and assigned team roles based on
everyone’s strengths, and encouraged responsibility, commitment, and excellence. Julianna is the
Executor, Ethan is the Quality Control checker, Julia is the Researcher/Evaluator, and Hannah is
the student liaison. Overall, we collectively want to see TNP succeed and improve the Newark
community because the University of Delaware would be incomplete without its connection to
the Newark community, and the Newark community would be incomplete without the university
and its students.

Julianna Dorsch: Executor

Julianna Dorsch is a junior majoring in Applied Mathematics with minors in Computer
Science and Economics and is also pursuing her Master’s Degree in Data Science. She values
critical thinking skills, integrity, and growth. Growing up near Baltimore, Maryland, she
developed a passion for community development, service, and lifting individuals out of poverty.
With these values and passions, she is looking forward to working with the Newark Partnership
this year as they pursue their vision to make Newark the best place to live. As the executor for
this project, her main responsibility will be to plan tasks and to make sure that the tasks are being
completed. This role is supported by her Clifton Strengths of achiever, competition, learner,
deliberative, and strategic and strengths of being a Go-Getter and Expert. These reflect her
ability to think ahead to anticipate potential problems, as well as her drive to not only make sure
that tasks are complete, but that they are completed with the highest quality. Her true color of

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green also reflects her analytical thinking ability that allows her to find innovative solutions to
problems. In Tier 2, Julianna worked on tracking commercial and residential vacancies in the
city of Wilmington and used her critical thinking and data science skills to devise a tool that can
be used by the non-profit to gather information on vacancies and rank them based on their ability
to be developed. In Tier 3, her responsibilities have included communicating with the project
liaison to introduce the team, attending a board meeting, requesting interviews with board
members, interviewing board members, taking notes of the interviews, and completing sections
and editing the SWOT analysis.

Ethan Downs: Quality Control

Ethan Downs is a junior undergraduate majoring in Psychology and plans to major in
Business after the completion of his Business minor. Ethan currently works for The Egg, which
is a professionally advised student creative agency as a Director of Marketing & Analytics.
Ethan plans on pursuing his Psy.D. and MBA after completing his undergraduate degrees.
Ethan’s top five strengths from the Clifton Strengths QUEST assessment are deliberative,
analytical, harmony, consistency, and restorative. His deliberative and analytical strengths
correlate with his abilities as a green. His strengths are Go-Getter, Mentor, and Hero and his
shadows are Workaholic and Side-kick. In Tier 2, he worked as a social media marketing intern
and aimed to understand his organization’s market share and conduct market research relevant to
his organization’s goals and vision. In Tier 3, Ethan was previously working with another
organization and had to adjust to adversity and was repositioned to work with TNP. He plans on
using his background in psychology and marketing to collaborate on a meaningful project for
TNP. With his strengths of Deliberative and Analytical, Ethan will serve as the Quality Control
checker, with his main responsibility to ensure that the team is not missing any elements of
future tasks we complete.

Julia Hirs: Researcher / Evaluator

Julia is a junior Chemical Engineering major with a minor in Sustainable Energy
Technology. She is passionate about helping to provide opportunities for the local community in
Newark that has already given so much to her and helped her get to where she is today. Julia’s
top five strengths from the Clifton Strengths QUEST assessment include achiever, maximizer,

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analytical, input, and learner. Her strategic thinking skills support her role as a researcher and
evaluator and has allowed her to utilize observations from TNP’s mission statement, the Tier 3
resource drive, and the Newark Partnership September board meeting to generate a list of
questions for board member interviews to better understand the everyday operations of TNP and
propose projects that would best serve TNP’s mission. Furthermore, her Clifton strengths align
with her true colors of gold and orange as well as her strengths as a Mentor and Guardian which
allow her to encourage and motivate the team, interview board members, and complete
assignments thoroughly. Julia has analyzed previous SWOT analyses performed by TNP board
members and has reviewed interview responses from TNP board members to identify strengths
of TNP’s mission and prospective projects. In Tier 2, she worked on methods to survey, track,
and evaluate commercial vacancies in the Wilmington community. In Tier 3, her responsibilities
have included arranging interviews with board members, interviewing board members, taking
notes during interviews, comparing TNP to similar nonprofits, and working on the SWOT
analysis, especially in the section of Project Proposals.

Hannah Rigoglioso: Student Liaison

Hannah Rigoglioso is a junior undergraduate majoring in Public Policy with minors in
History and Political Science. She is also pursuing a Master of Public Administration at the
University of Delaware and wants to make a career out of nonprofit work. She currently works
for the Cancer Support Community, a nonprofit in Washington, DC, as a development and events
intern. She wanted to work with The Newark Partnership because it is a nonprofit seeking to
holistically serve the area of Newark that she now calls home. Hannah’s top five strengths from
the Clifton Strengths QUEST assessment are empathy, context, connectedness, input, and
intellection, which reflect her strengths provided by her two highest true colors of orange and
blue. She is also a Helper and Go-Getter, with shadows of Drudge and Workaholic. She has
worked as the liaison and primary point of contact in her Tier 2 group, as well as other group
projects. For Tier 3, her responsibilities included corresponding with TNP’s project liaison via
email to schedule meetings and obtain contact information for board members and volunteers.
She has also corresponded with board members and volunteers via email to introduce the team,
set up interview times, and send Zoom invites. Other responsibilities included working on the
SWOT analysis, particularly the Introduction and Weaknesses section. Lastly, she attended

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interviews with board members and volunteers when available, taking detailed notes during the
interview for later use in SWOT analysis.

