When it comes to recruiting community business partners, non-profit organizations are astute at leveraging the resources at hand. Frequently, this includes Board member connections. It also pays to reach out to community “neighbors”, according to Linda McNeill, Executive Director of Portland, OR-based Step It Up, Inc.
A non-profit organization dedicated to providing youth
with access to career exploration and employment
opportunities, Step It Up, Inc. is cleverly located
within a popular shopping mall in the Portland area to more
effectively target area youth. One neighbor within the mall, Dominique Nazario, a manager from American Eagle, recognized the value of Step It Up’s mission immediately. She had witnessed a steady stream of teenage applicants applying for jobs with American Eagle she couldn’t even consider hiring due to their lack of the most basic resume and application skills. “Because Dominique saw the need first-hand, we were able to enlist this manager to develop all of the materials for our 3-month employment preparedness curriculum,” comments McNeill. “She intuitively knew the needs of our community’s youth and was able to help design a curriculum to support them.”
Development Officer Jevan Williams with Vancouver, WA-based non-profit Children’s Center couldn’t agree more. Dedicated to providing mental health services for children and supporting families, Children’s Center has found ready partners by looking to local neighbors. For over 11 years, neighbor Java House has supported the initiatives of Children’s Center, hosting toy and food drives in support of families in need. “It’s all about relationships,” according to Williams. “Our Executive Director gets coffee at Java House every day. Our staff circulates through constantly. They get to talking about the work we do and, as a result, conversations start about how to support that work because they’re able to see how it benefits the whole community.”
While neither of these non-profit organizations relies primarily on community business partnerships, both McNeill and Williams report the sense of community as being fundamental to accomplishing their mission.
From Step It Up, Inc. and Children’s Center, here are a few lessons to take away:
1) Develop Solid Relationships and Communicate. Both of these organizations were able to gain valuable contributions from neighborhood businesses because they established a relationship and communicated about the important work they were doing. Sometimes partnerships organically develop because of a shared interest or cause. But it’s critical to get the word out about what you’re doing and the impact of your presence. If no one knows what you’re up to, they’ll never be able to lend a hand.
2) Look To Your Neighbors. If you’re doing work that serves your local community, odds are that your neighbors will recognize the value of your work. Everyone in a neighborhood benefits when the neighborhood thrives. Most neighbors recognize the value in “pitching in” to accomplish that goal. Even when the missions of the organizations involved are very different, the commonality of sharing a community can generate lasting partnerships.
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