Collective Resilience Initiative

About

Northern California nonprofits are the driving force and backbone of our collective efforts to address the social justice issues impacting the region. NCG's Collective Resilience Initiative supports this backbone and strengthens the nonprofit sector. This begins with focusing on the key factors impacting nonprofit sustainability in the region to shift grantmaking practices and support evolving organizational needs.  

Many nonprofits, particularly those led by Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, are chronically underfunded making it difficult to invest in the talent, systems, and other foundational capacities they need and leaving them without cash reserves to handle a crisis. Long standing funding practices such as not funding full costs, intensive application and reporting processes, not providing support beyond grant dollars, and delays and restrictions in government contracts and payments prevent nonprofits from achieving long-term sustainability.  

Focus Areas

NCG supports our member community to adopt giving practices that center racial equity, shift power, and build trusting, responsive relationships with nonprofit partners to create a strong ecosystem of organizations well-resourced to meet changing community needs and advance transformational systems change. Through this initiative, we will provide programming and education around our 4 focus areas: Workforce, Public Funding, Organizational Resiliency, and Space.

Workforce

• Vision: Developing and sustaining a thriving workforce through systemic solutions.
• Philanthropic Role: Advance systemic solutions to support the nonprofit workforce (e.g. change public and private funding practices); Shift narrative away from the expectation of nonprofits as a low wage sector. 
• Voices from the Field
  • We went in Search of Funders Prioritizing Nonprofit Pay and Benefits. The Results Were Underwhelming 
  • What Funders Can Do to Fight the Nonprofit Worker Burnout Crisis 

Public Funding

• Vision: Support advocacy, policy work, technical assistance, and infrastructure to access available funding. 
• Philanthropic Role: Increase support for local advocacy that increases public funding for nonprofits (e.g. contracting, reimbursement rates); Support adoption and implementation of local and state level policies that support nonprofits and their workforce; Support grassroots and small nonprofits’ access to public sector recovery funds.
• Voices from the Field
  • California Nonprofit Equity Initiative 
  • California Coalition on Government Contracting Letter: Improving nonprofits-government contracting will benefit communities across California 

Organizational Resiliency

• Vision: Resourcing and strengthening organizations through responsive grantee centered initiatives.
• Philanthropic Role: Increase capacity building funding that responds to the needs of the sector through innovative initiatives; Increase capacity building support for nonprofits in low resourced geographies, and funding for these regions.
• Voices from the Field
  • Should we Cancel Capacity Building? 
  • Capacity Building as a Tool for Transformation 
  • Building Resilient Organizations 

Space

• Vision: Investing in shared space, shared services, and community owned real estate.
• Philanthropic Role: Increase funding (grants and impact investments) for long term affordable space solutions, with a focus on shared space and nonprofit centers; Increase funding that supports community wealth building through community control of community assets.
• Action Opportunities: California Community Owned Real Estate Program (CalCORE) 
• Voices from the Field
  • From Scarcity to Inspiration: Rethinking the Value of Nonprofit Facilities 
  • New Funding Model Gives Arts Groups Firmer Footing in Downtown S.F. 
  • Community Ownership of Real Estate: A Los Angeles Story 
  • Transforming Investment to Build Community Wealth: A conversation with the Restorative Economies Fund 

Contact