As a Team
While Julianna, Ethan, Julia, and Hannah have some similar strengths, recognizing the
differing strengths and backgrounds has allowed us to optimize roles for each team member to
create the best possible collaborative team. Hannah has the most strengths related to relationship
building, with her top strength being in this category. This makes her most adept at
communicating with our project liaison. Julia has the highest rating in strategic thinking out of
all the team members, with emphasis on analytical, input, and learner, making her adept at
researching, idea creation, and anticipating potential problems. Ethan has the most strengths
related to the executing category, making him ideal for ensuring that tasks are completed and that
the team does not neglect to do something. Julianna is the team member with the highest strength
in the influencing category, specifically competition, making her the most qualified to ensure that
everything our team produces is of the highest quality. However, our similar strengths will also
help us collaborate with each other. All team members have strengths in the strategic thinking
category, Ethan and Hannah have strengths in the relationship building category, Julianna and
Julia have strengths in the influencing category, and Ethan, Julianna, and Julia have strengths in
the executing category. Overall, our variety of strengths will allow us to have diverse thoughts
and ideas, which will overall contribute to a better project and result for the Newark Partnership.
Despite our differences, we are all committed to helping TNP grow and help develop the Newark
community, which has welcomed us during our time at the University of Delaware.

Project Liaison - Leann Moore

Leann Moore is the Executive Director of The Newark Partnership (TNP). She attended
the University of Delaware, receiving her BA in English Literature and Psychology in 2012 and
an MPA with a concentration in Nonprofit Management in 2014. She is an Assist Policy Scientist
with the Institute for Public Administration at UD and previously served as a Legislative Aide
for 3 Delaware State Representatives. She also has served in mediation and strategic planning
roles for different nonprofits, serves on multiple different boards, and volunteers with the foster

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care system in Delaware and Kay’s Kamp. She grew up in Delaware and currently lives just
outside of Newark.
When The Newark Partnership was formed from the previous organization, the
Downtown Newark Partnership, Leann was brought in through the University of Delaware to
help facilitate the transition plan and worked for TNP in 2019 and 2020. In February 2021, she
was hired as a full-time staff member. She considers herself someone with the skills of
facilitation, organization, and the ability to connect to the community to understand the
challenges and opportunities that face the city of Newark. She wants to engage multiple
stakeholders in her new role as Executive Director; she stated that there is no other organization
in the country at a municipal level like TNP that is attempting to bring together the public,
private, and nonprofit sectors. She has acknowledged that there are many opportunities and many
challenges currently facing the Newark Partnership as she takes on the role of Executive
Director, but her experience and skills have been highly spoken of by many community and
board members throughout the interview process.

B. Introduction to The Newark Partnership

History
The Newark Partnership is a nonprofit organization based in Newark, Delaware, and
focuses on community, economic, and nonprofit development in the Newark area. They were
formed in January 2019 after the Downtown Newark Partnerships’ Strategic Planning committee
recommended its creation after their operations during 2018. The Downtown Newark Partnership
was an organization that had been in operation since the 1970s and mainly focused on the
economic development of Main Street. With the new Newark Partnership, the aim was to include
the entirety of the City of Newark and the many stakeholders that are included, including
nonprofits.

Mission Statement
Their mission statement states that The Newark Partnership aims “to build upon
Newark’s distinctive assets as an inclusive and innovative university community, bringing
together businesses, community institutions, city residents, and students to work together toward
the common goals of enriching the city’s prosperity and improving the quality of life.” This

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mission statement reflects the organization’s purpose to develop the city, the values of diversity
and innovation, and their plan to accomplish this mission by bringing together businesses,
community institutions, city residents, and students. However, it does lack specificity and could
benefit by being more descriptive in what an improvement in the quality of life looks like and
how they will bring together these different parties. Furthermore, on their website, TNP
emphasizes that they will:
1) Be a nonprofit, community-based, citywide institution;
2) Engage participation and active support from the city government, the university,
business and community institutions, residents and students;
3) Promote sustainable, citywide economic and cultural development that improves the
overall quality of life;
4) Maintain the vitality of downtown Newark as a central zone of community life;
5) Support initiatives that make Newark a preferred place for all people to live, work,
enjoy, learn, do business and visit;
6) Strengthen communication, cooperation, and collaboration among community partners
to effectively address the needs of our diverse and inclusive community; and,
7) Develop a vision for the future of Newark.
These statements have 3 distinct areas of focus, which are “promoting citywide economic
development,” “connecting and supporting community-based nonprofit institutions,” and
“engaging residents in community advocacy for the ongoing improvement of the quality of life.”
These three focus areas form the main three pillars of focus for The Newark Partnership and
were a major topic of discussion during interviews with TNP board members. Many interviewees
discussed the desire for Newark to be a city with increased community engagement and
economic vitality where people want to visit, work, and play.

Organization of The Newark Partnership

The Newark Partnership does not have an organizational chart. However, according to
Leann, there is a board that oversees the organization, with an Executive Committee at the top.
The Executive Committee oversees the Executive Director, who in turn oversees any contractors
and/or interns, as applicable. These stipulations are also stated in the bylaws of TNP. TNP also

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has three pillars of focus, which are economic development, nonprofit enhancement, and civic
engagement.

Financial Overview
The Newark Partnership’s 990 forms from 2019 and 2020 were examined, as the
organization was formed in 2019. Upon investigating these forms, as well as internal budget
documents, it was determined that TNP is in good economic standing currently but needs to
urgently diversify its streams of income for development and security in the future. Expenses and
income in 2019 were very minimal due to the organization just starting up, and they had a $70.00
surplus going into 2020. In 2020, income was $182,267 and expenses were $19,547, which were
attributable to marketing and advertising, creating a total surplus of $162,790. The vast majority
of the 2020 income, $176,236, was in the form of gifts/grants, largely from the City of Newark
itself, as well as Bloom Energy and W. L. Gore & Associates. This coming fiscal year, they plan
on receiving funding from the City of Newark, Bloom Energy, W.L Gore, Chemours, and the
University of Delaware. A little over $5,000 was from membership dues and assessments and a
minimal amount was from program services and investment. In 2019 and 2020, there was no
staff compensation because there were only volunteers, as Leann was not yet hired. Therefore,
TNP was spending little money on overhead. Upon discussions with Leann and board members,
The Newark Partnership is currently very reliant on the City of Newark, with which they have a
good relationship. Their other major contributors are Bloom Energy, W.L. Gore, and Chemours.
However, if they fail to create tangible results or meet mission goals, they are worried that the
funding from the city and these sources may be pulled; in that case, The Newark Partnership
would have minimal income and would be in a bad financial position. They are currently trying
to obtain some funding from the University of Delaware but have not yet received a
commitment.

