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The Porch Writers' Collective
General Information
Contact Information
Nonprofit
The Porch Writers' Collective
Address
205 31st Avenue North #106
Nashville, TN 37203
Phone
(615) 574-8746
Web Site
Web Site
Facebook
Facebook
Twitter
Twitter
Email
[email protected]
At A Glance
Year of Incorporation
2014
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Mission & Impact
Statements
Mission
The Porch fosters the artistic and professional development of writers and promotes a vibrant and diverse
literary culture in Nashville through educational, inspiring, and community-building opportunities and events for
adults and youth.
Background
In January of 2014, The Porch officially launched, touting a small batch of writing workshops and a kick-off
event, the Heartbreak Happy Hour. Three and a half years later, the Porch has run well over 150 successful
workshops, retreats, book clubs, and outreach programs; hosted over 65 unique literary events and
collaborations; launched a teen arm; and worked with a wide array of at-risk youth, patients in drug and alcohol
recovery, and immigrants and refugees.
The dream of the Porch perhaps had its genesis in Chicago, where founder Susannah Felts had witnessed a
flourishing literary community. Returning to Nashville a decade later, the memory of Chicago’s vibrant literary
culture fueled her desire to build a similar community on her home turf. While Nashville boasted a stunning
array of places and experiences to feed its readers, including Parnassus Books and NPL’s Salon@615, it
lacked an institution focused on advancing the art and craft of writing—something found in many other major
cities. Minneapolis has The Loft, the oldest nonprofit literary center in the country. Boston has Grub Street;
Denver, The Lighthouse; Seattle, the Richard Hugo House. The list goes on.
Joining forces with fellow writer and native Nashvillian Katie McDougall, the two began the work of launching
The Porch Writers Collective with the dream of layering another rich ingredient to the city’s literary life and
heritage.
Impact
The Porch serves Nashville’s writers and literary community, providing instruction, inspiration, enrichment,
community, and experiences.
Major Accomplishments Include:
• Offered and ran 50 writing workshops in FY17 in fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry with approximately
450 class registrations. Scholarship program launched July 2016.
• Hosted over 65 unique and well-attended literary events in three years
• Developed a membership program of over 250 members in the program's first two and a half years.
• Offered 22 free SLANT (Student Literary Artists of Nashville, TN) workshops and several reading events for
Nashville's Teens
• Brought world class talent, National Book Award winner Tim O’ Brien and Grammy Award winning Tim O’
Brien for inaugural fundraising event, “A Tale of Two Tims.” In 2016, we brought Rodney Crowell and Mary
Karr together for the event. In 2017, headliners included Wally Lamb and Mary Gauthier.
·
A
Goals for FY 18:
•
•
•
•
•
Engage in Strategic Planning process with staff and board through CNM
Address current needs for physical classroom and administrative space
Increase diversity of students (adult and youth), instructors, and board members
Fine-tune and expand our Expressive Writing for Immigrants and Refugee program
Offer workshop opportunities at branch libraries.
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Needs
1.A permanent physical space, including classroom and administrative furniture and materials/equipment.
2.Growth in our donor and membership base
3.Corporate backing for our annual fundraiser as well as for programming
4.Increased part-time wages for our SLANT support staff
5.Increase board membership in both number and diversity
Other ways to donate, support, or volunteer
Donations may be mailed to:
The Porch
205 31st Ave. N. #106
Nashville, TN 37203
Donate on-line at Porchtn.org
Contact Katie at [email protected] for information regarding volunteering.
Service Categories
Primary Organization Category
Arts,Culture & Humanities / Arts & Culture
Secondary Organization Category
Education / Adult Education
Tertiary Organization Category
Education / Secondary & High Schools
Areas of Service
Areas Served
TN - Davidson
While we are located in Davidson County, workshop participants have come from a number of locations within
three hours driving distance.
Board Chair Statement
The Porch is an exciting new organization in Nashville, and in its short time has done much to enrich Nashville’s
literary culture. Not only does The Porch offer a wide range of classes for writers, but they have planned and
orchestrated numerous literary events and writing retreats as well as built strong partnerships for creative writing
outreach and youth programming. As Nashville is a city with a rich literary history, the work The Porch is doing
serves to deepen the tradition as well as to complement the growth of its creative culture.
