Having used ONE Worcester’s services three times, since ONE Worcester was founded in 2009, Executive Director Donna Blanchard states that “Apple Tree Arts could not have grown and done what it has accomplished in recent years without ONE Worcester’s assistance."The first experience with One Worcester was when a One Worcester volunteer assisted Apple Tree Arts with Board Development. Through these efforts, their organization now has a strong, committed board made up of both parents and community leaders with strong, functioning standing committees. Subsequent projects included development of a technology assessment plan, and then strategic and succession planning.
As one of Worcester biggest non profit art organizations ArtsWorcester is committed to providing affordable and accessible art to the Worcester community with its wide range of mediums, artists, and prices. “ONE Worcester has helped ArtsWorcester expand its database to encompass exhibition records. It sounds simple but it was a complicated project, requiring ONE Worcester to draw upon a number of experts in its corps. When the full complexity of the project came into focus, the team at ONE Worcester never faltered, finding yet more resources and more capacity to get the job done. The commitment they show to their non-profit partners is remarkable.”
In fall 2017, ONE Worcester provided event planning services to the LGBT Asylum Taskforce. The organization is the only group of its kind in the United States, providing wraparound services to asylum seekers who face torture or death in their countries of origin due to their sexual orientation. The Taskforce provides housing, clothing, and social support while its guests seek asylum in the United States. During last year's gala, planned in conjunction with ONE Worcester, the organization was able to raise well over $300,000. This year, the group is collaborating again with ONE Worcester in an effort to buy a three-decker home for its guests.In fall 2018, we expanded the gala and shattered previous fundraising records for the Taskforce.
Overlook FARM is a nonprofit established to provide education on local agriculture, food access and hunger, and sustainable farming practices. Overlook’s Executive Director Jamie Aspenson reached out to us in the summer of 2021 and had a lot to say about her work with ONE Worcester
"We had the opportunity to meet with our expert volunteer monthly, starting in August 2021 through March 2022. In the end, we now have a written document that allows us to achieve our mission methodically. As a young organization, and as someone who is taking on a first-time ED role, I knew that I did not have the strategic experience to grow our organization. In addition, we have a very small, already over-stretched budget. Working with a paid consultant would have been a non-starter. We were referred by a previous nonprofit director of Community Harvest Project, who said that work with ONE Worcester was a must. We can now spend the money we would have spent on a consultant in achieving our mission.
I cannot imagine how we would have expanded so quickly or even sustained ourselves without the help of ONE Worcester. Just the time we would have had to invest to raise funds to hire a consultant would have set us back tremendously. Instead, we received outstanding service. I hope every single organization that needs help knows about ONE Worcester and the great work that they do."
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We have never charged our nonprofit partners for consulting. We help make sure that nonprofits can keep their doors open and thrive in providing essential services to our community.
We rely on our corps of skilled volunteers to provide consulting in marketing, fundraising, strategic planning, and more. Become a nonprofit change-maker with us.
This year, we have helped build boards, raised tens of thousands of dollars for our partner organizations, and troubleshooted compliance issues. Ask for a helping hand.
Join us for our monthly webinar series, which covers topics from DEI to fundraising to financial reporting. Or, view our library of past seminars here.
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Alex Mooradian, Esq. (Board Chair) represents clients in deportation proceedings, including immigrant juveniles, refugees, asylum seekers, and survivors of crimes. He also represents those seeking immigration benefits, such as citizenship, adjustment of status (green cards), marriage visas, deferred action, and appeals of benefit denials. He has appeared before numerous courts in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, including the Federal District Court, District and Superior Courts, Probate and Family Courts, the Boston Immigration Court and USCIS. Alex has served as lead counsel on numerous complex cases relating to protracted immigration detention, post-conviction relief, spurious gang allegations against immigrant juveniles, and litigation related to the Trump Administration's travel ban.
Alex is a Partner at Kneeland, Gribouski, and Mooradian of Worcester and speaks fluent Spanish. As a volunteer, he serves as the Board Chair of ONE Worcester. He also serves on the pro-bono panel at Ascentria Care Alliance, is a mentor for the BU Law Immigrants' Rights and Human Trafficking Program, is an attorney-supervisor for the Student Clinic for Immigrant Justice, and routinely provides know-your-rights trainings at local nonprofits, health centers and universities. He is the 2021 Recipient of the Boston University School of Law’s Public Interest Alumni Award in recognition of his pro bono work with immigrant kids, including those in immigrant detention, and his work on complex asylum matters.
