Steel Smiling and Neighborhood Allies collaboratively envisioned and operationalized the Organization-in-Residence model with the specific intention of elevating local, Black-led nonprofits by strategically interrupting inequitable patterns of resource distribution in the sector. The model has many parallels to business incubators in the for-profit space. The concept centers on the acknowledgement that smaller, aspiring nonprofit organizations often require space to iterate and innovate as they discover their own trajectories. These budding organizations also deserve to grow intentionally and receive guidance from a trusted partner or mentoring entity, instead of being pushed and pulled alone at the intersection of so many systems. The mentoring entity has more history in the local Community Development system and as such, ample “lessons learned” to be shared with other organizations. They also possess a robust network of human, social, and financial capital that can be leveraged for the growth of the smaller entity.

“Too often, the expectations and goals of nonprofits do not align with the complete investment it truly takes to make those goals and expectations a reality. We have created an investable model that allows nonprofits to think, operate and perform like their for profit counterparts. The OIR Model affords Steel Smiling access to our complete organizational infrastructure including, accounting and revenue strategy development, communications, human resources and more.”

– Presley Gillespie, President and CEO at Neighborhood Allies