As the current board is essentially The Porch’s first, my leadership role is especially exciting. We have an
enthusiastic and active group of members who are deeply engaged in the process of building the scaffolding to
make The Porch successful and sustainable in the long haul. Our committees—finance, governance,
development, and programming—are laying the groundwork for a having a well-oiled, intentional, and engaged
board for years to come. It perhaps goes without saying that we strive to help The Porch secure diverse funding
sources, but we also are supporting its hardworking directors in negotiating the challenges of building a sound
and thriving organization.
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CEO Statement
This endeavor began out of a love for the written word and the writing life, and with this spirit at it core, The
Porch has filled a niche in Nashville’s creative culture and is quickly becoming part of the fabric of our city’s rich
cultural identity. We consistently hear from local writers and publishing professionals that what we’re doing is
sorely needed in Nashville. After all, a literary life in the present means a future literary heritage. We’re also
firmly dedicated to creative writing as an outreach tool. Its benefits and applications are many, from a way to
build communication skills, self-esteem, and critical thinking to a means of empowering marginalized groups.
The Porch believes in the power of the written word as a means to empathy, connectivity, creativity, knowledge,
and advancement. We believe the world needs writers. There are so many voices, so many stories, so many
perspectives, and literature in all its varied forms is one of the oldest, most powerful channels of building
empathy into experiences outside of our own. Writers understand perhaps better than anyone else the primacy
of story and the incredible power and agency that comes with knowing how to wield words. In a world in which
reading is at risk and the literary arts are in battle with twenty-first century distractions, fostering the art of writing
is vital.
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Programs
Programs
Writing Workshops
Description
The Porch offers multi-week as well as one-day writing workshops in
fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry, screenwriting, and special interest
topics such as Writing for Healing, Travel Writing, or How to Interview Like
a Pro. Workshops at the Porch are rigorous yet welcoming, encouraging
creative expression while sharpening participants’ understanding of craft.
Led by instructors with extensive teaching experience, each class focuses
on a particular genre, approach, or use of writing, and allows participants
to learn from one another in a supportive, friendly atmosphere. Two to
three times a year, The Porch brings in high profile visiting authors to lead
workshops.
Budget
60000
Category
Education, General/Other Adult Education
Population Served
Adults, ,
Short Term Success
In the FY16, there were 500 individual registrations for Porch workshops,
more than double the number the previous year. Workshop surveys
indicate approximately 90% “Extremely Satisfied.” Currently,
approximately 30% of our participants are repeat customers.
Long term Success
The Porch aims to raise the bar for writing instruction in Nashville and
offer a local alternative to the MFA route. In the long term, more
Nashvillians will be learning the craft of writing under the guidance of
professionals.
Program Success Monitored By
Participants are asked to complete a survey following the workshop.
Additionally, we track the number of repeat students.
Examples of Program Success
“I had not done any creative writing since college and feared I wouldn’t fit
in because I wasn’t a “real” writer. But the easy-going style and
nonjudgmental environment the instructor created made me feel
comfortable from the beginning. The feedback, guidance and
encouragement have been invaluable.”
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Community-building Events
Description
The Porch hosts monthly events that serve to connect, entertain, and
enrich Nashville’s writing community. Types of events incude:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
“Socials,” including the annual Heartbreak Happy Hour
educational programs and panels
"Lit Mag League," a monthly book club discussion of a literary magazine
bi-annual weekend writing retreat at Rivendell Writers' Colony in
Sewanee, TN
author and poet readings
food-writing events
Nashville Reads annual writing contest and award presentation
Collaborations with other nonprofits
annual fundraising event, a uniquely "Music City" literary evening,
featuring the pairing nationally acclaimed authors and musicians.
Budget
245000
Category
Arts, Culture & Humanities, General/Other Literature
Population Served
Adults, ,
Short Term Success
Our most recent event, the Porch Summer Social, was fairly
representative of our events as a whole. The goal of the event was simply
to create a social situation in which writers might meet and engage.
Approximately sixty people attended, and a wide range of ages,
neighborhoods, and ethnicities were represented.
Long term Success
Our vision is to create a robust writing community that will put Nashville on
the literary map. For example, model literary centers in cities like
Minneapolis, Boston, and Denver host a wealth of events, some of which
include regularly inviting renowned authors to their communities.
Additionally, The Porch strives to plan a variety of events so as to offer
appealing opportunities to a broad population of writers and literary
enthusiasts.
