Nonprofits Sharing Space & Services

In an era of tight dollars—and actually anytime is that for most small nonprofits—being able to share space and services without sacrificing mission effectiveness is a real benefit, and this article from the Third Sector New England explains.

An excerpt with links at the jump.

“There are over 1.6 million tax-exempt organizations in the United States, and the majority operate with budgets under $100,000. These are very lean and efficient operations under stress due to increasing demand for services and continuing financial volatility.

“In my opinion, the easy opportunities to reduce operating costs have long ago been discovered and implemented. We’re now into a time of more creative transition. Sometimes strategies involve multiple organizations coming together to share services or space.

“What Are Shared Services?
I define shared services as the collaborative use of resources across traditional organizational boundaries. Shared resources might include:
 Physical things: office space, meeting rooms, copiers and kitchens
 Skills: human resources, financial management, security
 Other programmatic tools: client intake forms, information management systems

“Any resource that is not uniquely developed for a specific organization offers an opportunity for sharing.

“Building Opportunities
Earlier this May the NonprofitCenters Network hosted Building Opportunities: the Nonprofit Shared Space and Services Conference. Over 300 attendees convened in downtown Los Angeles, representing dozens of organizations from the public, private and non-profit sectors, all providers or potential providers of shared services and space.

“The conference offered a staggering variety of presentations ranging from Planning and Visioning for Impact to Green Building Tools, to Evaluating Impact. One highlight (of many) was the discussion of results from the Network’s study of multi-tenant centers, Measuring Collaboration: the Benefits and Impacts of Nonprofit Centers. The executive summary of this fantastic study is available for free download at www.nonprofitcenters.org.

“Benefits and Impacts
Among the many interesting findings:
 Some organizations have shared space for a while and many others are relatively new to the experience: 23% of nonprofit centers surveyed were founded over 20 years ago; at the same time nearly 33% of centers were less than 5 years old.
 Shared services are often coupled with nonprofit centers: over 50% of nonprofit centers provide shared networking events, education services (including training), reception and information technology services. Collaboration extends among tenant organizations of nonprofit centers: 46% of tenant organizations reported collaborating with monthly frequency on programs or services.”