Jackie Cefola (she/her) is a self-employed and intentionally part-time consultant who helps nonprofit leaders to start up shared spaces and shared back-office services. She provides research, planning, facilitation, and strategic guidance to move collaborative projects forward. She also serves as a neutral third party, gathering information, actively listening to partners, and suggesting strategies to address challenges.
SketchPad is an intentional, collaborative, and innovative Jewish coworking space – the only such designated space in Chicago – bringing together a wide variety of diverse Jewish communal organizations and professionals. Our mission is to maximize the impact of our member organizations by fostering collaboration, innovation, and resource-sharing in a supportive and joyful environment.
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.
This month one of NCN’s Steering Committee members, Pat Smith, shared How to Help Nonprofits Own Efficiency and Effectiveness through Shared Services (link to blog). Pat reflects on why his center, Serve Denton, launched a shared services program in 2022. Serve Denton's mission is simple: partner with nonprofits to make their services more accessible to people in need. Over the years, they have seen many nonprofits doing their best but lacking the resources and expertise in marketing, financial management, development, and program evaluation. The overarching strategic goal at Serve Denton always been to grow capacity and help nonprofits operate with excellence–so stepping in to fill this expertise gap was a no-brainer. How did they achieve this goal?
The Care Management Coalition of Western New York (CMC), is a group of 11 nonprofit agencies that co-locate to share resources and programming to meet the changing needs of families and the community we serve. The CMC’s mission is to collectively foster the wellbeing of families and children through strategic advocacy efforts and by improving quality, service, outcomes and capacity for its members.
Last week we had our first NCN Regional Chapter Roundtables of 2022. These Regional Chapter Roundtables occur once a quarter, and I am really enjoying seeing each chapter build its own identity and community for peer learning and connection. I am always so impressed by the tricks of the trade and new things I learn from our members at these roundtables, and I wanted a way to bring these to all of our NCN community. So, after each quarter’s round of roundtables, I’ll be sharing 5 tips I heard from the regional chapters about nonprofit centers and social purpose real estate. So without further adieu, let’s see what I learned about this time!
Celebrating its 35th year, Community Vision is a nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that works across California. As a locally invested, collaborative partner in social justice and financial equity, Community Vision provides nonprofits, small businesses and social enterprises with strategic investment, advising and support to advance community-based and led real estate projects.
Most of us generally understand that humans must have their basic needs met before they can engage in meaningful personal growth. If someone is struggling with hunger or can’t pay rent, it’s unlikely that they can ponder self-determining their own future by knowing and then having what it takes to achieve their own goals. The same thing happens in our community-serving organizations. If a nonprofit struggles to meet its basic needs – think constantly chasing funding or stressing about clients’ needs outpacing organizational capacity – then talking about shaping its future feels impossible at worst but unlikely at best.
The common roof is a collaborative space where not-for-profits come together in a common space and with a common purpose; to best serve the over 20,000 plus clients they see collectively every year. Currently we have three locations - Barrie, Orillia and our newest in Collingwood.
The Delmar DivINe is the reimagination of an historic hospital built in 1904. The hospital became a series of health organizations before it closed in 2014. In 2015 the campus was purchased to be the future site of a multi-use real estate project that will house about 35 nonprofits, 3 service retailers and one restaurant as well as 150 apts. for teachers, nurses, social workers, public safety—young, diverse professionals who want a great place to live at an affordable price. The location is on Delmar Boulevard, the infamous dividing line in St.. Louis of rich and poor, Black and White. The “lines” are being intentionally blurred.
1536 Wynkoop Street, Suite 103
Denver, CO 80202
info@nonprofitcenters.org
720.836.1189
April 15, 2024
March 19, 2024