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Outreach
Description
The Porch believes competence in writing is an essential skill for success
within both academic and professional lives. Incorporating creative writing
as a supplement to traditional curriculums revitalizes writing instruction
and student progress, and it inspires character development through
deepened self reflection, self expression, and creativity.
Our Outreach Partners:
TN Foreign Language Institute and TN Immigrants and Refugee Rights
Coalition: These two organizations have helped us to facilitate and
populate our Expressive Writing Workshops for Immigrants and Refugees,
a program which we launched in the fall of 2016.
NAZA: The Porch is currently teaching poetry workshops to middle school
students as after-school enrichment at Beech Creek in North Nashville.
Cumberland Heights: The Porch is facilitating monthly writing workshops
at Cumberland Heights for patients in drug and alcohol recovery.
Oasis Center: The Porch has an ongoing relationship with the College
Connect program at the Oasis Center and has facilitated regular college
essay workshops.
Nashville Scholars (formally Mayor's Scholars Academy): The Porch
facilitated college-admissions essay writing workshops at each of the
campuses as part of the 2015 and 2016 program.
Nashville Adult Literacy Council: The Porch has facilitated a writing
workshop to NALC tutors and students. The stories collected contributed
to their annual In Our Words publication of student work.
Nashville Public Library: The Porch partnered with the Nashville Public
Library in the fall of 2014 to offer college essay writing workshops, open to
Nashville’s high school seniors as well as to non-traditional college
applicants. Additionally, The Porch partners in the Nashville Reads
program each year by facilitating a writing contest for both adults and
teens.
Martha O'Bryan Center: The Porch participated in the Cayce Unbound
program by facilitating after-school writing workshops to middle-school
girls.
Budget
8500
Category
Education, General/Other Educational Programs
Population Served
Immigrant, Newcomers, Refugees, At-Risk Populations, Adolescents Only
(13-19 years)
th
In June 2015 alone, The Porch worked with approximately 130 at-risk 4 ,
th
th
5 , and 6 graders through Time to Rise and approximately 50 rising
juniors through the Mayors’ Scholars Academy. One hundred percent of
the younger children produced both stories and poems, and the high
school students were given an introduction and a “way in” to the college
admissions essay process.
Short Term Success
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SLANT (Student Literary Artists of Nashville TN)
Description
In the fall of 2015, The Porch launched a city-wide teen writing program:
SLANT (Student Literary Artists of Nashville, TN). The groundwork for this
program was laid in February of 2015 with the Nashville Emerging Writers
(N.E.W.) workshop, which was facilitated in partnership with University
School of Nashville and Hume Fogg Academic Magnet, and was partially
funded by a grant from Humanities Tennessee. The program involves free
monthly genre-specific workshops to be held in the new Studio NPL teen
space at the downtown Nashville Public Library. A leadership team of
young writers is currently engaged in crafting the future of the program.
Budget
5000
Category
Arts, Culture & Humanities, General/Other Literature
Population Served
Adolescents Only (13-19 years), ,
Short Term Success
In its first ten months, SLANT has offered and facilitated nine workshops
in fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, songwriting, podcasting, and
screenwriting, taught by professional writers. (SlantNashville.org.)
Long term Success
The mission of the teen program is to provide year-around instruction,
engagement, and community for Nashville’s high school writers and
promote literary citizenry among youth so as to help ensure a vibrant
literary culture for the future.
Program Success Monitored By
Students are given surveys at the end of each workshop.
Examples of Program Success
SLANT hosted its first reading in January 2016 at Parnassus Books. Eight
teens had the opportunity to share their literary work in a public forum,
gaining first-time reading experience as literary citizens.
Poetry on Demand/Versify
Description
This ongoing project is one of our most innovative programs. The project
sends trained poets into Nashville neighborhoods to gather stories from
community members, who then turn these stories into original poems
which are shared with the story sharers. The project allows a new way for
both community members and poets to experience the craft of poetry and
the practice of oral history. It makes people aware of the power of poetry
as an expressive and documentary tool, as a way to archive experience.
And it helps amplify voices that otherwise might not be heard. We have
received MAC funding through the THRIVE program to continue Poetry on
Demand through June 2017. In addition, the Porch has partnered with
WPLN in creating a podcast based on the project, Versify. The Podcast
was awarded a grant/training through PRX (Public Radio Exchange) and
will be launching in August of 2017.
Budget
9000
Population Served
,,
CEO Comments
Our biggest challenge is a good one to have: many balls in the air, and only two full-time staff.
