‘Catalyst Fund’ created to support collaboration, shared ventures among nonprofit organizations

New initiative will provide technical assistance to spark, sustain promising, voluntary collaborations, partnerships and mergers in the Boston area

Boston, MA – September 22, 2010 – An innovative, new funding partnership has been established by the Boston Foundation, Boston LISC, the Hyams Foundation, and United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley and managed by the Nonprofit Finance Fund. This fund will help nonprofit organizations develop promising voluntary collaborations as a way to deliver greater impact from the important work they do in communities throughout the Boston area.

The new fund, called the Catalyst Fund for Nonprofits, was created in response to increasing requests by Boston area nonprofits for support in the often complex challenges related to pursuing collaborative ventures. In the for-profit sector, there is a readily available and highly developed infrastructure of technical experts to support collaborations through partnerships, joint ventures and mergers. By comparison, the nonprofit sector lacks an established system that enables organizations to make use of comprehensive and coordinated technical expertise that nonprofit collaborations require if they are to be.

By providing supportive access to this technical expertise, the Catalyst Fund will help to build nonprofit capacity to respond to the challenges of the ongoing economic downturn and to serve the sector after the economy recovers.

The kinds of collaborations the Catalyst Fund anticipates supporting can range from shared back-office professional functions, such as financial oversight, to joint purchasing agreements, partnerships or joint ventures in shared enterprises, and, where appropriate, full mergers of established organizations.

The Catalyst Fund is the first funder collaborative of its kind in Boston, working to develop supportive resources for a robust practice in the nonprofit sector. At its launch, it has raised commitments of over $1.7 million from its original funding partners and welcomes additional participation from both local and national funders over its planned five-year life.

“This has long been the missing piece in the nonprofit toolkit, despite the importance institutional collaboration in the nonprofit sector” said Paul S. Grogan, President and CEO of the Boston Foundation. “This will have a significant impact on organizations here, and we expect it to serve as a model for similar funds elsewhere in the country.”

How the Catalyst Fund will work
Initially, the Fund is interested in supporting collaborations among organizations in the mission areas of Arts & Culture, Community Development, Human Services and Youth Development.   The Catalyst Fund is particularly interested in funding proposals from nonprofits with strong support from their respective Boards for collaborations that have the potential to preserve or increase existing community services.  Ideal candidates will be nonprofits that have already begun a thoughtful exploration of potential collaborations, and come with a sense of potential partners and areas where an alignment would serve their long-term purposes.

Nonprofits receiving funding for their collaborative venture will select a preferred technical assistance provider to engage from a pool of pre-qualified consultants.  Technical assistance providers must demonstrate experience and expertise in supporting nonprofit collaborations in order to qualify for participation in the Catalyst Fund.

The Catalyst Fund is committed to building a pool of technical experts who have a strong track record of experience in nonprofit collaboration and who reflect the diversity of communities served by the region’s nonprofits

“Despite the lack of the kind of comprehensive support the Catalyst Fund will provide, there have been a number of notable collaborations completed by innovative, highly motivated and determined Boston area nonprofits,” said William Pinakiewicz, Director of the New England Program of the Nonprofit Finance Fund.

He cited past successes such as Pine Street Inn’s outsourcing of its it food services expertise to other nonprofits through its Abundant Table social enterprise, the Massachusetts Council of Human Services Provider’s joint insurance purchasing collaborative and the mergers of Crittenton Hastings House  with the Women’s Educational and Industrial Union and Centro Latino with Consilio Hispano de Cambridge as great examples of organizations coming together to increase the scope and impact of the work they do. This new Fund will build on that tradition of voluntary association that seeks to amplify the missions of local nonprofits.

“The Catalyst Fund will move the nonprofit sector from talking about partnerships, joint ventures and mergers to acting upon them in ways that strengthen our collective response to community needs,” said Michael Durkin, President of United Way of Massachusetts Bay & Merrimack Valley. “Born out of a successful partnership, The Catalyst Fund promises to fuel innovative solutions to our some of region’s most entrenched problems and gaps in resources.”

Beth Smith, Executive Director of the Hyams Foundation, noted the changing needs of nonprofits as one reason for her support of the new organization.

“While the Hyams Foundation will continue to provide the technical assistance to its grantees, a number of them have wanted to explore how to operate differently in these very challenging economic times,” said Smith. “For those nonprofits interested in exploring collaborative working relationships, the Catalyst Fund will provide specialized assistance and we are pleased to work with our partners to support this new resource.”

