ACCESS TO BROADBAND
This collaborative is centered around coordination and solutions to providing “access” to “hard to connect communities” in New Mexico. We know that COVID 19 disproportionately affected Native and rural communities in New Mexico. In particular, broadband is essential for access to healthcare, education and employment. The Collaborative currently has a steering committee of 15 with over 8 funders on board. Here is a short list of objectives of the Broadband Collaborative:
- Coordination and Information Hub
- Supporting regional Broadband Efforts
- Developing cadre of grantwriters
- Supporting digital literacy
- Broadband Advocacy
CENSUS FUNDERS COLLABORATIVE
The Census Funders Collaborative is centered around ensuring that all New Mexicans were counted in the 2020 census. The collaborative was committed to ensuring all “hard to count communities” in New Mexico were counted. Although the collaborative is winding down, it was a successful collaborative for the state. Here are some of its accomplishments:
- Tremendous success
- Raised over 1.2 million; Leveraged millions state and federal dollars
- 19 foundations / funders from New Mexico
- 5 national funders
- NMAG’s backbone support was funded by multiple foundations
ZONE GRANT COLLABORATIVES
The New Mexico Collaborative Zone Grant (“Zone Grant”) is co-designed as a multi-sector platform to test, prove, and propagate collaborative approaches to social challenges in New Mexico. As these challenges are beyond the scope of any single organization or foundation, this project is developing into success collaboratively, creating new community-based approaches to solving New Mexico’s greatest challenges.
The Zone Grant opportunity includes awarding of a one-year planning grant followed by the potential for two years of implementation funding. Zone Grants support alignment, collaboration, and integration in the New Mexico nonprofit sector by providing funding and technical support to groups of organizations seeking to truly test the effectiveness of their collaboration.
A “Zone” can be thought of as a distinct area of alignment among the collaborating organizations. It can be a geographic (e.g., the South Valley in Bernalillo County or rural southeast New Mexico), programmatic, and/or policy (e.g., early childhood education or family economic security) zone. Cohorts are determined through a “framing question” based RFP process.
Current Cohort:
The Zone Grant received 62 applicants during an open call RFP in fall of 2018. Since January 2019, funders have awarded one-year planning grants to over 14 collaboratives (comprised of more than 75 organizations), dedicated to one of five areas: affordable housing, agriculture, energy transition, direct service to policy change and family asset building. A total of 8 multiyear implementation grants were awarded in the fall of 2019. Participating funders have collectively committed over $1.5 million in grant dollars for zone grant opportunities.
The 8 current implementation grant lead organizations are:
- HomeWise/Santa Fe Housing Action Coalition
- Chainbreakers Collective
- New Mexico Immigrant Law Center/Color Theory
- Keshet
- Prosperity Works
- Agriculture Implementation, Research and Education (AIRE)
- Cruces Creatives
- Quivira Coalition
Benefits for participating funders:
- Flexible modes and levels of participation
- Leverage in scale and scope of funding for larger impact through co-investment
- Designed for co-learning across grantee groups and between funders and grantees
- Space to have “uncomfortable” conversations on competitive and power dynamics
- Help reduce programmatic funding and collaboration silos and facilitate intersectional, systemic solutions
- Enable blended/integrated capital over time (grants, technical assistance, impact investing, etc.)