Non-Profit Incubator

Incubator participants presented their five-year business plans at a March 22 meeting. Participants include, from left: Frank Dominick, Executive Director, Outreach, Inc., Birmingham; Jon Dow, Executive Director, West Anniston Community Development Corporation; Mary Elizabeth May, Housing Director, Cornerstone Housing (a division of Aletheia House), Birmingham; Louis Barnett, Executive Director, Westside Community Development Corporation, Tuscaloosa.

 The Housing Fund of Central Alabama opened an incubator in November 2005 for non-profit affordable housing developers.

The incubator is a two-year program that includes five participants from throughout the Fund’s 12-county service area.  More than 30 classes in areas such as governance, agency management, resource development and housing development will be offered. The Fund is partnering with a national organization, the Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC), and the Nonprofit Resource Center of Alabama (NRCA) on curriculum development.o
        
Participants selected for the first program include:
• Aletheia House: Chris Retan, Executive Director, Birmingham;
• Outreach, Inc.: Frank Dominick, Executive Director, Birmingham;
• West Anniston Community Development Corporation: Jonathan Dow, Executive Director, Anniston;
• Westside Community Development Corporation: Louis Barnett, Executive Director, Tuscaloosa.

“A program to help develop strong non-profits that can significantly increase the production of safe, decent, quality housing for people of modest means is long overdue,” said Lois Chenier, the Grants Officer who oversees the incubator. “The Fund and its investors are pleased to be able to offer these non-profits a curriculum to develop the skills necessary to increase productivity, become stronger leaders in their communities and be self-sustaining.”

The incubator’s main objective is to develop the skill sets needed by participants to increase capacity and production in the neighborhoods in which they’re working.  Other objectives are to enable non-profits that already have demonstrated a commitment to comprehensive community development to further advance and develop public and private partnerships, economic development and civic engagement. In addition, the incubator will: 1) Develop leadership at management and staff levels; 2) Develop accountable and effective boards of directors; 3) Improve business systems, including accounting, human resources, information systems and project management; 4) Improve capability for rapid, successful completion of projects; 5) Provide professional development opportunities for staff that will enhance key skills and reduce staff turnover, ineffectiveness and inefficiency.

Organizers held a meeting in April 2005 with various members of the regional affordable housing development community to determine how best the non-profit incubator could address capacity and other needs. The incubator also is being overseen by members of the Capacity Building Advisory Committee (CBAC), which serves as an Advisory Board to the Fund.

Major investors in the Housing Fund and its  incubator are: AmSouth Bank, Regions Bank, Compass Bank, New South Federal Savings Bank, First American Bank, Superior Bank, Aliant Bank, The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, the Stringfellow Health Fund of  the Community Foundation of Calhoun County, the Walker Area Community Foundation, the Wachovia Foundation, the Alabama Power Foundation, and State Farm Insurance Companies®.

The cost of the two-year incubator program is more than $200,000.

Strong, viable and productive non-profits that focus on community development are the cornerstones of strong communities. Thus, the Fund has partnered with LISC, through its Organizational Development Initiative (ODI), to conduct organizational assessments (CapMap®), provide Business Plan and Real Estate Development coursework for incubator participants. Maria Gutierrez, LISC Vice President for Organizational Development, is overseeing CapMap® activities. Nationally known Real Estate Development consultant Bob Santucci is working with participants to develop business plans.
 
The Board-ratified contract for incubator participants mandates a 15% annual increase in housing production over the two-year term of the program. That requirement is the ultimate measure of the incubator’s success.

The Fund is the non-profit affiliate of the Housing Enterprise of Central Alabama, a community development lender based in Birmingham. The mission of both HECA and the Fund is to support and help substantially increase the supply of quality housing choices for people of modest means in Central Alabama.

Interested non-profits must apply and be accepted into the program. For more information, please contact Lois Chenier, Grants Officer, at 205-323-9888; or lchenier@housingenterprise.com.