As Board Chair of ONE Worcester, Alex oversaw the organization’s re-branding to ONE Worcester; has spoken on behalf of ONE Worcester to community organizations such as the Worcester Chamber of Commerce and Worcester Rotary Club; has moderated all in-person seminars and online webinars; and is currently overseeing changes to our online communications and web presence. He meets routinely with our interim Executive Director to develop grant applications and meet with outside stakeholders and community leaders. Alex has also helped lead our pandemic response, including our new programs that integrate diversity, equity and inclusion into our essential business consulting services. To that end, he has worked with ONE Worcester’s Board and Program Manager, as well as outside stakeholders, to develop project criteria, programming, and assessment tools for one-on-one DEI consulting and webinars addressing social issues highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Barbara Guthrie (Interim ED, in kind) has focused her professional career on the nonprofit secrot, working as the Administrator of the Colleges of Worcester Consortium. More recently, she was the Executive Director of Rainbow Child Development Center, an inner-city organization focused on childcare and wellbeing. She was also the Director of Head Start for Southern Worcester Country. Barbara’s skills include budgeting and financial oversight, Grant Writing, Fund Raising, Facilities Management, Human Resources Management, Communications, Event Planning, Program Growth, and Community Collaboration.
Barbara is a Permanent Class President & Member of the Alumni Council for Keuka College, a Member & Secretary for the Princeton Council on Aging Board of Directors, and a 2-time president of the Worcester Rotary Club.
As a member of the ONE Worcester Board, she has served as Vice Chair and Interim Executive Director Barbara oversees grant writing and serves on the Executive Committee. She has also been a
Skill- based volunteer with special emphasis on board development and board governance. Barbara routinely interviews nonprofit directors once their business consulting work is completed to determine their satisfaction with the services ONE Worcester provides. Barbara routinely attends ONE Worcester programming, including our online DEI webinars and in-person events. She received her BA with a major in Psychology and a minor in Business from Keuka College, Keuka Park, NY.
Denise Darrigrand (Clerk) has spent most of her career in higher education. After receiving her M.A. and Ed. S. degrees in Counseling Psychology and Student Development she worked at Wesleyan University for 16 years starting as Assistant to the Dean of the College and concluding her time there as Dean of Student Affairs. She then moved to Clark University where she took the position as Dean of Students and left in May 2015 as Dean of Students/Vice President of Student Affairs. She is now pursuing a number of volunteer activities; in addition to serving as the Clerk of the Board for ONE Worcester she is Chair of the Steering Committee of the LGBT Asylum Task Force. She is also on the board of Abby’s House; is chair of the board of Worcester Fellowship; is co-director of the Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry; serves as the Collector of her Unitarian Universalist Church and volunteers at the Food Pantry of Cape Cod.
Denise has interviewed numerous nonprofits regarding their work with ONE Worcester, and she is also an advocate for increased DEI programming and has attended several of ONE Worcester’s DEI programs. She lives in Worcester with her family.
Bob Hoover (Treasurer) joined Jericho Road Worcester’s board in October of 2014 and has served as Treasurer for the past six years. He was instrumental in the establishment of Jericho Road as an independent 501©3 nonprofit. His responsibilities include budget preparation, monthly financial reporting to the Board of Directors, preparation of the required financial reporting to the state (Form PC) and the Federal Government (Form 990EZ). He assisted in the development of business plans and budgets for several nonprofit organizations.
Bob’s career background has been in financial management and planning roles with Ford Motor Company in Michigan, Norton Company and Nypro Inc. in Massachusetts, retiring after 24 years with Nypro in 2002 as Director of Business Planning and Analysis. His strengths are in budgeting, business planning, evaluation of acquisitions and capital projects and development of sales analysis and production reporting. He was a member of several Boards of Directors while at Nypro.
Since retiring from the business world, Bob has spent his time volunteering in the Emergency Department at UMass Memorial, acting as a mentor to would-be entrepreneurs through SCORE, and assisting in tax return preparation with VITA which helps low and moderate income clients with the Earned Income Tax Credit. Additionally, he is the Treasurer of a Westborough based nonprofit where he has responsibilities similar to ONE Worcester.
