MACC Means Courageous Collaboration

Courageous collaboration means disrupting the status quo. It means working together to boldly co-create solutions to the challenges our organizations and communities share.

MACC’s Member Summit was an opportunity for our network to lean into courageous collaboration.

The Summit created a space to explore and share the wisdom within our network and to deepen our connections to each other. It was an opportunity to share and learn from our collective story.

Our organizations and communities are under tremendous pressure. We heard from Susan Dreyfus, CEO of MACC’s national partner, the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities. She shared research from the Alliance that powerfully demonstrates that nonprofits are critical drivers of social change – but that they’re facing serious roadblocks to their work.

The challenges we face don’t have simple, technical solutions, and we definitely won’t find the answers we need looking in the review mirror.

We need to look ahead, to lean into the adaptive challenges we face and find our creativity.

At the Summit members were invited to step back and reflect, to think about the larger ecosystem MACC is a part of, and what challenges as a network we want to come to the table to try and tackle. Together we explored some powerful questions:

What partnerships do we need to be able to adapt and respond to our challenges? Who are some new, unconventional partners we should look for? How can we bring unlikely partners to the table?

What opportunities are there to partner with healthcare? Can we work collaboratively with government funders to make the system work better for everyone?

How can we nurture our future leaders so that they are diverse and vibrant?

How do we measure MACC’s impact? How do we want to measure our impact as a network?

We spent the day not just as fellow nonprofit leaders, and network members, but as problem solvers. Living into courageous collaboration means finding new ways to come together as a network. Together we can incubate powerful new ideas, find inspiration in each other, and fuel our work into the future.

Thank you to our fabulous facilitators Sook Jin Ong and Jen Mein from the Future Services Institute for guiding us throughout the day. And thank you to all the wonderful volunteers whose time and energy helped make the day a success!

MACC Means A New Kind of Partner

 

Jeff Lundgren, Executive Director of North Metro Pediatrics, faced a problem familiar to many nonprofit leaders. North Metro Pediatrics is a small children’s health community clinic and for years they’d relied on a trusted consultant to manage their IT infrastructure, electronic health records, and billing operations.

When that person decided to retire – there was a big hole to fill.

They needed a new partner. Someone big enough to handle their complex HIPAA compliance needs, but still flexible and affordable for a small nonprofit.

As a new leader of a small nonprofit, Jeff wanted reliable business infrastructure, but he was also looking for connections with other nonprofits. As the only community clinic for children in Anoka county, North Metro Pediatrics can’t meet all the needs of the families they serve, they need partners - collaborators.

As luck would have it, Jeff was talking about these challenges with a fellow executive director who happened to be Ann Gaasch from FamilyWise – fellow MACC member and MACC board member. She pointed him to MACC.

Overhauling your organization’s entire IT infrastructure is no small task – but it’s a lot easier with a partner who takes the time to do it right.

“The MACC team and the Virteva team took really good care of us. We’ve got some people on our team that are definitely not what I would consider tech savvy, so just the thought of transitioning and onboarding onto a new system was something that many were apprehensive about. So the MACC team spent time with us onsite to do onboarding and then probably countless hours after that to help individuals as they were getting used to things.”

For a small, nonprofit, community health clinic where technology is synonymous with HIPAA risk, partnering with the MACC network for IT means peace of mind. North Metro Pediatrics could leave behind the heavy, onsite infrastructure that meant security and upkeep costs, and move instead to a nimble, low-maintenance, cloud based platform.

“We went from onsite storage to office 365 where all our data is now stored, and backed up on the cloud, so we kind of went from like 1997 to like 2020 in about a month and half.”

For North Metro Pediatrics MACC means technology that no longer gets in the way of the work. It means a different kind of partner, and a diverse network of nonprofits to tap into and work with.

Partnering with MACC means one less thing to worry about so they can focus on what’s most important - keeping kids healthy!

MACC Means Making Order Out of Chaos

 

Who doesn’t love moving? Anyone who’s ever moved apartments, houses, or even just their desk at work knows how much disruption it creates.

Now imagine coordinating 4 separate offices moves – in under a year. Plus, one of the spaces is completely empty (no furniture, no desks, nothing), and another is the second floor of a not-yet-converted warehouse. Sound like fun?

That’s just the project that landed on Sara Yueill and EMERGE Community Development’s plate. EMERGE is based in North Minneapolis and Cedar Riverside and each year helps thousands of adults and youth access jobs, financial coaching, supportive housing, and other key services, along pathways to brighter futures.

One of the biggest challenges EMERGE and Sara faced was turning the rough warehouse space at EMERGE’s Second Chance Recycling enterprise, into somewhere EMERGE staff could be excited to work in.

A project this big just doesn’t get done without some key partners by your side.