C. Interview Insights

Interviews with the Executive Director, Board Members, and a volunteer yielded
important insights and information regarding the past, present, and future of The Newark
Partnership, which allowed us to develop our SWOT analysis. Taking detailed notes on these
various interviews helped give us a holistic view of the facets of TNP and the challenges they are

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currently facing. Many concerns and observations were repeated amongst the different board
members. These include the need for the reevaluation of the mission statement and
organizational goals, the lack of distinct metrics used to evaluate TNP’s three different
organizational goals of nonprofit support, economic development, and civic engagement, the
lack of name recognition amongst community members, not providing as much nonprofit and
economic assistance as they would like to, and the lack of involvement by some members of the
community, specifically the students of the university. Additionally, it was highlighted how
Leann as the Executive Director successfully acts as a liaison between TNP and the community,
but her role needs to be developed as time goes on. There was also a statement from many board
members about the lack of commitment of time and resources other board members offer TNP.
These are just a few of the useful insights we were able to compile from our interviews with
TNP, and these takeaways and recommendations will be more thoroughly outlined in the SWOT
Analysis section of this report.

II. Information for S.W.O.T. Analysis

A. Mission Statement Application and Analysis

The mission statement of The Newark Partnership was a major point of discussion across
multiple interviews, especially regarding its length and lack of specificity. A reassessment of this
mission statement is needed. The Newark Partnership conducted an internal SWOT analysis for
their September 2021 board meeting, which identified the vague mission statement as a
weakness. Due to the mission statement’s length, it is challenging to remember and makes it
difficult for people to easily understand what the organization is striving to achieve and how they
will go about achieving it.
Daniel Rich, a board member who helped write TNP’s mission statement, explained that
the mission statement was intentionally written to be broad and unspecific as they were trying to
communicate the different dimensions of TNP. Polly Sierer, the Chair of the Board of Directors,
also stated this. Rich especially noted that the City of Newark does not have as many resources
focused on economic development compared to other cities, which has forced TNP to try to
make up for this lack of resources. He also stated that they wanted to demonstrate the differences
between the Downtown Newark Partnership and the Newark Partnership, as TNP is taking a

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more active role in community engagement and making Newark a place that people want to visit.
However, he now feels that it is long, cumbersome, and lacks direction. Chris Locke, another
board member, echoed this and said that there are a lot of stakeholders involved in the mission
statement writing that wanted to see a lot of different things get done; because nonprofits and
businesses are in different spheres, and value different things, it can be difficult to merge their
interests under one organization. This weakness prompts TNP to take some of these issues into
consideration in regard to their mission statement, which the Executive Director and Chair of the
Board believe needs to be done. At a fundamental level, TNP needs to identify what tangible
services it wants to provide to each of its pillars of business development, nonprofit support, and
civic engagement, and create a detailed plan on how these services will be provided. This will
allow TNP to measure those failures and successes in the future and create positive and sustained
change in the community. As Chris Locke stated, he “doesn’t know what he’s selling.”

B. Short-Term and Long-Term Goals

When asked “What metrics does TNP use to measure its success?” during interviews,
board members gave numerous answers; these included social media metrics such as “followers
on social media” and physical metrics including “the number of people at events.” However,
multiple interviewees conceded that while there are many possibilities on how to measure
success, few of these are being used by TNP. They do not have facts or figures on the examples
stated above and said that the lack of metrics is holding them back. Members also mentioned that
this will be addressed in future board meetings. If the language around success cannot be
measured, then it is hard to identify the actual successes and shortcomings in a meaningful way.
At the September board meeting, several short-term goals were shared for each of the
pillars. In terms of economic enhancement, they want to host networking events for business
owners, create a resource containing information on commercial vacancies, update their
resources for businesses with respect to permitting and new businesses entering the market, and
research how to diversify the small businesses in Newark, so they are not mostly restaurants. In
terms of nonprofit support, they want to update their resource guide for nonprofits, create a
platform for nonprofits to interact with each other, offer proofreading services for grant
proposals, create an online volunteer and job board, and host their annual School Supply Drive to
support local teachers. For civic engagement, they want to continue hosting Knowing Newark

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events, expand the diversity of TNP, host volunteers and resource fairs, and partner with other
organizations in Newark to start a mentorship program. These goals shared at the board meeting
did not completely agree with what board members stated should be getting done in order to
grow TNP during interviews. The main divergence was in the economic development pillar, as
many board members stated that there is a need to identify benefits that TNP could provide
businesses with and increase membership by making them aware of these opportunities and
benefits.
Most of the long-term goals were broad in nature and were more similar to vision
statements. However, there were two long-term goals that repeatedly came up during the
interview process. The first was the desire to retain more students in Newark post-graduation.
This is a long-term goal because it involves making Newark, Delaware a more desirable place to
live overall, which is not achievable in the short-term. Accomplishing this goal will involve
improving the quality of public schools in Newark and attracting more diverse businesses that
will be able to provide jobs to the diverse graduating population. This is important for long-term
success because if students are more likely to stay in Newark post-graduation, they are more
likely to engage with local organizations like TNP, meaning TNP will be able to recruit more
members and volunteers. With more members and volunteers, TNP will be able to grow more
and be able to fulfill their mission. Alongside this goal, TNP also wants to attract more diverse
businesses to Newark. Most local businesses serve college students and there are not many
businesses that provide a service that attracts other groups of individuals. For example, Jamie
Zingaro mentioned that Newark, especially Main Street, consists of restaurants and there are no
businesses that provide an activity that might attract families. This makes Newark a less
desirable place to stay compared to other cities in terms of raising a family, which further
exacerbates the problem of not being able to keep students in Newark post-graduation.

