“Through the incubator initiative, a large focus for the organization really is building the nonprofit sector in Macomb County so they can be more successful, more sustainable and more impactful in their missions,” said Phil Gilchrist, executive director of Advancing Macomb.
He often hears from nonprofits that they can’t find enough volunteers, struggle to build an individual donor base and don’t understand how to seek or obtain grant funds, among other things, he said.
“These are also some of the very things which would increase a nonprofit’s capacity and close gaps in service provision," he said.
Unless they are very large and well-resourced, nonprofits in the county don’t have the same connections to support organizations and funders that larger organizations do, Gilchrist said.
With the strategic investment in Advancing Macomb, "we anticipate this growing organization will launch a new era of support for nonprofit growth and philanthropic interest in Macomb County leading to better outcomes and an improved quality of life for residents,” Jim Boyle, vice president of programs and communications at the Wilson foundation, said in a release.
“The implementation of the nonprofit incubator will also connect Advancing Macomb to other intermediaries and regional capacity builders strengthening the network of support across the county.”
As a nonprofit intermediary, Advancing Macomb brings public, private and nonprofit groups together and works to raise the visibility of the county and attract resources to fund projects and programs for residents. It serves as a fiduciary for a $1 million grant from the Wilson foundation for a new
crossing over the Clinton River spillway that will improve pedestrian safety and provide a new link in the Great Lakes Way trail system and federal funding for improvements to a Mount Clemens community center and a former school building being converted to a youth programs center, Gilchrist said.
Advancing Macomb is operating on a $1.3 million budget this year, including $900,000 in pass-through funding for the other projects. Its fiduciary role speaks to the low capacity of nonprofits in the county, Gilchrist said. “Few could attract, much less manage a federal earmark," he said.
Advancing Macomb is setting out to change that. It will use the funding from the Wilson foundation to build on similar efforts it has offered nonprofits in the county, providing “a boot camp or nonprofit 101,” focused on the basics of nonprofit management, compliance, governance and fundraising for volunteer-led nonprofits or those with only a staff member or two.
“The bottom line is building nonprofit capacity,” Gilchrist said. “What we have found is that those organizations in Macomb County tend to have a more difficult time connecting to the broader sector and resources.”
Advancing Macomb will team up with other nonprofit intermediaries such as Detroit-based Co.act, the Michigan Nonprofit Association, Community Legal Resources, Nonprofit Enterprise at Work and Nonproft Network to provide the county's small nonprofits with “the type of stuff that people really need to have a grasp on in order for their nonprofit to be sustainable and successful,” Gilchrist said.
The
boot camp program will provide education in those areas through a cohort model
to build the network of Macomb County nonprofits and introduce participating
organizations to other nonprofit intermediaries and resources available in the
region. The Wilson foundation grant will also fund the hire of a manager for
the incubator program and an office manager over the next two years, doubling
the number of employees Advancing Macomb itself has, Gilchrist said.
Similarly,
under its new contract with Macomb County, Advancing Macomb will work to
connect charitable nonprofits in the county with a range of local, regional and
statewide programs and services including available grant programs, volunteers,
in-kind professional services, data and marketing and planning services. It
will also provide technical assistance to nonprofit organizations seeking
greater expertise in grant funding, fundraising strategies, data collection,
strategic planning and volunteer management.
"By partnering with Advancing Macomb, the County will position these organizations for success. And this ultimately benefits our community as a whole, as our nonprofits provide countless programs and services that assist our residents in a number of important ways,” Jeff Schroeder, deputy director of Macomb County Planning and Economic Development, said in a release.