Fortunately, Sara had a partner at MACC who could help make order out of the chaos. As MACC’s Vice President of Infrastructure Services, Pete Czachor provides consulting that goes beyond figuring out how many Ethernet ports you need (although he makes sure that’s covered too). Pete helped Sara work through how the staff would use the new space, and how the technology needed to flow to create the best staff experience.

“In his role he doesn’t just come in from the technical standpoint and give us the IT picture, he does give us the whole functional flow of the office and did assist us with more of a vision of the space and how it would operate and work for us.”

Technology is one of the pieces you HAVE to have right, right away. EMERGE wanted to make sure that no matter what moving chaos was going on around them, staff could sit down at their workstations and get right to work.

“It was complicated, very complicated, but I will tell you that I never lost faith that everything would be functional in the space when the staff moved in, and part of that was knowing that the tech piece was there. Tech is probably one of the most important pieces of it, so that people can do their jobs. I mean obviously the furniture’s important too, making sure the cubicles are you know put together correctly, but the wiring and having the proper tech there was really, really important.”

It may still have been crazy for a while, but for Sara, having partners she could count on kept her sane. Having someone like Pete who would work with her to find a solution for whatever problems came up – big or small - made all the difference.

MACC Means Bringing Big Dreams to Life

 

It started with a celebration of Sabathani Community Center’s 50 years in their south Minneapolis community.

Executive Director Cindy Booker wanted to create a space to celebrate Sabathani’s history and community. She recruited Pat Anderson, Sabathani’s Enterprise Director, and they began converting some previously empty rooms in their building. Filling them with the stories of famous sports players, artists, musicians, community leaders, and politicians who, like Sabathani, call south Minneapolis home.

No space would be complete without room for the Minneapolis Sound, which of course includes Prince, but also recognizes a far richer and deeper musical culture than many realize. The space proudly celebrates what makes South Minneapolis special, but as you take a turn into one of the last rooms, you’re reminded that Minnesota has plenty of history that’s not so nice.

The redlining room holds stories of the systematic and institutionalized racism that was built into, and is still enshrined to a shameful extent today, in Minneapolis housing policies. The space brings the good and the bad together – and makes sure that both are remembered.

The space has started to grow into something bigger. Sabathani is working with MACC’s Social Enterprise Network to turn their space into a viable Social Enterprise. Turning the space into a social enterprise will cover the cost of the space and allow them to keep the exhibits open.

Through MACC’s Social Enterprise Network Sabathani tapped into a powerful, collaborative platform of shared resources, expertise, and learning.

“Whatever information I get, I always bring it back and share it. I get excited coming back and saying, you know have we thought about this, and maybe we can try it this way, and you know here’s someone else who’s going through this and here’s how they were successful. It energizes me and even though there’s still work to do, I can see ahead.”

Another critical benefit for Pat has been connecting with other MACC social entrepreneurs.

“I love the fact that we visit other enterprise so we get the real feel for their work and get their stories. Just being able to get together with other nonprofits and hear about how they started and what’s worked for them or what didn’t work for them, that is priceless. Oftentimes you can get discouraged when you start, and sometimes it’s up and down and so to be able to hear other stories about how they made it work, it’s encouraging. For me being part of that, I need that sometimes. I need to hear how they made it over the slumps that they encountered.”

MACC’s Social Enterprise Network has helped Sabathani tap into resources and expertise they couldn't access on their own, and helped Pat plug in to a supportive network of social entrepreneurs where she can learn and thrive.

MACC Means Growing New Opportunities

On a hillside off I-94, sandwiched between a motorcycle dealer and a rubber products supplier is about the last place you’d expect to find a thriving garden. But CAPI USA, an immigrant-led organization that works with refugees and immigrants, has community garden sites throughout the metro.

CAPI works with over 300 local growers during Minnesota’s brief growing season. The gardeners are all immigrants and refugees and the produce they grow reflects their cultures. Lots of Thai chili peppers, and unique vegetables and greens unfamiliar to most Minnesotans. Most growers grow for their families or for fun - but a few wanted to try something new.

“Based on some feedback from the gardeners and based on some research we wanted to work with a small group of gardeners to try and sell produce at farmers markets or in other models and that led us to the social enterprise idea of diversifying our funding and strengthening our program through building a social enterprise selling produce.”

Rachel Murphy, Food and Nutrition Coordinator at CAPI, has been working with MACC's Social Enterprise Network to understand how to bring this idea to life.

Being part of MACC’s Social Enterprise Network is giving CAPI and Rachel both the confidence and support they need to take on this new venture – and the tools and knowledge to do it smartly. They’re discovering how to tap into and leverage what makes them unique, and to avoid (where possible) many of the common pitfalls business startups face.

“It’s not easy to hear that failure is an extreme possibility with anything you’re doing, that’s not initially a positive thing to hear. But to hear that things happen and you get back up and you learn better and it’s a normal part of this is actually kind of reassuring. It’s not going to be perfect but you can learn from other people and learn from your mistakes and you get better.”

