Nonprofits need to BTMFBA too

This isn't news.  Nonprofits, artists (Sharon Zukin, Loft Living, 1982), gays ("The 'gaytrification' effect: why gay neighbourhoods are being priced out," Guardian), churches ("Churchly blight," 2007), etc. held property because the areas weren't in high demand.  

When conditions, attitudes, and popularity changed--in particular wrt urban settings and urban living--the neighborhoods moved from being weak markets to strong markets, and only the people and organizations with the most money are able to compete.

The BTMFBA thesis--Buy the * * Building Already--makes the point that to be able to retain presence in the face of market pressures, you need to own the building.

-- "BTMFBA: the best way to ward off artist or retail displacement is to buy the building," 2016

My original piece, "Arts, Culture Districts, and Revitalization" (2009), made the point that artistic disciplines and organizations needed discipline-specific culture plans with a focus on facilities, because without facilities there is no arts district or space for artists and organizations.

The original piece didn't outline a mechanism--now I think it should be arts-focused community development corporations, operating at a city or county wide scale ("Reprinting with a slight update, "Arts, culture districts and revitalization"," 2018).

But it's about nonprofit uses of all types, not just the arts, which I do write about from time to time ("BTMFBA revisited: nonprofits and facilities planning and acquisition," 2016).

The Washington Post has an article, "A food pantry’s closure means more than lost meals for hundreds of families," about a food bank shutting down in Nashville, a particularly strong real estate market of late, because it lost its lease.

All nonprofits should have a real estate/facilities plan as part of strategic planning.

This is especially true for nonprofits operating in strong real estate markets.

From the article:

"Right now I’d say nonprofits are facing a confluence of crises,” said Tim Delaney, the president and CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits. “We’re out here fighting, trying to find some balance with increasing demand, rising costs, and declining donations — holy cow! It’s too much for a system to bear.” 

The Little Pantry met the increased demand, but it also had to deal with increased costs, on everything from food prices to rent and real estate. Downey realized her organization would be forced to close its doors late last year after failing to find an affordable new location in one of the nation’s hottest real estate markets. According to experts, the same pressures could soon shutter nonprofits everywhere, underscoring the shaky state of so much of the country’s charitable community. Free health clinics, child care organizations, prison reentry programs, domestic violence shelters — all could collapse under the same financial weight that brought down the Little Pantry. 

“All these things threaten the ability of nonprofits to serve people in their local communities,” Delaney said. “Policymakers at all levels of government are just assuming nonprofits make it work, but we can’t. God Almighty, we try, but at a certain point, the laws of economics take over.”  ...

Downey began renting her current building five years ago. It was a crumbling former school building owned by a church. The Little Pantry agreed to undertake repairs and renovations and put around $300,000 into the property. 

But by late 2021, Downey knew the owner would not be renewing the lease, and, despite working with real estate agents and friends, she struggled to find a new location. 

And local community foundations should take the initiative to work with nonprofits on such matters, create a facilities/real estate initiative, etc.

One example, although it works on the national scale, is the Kresge Foundation.  It funds buildings, usually up to half, with a required local match. 

In a recent entry ("Speaking of the need for arts-related CDCs to buy, hold, and operate arts facilities: Seattle and BTMFBA | The Inscape Arts building"), I mentioned how Seattle has created a city department, Cultural Space Agency, to work on this but only for arts groups, but it has minimal funding and expects the profit motivated private sector to take the lead.  From the article:

One building Downey toured — already outside the Little Pantry’s budget — was sold to an outside investment company before she had left the parking lot, Downey said. 

This type of function needs to be extended to nonprofits more generally. 

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I am now on the board of a large public park that is semi-independent of the city or county park system.  There is a master plan, but not really a formal capital planning process, especially one that integrates tightly with city and county funding systems.  One of my major goals is to get a standing committee on capital planning and finance, a capital plan, etc.