The weather’s still good and screen time is scarce, so briefly, here are some of Public Interest Management Group’s recent month highlights...
Cascade AIDS Project Launches New LGBTQ Health Center in Portland
Cascade AIDS Project (commonly known as CAP) has a proud history serving people affected by HIV and AIDS over the past 30+ years. CAP provides a range of social services to its clients. But needs have evolved in recent years, along with changing public policies, medical advances and demographics. So CAP is also changing as an organization.
The result of an in-depth business planning process with PIMG, CAP is launching a new LGBTQ Health Center in Portland. This primary care clinic “will offer a safe, affirming, and non-judgmental space where all members of the LGBTQ community can obtain the compassionate and culturally effective health care they need and deserve… [The clinic] is an integral part of CAP’s expanding mission to serve the broader LGBTQ community and will help remove barriers and improve access to health care for all LGBTQ individuals.”
CAP’s leap to becoming a healthcare provider is a bold strategy for an organization that has been on the leading edge serving at-risk populations for decades. The planning process with PIMG involved multifaceted data analysis, financial modeling and risk assessment. CAP’s Board approved the new business plan this summer, and the clinic is on track to open in early 2017.
Kudos to CAP’s leadership! The big winners will be members of the Portland community.
Architect’s rendering of CAP’s new health center. The clinic will be Portland’s first dedicated to serving the LGBTQ community.
Food Lifeline Opens New Hunger Solution Center
Food Lifeline is the Puget Sound region’s largest hunger relief organization. With an effective service model and large demands, the organization found itself growing out of its space. This led to a big-picture vison: a site that would expand capacity, improve operational efficiency, and support Western Washington’s ant-poverty efforts for decades to come. They call it the Hunger Solution Center.
PIMG worked with Food Lifeline in 2014 to negotiate a deal to secure a property just south of Seattle. It was an intense process that took fortitude and commitment, but the Hunger Solution Center is now open for business, and serves as a base for food distribution and innovative programming to fight hunger.
We’re enormously proud of FLL’s leadership and staff for making this ambitious dream a reality!
PIMG’s Scott Schaffer with Shirley Bekins of Providence Health & Services at Food Lifeline’s grand opening event in Seattle. The new facility appears below.
Grounded Solutions Network Takes Off
Two venerable affordable housing programs, Cornerstone Partnership and the National Community Land Trust Network made the decision to explore a merger in 2014, with the idea that they could accomplish more working together.
PIMG facilitated a successful 16-month long process that led to formation of Grounded Solutions Network this year. The new Network has a national footprint and a bold mission: to cultivate communities — equitable, inclusive and rich in opportunity — by advancing affordable housing solutions that last for generations. Now the organization has a spanking new brand identity to go with it – see below.
This project modeled smart strategy, an effective process and intrepid leadership. Great work, Grounded Solutions team!
We love Grounded Solutions Network’s simple yet compelling new logo and tagline.
Pacific AIDS Network Embraces Change, Charts a Course for the Future
Speaking of courage in embracing change, let's talk about Pacific AIDS Network (a.k.a. PAN). This Vancouver-based nonprofit has worked tirelessly behind the scenes to support a diverse set of front line AIDS Service Organizations throughout the vast and diverse province of British Columbia. As noted above, the world of HIV/AIDS services has faced monumental changes; adaptation demands action.
PAN engaged Third Sector Company (TSC) for an organizational assessment process that spanned from 2015 through this past spring. The process allowed PAN’s leaders to explore a range of organizational structures to most effectively implement its strategic plan in the context of new developments in service delivery and public policy, as well as evolving health needs.
Third Sector invited me to join the project, and I was happy to add financial-operational modeling and research components. Working closely with TSC’s Jeff Wilcox and senior PAN staff, the result was recommendation of a new structure that can help PAN focus its efforts and secure a sustainable business model.
What a pleasure it’s been to work closely with PAN and TSC to help chart a future path!
Pacific AIDS Network staff. Executive Director Evin Jones (rear center), Director of Program Development Stacy Leblanc (far right), and Director of Community-Based Research Andrea Langois (front center) participated on the assessment project team.
Business Model Assessment Pilot Underway in Northern California
Speaking of sustainable business models, that’s the heart of an exciting PIMG project anchored in Sacramento. Through a partnership with the Impact Foundry, we’re testing a new organizational assessment methodology with a dozen nonprofits. Participating organizations touch the environmental, health, youth development, arts and community development fields.
The Business Model Assessment is designed to provide clarity about where a nonprofit’s business model is strong, and where it has challenges. The process taps into research data on nonprofit performance, and identifies “low-hanging fruit” for organizational improvement strategies. It is designed to blend smoothly with planning and/or change management efforts.
The pilot project will wrap up this fall. We look forward to reporting on its results in a future post. Thanks to Impact Foundry Executive Director Kim Tucker (pictured below) for helping to spearhead this effort!
That’s all for now. I hope your fall gets off to a sizzling start, in what may be the hottest year on record…