He lives in Westborough, Massachusetts with his wife Ann-Britt.
Bob received his BS in Accounting from Bowling Green State University in Ohio and his MBA from the University of Michigan.
Maria McDonnell is a senior associate/electrical engineer with RDK Engineers d/b/a NV5. NV5 Global, Inc (NASDAQ:NVEE) is a provider of engineering and consulting services to public and private sectors. The company is based in Hollywood, FLA and has offices both nationally and internationally. NV5 Global is ranked in the top 50 design firms in the country. Maria has been employed by the firm since 1995 and has over 30 years of experience in the industry. In addition to engineering and construction, her strengths are business development and planning, problem solving and public speaking. She has performed educational seminars and lectures at industry related conventions and client based settings. Maria holds a B.S. in Mathematics from UMASS North Dartmouth (formerly Southeastern Massachusetts University). Maria has donated hundreds of skilled based volunteer hours assisting Second Chance Animal Services with fundraising events while maintaining active board participation for ONE Worcester. She lives in Worcester with her husband, two children and 4 rescue animals.
Don Harbert has 40 years of leadership experience in the high-tech industry working for Digital, Compaq, HP and Intel. He led businesses ranging in size from 40-person software startups to 5000-person product businesses with $2B of revenue. As a General Manager at Intel, Don developed and drove the security services strategy which culminated in Intel’s $7.8B acquisition of McAfee. He then served on the McAfee board of directors. Don is a results oriented leader with strengths in strategic planning, business planning, mergers and acquisitions, project management and leadership development. As a volunteer, Don is serving on the boards of ONE Worcester and the Rotary Club of Shrewsbury where he is a past president and currently the treasurer. He was a member of the board of the L.U.K Crisis Center in Fitchburg. As a ONE Worcester Volunteer consultant since 2016, Don has led strategic planning projects with Habitat for Humanity, Apple Tree Arts, the Worcester Ecotarium, Abby’s House, and The Worcester Rugby Alliance. Don started his career in the US Air Force and is retired from the US Air Force Reserve. Don holds BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering from Iowa State University and has benefited from executive leadership education at Harvard, MIT, Dartmouth and Wharton. Don and his wife Peg live in Shrewsbury and have 3 grown children and one grandchild.
Kerry Crutchley is the VP of Human Resources at Central One Federal Credit Union. Kerry has been employed by Central One since 2014, previously holding management positions for several large retailers. Kerry has a MS in Human Resource Management from Southern New Hampshire University. She lives in Holden with her husband and two children.
In 2019 Kerry volunteered with ONE Worcester, assisting the African Community Education (ACE) program with reviewing policies and procedures, ensuring compliance with laws and regulations. Later that year, Kerry joined the board of ONE Worcester.
Patricia Price has been working for AIDS Project Worcester since 1996. She moved to Worcester in 1992 and worked in the nonprofit human services field for Henry Lee Willis Community Center. After that she worked in a law firm, Abodeely and Revelli. At the beginning of her tenure with APW, she did administrative duties such as typing reports, data entry, receptionist duties and other clerical duties. As the epidemic evolved, her role within the agency also changed. She held several positions, including Business Manager, Nutrition Coordinator and Volunteer Coordinator. Within each duty, Patricia ensures a high quality of service provision, both through program implementation and evaluation. She now holds the position of Director of Program Support Services along with managing the nutrition program, the internship program and HR., Patricia is part of the APW management team and ensures that the office is run in an organized and efficient manner.
Liz Pape has spent most of her career in educational non-profits, as the founding CEO of Virtual High School, and has focused her volunteer efforts since retirement on consulting for non-profits and serving on town and non-profit boards and committees.
In addition to serving on the ONE Worcester Board of Directors, Liz serves on the Sterling Council on Aging Board of Directors, and the Town of Sterling Capital Budget Committee. Liz has served on the Sterling Master Plan Committee and the Aging Services of North Central MA Board of Directors during the past five years, and previously served on the U.S. Department of Education National Online Education Policy Forum, the NCREL Blue Ribbon Panelist for Online Education, the Blackboard K-12 Advisory Board, the board of directors for the Massachusetts Girls Collaborative and is a founding board member of the North American Council for Online Learning (NACOL).
Liz holds a B.A in Economics from Smith College and an MBA from Western New England College. A Massachusetts native, she lives in Sterling, MA with her husband and has four grown children.
