Collaboration aids nonprofits
By Don Morgan© Pasadena Star News, April 24, 2010
We have recently seen the nonprofit sector position itself as a significant player in our current economic recovery efforts.
Not only are nonprofit organizations some of the primary recipients of public dollars being pumped into communities, they are also key providers of services no longer offered by the public sector, and one of the few sectors currently providing employment opportunities.
This sector has frequently been ignored by the business world for a number of reasons.
The mission-driven focus by definition makes nonprofit organizations different than for-profit corporations. The culture of these organizations has developed in ways that drive many observers to distraction.
Gary Kaplan has worked with both nonprofit and for-profit organizations for years through his executive search firm, Gary Kaplan and Associates. He has witnessed the divergent cultures in the hiring approaches taken by each sector.
"Nonprofit organizations frequently require far more steps in the process and much more communication along the way," Kaplan said.
Kaplan has also seen another significant challenge for nonprofit organizations as a board member of several local organizations.
"Nonprofit organizations do not traditionally work together on projects," he said.
Competition for donor dollars has made communication between these organizations a rarity in the past, but several current factors are pushing nonprofits to consider a different path. Diminished donor pools over the last two years have pressed many nonprofits to the brink of closure due to lack of resources.
"Organizations have been forced to cut back services in the face of more demand from the communities they serve," Kaplan said. "The dichotomy has left organizations struggling to fulfill their missions."
Examples of collaborations countering this trend are starting to become somewhat more common.
Project Kindle is a Santa Clarita-based nonprofit organization that provides education and awareness programs, as well as summer camp programs for children impacted by HIV and AIDS. Offering a summer camp experience to a high-needs community for the past 12 years has taught Project Kindle a great deal about the types of facilities and programs required to adequately serve children with medical, physical, and emotional challenges.
Very few available camp sites for rent offer even bare-minimum accommodations for groups working with special-needs communities. Project Kindle has taken those lessons and launched a campaign to build California's first fully accessible camp facility that will be made available to the larger nonprofit community.
While Project Kindle will raise all of the funds and operate the camp, nonprofit partners serving populations ranging from autism, cancer, bereavement and arthritis, to poverty and gang violence will provide valuable input about the types of facilities they need.
In addition, these nonprofits will commit to using the space as their home away from home once it is constructed. This project will be a model for nonprofit collaboration in a time when organizations must find a way to work together to share resources and ideas.
Efforts to get the campaign off the ground have not been without their challenges.
"We expected nonprofit organizations to welcome the opportunity to partner with Project Kindle with open arms," said Eva Payne, executive director of Project Kindle.
"What we found instead was several groups concerned about our motives. We have worked hard to build the level of trust required for nonprofit organizations to realize that we want to provide a world-class facility to their organization and others struggling to provide their participants the services and facilities they need and deserve."
One approach taken to strengthen the collaboration is to host a luncheon for many nonprofit organizations in Los Angeles serving special needs communities.
Project Kindle will host the luncheon at the California Endowment on May 10. Organizers feel that now more than ever, organizations need to gather together and share their best practices for both survival and growth.
"We hope this luncheon will be an important opportunity to begin a collaborative conversation between organizations facing similar challenges," Payne said. "Just sharing notes will be a huge help."
Payne also expects the conversation to open the door to more understanding about the Kindle Ranch concept and the potential for this type of collaborative effort. Thirty different nonprofits have been invited to attend the luncheon at this point.
Don Morgan is the president of D.L. Morgan Consulting, a Pasadena-based consulting firm for nonprofit organizations. He is managing the Kindle Ranch project. Visit www. kindleranch.org.
