NOVEMBER 2017 6 | FRONTDOORSMEDIA .COM This is one of those classic stories in which some people see an empty space and others see an opportunity. A bit over a year ago, a 6,000-square-foot office space went vacant directly next door to the Arizona Community Foundation’s offices at 22nd Street and Camelback. This sort of thing happens every day — companies move into offices, companies move out. ACF’s leadership was kind of excited, though, because things had gotten pretty crowded in their offices and they could use the extra space, so they started looking into how it might be utilized. The immediate thought was that some of the embedded organizations that call ACF home could be shifted over to the new space, in sort of a typical “we’re expanding the office” kind of way. These “embedded” organizations — the Rodel Foundation, the Arizona Foundation for Women, Arizona Grantmakers Forum and Social Venture Partners-Arizona — are their own independent nonprofits, but have partnered with ACF to have it provide office space and additional infrastructure. This helps the organizations reduce overhead costs and allows them to put more resources toward their missions. Somewhere along the line, leaders at Rodel and ACF had an idea. What if we do something more than just shift some offices around? What if, instead, we create a center for collaboration, where nonprofits can work together regardless of their missions to have a bigger overall impact — “a place where ideas are born,” as it now says on the door? And with that, the Bert A. Getz Center for Collaborative Philanthropy came to life. The center, named for groundbreaking Arizona philanthropist and ACF founder Bert Getz, was recently completed and is having an opening celebration in early November. {ahead of the curve} NEXT DOORS Tom Evans | CONTRIBUTING EDITOR SEEING OPPORTUNITY IN EMPTY SPACES

NOVEMBER 2017 FRONTDOORSMEDIA .COM | 7 The four organizations that call the center home all have very distinct missions, without a great deal of overlap. But that doesn’t mean collaboration can’t help all of them. “We all are looking for ways to collaborate and leverage resources so that we can have the greatest impact,” said Laurie Liles, president & CEO of the Arizona Grantmakers Forum. “By co-locating we interact more. By interacting more we start having conversations. And by having conversations we find ways we can collaborate and work together.” The center houses the four embedded nonprofits but is also available as a resource to other nonprofits looking for a place to gather and interact — if you book in advance, because the center is already abuzz with activity. And while Jackie Norton, Rodel’s president & CEO, said the term “collaboration” is sometimes overused, it reflects the new reality that nonprofits are facing. “I think there’s a collective recognition that if you want to teach kids to read or if you want to cure cancer, one person can’t just do it alone,” she said. The concept of housing multiple nonprofits in one place isn’t new — the BHHS Legacy Building in central Phoenix is an example of the concept at work as well. And the Helios Education Foundation just broke Photo: Arizona Community Foundation