C. Finances
TNP suffers from a lack of funding diversity. Multiple board members expressed concern
that most of the funding for TNP comes from the City of Newark, while they also receive smaller
amounts from other corporations. While TNP is happy to have good relationships with these
corporate partners, as the Executive Director noted, if the City of Newark pulled their grant from
TNP, it would no longer be able to expand their services or cover costs to stay operating.

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Therefore, they need to both prove to the City of Newark that their money is not being wasted
and diversify their streams of income. Fee-for-service and personal donations, which could
generate a significant amount of revenue, are ways that nonprofits can diversify income. This
would involve TNP gaining more membership, converting that membership into individual
donations, and creating a base group of members that are willing to make recurring donations.
Creating the base of members that are willing to make recurring donations will result from TNP
demonstrating its effectiveness in improving the quality of life in Newark. Fee-for-service money
could come from TNP providing additional goods or services to the community in exchange for
revenue. This can easily be implemented as there was much discussion about how there are no
clear benefits for parties, especially businesses, to become a member of TNP.

D. Branding and Marketing

Branding and marketing could be improved at TNP. Across all interviews, the
interviewees noted that they believe only a small percentage of nonprofits and businesses in
Newark had heard of them. They set out originally to determine how many nonprofits were
located in Newark and have now identified 150 to 180. Leann noted that while they attempted
multiple forms of outreach with nonprofits and businesses, including emails, phone calls,
physical letters, and some physical canvassing, people were largely unresponsive. While this
may be partially due to TNP beginning its efforts during the hardships of the COVID-19
pandemic, it also may have been due to the lack of actual services that TNP is seeking to provide
to nonprofits and small and medium businesses. TNP wants to act as a liaison to allow for
networking and development of these different organizations, but the lack of concrete ways to do
so may be what is making it difficult to incentivize membership from these entities of Newark.
Leann also mentioned that a marketing firm has been hired to help increase TNP’s reach to
members of the community.
Additionally, Leann noted that many faith-based organizations provide many different
services to the community and that TNP would like to expand their relationships with those
entities. Faith-based organizations can engage a large number of individuals, raise money
effectively, and provide a distinct meeting space that TNP currently lacks. By engaging faith
organizations and helping them connect with other nonprofits, there would be a mutually

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beneficial relationship, as the faith-based organizations would expand their reach and TNP could
expand their services.

E. Board of Directors
A large discussion at the September 2021 Board meeting was about the issue regarding
the lack of contribution of time and resources by some board members. Additionally, it was
revealed that the internal economic SWOT analysis was not able to be fully completed due to the
apparent lack of contribution from all board members. They also discussed diversifying the
board, which mainly consists of a demographic of older white men. This was also mentioned
during some interviews with board members. They discussed the need for fresh perspectives and
a board that exemplifies the actual diversity of the City of Newark, but they are not sure how to
attract people to those positions. While the board member composition and requirements are
outlined in TNP’s bylaws, their actual specific duties and responsibilities are left more vague and
more generalized. While this makes sense, the current issues may force TNP to reassess that
portion of their bylaws or to separately distribute additional duties and responsibilities as
determined by the current specific board. There is a great difference between the amount of
engaged presence from different board members, ranging from not even attending board
meetings to going above and beyond. In terms of membership retention, there could be a
requirement for board members to utilize their contacts and connections to further gain and retain
new membership in the business and nonprofit communities. This board has many members that
are well connected in the community, including Polly Sierer, the former mayor, Chris Locke,
General Counsel for Lang Development, Dan Rich, the former provost of the University of
Delaware, and various other business owners and city officials.

F. Volunteers
From interviews, TNP has no large volunteer structure. When volunteers are needed, they
utilize either board members or members of nonprofits in Newark. Several interviewees
mentioned the desire to utilize more students at the University of Delaware in a volunteer role.
However, this poses a problem as TNP is struggling to define a relationship with the University
of Delaware. This is a two-pronged issue because they want to engage University of Delaware
students more, but at the same time do not want to rely on the University of Delaware for the

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economic vitality of the City of Newark. TNP is aware that few students at UD have heard of
their organization and that outreach in this area has been lacking, prompting them to ask how
they can work to involve the students at UD, regardless of if it is a volunteer role. They also
recognize that there is a problem with retention amongst students, as many students will leave
Newark after graduating, meaning that once students start to really get involved in the Newark
community, they graduate and leave, further hindering TNP’s ability to get long term volunteers.
As mentioned previously, there is a desire for a long-term plan to make Newark more attractive
in order to retain people in the area. At the same time, they are aware that a lot of the
development and opportunities in Newark are due to the university and its funding. A lot of the
business that Main Street receives is due to the more than 20,000 undergraduate and graduate
students in the area and often economic development is tied to what will attract students.
However, Newark is a city of more than 33,000 people, meaning that there are a significant
number of other people that could be utilized as volunteers.

G. Location and Logistics

The lack of physical facilities can hinder TNP’s capacity to facilitate board meetings and
other services, such as professional development seminars or networking events for nonprofits
and businesses. Leann Moore specifically discussed this during her interview, stating that
Newark itself has few meeting places, and they are mostly churches or are owned by the
University of Delaware, meaning that it is hard to find additional public spaces for people to
gather. For example, the September 2021 board meeting was at the Courtyard Marriott on North
Campus at the University of Delaware. While it does not look like TNP is going to have their
own designated space soon, a partnership with an organization or area where they can conduct
business out of may be useful for events, name recognition, and establishing a meaningful
physical presence in the community.

