A Case for PUI: NCCJ’s 42nd Annual Brotherhood & Sisterhood Awards Dinner

“It was November, 2010, and the Volunteer Board of the NCCJ of Alabama was working feverishly to pull together its Brotherhood/Sisterhood Awards Dinner to be held on March 3, 2011 at The Harbert Center. While the Board had the big picture (i.e. honorees and dinner chair) plus many ideas, we did not have any staff to pull together the myriad of details that it takes to host a meaningful and successful dinner.From the first day that we met Ed Fields and Ashley Grigg, they waded into the onrushing current, took us by the hands and lead us to the glowing fire of an exceptional event. In every instance, Ed and Ashley lived up to their tag line – ‘relax it’s handled.’ The Dinner came off without a hitch. We exceeded our goals by more than 50% and Ashley even ran the videos of the honorees. The Board could not be more pleased. We look forward to working with Projects Unlimited for years to come.”

Testimony from Richard Carmody, Co-Chairman of the NCCJ of Alabama Board of Directors

So, What do Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, Johnny Johns, Judy Abroms and Lemarse Washington all have in common?

All four were honored in front of nearly 500 people at NCCJ’s 42^nd Annual Brotherhood and Sisterhood Awards Dinner on March 3, 2011 at The Harbert Center located in downtown Birmingham.

The Board of the Birmingham Chapter of NCCJ (National Conference for Community and Justice) decided they wanted to bring back two of their flagship programs for 2011: the awards dinner and Camp Anytown. With a volunteer board running the show for the first time since their Executive Director, Lemarse Washington, retired in 2009, the group decided to bring Projects Unlimited, Inc. on board to oversee the awards dinner. In the hands of PUI team member Ashley Grigg, the board quickly embraced our “Relax, it’s handled” slogan and got to work on this exciting event.

With an almost sold out crowd, NCCJ was not only able to honor four very deserving Birmingham locals, but also exceeded its fundraising goal by more than 50% and completely funded Camp Anytown for 2011!

Way to go, NCCJ! We can’t wait to start planning the 43^rd dinner.

The mission of NCCJ is “to fight bias, bigotry and racism and promote understanding and respect among all races, religions and cultures through advocacy, conflict resolution and education.” To learn more about Camp Anytown, please visit www.ywca.org  (Programs > Racial Justice > Anytown Alabama).

Case Study: The Birmingham Urban League

PUI CASE STUDY – BIRMINGHAM URBAN LEAGUE

Elaine Jackson, the CEO of the Birmingham Urban League, wanted to have an event to commemorate the League’s 40th anniversary. With only 3 months to plan and a staff that was busy with its own workload, she came to Projects Unlimited for help. She had a vision for the event, but she needed help with all of the logistics of the event from the planning to the execution. That’s where PUI came in.

We were her “guns for hire.” We handled all of the logistics of planning the event so she could focus on one key component – fundraising. While we worked with the venue, vendors, entertainment, decorators and so on, she was freed up to dedicate most of her energy on sponsor development.

In the end, together with the CEO, we produced an event that the board of directors and the community-at-large was proud of. Equally, she was able to raise more than $70,000 in unrestricted cash for the Birmingham Urban League.

If you are considering outsourcing, consider enlisting the services of Projects Unlimited. We have membership and organizational development systems that will optimize your governance structure, marketing outreach and general operations. More importantly, we offer your organization’s leadership the competence, continuity and confidence they crave.

Contact Cherie at cherie@relaxitshandled.com to learn how we can help your organization.