Cleveland Community Wealth Collaborative

Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach them to sell fish and you sustain them for a lifetime.

This twist on an old saying is the best way to explain a Cleveland Foundation-led program called the Cleveland Community Wealth Collaborative.

The collaborative teaches area nonprofit organizations that instead of relying solely on philanthropy to provide the money they need to accomplish their missions, they can generate a sustainable, reliable revenue stream to do the same.

How? By turning overlooked assets into the basis of a moneymaking spin-off business. For instance, a child-care center with an underused kitchen might start a catering business in that space to deliver meals to other day cares.

This approach – creating “community wealth” through profitable enterprise to promote social change -- is called social enterprise, and it is at least as old as Goodwill stores and Girl Scout cookies. But with philanthropic resources stretching more thinly than ever, the nonprofit world has begun bursting with entrepreneurial spirit to fill the gaps.

Early in his tenure as Cleveland Foundation president, Ronn Richard bought into the idea of creating a formal, long-term structure to promote social enterprise here. The foundation hired a consulting firm called Community Wealth Ventures – itself a social enterprise spin-off – to work intensely with select nonprofits on asset-exploiting opportunities, business planning and raising capital. The Cleveland Foundation is connecting the nonprofit entrepreneurs with business-community mentors and helping set up an alumni advisory group.

Some promising-looking spin-offs are emerging, says Amy Celep of Community Wealth Ventures. Among the stars is the Cuyahoga Valley National Park Association's business, Extraordinary Spaces. Its business plan of renting out underused park facilities for corporate events, weddings and parties raises money for the association and furthers its mission of increasing the number of park visitors.

“The goal,” Celep said, “is to change the way nonprofits sustain themselves.”

Another successful endeavor has been International Partners in Mission (IPM), which describes itself as working “across borders of faith and culture on behalf of children, women and youth to create partnerships that build justice, peace, and hope.” Around the world, IPM helps individuals and their communities implement programs to improve standards of living and address social injustice

The Cleveland Community Wealth Collaborative worked with IPM over a 10-month period to develop a solid business plan for its popular Immersion Experience Program, in which U.S. citizens learn firsthand about the realities of global poverty and social injustice by spending time in various countries.

Working through International Partners in Mission – a client of the Cleveland Community Wealth Collaborative – college student Jamie Curley spends time with a Kenyan child. The Cleveland Foundation created the Wealth Collaborative to promote social enterprise among Cleveland organizations.