H. Social Entrepreneurial Ventures

The Newark Partnership is not currently undertaking any social entrepreneurial ventures.
This is in large part due to the overall youth of not only the organization, but also the short tenure
of Leann. The organization was started in 2019, and just as TNP was starting to make progress in
their mission and grow, the COVID-19 pandemic started. This delayed progress, and no major

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projects have been undertaken by TNP as of yet. According to the board of directors, there is a
desire to undertake bigger projects that will have a larger social impact in the coming years.

I. Comparable Agencies

Attica, Indiana
Wabash Economic Growth Alliance
Wabash Economic Growth Alliance, or WEGA, is a nonprofit organization created
earlier this year to serve the town of Attica, Indiana, which has struggled to take care of its
downtown area. The town signed a contract with WEGA earlier this year and began the
process of creating a board. With their expertise, Attica is going to treat them like another
town department and fund them, allowing them to use their knowledge to spend the money in
ways that revitalize the downtown area first, and then focus on the rest of the town. They are
determining what to do with abandoned and vacant buildings to create growth opportunities.
This involves conducting a study on which buildings are structurally sound and then deciding
which buildings they will be able to revitalize and attract business owners to. They were
renamed “Grow Wabash County” and are focusing on 5 specific areas: “Enhancing
Community Livability, Workforce Development, Entrepreneurial Support, Business
Expansion & Attraction,” and “ Investor Services & Retention.” The Newark Partnership
might be helped by working more closely with the city of Newark and the Newark Chamber
of Commerce in its revitalization efforts and narrowing down its economic goals into more
specific and tangible ones that have clearer metrics of success.

Delaware City, DE
Delaware City Main Street
Delaware City Main Street is a nonprofit organization in Delaware City that is
working to revitalize its downtown area and make it a “hub for ecotourism, history, and the
arts.” They are associated with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and are working to
help residents enhance property values, boost business, and work to better the economy. From
their Facebook, they engage the community in a number of different ways and update social
media frequently. They are hosting a Halloween costume contest, a Family Fun Walk, and

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promoting local businesses. They also are educating citizens about environmental issues and
are partnering with The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary. The Newark Partnership might
be helped by focusing on one specific area of Newark and revitalizing buildings in that area
that could be used for economic development and furthering awareness of ecological impact
and issues.

Westchester, NY
Nonprofit Westchester
Nonprofit Westchester is a nonprofit organization that acts as a uniting voice for other
nonprofits in Westchester County, NY. It aims to facilitate the sharing of resources,
connections, and information to strengthen the partnerships between nonprofits and the
for-profit and government sectors. Overall, their mission statement is “to strengthen the
impact, capacity and visibility of the nonprofit sector in Westchester County for a more just
and caring community.” This nonprofit’s goal is similar to the Newark Partnership’s goal to
help nonprofits make a greater impact by providing resources that will help them succeed.
However, this organization seems to be further along in their development when compared to
TNP. One thing that Nonprofit Westchester is doing that could benefit TNP is that they are
holding events very frequently that are aimed to help nonprofits. These include financial
management boot camps over a series of sessions, a meeting with the County Executive,
providing guidance on workforce solutions, and networking events. We believe TNP is not
doing enough currently in terms of these events, which is understandable given the current
resources that are available. Something that Nonprofit Westchester is also doing that TNP is
not is advocacy at the local government level. During the board meeting, it was brought up
repeatedly that TNP did not have a voice in government, which would make it hard for there
to be a partnership between nonprofits and the city government.

Waco, TX
WACO Foundation
The WACO Foundation is a nonprofit organization that works to “promote solutions to
community challenges, strengthen local nonprofits, engage philanthropists, and manage
charitable assets to improve quality of life in McLennan County.” They often partner with

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other foundations, nonprofits, individual donors, government, educational and healthcare
institutions, and the private sector, just as the Newark Partnership works closely with other
nonprofits and Newark governmental representatives. The WACO Foundation’s website is
navigable and helpful, and includes a full list of resources available to nonprofits and potential
donors. As mentioned previously, TNP struggles with gaining new members, so if TNP were
able to display resources that exhibit how they help nonprofits like the WACO Foundation’s
website, more nonprofits may be interested in partnering with them after seeing the potential
benefits. The WACO Foundation also outlines clear and concise problems that they prioritize,
such as significantly increasing graduation rates from high school, technical school, and
college. TNP’s mission statement and core working groups are extremely broad and it is
difficult to discern exactly what they are actually doing or working to accomplish. Making
TNP’s guiding principles more specific or prioritizing certain issues in Newark would help
bring attention to and identify what steps they could take to tackle the issues.

J. COVID-19 Impact
As stated in the social entrepreneurial ventures section, TNP was impacted by the
COVID-19 pandemic in different ways. All events that TNP was sponsoring had to become
virtual. Inevitably, with virtual events came decreased attendance, meaning their events were
not as successful as they were anticipating them being. Additionally, their recruitment process
for new business and nonprofit members was severely impacted. With many businesses and
nonprofits dedicating most of their time during the pandemic to staying operating, they were
not concerned with joining TNP. Therefore, TNP is behind in terms of membership level
compared to what they were anticipating at this time. However, it is important to emphasize
that despite the difficulties the pandemic presented, they were still able to increase
membership.

K. Good to Great

Defining Great
Defining great, for a social sector organization, means establishing what it means to be
“great” or how to measure successes without using “business metrics.” In nonprofits, the

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measure of greatness is their adherence and progress to accomplish their mission and make a
distinctive impact relative to their resources. TNP aims to support community partnerships and
residents of Newark in order to improve the overall quality of life in the community. When
interviewing board members, it was apparent that there was a lack of metrics to evaluate TNP’s
scope and accomplishments in terms of its three different organizational pillars. Board members
did not have a clear perception of what TNP has accomplished in the years since its founding;
thus, the mission statement should be tailored to define metrics, and advances in TNP’s mission
should be more thoroughly documented.