CAPI’s model is designed with the growers at the center. The goal is to have them eventually be equal owners in the business decisions – a goal that fits well with CAPI’s mission of promoting economic independence, self-determination, and social equity for Minnesota’s newest immigrants and refugees.

It’s an exciting and bold new model for CAPI. They’ve never tried anything like this before, but MACC is there with them every step of the way helping them build their capacity as they explore how to create, grow, and sustain a healthy social venture.

MACC Means A Partner Who Listens

 

In 2016 DARTS began a multi-year project to map all their programs from the ground up and build a new client database. DARTS works with seniors and their families in Dakota County helping them live more independent and fulfilling lives.

Tabatha Barrett, Director of Social Services for DARTS knew switching databases would be stressful, but it was something DARTS needed to do, and they wanted to do it right.

The challenges seniors face are complex. DARTS offers many different programs to meet the needs of the seniors they serve. To sort through this complexity, Tabatha and DARTS worked with MACC’s Evaluation and Client Data teams to and map out their programs step by step.

DARTS and the MACC team worked together to unpack everything and get to know the organization, the staff, and the clients. The MACC team knew what questions to ask and, most importantly they listened.

“I just can’t imagine any other experience was quite as personalized as this felt. You know because they’re a local agency they’re meeting with us with regularity to discuss our needs and our programs and it was a consistent team so they really got to know our programs and understand what we do. They could ask us really good questions and I think that’s half the battle. You can ask a question 5 different ways but they seem to really get at what they needed to know through asking the right questions. It was really helpful to have that personal support.”

Once everything was mapped out DARTS was ready to design and build the actual database. A new database meant change for DARTS as an organization. Learning a new way of doing things can be challenging – but MACC's team was there every step of the way.

“Alicia and her team were wonderful, it was a very positive experience for us. You know it’s a stressful experience to switch databases, but they’re so supportive, and responsive, and helpful that they made it as easy and something like that can be.”

The final program ‘went live’ in the new database in August and the difference is big. DARTS staff need less time to track and manage their data so they can spend and more time with clients. No more being stuck at a desk because of data entry! And no. More. Spreadsheets.

“Our Homemaker Supervisor used to spend a large portion of her time tracking data through spreadsheets and trying to manage the homemakers’ schedules and now because she can use the database she goes out on site visits more frequently and gets to meet with the homemakers at the clients homes and gets to have conversations right there on site. When I started here five years ago the supervisor almost never left her desk. She was doing phone calls with the homemakers, but just didn’t have the time to get out there. Having all the billing and the scheduling in one place was a big time-saver for her and us.”

DARTS has come a long way but their data journey isn’t over. They’re still at work developing new features and improving existing functionality. MACC’s team makes sure they have a living database. Organizations aren’t static – MACC's team makes sure their databases aren’t either.

MACC Means All the Pieces Fit Together

Better Futures had a database that just wasn’t meeting their needs. It was easy to store information in, but getting it back out was another story. They needed an upgrade.

Tiffany Simmons is the Data Analyst at Better Futures. She had a clear picture of what the new system needed to look like – but she needed help figuring out how to fit everything together.

Better Futures Minnesota engages men who have had a history of incarceration, homelessness, poverty, and untreated mental and physical health challenges to help them achieve self-sufficiency and a better future for themselves and their communities.

MACC’s Client Data team helped Better Futures break things down step by step, pulling out all the critical details, and helping them decide where everything fit as they built the new database.

Implementing something new always comes with some stress. And maybe there’s a just a little added stress when you’re the leading the project AND you’re about to go on maternity leave! Fortunately MACC’s team has handled implementations of all kinds, for all kinds of organizations. They can handle just about anything!

“It was great having them on board to kind of help with the nervousness or the uncertainty. It was kind of nice to have a team so you know it’s not just on one person but you have a team of MACC staff coming over as well to help out. I really was able to get a lot done and I could reach out to them and call them at any point and they were really helpful, really able to help whenever, it was a great fit.”

With MACC’s support Better Futures was able to ‘go live’ with their database - and Tiffany welcomed an adorable baby girl to her family!

Coming on board with MACC’s shared Client Data service was definitely the upgrade Better Futures needed.

“It has been a great transition for us, it has helped us tremendously with tracking data that we didn’t track before and it has eliminated a lot of our spreadsheets and excel data sheets that we were using before so you can see a great impact of what it has done so far. Before you probably had to run three or four reports for one of the reports I run now. There were times where some reports would take 20 minutes for me to gather the information, so the new system has just made analyzing the data a lot more accurate and efficient.”

The partnership with MACC doesn’t end with the database. As part of MACC’s collaboration-based model database administrators – like Tiffany – have the opportunity to connect with and learn from each other. For Tiffany it’s an opportunity to continually build her skills so she can help Better Futures tell their story through accurate and impactful data.