Our Alliance

• Our organizations are already stable and effective. But we see the ways that we duplicate efforts with other small nonprofits (like the annual search for affordable health insurance products), and the hardship on a small staff team when they have to cover too many areas of responsibility. By sharing some back-end functions, staff will be able to focus on a smaller set of duties, and we can streamline functions such as financial procedures (and health insurance searching!).

• Even nonprofits that want to move to a feminist, collaborative, or cooperative model are struggling with scarcity of time and resources to support the kind of collaboration they want to engage in. We are seeking to build a model that can grow with our community over time. 

• Collaboration is not only a feminist principle but a necessary way to build power and win tangible gains. We believe that there is an opportunity to work together to answer the tough questions that small nonprofits face every day, ultimately expanding our impact and helping us meet our missions.

• Each of our organizations will maintain their organizational identity, history, brand, and Boards of directors. 

• We will share operations staff. The ED and operations director will support both organizations, and we are identifying places where we can share operations such as human resources, financial procedures, bookkeeping, software, and other organizational infrastructure, which will be managed by staff who bill time to each individual organization. We will use a standard cost sharing agreement (a frequent tool of allied 501c3 and 501c4 organizations), which allows each organization to raise and spend the majority of its own funds, while sharing costs for staff that work across organizations, as a percentage of their overall efforts. Program staff will continue to be employed by their organization, and will focus their energy on their organization’s mission and programs. 

• We are developing a Memorandum of Agreement and cost sharing procedures with the support of both Boards and a consultant, which will be in place by the end of 2024. At the same time, we are updating our operations staff job descriptions to consolidate certain functions. Boards are working together to make sure core documents - personnel policies, financial procedures - are consistent across both organizations for maximum efficiency. 

• We have received start-up funding from several Maine foundations to do the initial exploration, and to support the creation of our initial agreements. 

• Each organization will continue to focus on its own grant streams, funders, and donors, and we expect that this alliance will only grow our ability to reach new sources of financial support. Gifts from donors and grantors will go directly to the organization for which they are intended. There is no plan for a shared account or fund at this time. 

• Over time, there may be funding available specifically to encourage and expand this type of collaboration. We also believe that the model will be attractive to other small nonprofits seeking to streamline their back-end functions, which will contribute to our sustainability and effectiveness.

• We aren’t necessarily seeking - now, or ever - a full merge of our organizations. At its best, we envision a ‘service hub’, or back-end operations pool, where distinct organizations can share a set of operations staff and activities, like finance and bookkeeping, human resources, benefits, and more.

• As we plan for our own shared operations between Hardy Girls, Maine Women’s Lobby, and MWL Education Fund, we are thinking ahead to a future operations pool that other partners could participate in. Within the next 12 -14 months, we hope that this is a model that could welcome other organizations, who chip in a membership or association fee for the level of services or support they need. 

• Over time, this kind of operations pool could provide support to other feminist organizations, including start-ups or projects that are seeking fiscal sponsorship for the long-term or short-term.on

There are numerous resources to support a creative approach to collaborative structures: 

• In Maine, the League of Women Voters of Maine and Maine Citizens for Clean Elections have created an umbrella organization, Democracy Maine, which has shared staff while maintaining distinct brands and Boards for the original organizations. 

• Also in Maine, the Midcoast Conservancy was created as a result of a merger of four small conservation organizations in Midcoast Maine - Damariscotta Lake Watershed Association, Sheepscot Wellspring Land Alliance, Sheepscot Valley Conservation Association and Hidden Valley Nature Center. 

• At the national level, notable nonprofit leaders such as Vu Le (Nonprofit AF) have been exploring both theory and practice related to ‘hub and spoke’ or ‘backbone’ organizational models. See Star Trek and the Future of the Nonprofit Sector, Vu Le