As co-executive directors, we are responsible for coordinating classes, teaching, planning events, social media,
marketing, inquiries, and website. We manage membership, outreach, youth programming, and our board. We
write grants, manage accounting, and design and implement fundraising.
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These are the tasks of any organization. But as educators and writers, both co-directors are newcomers to
nonprofit management, and we’ve grown rapidly. That said, we’re dedicated and dogged—our standards are
high—and we’re proud of what we’ve contributed to Nashville’s literary culture.
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Governance
Board Chair
Board Chair
Jessica Pearson
Company Affiliation
Random House
Term
June 2017 to June 2018
Email
[email protected]
Board Members
Name
Affiliation
Status
Scott Chambers
Germantown Partners LLC
Voting
Tiana Clark
Vanderbilt MFA program
NonVoting
Whitney Haley
McKenzie Laird PLLC
Voting
Karen Hayes
Parnassus Books
Voting
Kendall Hinote
JKS Communications LLC
Voting
Stephanie Kohler
Ingram Content
Voting
John Lavey
Hammock
Voting
Korby Lenker
singer/songwriter
Voting
Rory Levine
CMT
Voting
Andrew Maraniss
Author of STONG INSIDE: Perry
Wallace and the Collision of Race
and Sports in the South
NonVoting
Cindy Oliva
Pinnacle Financial Partners
Voting
Jessica Pearson
Random House
Voting
Sandy Solomon
Vanderbilt MFA/Associate Director Voting
of Creative Writing Program
John Strohm
Loeb & Loeb
Voting
Alex Tapper
Compound Creative
NonVoting
Board Demographics - Ethnicity
African American/Black
1
Asian American/Pacific Islander
0
Caucasian
13
Hispanic/Latino
0
Native American/American Indian
0
Other
0
Board Demographics - Gender
Male
6
Female
9
Unspecified
0
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Governance
Board Term Lengths
2
Board Term Limits
3
Board Meeting Attendance %
80%
Written Board Selection Criteria?
Yes
Written Conflict of Interest Policy?
Yes
Percentage Making Monetary Contributions
100%
Percentage Making In-Kind Contributions
55%
Constituency Includes Client Representation
Yes
Number of Full Board Meetings Annually
6
Board CoChair
Board CoChair
Whitney Haley
Company Affiliation
McKenzie Laird
Term
June 2015 to June 2018
Email
[email protected]
Standing Committees
Board Governance
Finance
Development / Fund Development / Fund Raising / Grant Writing / Major Gifts
Risk Management Provisions
Directors and Officers Policy
CEO Comments
It is our goal to increase our board membership in number and diversity. The governance committee had finetuned our materials and our strategy for seeking new board members, and we are actively seeking members
who fit our criteria.
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Management
Executive Director/CEO
Executive Director
Ms. Katie McDougall
Term Start
Jan 2014
Email
[email protected]
Experience
Katie McDougall is a native Nashvillian, a novelist, and a teacher. She earned her B.A. from Colorado College
and an MFA in Fiction Writing at Colorado State University. Her short stories have appeared in
BarcelonaReview.com and in
Storyglossia.com, and she is currently in the process of finding a home
for her second novel.
Katie has over fifteen years experience as a teacher of literature and creative writing, most recently at Ensworth
high school. She has also worked as an outdoor educator, a freelance writer, and a bookseller at Parnassus
Books. Additionally, she has coordinated writing workshops, ranging from the annual one-day Nashville Young
Writers Workshop to the week-long Sense of Place Workshop with Richard Bausch at Cape Eleuthera,
Bahamas.
Since co-founding The Porch, Katie has taken a lead role in the organization’s fundraising and nonprofit
management. She is delighted by the growth of The Porch, through which she hopes to give a little something
back to her beloved hometown.
Co-CEO
Co-CEO
Susannah Felts
Term Start
Jan 2014
Email
[email protected]
Experience
Susannah is a fiction writer, freelance writer, teacher, editor, and native Nashvillian. In 2009, after many years
away from her hometown, she returned to put down roots with her family in East Nashville. Since then she has
been an adjunct faculty member at Watkins College of Art, Design & Film, and has taught a series of fiction
workshops independently, aka the beta-version of The Porch. Previously, Susannah taught creative writing at
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, at Gallery 37's after-school arts program in Chicago, and in several
other youth and community workshop settings. Her first novel, This Will Go Down on Your Permanent Record,
was published in 2008 by Featherproof Books, an independent publisher based in Chicago.
