Why Sacramento’s Community Organizations Must Collaborate Instead of Fighting Over Limited Dollars
When I first started Life House Reentry, I did what I thought any responsible person entering community work should do: I called organizations that had already been doing the work.
I wasn’t asking anybody to give me their funding. I wasn’t asking them to hand over their contracts. I called looking for advice, resources, referrals and information that could help us avoid unnecessary mistakes as we built a transitional housing and reentry program.
One conversation has stayed with me.
I asked a local nonprofit leader if they would be willing to help us understand the landscape and point us in the right direction.
Their response was essentially, “Why would I help you? You’re my competition. If I help you, I could go out of business.”
I remember thinking: I thought we were trying to uplift the community.
I said something along those lines.
The response I received was that there simply wasn’t enough money to go around.
Then the call ended.
That experience taught me something about the nonprofit sector that I wasn’t prepared for.
Organizations created to address homelessness, incarceration, poverty, substance use, mental health challenges and other community problems can sometimes become so focused on organizational survival that we start viewing the organization next door as the enemy.
I believe that is backwards.
Our competition is not another nonprofit.
Our competition is homelessness.
Our competition is recidivism.
Our competition is substance use disorder.
Our competition is unemployment.
Our competition is families being separated.
Our competition is someone leaving incarceration with nowhere to sleep, no job, no transportation and no idea where to begin rebuilding their life.
If another organization can help solve those problems, I need them to succeed.
A Different Phone Call
About a year after that first conversation, someone called me.
She was starting a transitional housing program and had many of the same questions I had when Life House was getting started.
By then, I had learned some difficult lessons.
We had made mistakes. Some cost us money. Some cost us time. Some could have shut us down.
So I spent about 45 minutes on the phone with her.
I told her what I had learned. I told her what I would do differently. I warned her about mistakes she didn’t need to repeat. I shared resources and gave her as much information as I could.
Eventually she asked me why I was being so helpful when she had struggled to even get other organizations to return her calls.
My answer was simple:
“Because you are not my competition.”
If her organization successfully houses 20 people, Life House does not lose.
Twenty more people have housing.
If another organization helps someone overcome addiction, they haven’t taken a client from me.
Someone’s child, father, mother, brother or sister has another chance at life.
That is the scoreboard that matters.
Partnership Creates Real Wraparound Services
We use the phrase “wraparound services” frequently in community work.
But true wraparound services cannot exist inside a silo.
One organization may provide housing but not behavioral health treatment.
Another may have employment resources but struggle with outreach.
Another may have funding available but lack trusted relationships in the neighborhoods it is trying to serve.
Another may specialize in legal support, transportation, financial education, family reunification, healthcare navigation or substance use treatment.
No single community-based organization needs to become all of those things.
The network can be all of those things.
That is what partnership makes possible.
If I know what you do well, you know what I do well, and we trust each other enough to make a phone call, share a referral and stay involved until the person actually receives the service, we have created something much more powerful than either organization could have built independently.
We have created an integrated system of care.
And that is what our communities actually need.
Introducing the Results Table
That philosophy is one reason we are building a Sacramento coalition called Results Table.
The name is intentional.
We have enough tables.
We have enough meetings.
We have enough committees.
What we need are results.
Results Table is being built around community action, collaboration and efficacy.
We want community-based organizations, nonprofits, businesses, government partners, service providers and community leaders who are serious about getting things done.
I don’t want people attending another meeting simply so everyone can leave feeling like something happened.
If we meet for an hour, something should be different because we met.
A referral should be made.
A barrier should be removed.
A resource should be identified.
A partnership should be created.
A family should get closer to housing.
Someone should get closer to employment.
Funding should move toward a solution.
An organization that is struggling should leave with more capacity than it had when it walked in.
That is what Results Table is about.
Stop Fighting Over the Same Dollar
There is another uncomfortable conversation the nonprofit sector needs to have.
Government and philanthropic dollars are limited.
That is true.
But limited resources are actually an argument for greater collaboration, not greater competition.
