Collaboration is what we’re about; it’s not just a word
From Judy Lind, Kukui Center
Collaboration and cooperation; avoiding duplication and maximizing scarce resources; innovation and creativity – these are nice concepts which often surface as the lofty goals of grant applications and new projects. We used them ourselves in describing the Kukui Children Foundation’s vision of how the Kukui Center would operate. Fortunately, many people were willing to share the vision and the community responded with overwhelming support which enabled us to open in 2009.
Today, the Consuelo Foundation, Family Promise of Hawaii, Hale Kipa, Hawaii Foster Youth Coalition, Hawaii Immigrant Justice Center, Kids Hurt Too, Joyful Heart Foundation, Learning Disabilities Association of Hawaii, Maximum Legal Services Corporation and Mediation Center of the Pacific are all located at the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Kukui Center, 245 North Kukui St., Honolulu.
There are many ways and levels in which we collaborate and cooperate in the Kukui Center. Some are the obvious things we hoped would happen when we co-located eight social service agencies that serve children and families. Clients who come to the Kukui Center now have a variety of services available under one roof, greatly expediting their access to different types of help. Some were less obvious but just as valuable: sharing space, interns, staff, equipment, workshops and trainings.
Our Community Partners Program brings collaboration to a new level. It grew out of the joint need to get resources and volunteers for all of our programs without duplicating effort. This was accomplished by networking the community contacts of all of the board members of our programs. It was a new, unprecedented and exciting type of collaboration.
Funded by Macy’s, Friends of Hawaii Charities and the Makana O Maui Fund of the Hawaii Community Foundation, one person coordinates this program. It is an efficient way to respond to the community’s interest and willingness to help while better matching the needs of eight programs and their clients to the interests and capabilities of volunteers and donors.
Our recent Community Partner Appreciation event brought together supporting businesses and service groups and the executive directors of our programs who offered their thanks. This was accomplished through the generosity of our partner Brasserie du Vin, a Chinatown neighbor which uses its marketing budget to support nonprofits in our community.
What’s the next level of collaboration? We recently held a retreat which explored the many new ways we can collaborate. The ideas we brainstormed include: a staff training collaborative using the skills of our partner agencies and those of other community agencies; bulk buying and group purchasing; joint use of an HR firm; a truck for use by all tenants; collaborative fund development; a collaborative social media and marketing campaign to complement our website; and a speakers bureau.
In the two short years we have been open, the Kukui Center has demonstrated that collaboration is not just a word. To learn more about us, visit our website at http://www.kukuicenter.org.