First Who
Good to Great and the Social Sector by Jim Collins outlines specific ways organizations
in the social sector, such as The Newark Partnership, can become successful. “First Who” refers
to getting the right people “on the bus” and the wrong people “off the bus,” where the “bus” is
the organization and the people are the organization’s volunteers, workers, board members, and
others. In the case of TNP, hiring Leann as the Executive Director was a leap in the right
direction. With her skills in facilitation and organization, and her connection to the Newark
community, Leann has been able to engage multiple stakeholders and lead the members of TNP
in discussion and planning. Board members such as Dan Rich have invested their time and skills
to help shape TNP to best serve the community. However, some board members of TNP do not
contribute much to the organization. Specifically, there seems to be board members who are not
dedicating enough of their time to positively impact TNP. This is in part because of the lack of
clarity provided by the mission statement, as it seems that board members are not sure with what
they should be focused on and is also caused by the lack of passion that a very few number of
board members exude. Clarifying roles and responsibilities of board members would help make
sure that the right people are on the bus and in the right seats where they can best serve the
nonprofit.

The Hedgehog Concept

The Hedgehog Concept is adapted from the adage: “The fox has many tricks; the
hedgehog has one.” In social sector organizations, this concept can be interpreted as a
three-circle Venn diagram, in which one circle represents the nonprofit’s “resource engine,” one

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represents what the nonprofit is passionate about, and one represents what the nonprofit is
proficient in. These principles help guide nonprofits to best apply their strengths and skills to
implement change in their local community. TNP utilizes its funding and time, or “resource
engine,” to plan and oversee events in the community, such as workshops. If the City of Newark
and their other major donors continue to support TNP financially, this resource engine should be
well supplied. The second element of dedicating time to causes the organization is passionate
about is clearly demonstrated by the executive director and nearly all board members of TNP, as
most are business owners, residents, or former or current government officials that have a
personal interest in seeing Newark, Delaware become the best place to live. In terms of the last
element of focusing on what the nonprofit is good at, TNP is not as proficient in this area. Due in
part to its broad mission statement, TNP is dividing its focus on the three different pillars of
economic development, nonprofit support, and civic engagement. This means that its resources
and passions are being divided amongst different tasks. This problem is further exacerbated by
board members not being in positions that maximize their skills. If board members were
positioned in such a way that they were focusing on the pillar that they not only had experience
in but were also passionate about, the third element of the hedgehog concept could be satisfied,
as TNP will be more likely to develop unique and impactful solutions to problems facing
Newark.

The FlyWheel
“Turning the flywheel”' refers to building momentum for an organization by continuously
building the brand. Success builds support and commitment, which can then build a cycle of
success, where successes build off each other. TNP has not made much progress in turning the
flywheel, as they are not well-known or gaining momentum to tackle issues in the Newark
community. As stated previously, many entities in the community are unfamiliar with TNP,
meaning that TNP will have a more difficult time gaining members and financial support, which
hinders their ability to grow and succeed. TNP has much potential to start turning the flywheel,
as if they are successful in generating awareness about their organization and recruiting
members, more members will want to join, current donors will be more satisfied and contribute
more money, and new donors will be attracted. With a clearer mission statement and specific
goals, TNP can get the wheel turning to grow in more members and funding.

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Level 5 Leadership
Level 5 Leadership refers to having high-tier leadership in social sector organizations to
help them be successful. Level 5 Leaders are those who are able to make decisions, even when
they may be difficult; they know how to be effective and use their strengths well. There are five
levels of leadership, arranged in a triangle with Level 1 Leaders being the base or lowest:
Level 1, Highly Capable Individual: Applies talent, knowledge, and skills to
contribute to projects.
Level 2, Contributing Team Member: Applies individual skills and works with
other group members to help achieve objectives.
Level 3, Competent Manager: Organizes people and resources to pursue
objectives effectively and efficiently.
Level 4, Effective Leader: Sees and establishes commitment to a clear and
compelling vision.
Level 5, Executive: Utilizes strengths and mobilizes the group to pursue vision
through personal humility and resolution.
The different board members may be characterized as contributing team members, where
their unique skills are drawn upon to identify problems in the Newark community, but they do
not organize and coordinate people and resources to boost productivity. Every member of the
board has the potential to become a Level 5 Leader; however, with the lack of a clear vision for
TNP, members are not sure where to invest their time to best serve the nonprofit.
In her role as executive director, Leann can effectively organize members and resources
to work towards TNP’s objectives. Without a clear and compelling vision for TNP, there are no
Level 4 or 5 Leaders, but redefining what TNP hopes to accomplish and providing concrete
results would allow for individuals to reach higher leadership levels.

L. Head, Heart, Hustle

Head + Heart = Hustle is a concept adapted from Work on Purpose, an assigned Tier 3
reading by Laura Galansky. “Head” refers to an individual's or organization’s talents and skills
that they can apply to their work. “Heart” refers to an individual’s or organization’s passions and
what drives and motivates them. “Hustle” refers to the combination of these two aspects to create

20
the optimal conditions for an individual or organization to make the most meaningful impact on
the world around them.
Executive Director Leann Moore has the components of both “Head” and “Heart.” She is
skilled in communication and involving multiple stakeholders in conversations, which allows
everyone’s ideas to be heard. She also has “Heart,” as she is a longtime resident of the City of
Newark and cares deeply about its ability to become a place that people choose to live, work, and
visit. This allows for the optimal conditions for “Hustle,” where she is working to get TNP on
track to making meaningful contributions to the City of Newark. Since she only joined as a
full-time staff member earlier this year, we anticipate that TNP will make much progress under
her leadership. Board members and volunteers come from many different backgrounds and walks
of life, but similarly share the components for this equation. Chris Locke, for example, is a
resident and successful business owner. He has skills in areas like economics and running a
successful small business, but also cares deeply about making the downtown a successful and
competitive economic sphere and getting more young people to open businesses. Polly Sierer
exhibits heart with her dedication to making Newark, Delaware a better place, and brings the
skills she has learned about community development from her time as mayor. Overall, each
board member brings a unique skill set and connections that TNP can utilize along with their
passion to make impactful improvements in Newark, Delaware.