When resources are scarce, duplication becomes even more expensive.
Imagine five small organizations separately paying for office space, administrative staff, software, outreach systems, consultants and infrastructure when portions of those resources could be shared.
Imagine instead a community hub where several organizations operate together.
One organization may have strong administrative infrastructure.
Another may have deep community relationships.
Another may have a fiscal sponsor.
Another may have clinical services.
Another may have employment opportunities.
Another may have funding but difficulty reaching the population it is funded to serve.
Put those organizations at the same table and suddenly everyone’s capacity expands.
No organization has to possess every resource if the network possesses every resource.
We should be asking a different question.
Not:
“How much of this funding can my organization get?”
But:
“How much impact can our community create with the resources available to all of us?”
We Need Business Discipline — Without Losing Our Humanity
I believe the nonprofit world can learn a great deal from the private sector.
We need efficiency.
We need accountability.
We need better technology.
We need clear performance indicators.
We need organizations that understand their numbers.
We need deadlines.
We need urgency.
We need to know whether programs actually work.
There is nothing wrong with bringing a strong business mindset into community work.
The problem occurs when the people we serve become units of production.
When a client becomes a checkbox, we have lost the purpose of the work.
One of our community partners shared a story with me about someone who was waiting for an important housing-related communication.
The organization called the person.
Their voicemail was full.
And that could have been the end of it.
The box could technically be checked:
Called client.
But imagine if that were your mother.
Your son.
Your sister.
Your father.
Would you stop because the voicemail was full?
Or would you text?
Would you email?
Would you contact the emergency contact?
Would you call the referring organization?
Would you try again?
That distinction matters.
There is a major difference between being able to say:
“I completed my task.”
and being able to say:
“The person got what they needed.”
One measures activity.
The other measures outcomes.
Compassion Is Not the Opposite of Efficiency
Sometimes compassion is treated as something soft — something separate from serious operations and measurable results.
I disagree.
Compassion can make organizations more effective.
Compassion causes you to make the second phone call.
It causes you to ask why somebody missed an appointment before simply closing their case.
It causes you to understand that a person experiencing homelessness may not have a charged phone, transportation or a calendar reminding them of their 10:30 appointment.
Compassion provides context.
And context helps us design better systems.
The people walking through our doors are not case numbers.
They are someone’s child.
Someone’s parent.
Someone’s brother.
Someone’s sister.
Someone’s friend.
And sometimes they are experiencing the worst period of their life.
When we have an opportunity to help someone rebuild, find housing, reconnect with their family, overcome substance use, find employment or simply believe that their life can be different, that opportunity is bigger than a reimbursement rate.
I consider the people who genuinely do that work heroes.
But when you strip away the title and the recognition, I think it comes down to something even simpler.
It is what human beings are supposed to do for one another.
The Table Is Open
Life House Reentry does not want to become the organization that owns every solution.
We want to be part of a community capable of solving problems together.
That is the vision behind Results Table.
We are looking for CBOs and community partners who are serious about collaboration, accountability and action.
Organizations willing to share what they know.
Organizations willing to make referrals in both directions.
Organizations willing to admit what they don’t do well and partner with someone who does.
Organizations willing to measure whether people’s lives actually improve.
Organizations willing to build together rather than protect territory.
Because at the end of the day, none of us should be trying to win the nonprofit competition.
We should be trying to make the problems we were created to solve lose.
If homelessness decreases, we win.
If recidivism decreases, we win.
If fewer people struggle with untreated substance use disorders, we win.
If fathers and mothers come home and successfully rebuild their families, we win.
If people leaving incarceration have a real pathway to housing, employment, stability and dignity, we win.
And if another organization helped make that happen, they didn’t take something away from Life House.
They helped us accomplish the mission.
That is the kind of community we want to build. I may be the voice of reason but these words are collective and represent the minds that have set the table.
And there is a seat at the Results Table for organizations ready to build it with us.
Julius Jackson – CEO, Life House Reentry
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