The NonprofitCenters Network

New York

Our second Collaborating for Success national conference on creating and operating Multi-tenant Nonprofit Centers was a great success! Held May 15-16, 2003 at the Interchurch Center in New York, NY, the conference continues to be a "one-of-a-kind" venue for nonprofits to explore the management, policy, and business decisions necessary to meet the real estate needs of the nonprofit sector. It gave participants access to a comprehensive array of information and tools for developing and managing multi-tenant facilities for all types of nonprofit organizations. The conference also showcased concrete examples of how projects have achieved success and served the needs of their local communities.

Over 200 people representing 27 states and 5 countries attended this second Collaborating for Success national conference. While the majority of attendees came from nonprofit organizations currently operating or considering developing centers, we also had significant participation from foundations, government officials, and for-profit real estate service providers.

Topics covered at the conference included . . .

• Nuts and bolts of the planning, design, and development process
• Ongoing facility management, leasing and shared services
• Vision, ownership and governance-how to build a shared identity and create a workable governance structure based on a clearly articulated unifying mission and shared set of objectives
• How-to's for financing, both commercial and nonprofit-specific sources
• Sustainable design for the nonprofit sector-how to create and finance green buildings to house your Center
• Creating and sustaining successful partnerships with government, philanthropy and for-profit sectors-why it is important and how to do it.

We would especially like to thank all of the sponsors, presenters, volunteer organizing committee members, and Interchurch staff who contributed to the success of the event. The conference would not have happened with out this group of dynamic, committed people - Thank you!

A few notable 2003 achievements:

Increased Geographic Diversity: We had participants from13 new states and 3 new countries (Australia, Japan, Scotland). While the 2001 conference in San Francisco had nearly 65% of participants from California, only 31% of 2003 participants came from New York. Of the remaining percentages, 10% came from CA, 7% from MA, 8% from MI, and about1/2%-3% from each of the other states.

Positive Evaluations: The overall reaction of the respondents who filled out the conference evaluation was very positive--between "satisfied" and "very satisfied" 4.4 on a 5-point scale of satisfaction. Only 2 responded "neutral" and *none* indicated dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. Example comments included: "I was greatly inspired by the people at this conference and what they (we) are trying to do." "The program breadth, knowledge base and resources were terrific." "I very much enjoyed this conference and look forward to future events."

High Quality, Professional Presentations & Presenter Materials: Overall the quality and professionalism of the session presentations and presenter materials/handouts exceeded the 2001 conference and our 2003 expectations. Presenters clearly put a great deal of thought and effort into developing specialized materials and quality presentations. In addition to the information presented at the sessions, attendees and presenters alike greatly appreciated the engaging conversation and sincere collegial exchange of information that took place during lunches and other networking opportunities.

Peer Networking: We specifically focused on providing time and creating venues for peer networking. In addition to the content presented during the conference sessions, attendees and presenters alike greatly appreciated the engaging conversation and sincere collegial exchange of information that took place during the pre-conference site visits and dinner, meals, evening reception, and informal hallway exchanges.

Funding to Develop an Ongoing Professional Network: About 3 weeks after the conference we received a seed grant from the Omidyar Foundation to begin the process of exploring the development of an ongoing professional network for Multi-tenant Nonprofit Centers and their service providers. The objectives of this Professional Network would be to provide education, research, networking, and advocacy services to the growing number of people interested in Multi-tenant Nonprofit Centers. Seed funding will be used to survey the needs of possible network members, update the website, host a mid-west regional conference, and then to develop a business plan for launching a formal network in the fall of 2004. While additional funding will be needed to fully realize this initiative, we are already moving forward with several of these projects. Please contact us if you have funding ideas, program suggestions, or would like to volunteer your time to help us launch this very exciting new professional network.

Evaluation Highlights

Why they came:

• Attendees were most influenced to attend this conference by the topic (91%) and opportunity to network (71)%, as well as professional development purposes (94%).

How They Found Out About It:

• They discovered this conference by word of mouth (48%), with about a quarter each also finding out via the website, brochure or other means.

Satisfaction with Conference:

• Attendees were satisfied overall with the conference (4.4 on a 5-point scale), and with its specific aspects, including various aspects of its content, facilities, and location (4.0 to 4.7 on a 5-point scale).

Usefulness of Conference Sessions:

• All the content-focused sessions were rated as useful to the attendees (between 3.5 to 4.6 on a 5-point scale)
• "Basic Real Estate Transaction - Deals to Details" was rated the most useful.
• The closing session was not seen as useful as the other sessions.

Follow-up -- The most helpful resources for the attendees would be:

• A website (87%)
• A best practices handbook (74%)
• Access to loan programs and grants (41%).

Thanks again to everyone who participated in making this year's Collaborating for Success conference a memorable experience.