The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, has launched a new initiative to support nonprofits working to fight domestic violence, the Business Journal Serving the Greater Triad Area reports.

The foundation has contracted with consultants from the Philanthropic Advisory Group and Gail Perry & Associates — both based in Raleigh — to work, on a pilot basis, to build the fundraising capacity of five nonprofits that focus on domestic-violence issues. The groups are Oasis in Boone, Families Living Violence Free in Oxford, the Orange Country Rape Crisis Center in Chapel Hill, the Harbor in Smithfield, and My Sister's House in Rocky Mount. Among other things, the consultants will work with the nonprofits' boards to help them understand their role in fundraising, and will help the organizations think through a variety of fundraising strategies.

The project is designed to help the foundation "think of a way to intervene that helps all programs, as opposed to making grants to some organizations from time to time," said the foundation's executive director, Tom Ross. In addition, the foundation is funding a study conducted by Duke University's Center for Child and Family Policy that will identify federal and state government funding sources that domestic-violence agencies in the state may not have known about or fully pursued.

"What a good advocate would need to justify further funding is good data to show what the cost of domestic violence is to communities, whether the cost of legal services or medical care or lost time from employment," said Ross. "We believe there's a very high cost. If we can collect data that's credible to show costs, we can make a stronger case for further support."