Blog | The Nonprofit Centers Network

21/Mar/2019

Bronson Centre is a 45,000 ft2 community facility, nestled into the heart of downtown Ottawa, the capital of Canada. We have up to 40 permanent, not-for-profit tenants, resident in our building at any one time. On a day rental basis we have served 100’s of associations and cultural groups for almost 25 years. Our charity was founded in 1996, the same year that we were invited to re-purpose the use of an old high school. As a solid, revenue positive organization (and wholesome example of a healthy social enterprise !) we purchased the building in 2017. Our commitment is to enhance and strengthen our role as a dynamic shared space facility for the next 25 years. Our core mission is to provide affordable rents and administrative and cultural hub services to those who in turn serve the needy, the poor, and arts and cultural communities of our region.

Katie Edwards

11/Mar/2019

Infrastructure matters. It’s the tools and structures that magnify our productivity. Think about the speed at which you type an article on a computer versus writing it with pen and paper. In the for-profit world, the quality of your infrastructure impacts your ability to make money. Office spaces is worth investing in, because it helps your employees be more productive, legitimizes your presence, and encourages people to buy your products. Time intensive systems get automated or replaced, so a business owner can use their time in a way that maximizes revenue. Productivity is measured in ROI. In the nonprofit world, it is more complicated. Resources are limited, and its much more difficult to measure the impact of our work. It’s about how lives are impacted over years, not sales that take place in seconds. But just like in the for-profit world, systems can have an impact on the bottom line - the triple bottom line. How a nonprofit sets up its infrastructure (space, systems, employment practices, and more) can strengthen or weaken an organization’s impact on its mission.

Chelsea Donahoe

04/Mar/2019

You might not have heard yet, but NCN is developing ANOTHER amazing resource. Our main goal is to identify and analyze current human services one stop center models and practices that elevate the service experience for clients. Over the past couple months, I’ve been interviewing A LOT of folks at human services centers. The first question I ask in these interviews is: Does your center identify as a one-stop human services center? While some answer with an emphatic “YES! A THOUSAND TIMES, YES!” (or maybe just a simple “Yes”), many answers go something like this… “Well...maybe?” “Wait…what do you mean by that?” “I call it that in conversation…but not formally.” And every interviewer’s personal favorite: “Hmmmmm…*LONG PAUSE*” I know it may seem like I’m complaining about these answers, but I’m not. I promise! Since this question is so hard to answer, it tells me that there is a significant level of confusion about the topic. That is why part of this research will be to determine what exactly we mean by the term “one stop human services center.” And, what is that definition you ask? Don’t worry. It will be in the Strengthening the Safety Net report.

Jackie Cefola Director, Consulting and Shared Services

25/Feb/2019

I admit it. I recently watched an episode of “Tidying Up,” Marie Kondo’s new reality series about home organizing and I found it compelling. Participants sorted through all of their belongings to recognize and focus on what they truly loved and get rid of the rest.I wonder about applying this strategy at work. What would work feel like if we were able to focus more time and attention on the tasks that spark joy, the tasks that relate to our missions?For myself at the Nonprofit Centers Network, I recognize that what really floats my boat is working with organizations and communities interested in sharing space, services, time, and knowledge. I see how these innovative strategies allow organizations to access necessary resources, run more efficiently, be more impactful, and develop a greater focus on mission. Conversely, what sparks my anxiety is bookkeeping.

Nonprofit Centers

18/Feb/2019

The 7 Corners Collaborative Building opened in 2018, and is now serving as a hub for services for individuals experiencing disability. The building is owned by Community Vision and serves as its headquarters. However, there are five other nonprofits that provide an array of services to the disability community - ensuring that visitors to the building will leave with more information and resources than when they entered. The 7CCB was also designed using the principles of Universal Design, creating a the most barrier-free space possible.

Leena Waite

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:

Katie Edwards

04/Feb/2019

I’m going to be bold and say that connectivity between organizations is more important in the nonprofit sector than in any other industry. Why? Because the issues we work on are so immensely complex. Whether you're working homelessness or hunger, arts education or workforce development, international poverty alleviation or climate change, the causes of human behavior are connected to something upstream. Our work is difficult. Every day, nonprofit leaders advocate for issues, deal with trauma, and handle complicated funding streams. Human beings have a bias for the status quo, and especially when resources are limited, it’s hard to change behavior, even if we’re convinced it will pay dividends. I remember working in a development team early in my career where I often sacrificed opportunities to network and build connections because it wasn’t part of our culture.

Carlie Kuban and Pat Smith

30/Jan/2019

December 20th, 2018 marked the culmination of 21 months of effort for Serve Denton and three of our partner agencies: Health Services of North Texas, Children’s Advocacy Center for Denton County and Denton Community Food Center. We closed on a $9.5 million deal through the New Markets Tax Credit program that will enable each agency to accomplish strategic goals that may never have been achieved by the organizations working independently. Health Services of North Texas (HSNT) will have a full-service clinic with a pharmacy in the zip code where most of its patients reside. Children’s Advocacy Center for Denton County (CACDC) will triple the size of its Denton office and collocate with law enforcement—a similar setup to its Lewisville center. Denton Community Food Center (DCFC) will triple the size of its space while improving its intake and service delivery methods. Brené Brown, in her book Dare to Lead, defines a leader as anyone who takes responsibility for recognizing the potential in people and ideas and dares to develop that potential. She makes the point that when we dare to lead, we don’t pretend to have the right answers; we stay curious and ask the right questions. We know that power grows when we share it with others. We don’t avoid difficult conversations and situations; we lean into vulnerability when necessary to do good work.

Nonprofit Centers

16/Jan/2019

As Atlanta's premier gathering space for the LGBTQ community since 2008, The Rush Center provides a sense of "home" and offers connections to resources throughout the state. The sign on the building lets people outside know that we're always here, and the open door acts as a reminder to our community that we're exactly that: a community. Over 100 hundred organizations use the center each year for board meetings and events, and almost twenty of those groups have permanent office space. Visit on any given day, and you may encounter discussion panels, trainings, support groups or calls for political advocacy.

Jackie Cefola Director, Consulting and Shared Services

14/Jan/2019

Way back in 2010, I was fortunate to be part of an amazing team with NCN founder China Brotsky, former-Executive Director Roxanne Hanson, and former staff member Tuan Ngo. Together, we co-wrote NCN’s Guide to Shared Services. Our intention was to support NCN member organizations’ interests in collaborative access to back-office job functions, what we termed “shared services.” Our opening lines of the Guide read, “Nonprofit organizations face challenging times. Volatile financial markets are impacting funding opportunities while the demand for services as well as operating expenses are increasing. For the majority of nonprofit organizations with already limited resources these challenges indicate a need for a new paradigm.” Sound familiar? While many things have changed in the past 9 years, pressures are still driving organizations to conserve precious resources and explore collaborative strategies. As a result, many organizations are considering the potential to share back-office services.

Member Highlight: Bronson Centre

Infrastructure Matters

COMING SOON: Strengthening the Safety Net

Sparking Joy at Work

Member Highlight: Community Vision/7 Corners Collaborative Building

Who Wants to Take Another Survey?

Trust, Connection, and the Nonprofit Sector

A Brighter Future for Denton

Member Highlight: The Rush Center

Back to the Future with Rethinking Overhead

Member Highlight: Bronson Centre

Infrastructure Matters

COMING SOON: Strengthening the Safety Net

Sparking Joy at Work

Member Highlight: Community Vision/7 Corners Collaborative Building

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Member Highlight: Bronson Centre

Infrastructure Matters