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Nonprofit Sector Viability Collaboration

WHY IT STARTED

The Nonprofit Sector Viability Collaboration began with an e-mail from one person to a group of people he'd worked with on various projects over the past ten years. He was concerned about the impact the economic downturn would have on nonprofits. As a result of the e-mail, an impromptu meeting was held, attended by those who expressed interest in getting together to talk through their concerns and how they might collectively address them. A year later, the result is a group that continues to work together to provide essential support to the nonprofit community as it adapts to the economic downturn.

Over a period of a few months, the group members who were experienced in developing nonprofit programs and providing funding to nonprofits collaborated to develop a program that provides in-depth assessment of a nonprofit's programmatic and financial health. Through the program, nonprofits gain clarity about goals going forward, a concrete plan for coping with immediate organizational and financial challenges, and longer-term strategies for adapting their missions in the face of change.

WHO IS INVOLVED

Each participating member of the Collaboration is dedicated to helping the nonprofit sector in Maine thrive. All members bring essential skills to the table: Maine Association of Nonprofits (MANP), Common Good Ventures (CGV), and Institute for Civic Leadership (ICL) bring their expertise in developing and delivering effective educational programs and working with consultants; the Maine Community Foundation (MaineCF), as fiscal sponsor, brings the respect of the community and other funding organizations. Maine Health Access Foundation (MEHAF) and the United Ways of Greater Portland, York County and Eastern Maine, bring their knowledge of what is happening in Maine; and Maine Network Partners (MNP) lends its expertise on fundraising and developing a successful network.

HOW THEY WORK TOGETHER

Trust is essential to this network as is the reliability of the various members of the Collaboration. The Collaboration trusts MANP will execute the logistics of the educational sessions; CGV will follow-through with those organizations in need of consulting assistance; MaineCF will receive and manage the money; Maine Network Partners will take a leading role in fundraising, and that other members of the Collaboration will actively share their insight into what is going on in their areas of focus.

CHALLENGES

One challenge revolved around the sensitivity of approaching funders as a Collaboration and how that might impact funding for individual organizations in the network. Because of this, the members of the Collaboration needed to trust that representatives charged with fundraising for the Collaboration were truly speaking for the entire group. Fears were allayed when members realized that funders who would normally not fund an individual organization were now aware of the work these organizations.

PROGRESS TOWARDS GOAL

The network to date has raised enough money to effectively assist dozens of nonprofits in reflecting and taking action on their programs. Raising this amount of money in such a short timeframe would have been impossible for anyone organization to do alone. From a fundraising perspective, the network approach has been very successful.