Outer and Inner Changes: The Year Ahead
by Michelle Sedaca, Program Associate
South Africa Partners
 A staff member of a NonProfit Center tenant organization, Michelle writes this monthly column on life at the center, and the unique culture of a multi-tenant center created specifically for nonprofits.
Photo:Michelle (left) meeting with Jackie Cefola, program coordinator at the NonProfit Center
New Space for Growth
With the dawning of a new year, typically people take a moment to reflect on growth and potential goals for the year ahead. As nonprofit organizations, it might be wise to do the same. This time of introspection enables us to reexamine our mission in order to engender our vision more fully, or perhaps in a new way all together.
One obvious manifestation of a fresh start at South Africa Partners was our move on January 11, 2008. Over the course of the last year and a half, our staff has grown from three to five. Our former office space on the fourth floor of the NonProfit Center was visibly teeming with Staples’ boxes, tech equipment and other miscellaneous supplies with no known home. We had undoubtedly reached the time to move to a larger space. Luckily, we only had to move upstairs to the seventh floor.
The move is providing us with badly needed space to grow. With two workstations for interns, we can have more than one intern working with us at a time, providing much needed assistance to develop both our health and education partnerships. Our new home also offers a reception area which will create a more welcoming environment to greet visitors.
 Representing both a physical and symbolic change for us, our brand new space will allow our work to expand. And we are not alone.
Forecast for 2008:
Nonprofits Gear up for a New Year
Compass Working Capital (Compass), a nonprofit that provides financial education and services to low-income families, understands firsthand the transformative power a move has on an organization. Previously working from her home, Sherry Riva, executive director of Compass, moved the organization into the NonProfit Center’s shared space on the second floor last October. Riva enthuses that joining the NPC, or as she refers to the building, the “nonprofit utopia,” has already greatly improved her work.
“[The NPC offers] an opportunity to have office space and concentrate on programs,” Riva remarks. She described the positive effects of Compass’ location in a professional office which will enable her to recruit and retain both staff and board members. “[The NPC] puts a burst of energy into our organization and conveys to the world that Compass is professional and part of the nonprofit community,” she says, anticipating a productive year ahead in her new space.
The World Society for the Protection of Animals-USA (WSPA), which focuses on international animal welfare issues, is preparing for a dynamic 2008 in its new office, having relocated from Framingham last summer. International animal welfare issues on WSPA’s agenda include producing a U.N. declaration on animal welfare and addressing disaster relief. Allan Kornberg, executive director of WSPA, explains that disaster relief concerns animals as well as humans. For instance, if a small farmer is uprooted from his or her land and is no longer able to care for his or her animals, both the animals and the farmer would suffer. Kornberg credits the NPC for kicking off WSPA’s work to a good start.
Roots & Shoots, an organization that provides service-learning projects to youth, is also excited about its work ahead in the new year. In 2008, the organization welcomes a new regional director, Sally Sharp Lehman. Additionally, the organization plans to jumpstart the new year with specific focus on increasing its membership through programs such as “Peace Through the Arts” and their national campaign “Rebirth the Earth: Trees for Tomorrow.”
Time to Reflect
As illustrated by the many changes at NonProfit Center tenant organizations, the new year presents nonprofits with an opportunity to reevaluate their priorities. Whether we’re continuing to work on the same initiatives, grow them or perhaps begin in a new direction, we can all benefit from inner reflection.
This introspection opens space (literally for some) for something newly imagined.
Keep up-to-date with Michelle’s latest columns - sign up for the TSNe-Bulletin, a monthly e-newsletter providing tips and ideas to help you strengthen your nonprofit’s impact with and for the communities you serve.
| 
Contact
Share
