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As you know, the last two weeks have been full of headlines and conversations that have economic implications for all of us. Foundations are not immune to the financial challenges so many nonprofit organizations are facing these days. We thought this would be a good time to address some of the questions that are on all our minds.
First, in light of the need for nonprofit organizations to find ways to operate as efficiently as possible and reduce costs, MMT will soon announce a Request for Proposals for planning grants of up to $25,000 for nonprofits to explore shared space opportunities. You may recall we raised this issue in our blog last year, to which so many of you posted insightful comments. We have been exploring ways to respond to your interest ever since. In conjunction with the RFP, MMT will offer an educational event with national experts to help groups consider, evaluate the pros and cons, and -- where appropriate -- plan colocation projects. Please watch this space for additional announcements in coming weeks.
Since MMT began operating in 1982, our trustees have been careful to diversify our foundation assets. While our corpus is affected when the U.S. and global stock markets decline, we have assets in a wide range of other asset classes that buffer some of the stock market losses. As a result, while our corpus dropped 6.6% during September 2008, the S & P 500 declined by 9% over the same period. Accordingly, while we are not pleased with the decline in our corpus, we have and will continue to take steps to preserve the corpus to the best of our ability.
MMT is, of course, honoring all grant and loan commitments it has already made as scheduled. At this time we still expect our payout for the current fiscal year to exceed $30 million.
Our commitment to open communications means we will keep you apprised of any further developments. We are all in this together, and together we will work our way to a better and brighter future.
We really appreciate your use of our blog to speak to your needs, share useful ideas and information with us and one another, and contribute to a spirit of community that is so important for all of us, especially when times are tough. We hope you will do so now by posting comments below.
Thanks on behalf of MMT,
Doug Stamm
CEO
thx for this doug.
i guess its time i started to blog. my first one would encourage people to read the book Hot, Flat & Crowded, asap
get rich slow
spencer
Colocation makes perfect sense. Old Town Chinatown is already home to dozens of non-profit organizations working in the arts, social services, and environment. And we have many fine spaces for more!
We're looking for some feedback: we already offer some of our children's museum space to a lesser-developed youth-focused nonproftit but we're wondering if anyone is thinking of collaborating with local nonprofits to plan community-wide for the downturn in the economy?
"Business as usual" will likely not suffice as donors retrench and all of us seek ever more contributions from the same group of people. How are others (those of you reading this) considering new ways to combine efforts to help lead our coummunities and clients/members/patrons through this recession?
Here in Eugene we've formed an informal ED (executive directors) group and ED's are partnering with a local community bank to take on this task.
Our nonprofit, the Science Factory, also operates a Planetarium and we are considering offering it as a venue for other groups to meet here and entice their own membership/clients/patrons/neighborhood associations to attend to their own business/meetings while bringing their kids who can learn/play nearby in our hands-on children's museum. Anybody trying/considering similar or other projects & ideas?
I appreciate this communication from Meyer. Foundations and non-profits are of premiere importance in the quality of all of our futures. Because foundations and non-profits have a symbiotic relationship it is so important to share our news.
When planning the Chiloquin Community Center in the late nineties and early 2000's, we obtained a committment from the Sheriff and Corrections Dep't., the Klamath County Board of County Comissioners, the Klamath County Library Service District, Klamth County Health Dep't. / WIC Program and Klamath Youth Development Center to rent purpose built facilities to house their local needs on a reduced fee lease basis. These fees and facilities rentals allow us to maintain the facility, a building reserve and partially pay our E.D.
With four year's experiencee, We recommend this sort of approach for any non-profit contemplating acquiring a facility.
Also, it would be wise to incorporate a ground based heat and cooling design, which costs more for construction, but does reduce our electrical costs by 75%.
We are available to provide more information should it be useful to any of you.
Thank you so much for all your words, but especially the ones that I now have on my wall with a flower drawn next to them: "Together we will work our way to a better and brighter future." The operative word being - together. Thanks so much!
What a terrific idea. OHAC will soon be moving to Portland from Salem and having the opportunity to work with other non-profits, plus the collaboration that could take place is a great plus. Hope it works to everyone's advantage.
I found Tim O'Reilly's blog post on the financial crisis interesting and inspiring and too good not to share:
http://radar.oreilly.com/2008/10/thoughts-on-financial-crisis.html
And as usual, Beth Kanter pulls together the best list of resources for nonprofit organizations:
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2008/10/social-media-in.html
I'm also a first time blogger! We have been in dialog to find a building to co=locate with many other non profits and a planning grant is exactly what would help us move forward--thank you for this--I look forward to seeing more on it soon! Patti
I appreciate Meyer's support for non-profit colocation opportunities. Oregon Toxics Alliance shares office space with three other non-profits, which keeps our overhead expenses down. Not only do we share office space, we also share internet access, a community meeting space, and the more expensive office supply items. The four non-profits interact to create synergy and new alliances. However, this does mean that storage space is at a premium, there is lots of "hub-bub" going on all the time, and there is plenty of literature stacked on tables. We think it's great, but perhaps the only downside is that it's harder to look "tidy" or "upscale" during a site visit! I hope those aspects are insignificant when one considers that our carbon footprint and expenditures are considerably reduced, and more of our resources go directly to program work.
More related resources for nonprofits:
Nonprofit 911
Coming together to redefine how nonprofits operate in this new economic reality
http://nonprofit911.ning.com/
From Mal Warwick's Newsletter:
Fundraising in Tough Times: A No-Nonsense Guide to Surviving in a Challenging Economy
http://www.malwarwick.com/fundraisingintoughtimes/
Robert F. Sharpe Jr. has examined the effect of the Great Depression on giving, and has made some observations and predictions about the current economic crisis and its effect on charitable donations.
Access his reports on charitable giving in uncertain times here:
http://www.sharpenet.com/uncertaintimes/
Read his recent memo that summarizes additional findings on research on depression giving and implications for today here:
www.sharpenet.com/resources/pdf/sharpesummary.pdf
Interesting predictions of and suggestions for economic crisis on advocacy movements/groups:
http://nonprofitnetworks.wetpaint.com/?t=anon
I am so looking forward to your RFP for planning grants to explore shared space opportunities! What wonderful news on which to end our Friday! Thank you so much.