Our Story

Nonprofit Connection (NPC) Santa Cruz County builds and strengthens relationships among local nonprofits, broadening networks of support and community connections.

PARTNERS IN ACTION

O'Neill's Sea Odyssey

Santa Cruz Art League

Santa Cruz Art League images

Watsonville Wetlands Watch

SC Museum of Nat History

Web of Life Field (WOLF)

Santa Cruz Art League images

Digital NEST

Web of Life Field (WOLF)

Partial Regen team at earth day

National guard feeing people

O'Neill's Sea Odyssey

FoodWhat - Spring Field

O'Neill's Sea Odyssey

Partial Regen team at earth day

Senderos dancers at Latino Role Models Cabrillo College Feb2020

Positive Discipline (PD)

Homeless Garden Project’s Sustain Supper. (Shmuel Thaler – Santa Cruz Sentinel)

The Diversity Center (TDC)

Senderos dancers at Latino Role Models Cabrillo College Feb2020

The Diversity Center (TDC)

Tannery World Dance

Senderos dancers at Latino Role Models Cabrillo College Feb2020

Tannery World Dance

Community Foundation Santa Cruz County (CFSCC)

KSQD

FoodWhat

KSQD

DigitalNest

COMMUNICATE · COLLABORATE · CELEBRATE

History

In 2013, the County Office of Education initiated a study of the county’s student support service providers, including nonprofits, to shed light on the quality and variety of services for K-12 students in Santa Cruz County.

The study revealed much more than it set out to achieve. The research found that some services were not being provided as effectively as they could be, because too many nonprofit organizations were duplicating services and competing for the same sources of staffing, funding and volunteers. It also found no current, single, in-depth information source about the county’s vast number of nonprofits and their missions. Importantly, the study found our county lacked a coordinating body to connect and support the more than 500 nonprofits of all sizes and in all sectors, both 501 (c)(3) and fiscally sponsored, operating in Santa Cruz County.

Nonprofit alliances in the adjoining counties of Monterey and Santa Clara Counties were an hour away and specific to the needs of those counties, yet they were the only option for Santa Cruz County nonprofit leaders seeking peer support, collaboration, and new sources of information.

Advisory Group - January 2019

Rose Filicetti, who had conducted the initial research in 2013 at the request of then-County Superintendent Michael Watkins, continued exploring the feasibility of forming some type of nonprofit alliance organization for Santa Cruz County. In 2018, she and several others met with former and current Executive Directors of nonprofit alliances in surrounding counties, including the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits (Santa Clara), Thrive (San Mateo) and Nonprofit Alliance of Monterey County. We wanted to learn how these organizations got their start and what they’d learned that might apply to our county.

In 2019, this small group ultimately grew to a larger Advisory Group of experienced nonprofit leaders, board members, and volunteers, who began meeting monthly. Over the course of a year, they interviewed dozens of Santa Cruz County leaders of nonprofits—all sectors and all sizes—in Santa Cruz County. Our interviews with many of you revealed many common needs and challenges and a generous shared belief that when our individual organizations grow capacity, we strengthen our nonprofit community as a whole. That sparked the design of some kind of common resource platform to address needs and challenges and share ideas for collaborating and supporting each other.

Our thanks to Linda Bixby and Peggy Flynn, nonprofit fundraising professionals, Keisha Browder, then CEO of United Way of Santa Cruz County, Dr. Antonia Franco, President and COO of Digital NEST, Rachel Kippen, then Executive Director of O’Neill Sea Odyssey, and Val Miranda, then Executive Director of the Santa Cruz Arts League. Each brought a unique set of skills and experiences and knowledge of their sectors as well as a shared vision for the County. Most continue as Advisors.

EARLY LAUNCH IN MARCH 2020, AT THE BEGINNING OF THE COVID PANDEMIC

In March of 2020, we launched Nonprofit Connection Santa Cruz County (NPC), months earlier than planned in response to COVID. We couldn’t take time to fine-tune every process or even finish the website. We became a hub for communications, resource-sharing, capacity building, professional development, and peer support.

Members use our website to post job openings, recruit volunteers, and request support for organizational needs. They use our common planning calendar to avoid scheduling conflicts and promote fundraising/other events to the wider community. NPC’s e-newsletters are a digest of nonprofit news, events, jobs, trainings, and other opportunities that reach an increasing number of members, donors, businesses, government/elected officials, volunteers, foundations and other funders, and interested community members throughout the region.

NONPROFIT CONNECTION SANTA CRUZ COUNTY TODAY

Nonprofit Connection Santa Cruz County is now a county-wide, member-supported organization for the benefit of community-serving nonprofits of all sectors and sizes in Santa Cruz County. Our mission is to connect nonprofit people, ideas, and resources to support collaboration, capacity building, and organizational success.

Our Members represent all sectors:

Advocacy and Human Rights
Arts, Culture, and Humanities
Civic Engagement
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Social Justice
Emergency Services & Public Safety
Equitable Economic & Workforce Development
Food & Housing Security
Health and Human Services, from Prenatal to Seniors
Migration & Naturalization Services
Natural Resources, the Environment, and Ecosystems
Recreation and Healthy Lifestyles
Restorative Justice

CURRENT PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES.

In 2021, we created a Donor Circle of individuals who support our commitment to make the benefits of membership in our organization accessible to under-resourced nonprofits of every sector and size in Santa Cruz County and/or to those with under-represented/emerging leaders. NPC’s membership scholarships are available thanks to their generous support.

In 2023, we diversified our revenue by recruiting individual, foundation, and business allies for professional partnerships that build an equitable and thriving community.

In 2024, we built our Programs and Engagement platform to include a continually-growing schedule of enrichment opportunities and professional development trainings for staff and board to support effectiveness, equity, and growth. Nonprofit leaders also meet with our County Supervisors and staff and State and Federal legislators to share top-priority needs, ways to provide support, and peer-collaboration opportunities. Our events promote collaboration and celebrate connection.

What’s next? We have succeeded in our “Proof of Concept” and demonstrated the interests of our nonprofit community with over 120 Members of all-sectors and sizes and more than a dozen business/foundation/government allies. We are developing the next phase in the lifecycle of our organization for continuity/growth. Our Board has established our brand, focused on our program/engagement/impact goals, defined our operations, culture, and governance systems, and diversified our revenue. We are ready to build capacity funding for a shift from all-volunteer to paid staffing and long-term stability. We hope you will join us in that journey!

Donate/Remit

Every dollar we collect helps NPC to connect nonprofit people, ideas, and resources.