It’s pretty common for non-profit organizations to go through name changes as they expand their scope. While it’s often a sign of failure to change your name for a restaurant, I think it’s usually a sign of success with non-profits. It means that they’ve been so effective at achieving their goals that they’ve taken on an expanded mission. It’s not always the case, but it seems to be the case with Washington, DC based Thrive DC, which was originally founded in 1979 as Dinner Program for Homeless Women. I’d imagine that they found having gender specificity in their name became too limiting, as Thrive DC aims to provide “the last available safety net for people facing economic crisis and housing instability while also providing the first step towards independence for people experiencing extended periods of homelessness.”
Along with expanding to serving men, Thrive DC has also added services like a job training program, case management, and educational programming. It’s really about helping people stabilize their lives in times of uncertainty. These aren’t new ideas, and what Thrive DC does may not sound as exciting as what some startup non-profits are doing, but Thrive DC makes up for this with effectiveness. They have been honored as recently as last year by the 2008-09 Catalogue for Philanthropy as “one of the best small charities in the Greater Washington region.” I guess that makes sense when a small organization is able to serve 75,000 meals, provide 1,322 hours of case management, and make 2,603 referrals in the course of a year. That sounds like a lot of great work. If you want to be a part of it, check out Thrive DC’s Internships page. Right now they’re looking for an unpaid Community Relations Intern and an unpaid Development and Communications Intern. The application instructions vary, so check out each posting to get the details.
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Tags: communications, community development, development, Internships, non-profit, outreach, public relations, unpaid
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