Our mission is to increase the capacity and effectiveness of the nonprofit sector and improve the communities they serve by supporting the development and ongoing operations of multi-tenant nonprofit centers and other quality community serving spaces.
Our vision is that of a future when every community has access to the space it needs to be sustainable, healthy, and vibrant.
Our approach is to support and amplify the voices of social purpose real estate practitioners and advocate for sustainable solutions to community infrastructure, particularly through nonprofit and local ownership and control.
A peer-driven, resource-rich network for organizations and communities that are developing and operating social purpose real estate projects.
An international thought leader on the topic of social purpose real estate.
The preeminent convener of and advocate for the field of social purpose real estate.
We have the experience, knowledge, and networks to help you create and operate successful social purpose real estate projects. Our core services include:
The Nonprofit Centers Network (NCN) was born out of a small convening of nonprofit center operators in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 2000’s. While shared nonprofit workspace was not a new concept, a growing trend of sharing space to create synergies and cost efficiencies was emerging across North America.
The first convening, known as Collaborating for Success, blossomed into a thriving peer learning community. For more than 10 years, Tides provided a home and a living laboratory for the Nonprofit Centers Network program. Drawing from Tides’ experience in developing nonprofit centers, including its own Thoreau Centers for Sustainability, as well as the dedicated work by NCN’s founding Steering Committee, NCN grew from an informal network into a vibrant membership association and capacity building organization.
In 2013, left Tides to pursue new opportunities before our organization. The Nonprofit Centers Network became a fiscally sponsored project of Third Sector New England (TSNE), a long-standing member of the Network and supporter of shared space. TSNE provided NCN with the support it needed to grow its membership and organizational strengths. In 2020, NCN rejoined Tides to support their larger mission around promoting social purpose real estate.