Susannah was the recipient of the Tennessee Arts Commission’s Individual Artist Fellowship in Fiction for 2013.
She has been awarded the Tennessee Williams Scholarship to the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, as well as
residencies at the Ragdale Foundation, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Hambidge Center for
Creative Arts and Sciences. Her work has appeared in publications such as The Oxford American, The Sun,
Quarterly West, Corium, Redux, Hobart, Five Chapters, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Pindeldyboz.com,
Wigleaf, Quick Fiction, and others. She earned her BA with Highest Honors in Creative Writing from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and holds an MFA in Writing from the School of the Art Institute of
Chicago.
Susannah is also a contributing writer for Chapter 16, Humanities Tennessee’s site devoted to literary culture.
As founder and creative director of The Porch, Susannah has taken a lead role in developing and coordinating
workshops and in heading up marketing and social media.
Staff
12
Full Time Staff
2
Part Time Staff
2
Volunteers
10
Contractors
25
Retention Rate
100%
Plans & Policies
Does the organization have a documented Fundraising Plan?
Under Development
Does the organization have an approved Strategic Plan?
Yes
Number of years Strategic Plan Considers
3
When was Strategic Plan adopted?
May 2015
In case of a change in leadership, is a Management Succession plan in place?
Yes
Does the organization have a Policies and Procedures Plan?
Under Development
Does the organization have a Nondiscrimination Policy?
Yes
Does the organization have a Whistle Blower Policy?
Yes
Does the organization have a Document Destruction Policy?
Yes
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Financials
Fiscal Year
Fiscal Year Start
July 01 2017
Fiscal Year End
June 30 2018
Projected Revenue
$185,791.00
Projected Expenses
$184,737.00
Endowment Value
$0.00
Endowment Spending Percentage (if selected)
0%
Detailed Financials
Revenue and Expenses
Fiscal Year
Total Revenue
Total Expenses
Revenue Sources
Fiscal Year
Foundation and Corporation
Contributions
Government Contributions
Federal
State
Local
Unspecified
Individual Contributions
Indirect Public Support
Earned Revenue
Investment Income, Net of Losses
Membership Dues
Special Events
Revenue In-Kind
Other
2016
$105,959
$87,887
2015
$42,374
$36,276
2014
---
2016
$0
2015
$0
2014
--
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$36,247
$0
$73,283
$6
$0
($3,578)
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$0
$42,374
$0
$29,271
$2
$2,064
$743
$0
$0
$0
14
---------
Expense Allocation
Fiscal Year
Program Expense
Administration Expense
Fundraising Expense
Payments to Affiliates
Total Revenue/Total Expenses
Program Expense/Total Expenses
Fundraising Expense/Contributed
Revenue
Assets and Liabilities
Fiscal Year
Total Assets
Current Assets
Long-Term Liabilities
Current Liabilities
Total Net Assets
Short Term Solvency
Fiscal Year
Current Ratio: Current Assets/Current
Liabilities
Long Term Solvency
Fiscal Year
Long-Term Liabilities/Total Assets
2016
$36,551
$51,336
$0
$0
1.21
42%
0%
2015
$20,651
$15,625
$0
$0
1.17
57%
0%
2014
--------
2016
$44,407
$44,407
$0
$208
$44,199
2015
$26,128
$26,128
$0
$0
$26,128
2014
------
2016
213.50
2015
--
2014
--
2016
0%
2015
0%
2014
--
2015
Contributions, Gifts &
Grants $42,374
Program Revenue
$29,271
Membership Dues
$2,064
2014
--
Top Funding Sources
Fiscal Year
Top Funding Source & Dollar Amount
2016
Program Revenue
$73,283
Second Highest Funding Source & Dollar Contributions, Gifts
Amount
and Grants $36,247
Third Highest Funding Source & Dollar
Investment Income
Amount
$6
---
Capital Campaign
Is the organization currently conducting a Capital
Campaign for an endowment or the purchase of a
major asset?
No
Capital Campaign Goal
$0.00
State Charitable Solicitations Permit
TN Charitable Solicitations Registration
Yes - Expires Dec 2017
GivingMatters.com Financial Comments
Financial figures taken from Form 990.
Form 990 was prepared by Skyward Accounting.
Comments provided by Kathryn Bennett 12/30/16.
Created 08.01.2017.
Copyright © 2017 The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee
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