Bob Van Meter, Executive Director of Boston LISC, also addressed the connection between tough times and the nee to preserve essential services provided.

“Boston Community Development Corporations have recently been focusing on how they deliver most effectively on their missions and what strategic options are available to them,” said Van Meter. “Here at LISC, we see our participation in the Catalyst Fund as a natural extension of that focus, and are committed to ensuring that the nonprofits serving our communities have access to resources such as collaboration support, for continued impact.”

Applying for help
Details about criteria for nonprofit and technical assistance provider participation in the Catalyst Fund are available online and will be shared at a series of informational workshops. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis according to procedures made available on the NFF website at www.nonprofitfinancefund.org under “The Catalyst Fund” and also on the website of the Catalyst Fund partners.

Informational workshops
Workshops for interested nonprofits and technical assistance providers will be held on Monday, October 4, and Wednesday, October 6, at times and locations posted on the websites of the funding partners and on the NFF website. For more information, please contact Peter Kramer, Catalyst Fund Manager, at 617-204-9772 or by email at catalystfund@nffusa.org. Nonprofits and technical assistance providers interested in the Catalyst Fund should contact the Fund manager directly rather than contacting the Fund’s individual funding partners.

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Funding partners:

About the Boston Foundation
The Boston Foundation, Greater Boston’s community foundation, is one of the oldest and largest community foundations in the nation, with assets of $737 million.  In Fiscal Year 2009, the Foundation and its donors made over $95 million in grants to nonprofit organizations and received gifts of over $81 million. The Foundation is made up of some 900 separate charitable funds established by donors either for the general benefit of the community or for special purposes.  The Boston Foundation also serves as a major civic leader, provider of information, convener, and sponsor of special initiatives designed to address the community’s and region’s most pressing challenges.  For more information about the Boston Foundation, visit www.tbf.org or call 617-338-1700.

About Boston LISC
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) believes that everyone should have the right to live in a safe, prosperous neighborhood full of opportunities. Since 1981, Boston LISC has been working towards this vision by providing funding, financing, and technical assistance to Community Development Corporations (CDCs), Non-Profit Developers, and Policy & Advocacy Organizations in Greater Boston. With Boston LISC’s support, community developers have been able to and will continue to provide affordable housing, spark economic development, and increase access to high-quality education, transportation, and other crucial resources.

About the Hyams Foundation
The mission of the Hyams Foundation is to increase social and economic justice and power within low-income communities in Boston and Chelsea, Massachusetts.  It focuses its resources on three major goals:  increasing civic engagement within low-income communities, increasing access to affordable housing and promoting the long-term success of low-income teens, all with a special focus on communities of color.  Hyams funds operating and program expenses, technical assistance and public policy advocacy in all three of these areas and has a strong tradition of partnering with other local private and public funders to support collaborative funding efforts.  For more information about the Hyams Foundation, visit its website at www.hyamsfoundation.org or call (617) 426-5600.  

About United Way of Massachusetts Bay & Merrimack Valley:
A non-profit charitable organization, United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley through more than 300 health and human service organizations helps serve the needs of  people in 134 cities and towns across Eastern Massachusetts, the Seacoast region of New Hampshire and Southern Maine. United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley brings together people from business, government, education, healthcare, faith groups and the community to improve the quality of life for our region’s children and families by uniting effective partners, wise investments, and committed volunteers to strategically tackle the most critical issues and create measurable differences in our neighborhoods.

Catalyst Fund Manager:

About Nonprofit Finance Fund
A national leader in social sector finance, Nonprofit Finance Fund connects money to mission success through consulting, innovation, and direct investment. Founded in 1980, NFF (www.nonprofitfinancefund.org) provides services that build the capacity and durability of nonprofits. A leading community development financial institution with over $80 million in assets, NFF has provided over $200 million in loans and access to additional financing via grants, tax credits and capital in support of over $1 billion in projects for nonprofit clients nationwide. NFF has a staff of more than 75 serving nonprofits nationally from offices in New York City, Philadelphia, Newark, Boston, Detroit, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

Contact:

David Trueblood
The Boston Foundation
617-338-3890

Brigid Boyd
United Way of Massachusetts Bay
and Merrimack Valley
617-624-8252

Jen Talansky
Nonprofit Finance Fund
212-457-4747