III. SWOT Analysis

Strengths Weaknesses

Strengths are the features of an organization Weaknesses are aspects of an organization

that cannot be replicated by competitors, such
as skill, knowledgeable staff, or capital. They
are the positive attributes that separate one
organization from another. Strengths at TNP
include:
● Highly organized and skilled
Executive Director ensures liaison
between TNP and the community.
● Strong, passionate members of the
board who are residents of Newark
and/or own businesses in Newark with
knowledge about Newark affairs and
that hinder its ability to perform at the highest
level. These include internal characteristics
and resources that may be lacking.
Weaknesses at TNP include:
● Lack of funding diversity, with
primary reliance on the City of
Newark.
● Low membership participation by
businesses, nonprofits, and residents.
● Lack of name recognition with
individuals and organizations in the
community.

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 are well connected to the community.
● Well-kept social media management
on Facebook and Instagram.
● Currently have a high level of
financial support from the City of
Newark, W.L. Gore, Chemours, and
Bloom Energy.
● Persistence and growth in resources
and members throughout COVID-19
pandemic.
Opportunities
Opportunities include areas where TNP is not
currently exploiting all their potential
resources in order to grow. These include
providing unique products and services and
increasing publicity.
● Many board members have
connections to local business owners
that are not being utilized to their
potential. This provides an opportunity
to create more membership and foster
more community in Newark.
● TNP is the only non-profit
organization in Newark that is trying
to build a partnership amongst entities
in the city.
● TNP does not have a strong
connection with the faith-based
community of Newark. These
communities often are already
organized and can be incorporated into
a partnership easily.
● Expand publicity and name
recognizability to more sectors of the
Newark community, especially
students. TNP could also benefit from
more businesses and residents
recognizing them.
● Increase membership by expanding
the current area of main focus past
Downtown Newark into other areas
● Lack of physical meeting spaces to
conduct meetings and run events.
● Lack of incentives for nonprofits and
small businesses to participate.
● Lack of metrics to evaluate TNP’s
successes and shortcomings.
● Lack of clear, concise, and purposeful
mission statement.
● Lack of clear expectations for board
members, and varying time and effort
spent by board members outside of
monthly meetings.
● Lack of diversity on the board.
Threats
Threats are external forces that may adversely
affect the success of an organization. It is vital
to anticipate threats and to act against them
before you become a victim to them and your
growth stalls. Threats against TNP include:
● The potential loss of funding from the
City of Newark, as with different
administrations there might be
different levels of commitment on
behalf of the city.
● COVID-19 affects the day-to-day
operations and logistics of TNP. A
resurgence in COVID-19 could force
events to move back to a virtual only
format, which will make it difficult to
gain new members.
● The overall economic health of the
community. If the economy is not
healthy, business owners, residents,
and non-profits will have less time to
participate in TNP-sponsored events.
● Lack of student retention after
graduating. If a vast majority of
students continue to leave Newark
after graduating, TNP will have a
difficult time establishing a connection
with this demographic of the
population.
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 that are still in city limits.
● Gain more sponsors from other large
corporations in the Newark area, along
with gaining more support from the
University of Delaware.

IV. Conclusion
The Newark Partnership is a newly formed non-profit that serves the Newark community
by facilitating community and economic development between businesses, city residents, and
community institutions. Utilizing the information gained through the interview process, the
SWOT Analysis, and readings examined throughout the Tier 3 course, we have developed five
project suggestions that would help TNP achieve its vision of making Newark, Delaware the best
place to live, work, and visit. TNP has many strengths including a highly skilled Executive
Director, passionate board members, and its ability to continue to grow during the COVID-19
pandemic. As a young organization, they do also have several weaknesses that include the
inability to gain name recognition, problems with board structure, and the lack of a clear and
precise direction. We believe that the following project proposals will help TNP address those
weaknesses by utilizing the opportunities it has to grow. The projects will involve a collaborative
effort from members of our team, the executive director, and members of the board. We look
forward to working with The Newark Partnership to help them achieve their goals.

V. Project Proposals
A. Secure a partnership with a local organization or location within the City of
Newark where The Newark Partnership can run meetings and host events for
members
As detailed above, The Newark Partnership is weakened by their lack of physical
presence in the Newark Community. Having a physical presence would allow for greater name
recognition, accessibility, and growth of volunteers and members, as more events could be
hosted. TNP has hosted networking events for nonprofit organizations in Newark in the past but
has had to often rely on the University of Delaware for buildings for events; this partially ties
their ability to host events to the university. Finding an outside source or partnering with another
organization could be useful so that monthly board meetings, training, networking, development,
and other workshops and events can be held year-round. TNP has specifically expressed a desire

