How Innovation and Collaboration in Non-Profits Work

I’ve worked in non-profits a long time and for several non-profits with complicated missions and simple missions. But, in every instance there is always an opportunity to grow and manipulate what that mission and work looks like. I specialize in taking old, dusty, grandma non-profits to hot and sexy. I love to take on a project and insert innovation and collaboration and watch it flourish. Reinvention is what I do best, I am the one that gets the fire started, not stokes the coals.

H2O – Helping to Overcome Homelessness

One of the projects I’m most proud of was a Homeless Outreach Project I pulled together in Alexandria, LA. There were multiple agencies serving the un-housed population and collaborating. It was clunky at times and the need was greater than the resource as is so often the case. We needed action now, so I made a few phone calls. I called the Pastor of the church across the street from the homeless shelter and asked what he was doing. He said he had just begun a course on saying NO, I said stop I need something, and you have to say yes! He laughed and asked what now! I told him, all I need is your parking lot one morning a month and I need you to say yes. 

I Need You to Say Yes

Saying I need you to say yes has brought me a lot of success in my years of non-profiting. Well he did say yes and I went on to call all of our resource agencies, mental health providers and even had a local school offering free haircuts, massages and health checks. Those who participated could get food, HIV tested, someone to talk too, resources and I offered hugs to all who came. You don’t realize the power of touch when it’s someone that is often scoffed at. Those hugs were powerful and meant a lot to the people we served. One gentleman quietly told me one day, your hugs are the only time somebody touches me and I look forward to it every month. 

This event started out as one morning a month where our un-housed neighbors could get resources. I thought no one would come. The first month we had 32 participants and 10 partners. When we celebrated our one-year anniversary we were seeing over 100 participants a month with almost 20 partners. This program is still happening years after I moved on to a new opportunity (and got married). It continues to provide much needed support and resources to a community in need. This was an innovative project that was successful through the collaboration of multiple partners.

Innovate and Collaborate for FREE?

So, the question you’re asking is how much did this cost? What grants were you able to get to fund a project like this? Where did the money come from? It came from nowhere. I had a budget of zero dollars and that budget never increased. I came up with a wish list of items that were needed and asked faith-based organizations to do drives and requests from their members. Our storage room was filled from day one. We only asked other agencies to collaborate with us for just four hours a month. That’s a small and doable commitment for most groups. As we grew, we also had homeschooled groups, medical providers and therapists that participated. They did it because they believed in the mission. 

When you can rally your community around a mission then amazing things can happen. This is what innovation and collaboration look like. Sometimes you have to do the hard and dirty work to get to where you need to be. This work didn’t need a budget it just needed a common want to see something positive happen. 

The Success of Collaboration

What do you get out of it? What you get is great data that can be used to for grant funding for the next step or the next project. It can be great data that exhibits a need for the service you are requesting funding for. If the funding agency sees that you’re already doing the work they are much more likely to award funds to you based on the fact that you’ve proven that the work will be done. If you go interview for a job and you can show that you’ve done a similar job and been successful, then the likelihood of getting that job increases. The employer sees that you have the knowledge and capacity to assist in achieving their goals and is like hey I need that person. That’s the same way a grantor looks at a grantee. 

This is how when you marry innovation (the idea) with collaboration (the muscle) you can make great things happen. Often it’s getting onto the playing field of the project instead of standing on the sidelines trying to coach the game. Cue that parent that screams through your kids entire soccer game. Don’t be that person. Get on the field and play yourself and see how “easy” it is. Same thing goes for non-profit work, get in the environment of the people you serve, understand holistically what their needs are and address what the greatest of those needs are. You don’t have to nor can you realistically fix everything but you can start the ball going in the right direction.