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18/Apr/2022

NCN consultants recently travelled to a client (for the first time since pre-pandemic -yay!) to host an in-person community town hall with local residents and representatives from schools, government, agencies, and city/county libraries and tour potential locations for a human services center. Typically, NCN consulting around feasibility for a new nonprofit center involves a town hall for nonprofit leaders, but it was clear from initial conversations with the client that including this additional local voice would be critical to how a new facility would best serve local residents.


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16/Nov/2021

NCN has seen its fair share of inquiries into consulting, and often these individuals or organizations are uncertain if they’ve come “at the right time.” Should I have x, y, and z figured out already? Have we gone too far down the road and should’ve engaged you sooner? In reality, any time you’re in need of expert help is an okay time to reach out. We do not want to see your project flounder and discontinue if it’s meant to be. That said, these initial preparation steps can help set you and your cohort up for success before entering into a contract with NCN. 1. Have a partner in crime. We’ve seen much more success if you have already been discussing colocation with at least one other person or entity. A sole individual raising the concept of shared space is definitely not a bad thing in and of itself, but have you hashed this out with someone who shares or could share in this vision? It can be a bit of a red flag if this is just one person’s pet project idea. Nonprofit centers are all about sharing, from start to finish, and that includes having at least 2 project leads on an NCN feasibility assessment. Not only do you have someone to share the workload with, but you also have another set eyes and ears to discuss and reflect on the process. 2. Engage larger entities.


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06/Oct/2021

Why should my organization belong to a shared space? What can we accomplish here by being in proximity with one another, that we could not do alone? Why does our community need this space? NCN encourages addressing this through a collective Statement of Purpose exercise for a future shared space, by thinking about who is served/engaged, what will be provided and what the impact will be.


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21/Jun/2021

For those of us that already live shared space, it is easy to list the benefits for the residing nonprofits and their communities. For those pursuing the concept, you may still be in the process of shopping the idea around and convincing local funders about the variety of benefits: opportunities to increase collaboration, access to quality office and meeting space and basic shared services, a one-stop shop for services, advocacy, and/or community gatherings, and more. NCN was fortunate to have representatives from three foundations that “get it” as panelists on our most recent webinar, “Can Foundations Lead the Social Purpose Real Estate Movement?” All three foundations championed shared space in their community as an efficient and effective way to support nonprofits, human service organizations, small businesses, and ultimately, their community.


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03/Mar/2021

Moving forward with planning or developing a shared space during a pandemic is not as risky as it sounds. Shared space projects on average can take 3-5 years to come together, and it may also be a prime time for nonprofits to put down roots– literally, concrete foundations – to keep you grounded in your community for long term sustainability and impact. NCN is currently working with a repeat client on just that. Multiple organizations have been co-locating under 2 different roofs through leases supported by a foundation. After living and breathing shared space, and with demand from other nonprofits in the area, they are putting all options on the table for permanent space that encompasses a larger pool of nonprofits in one or more of the 3 main counties served.  We are just entering the demand phase of our feasibility study, but the energy about being together (in pre-COVID times) from current tenants in our opening Visioning Session was palpable, even over Zoom. Personally, one of my biggest takeaways was from an Executive Director who adamantly believes that nonprofits belong and should be treated equally to that of the local business community. They provide jobs and benefits and provide services that otherwise would be unmet. They deserve the same visibility.

Giving ourselves permission to be rooted in quality workspace can sometimes go against our scarcity mentality. But the time is ripe to claim our work that often meets and lifts up the marginalized peoples of our communities. Put a value on that and take up the space you (and your partners) are meant for.

Need help planning or developing your shared space? Contact Leena Waite, Consulting Coordinator for support at leena@nonprofitcenters.org.


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09/Sep/2019

Every now and then, we like to give folks a peek behind the curtain on what’s going on in the membership world. Afterall, we really don’t want NCN to be the best kept secret. So, what are people talking about? What information is being shared? Would you benefit from this community? The answers are “a lot” and “yes.”


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03/Jun/2019

It’s been a long winter in Denver…and yes, I know it’s June! But within my son’s last 2 weeks of school, it snowed at least 3 inches, and we received an epic middle of the night hail storm. My plants were already struggling to grow even before they were pummeled. But finally, the sun is peaking out, and it’s beginning to warm up. New growth is around the corner, and I can taste sandal weather. It seems nonprofits and local leaders are coming out of hibernation as well lately. NCN has seen quite the uptick of people inquiring about our services, joining our network, considering building spaces or wanting to learn more about shared services. What gives? Here is some of what we’ve been hearing lately:


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29/Apr/2019

Last week we gathered for another Ask-NCN Live member-only call to discuss evaluation.* Despite this being a requested topic, there was a tangible fear that kept people from submitting their questions on the registration form. But this is not new to NCN, and we don’t blame people! We purposely sought out an evaluation expert for NCN’s Evaluation Project 2 years ago and brought the same organization – Laura Sundstrom of Vantage Evaluation - in for our call. (These have always been member-only calls, but we knew this call would need some outside support!) We get it – who’s got the expertise, the time to execute, the human power to get it done and what do you do with the data once you’ve got it? Can we just stick to operating spaces and improving collaboration? Yes, you can. But it’s all connected. Evaluation is not just for reviewing what’s working or not working. It informs your next steps – your offerings to your tenants and your programming for future collaboration. So, I’m sorry to report that we should be doing this more. But, where do you start? Here are a few tips around what to focus on, how to do it, and how to advocate to your community and funders the importance of evaluation. What to focus on?


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15/Feb/2019

I may have lost some of you already with this title. Thanks to free online tools, it’s extremely easy to make and distribute surveys, which also means many surveys land in our own laps. We know many surveys out there gather important information. I mean, without surveys, we might not know that, “Individuals age 75 and over averaged 51 minutes of [leisurely] reading per day whereas individuals ages 15 to 44 read for an average of 10 minutes or less per day.”1 Which means, I better wrap this up quickly. But what about this statistic from 2013? “Nearly 70 percent of full time American workers hate sitting, yet 86 percent do it all day, every day…an average of 13 hours a day and sleeping an average of 8 hours resulting in a sedentary lifestyle of around 21 hours a day.”2 I think half of you just walked away from your computer. The article adds, “30 percent even responded that they would rather go without coffee for a week to stand.” Okay, this is a serious problem. Our NCN State of the Shared Space Sector Survey will be coming out shortly, and I’m sorry to say, it will involve some reading. And it will not be able to help you have less coffee or more exercise (unless you use a standing desk with a stair stepper.) Surveys about taking surveys tell me that only 30-40% of you will respond to us,3 but here are 5 reasons you should fill out ours:


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08/Jan/2019

what should be the ideal amount for a Building Reserve Fund? They charge $1 per square foot back to their tenants to contribute to this fund, but wondered if they should cease doing that if they reached a certain number in their reserves? This generated multiple responses on how to be financially prepared if, or really when, issues arise – because they will! So, whether you own your own building or are planning to purchase/build one, read on to see how those in our network are thinking ahead.


Nonprofit Centers Network

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info@nonprofitcenters.org
720.836.1189

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The Nonprofit Centers Network is a fiscally sponsored project of Tides Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Your gift may be tax-deductible pursuant to §170(c) of the Internal Revenue Code. Please visit www.tides.org/state-nonprofit-disclosures for additional information. Copyright The Nonprofit Centers Network 2016-2024. All rights reserved.

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