San Luis Obispo Non-Profit Support Center Feasibility Study - 1998-99; Conclusions and Recommendations

San Luis Obispo
Non-Profit Support Center Feasibility Study
1998-99

Cuesta College Institute of Professional Development

Study underwritten by PG&E Diablo Canyon Power Plant, Los Padres Customer Operations

Conclusions and Recommendations

Summary of Conclusions

Need for a Center
In summary the survey results, the Board interviews and the focus group data showed that there is a strong interest in the San Luis Obispo community for a Non-profit Support Center. The survey reported that 60% of the 77 agencies completing the survey indicated that they would use the services provided by a Non-profit Support Center. Since there were 35% who indicated that they were "unsure" and seemed interested, both the Board interviews and especially the focus group identified a need to educate/inform the community about what a Non-profit Support Center can do and the benefits of a Center. Other rural communities interviewed for their Non-profit Support Center models such as Sonora and Redding indicated that educating their communities was a key factor in gaining support and membership for their Centers. Once the San Luis Obispo community has more understanding of what a Center can provide and the Center begins to establish credibility in the community, more agencies will change from their "unsure" response to join the Center. However, building credibility is often a slow process.

The agencies responding to the survey provided services in all parts of the county and therefore, there seems to be interest county-wide to the idea of a Center.

Critical Organizational Needs and Methods of Assistance
Based on the survey, the most commonly identified organizational and management needs were (in descending order):

Grant Writing
Fundraising
Board Development
Resource Development
Volunteer Recruitment
Computer Assistance
Marketing/Public Relations

These areas of need are the essential ingredients for building effective non-profit organizations. According to the Board interviews and the focus group data, there are few opportunities currently for getting these needs met in San Luis Obispo County. Aside from the Forum for Community Based Organizations, which is held once a year, and sponsored by PG&E, Tenet Health Corporation, Mission Community Bank, Cal Poly Student Life, Graphics by Erick, County of San Luis Obispo, Cuesta College, and the Collaboration Forum, focus group members indicated that they most often have to go outside of San Luis Obispo to get training in these areas of need if their agency can afford to send them. Registration fees and travel costs of such trainings are high and often limit the number of agencies that can use outside training. Therefore, the Community Forum is sometimes the only opportunity that especially smaller agencies with limited funding have for affordable, local training. In addition, trainings outside the area take too much time to get to and are often too generic. The survey indicated that agencies most wanted a Non-profit Support Center to provide assistance in consultation, training classes, workshops, and a resource/referral bank with library research. If a Center could provide the services for meeting the organizational needs, then the community itself would benefit by strengthening the management capacity of non-profit agencies in the San Luis Obispo area.

Feasibility and Sustainability
While the San Luis Obispo community seems ready to use a Center and the organizational needs and services seem to warrant the establishment of a Center, the financial feasibility and sustainability of a Center are questionable at this time if the sole support was expected from the user agencies. The survey results indicated that only 17% of the 51 agencies who budget for professional development and training said that they would be willing to commit a percentage of their budget for a Non-profit Support Center. Basically, 83% of the agencies were not willing to make a commitment of their budget for a Non-profit Support Center at this time. Some agencies had their budgets tied to a funding source which mandated specific training or specific uses for the budget and agencies were not willing to commit to something that their funding source would not allow. Others wanted to know more about the value of the Center before they would commit a portion of their budget to it.

The Center could not be self supporting to start out, because there would not be enough revenues from membership or seminar fees to sustain a center and provide staffing. The survey results indicate that 37% of the respondent agencies did not want to pay membership fees and of those agencies who did support paying a membership fee the average that they were willing to pay was fifty dollars with a range of twenty-five to one hundred dollars. For training fees, the majority of agencies indicated that they would pay sixteen to forty dollars for half day training and thirty-one to eighty dollars for full day training. The training fees usually include the costs of training such as paying the trainer and that would have to be taken out of the fees. Therefore, it is unlikely that membership fees and training fees would be able to sustain a Center without some endowment or start-up grant until credibility is well established. Once credibility is established more agencies will become members and agencies may be willing to pay higher fees.

Location of a Center
The most favored locations mentioned in the survey results were Cuesta College and the United Way. These two were the most frequently mentioned as a good site for a Non-profit Support Center. One important concern was choosing a location that was not bound to serve a specific population which is reflected in their choice of Cuesta College and United Way. Additionally, a central location was mentioned as important.

Model Center
None of the nine centers interviewed started out on only membership and training fees. All began with start-up monies from either their Community Foundation, United Way or private foundations. This information seems to corroborate the findings of this Feasibility Study that a Center in San Luis Obispo could not "stand alone" and would require some funding for the start up phase. Training programs and membership fees would not provide enough money in San Luis to begin a center alone. The nine Centers interviewed said that there is no perfect, right model for a community and the model that works best is the one decided by the community itself

Recommendations

There is a strong interest in a Non-profit Support Center but not enough money to start up one with only membership and training fees. Start-up funding is essential. One possibility would be to have the newly formed Community Foundation consider using a portion of the monies raised to fund a centrally-located source of information and assistance that would benefit all of the agencies in San Luis Obispo County. Another possibility is to reconsider the option of starting out as a satellite of Santa Barbara or working with Santa Maria to seek regional funding since the current grant makers seem more attracted to a combined effort. This may be a way to fund the start-up phase until more credibility is gained in the San Luis community and there is more available funding from the community. Once credibility is built and more local funding can be counted on then in approximately two years the Center could consider a self sustaining model.

The best way to begin is to start small. Most of the model programs started with only one or two training seminars and library services. The survey indicated that training seminars or workshops, library services and a referral bank are top priorities for the San Luis Obispo community organizations. Providing an initial offering that is highly successful would increase the credibility and support in the community for the Center. Most Centers have begun their training programs with a program on grant writing or fund raising or board development. In San Luis, a program on volunteer recruitment might also be a good initial offering. One way to maximize the resources in the community might be some of the Center's services offered at Cuesta College Institute for Professional Development such as providing training and some services provided by United Way such as a resource and referral bank. In this way, some initial programming could begin on a small scale with some help from some local funding sources and maybe from the Community Foundation. The Foundation, the agencies and the community could all benefit from a Center to enhance the organizational capacity of the non-profit sector in San Luis Obispo.

Proceed to Appendix A - List of Interviewed Nonprofit Support Centers and Contact Person.

Return to the Feasibility Study Table of Contents.

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