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to become more involved with faith-based organizations that have a physical presence and an
established community. This is one option that could be looked into in terms of both physical
space as well as outreach to wider segments of the community that have yet to be tapped into. A
needs assessment for TNP will be conducted to determine what type and size of physical space is
needed, which largely depends on what events they are looking to run, how many people they
would like to attend, and the pricing of those spaces. TNP has had difficulty because there is a
lack of physical spaces for them to consistently congregate in Newark, and a comprehensive
survey of their options could yield important information for the future of the organization in
terms of the need for a physical space.
B. Establish a connection between TNP and University of Delaware students
One major weakness of TNP is its lack of diversity on the board, particularly that of age
diversity. As a result, TNP has struggled to connect to the younger residents of Newark,
including the students at the University of Delaware. The University of Delaware has nearly
24,000 students, comprising over half of the population of Newark, Delaware. Involving students
at the University of Delaware would allow TNP to tailor its mission statement and strategies to
reach and affect a broader community. Working closely with University of Delaware Registered
Student Organizations (RSOs) would allow for motivated students to gain experience in areas
such as policy and finance, and TNP would benefit from the ideas and help provided by the
students. In addition to partnering with RSOs, TNP could also partner with the Honors College
or a program such as the UD Community Engagement Scholars, who work to tackle societal
issues through service opportunities and coursework. This project would involve sending
information to these different college groups about how their students could benefit from
volunteering with TNP, establishing a liaison between these college groups and TNP, and
devising specific activities that college students could volunteer at to help support TNP.
C. Clarify TNP mission statement and develop metrics to measure success of TNP
Without a clear mission statement, the board and members of TNP are not sure how to
best contribute to the nonprofit. Additionally, new businesses or nonprofits are hesitant to join
TNP due to the ambiguity about what exact benefits TNP would provide for them. Having a
clear, concise, and purposeful mission statement would attract additional members to join TNP.
Furthermore, including metrics to evaluate the progress of TNP towards its mission would help
determine its successes and shortcomings more clearly. This project would first involve

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identifying more precisely what TNP wishes to accomplish, the specific reasons of why they
wish to accomplish it, and the ways to measure success in this area. This information will help
with the development of a new mission statement that clearly states what TNP is providing for
the community, why they are providing it, and what success would look like. After this is
completed, a strategic plan would be developed that will use this new mission statement and will
focus on how each pillar can best use its resources to accomplish TNP’s mission.
D. Apply organizational techniques to build and restructure the board
According to many board members, the current board structure of TNP is not ideal and
does not maximize the impact that TNP could be having on Newark. The first step of this project
would be to clearly outline expectations for each board member. Leann mentioned that there
were board members who served as representatives of the corporations who are donating a
considerable amount of money to TNP, and she is fine that they do not participate as much as
others. However, there are other board members that do not spend as much time and resources as
others to contribute to TNP’s mission, and they are not acting as a representative of a donor. An
example of this is the lack of commitment from the mayor’s office. The mayor is on the board
but does not attend meetings or send a representative on his behalf. Outlining clear expectations
should help the board members be more productive, as then they know exactly what they must
do to contribute and make a positive impact.
The board is organized into different subcommittees with members serving on different
committees. The second step in this project would be to identify which subcommittees would
benefit from the strengths of each different board member. For example, the committee on
nonprofit development would benefit more from a member that has connections to Newark
Senior Center and the faith community than from a member who has more connections with
business owners. Another example would be the economic development committee benefiting
more from an individual who is more familiar with business operations than from an individual
who has more experience in nonprofit work. This process would make sure that the right people
are in the right positions.
Within this step, there could also be a creation of other specific board seats that are
dedicated to each pillar and are responsible for overseeing the growth of that pillar. This will
help TNP focus resources effectively into each pillar and allow for better oversight and
management of future endeavors conducted by each pillar of TNP.

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 E. Increase Business Membership
One concern that was repeatedly raised during the interviews with board members was
the low membership subscription by businesses in Newark. It seems that the low membership is
being driven by two main causes. The first reason is that many businesses, especially those
outside of downtown Newark, do not know that the Newark Partnership exists, or do not know
what TNP is doing. The second reason is that there is no clear benefit for a business to become a
member. Currently, there are networking events that business owners can attend with each other,
but many owners do not attend because of their busy schedules of keeping day to day business
operations going. Business owners do not receive any financial benefits in terms of increasing
sales, decreasing costs, increasing customer flow, or increasing publicity, so they do not sign up
for a membership. This project would have to address both issues. First, there would be a
development and planning stage that will outline the benefits TNP would be able to provide. This
will be accomplished by coordinating with Leann Moore, Polly Sierer, and the economic
development committee. Once the list of benefits are established, the focus of the project will
shift to attracting businesses to join. This could include a combination of social media, mailings,
and in person visits to businesses to highlight the benefits provided by TNP. However, in person
visits will be the most effective, as they establish a personal element that makes a business owner
more receptive to the idea that is being presented to them and more likely to follow up to ask for
additional information or to become a member. The connections of the various board members
will be helpful with this stage, as it is easier to get a business to join if they are already familiar
with the individual approaching them. This project is also an easy way to “start turning the
flywheel,” as with more members joining, publicity increases, making more businesses want to
join.

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VI. References
“Delaware City Main Street.” Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/DelawareCityMainStreet/.

“Faculty and Staff: Leann Moore.” Biden Institute for Public Administration,

https://www.bidenschool.udel.edu/ipa/people/faculty-staff/lmoore.

Hackler, Meredith. “Attica Creates Nonprofit to Help Revitalize Downtown Area.” WLFI News,

30 Apr. 2021,

https://www.wlfi.com/content/news/Attica-creates-nonprofit-to-help-revitalize-downtown

-area-574320261.html.

“Newark, Delaware Population 2021.” Newark, Delaware Population 2021 (Demographics,

Maps, Graphs), https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/newark-de-population.

“Nonprofit Westchester - Home.” Nonprofit Westchester, https://npwestchester.org/.

“Our History.” The Newark Partnership, https://www.thenewarkpartnership.org/our-history.

Pilon, Annie. “50 Main Street Business Programs and Organizations.” Small Business Trends, 15

Sept. 2021, https://smallbiztrends.com/2016/10/main-street-programs.html.

United States. Department of Treasury. Internal Revenue Service. “2018 Return of Organization

Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990): The Newark Partnership.” Guidestar, 2018. Web.

10 November 2021.

United States. Department of Treasury. Internal Revenue Service. “2019 Return of Organization

Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990): The Newark Partnership.” Guidestar, 2019. Web.

10 November 2021.

“WACO Foundation - About.” Waco Foundation, https://wacofoundation.org/.

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