It is the mission of The Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee to connect generosity with need through a variety of charitable funds supporting issues and nonprofit organizations across Middle Tennessee. For example, The Fund for Strategic Opportunities, established by The United Way of Metropolitan Nashville 10 years ago, serves to help nonprofits work together to increase efficiency and maximize outcome. In these tough times, it is the goal of The Community Foundation to help preserve the vital services nonprofits provide to our community. Through the Fund, nonprofits are encouraged to transform their organizations to maximize services to clients while minimizing overhead. As nonprofits look to the future of the work they do and move beyond “business as usual,” The Community Foundation is working with United Way of Metropolitan Nashville and area donors to encourage transformations that can help sustain and improve the delivery of services in this challenging economic environment. How does it work? The Fund for Strategic Opportunities offers one-time funding to support not only collaborations and mergers, but also “right-sizing” efforts to generate new revenue sources, outsourcing, and even shutting down. Nonprofits submit proposals to The Community Foundation, and a committee of community leaders invested in the nonprofit sector makes decisions about funding. The Community Foundation works to facilitate conversations and look for the best opportunities to invest in partnerships between local nonprofit organizations.
