BBJToday The Bellingham Business Journal
THE BALANCING ACT
CITY FEES SEEN as barrier to downtown growth
Sustaining jobs, mission fulfillment a challenge for today’s nonprofit sector By EVAN MARCZYNSKI evan@bbjtoday
T
hrough a two-way mirror, Byron Manering sees into a room that is an epitome of childhood. A kid-sized table sits in the center of the small, brightly colored space. Painted flowers leap across the carpet and onto the walls. From Manering’s position on the other side of the mirror, counselors use electronic microphones and headsets to “coach” parents during one-on-one interactions with their children. It’s difficult to convince parents to let someone talk them through playtime step-by-step, Manering said, but a greater challenge for those who work at Brigid Collins is accepting they can only go so far to address the problems they’re determined to solve – problems with roots tugging at deeper societal plights. “All we have is influence,” said Manering, executive director of the nonprofit Brigid Collins Family Support Center. “Our biggest challenge is to be a strong influence.” Roughly one-tenth of the American workforce is employed in the nonprofit sector, according to the Urban Institute, a Washington D.C.-based research center. The directors who oversee the sector face an array of challenges, some similar to the struggles faced by their counterparts in for-profit companies, but others unique to the nonprofit world. Managing a nonprofit organization involves constant attention on raising money while at the same time ensuring the fulfillment a public-service mission. When the economy struggles, that balancing act becomes more difficult.
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Critics say Bellingham business owners are stifled as they try to expand or move By EVAN MARCZYNSKI evan@bbjtoday
Money not the only cure
Brigid Collins’ executive director Byron Manering stands in a parent-child counseling room at the nonprofit’s Bellingham office. (Right) A paper butterfly hangs in a children’s playroom. EVAN MARCZYNSKI PHOTOS
Mauri Ingram, president and CEO of the Whatcom Community Foundation, a grant-funding organization that acts as a hub for Whatcom County’s nonprofit network, said the recession has brought an increased demand for local nonprofit services. The rising need has been coupled with a drop in nonprofit funding from cash-strapped state
and federal governments, leading many organizations to restructure, she said. “The recession has meant for a number of organizations that they’ve had to genuinely re-think their business model,” Ingram said. “For a lot of them, if they did not have any donor base, they’ve really had to start from scratch.”
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Brigid Collins, founded in 1990, uses family-centered, evidencebased therapy practices to work toward its mission of ending child abuse in all its forms. For such delicate work, a major expense for the nonprofit is providing training for its employees, Manering said. But when it comes to raising funds, Manering said simply finding donors willing to write checks is half the process. To make a lasting impact, Manering has begun focusing on getting community members personally invested in the organization. That way donors are not just money founts, they are active supporters who can provide experience and resources to aid the organization’s
As the downtown Bellingham planning revision starts to take shape, talks over how to encourage new development in the district have dredged up old arguments. Regulatory fees charged by city officials for downtown business owners who move, open new stores, construct or remodel buildings were identified as key barriers to growth in a 2011 survey conducted by the city along with community partnerships and nonprofit groups. Local developers say the city’s fees are a burden to economic redevelopment. “These fees are contrary to small entrepreneurs opening up their businesses,” said Jim Bjerke,
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