Through Washtenaw Coordinated Funders, the Office of Community and Economic Development is supporting a new initiative that will enable nonprofits to connect with talent and receive capacity-building support. “One Michigan” is a statewide effort that launched on February 10th and expands Catchafire’s services to be available to 590 nonprofits throughout the state. Other funders include the Michigan Health Endowment Fund – who helped Catchafire take their first step to expand services across Michigan in 2019 when they provided over 2,250 hours of capacity building assistance to approximately 100 nonprofits – and the Ann Area Arbor Community Foundation. As part of One Michigan, nonprofits will have access to Catchafire’s online platform that can connect them with a network of pro bono consultants from across the country in order to help quickly build more sustainable organizations.
Washtenaw Coordinated Funders, a partnership between Washtenaw County and other local grantmakers like the United Way of Washtenaw County, is currently supporting more than 50 social service programs to improve our community’s response to issues such as early childhood development, homelessness, and more. Bridget Healy, Vice President of Impact & Advocacy at the United Way of Washtenaw County spoke about the decision to join others in supporting the One Michigan initiative, “The Washtenaw Coordinated Funders believe that a strong nonprofit sector is essential to sustaining our community’s quality of life. Cost and access are two things that can get in the way of nonprofits pursuing important organizational work. It’s for this reason we are investing in Catchafire, an easy, online platform that pairs nonprofit projects with skilled volunteers to build organizational capacity.”