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Government
Foundations
Philanthropy Resources
Helpful Information:

Nonprofit Space Capital Fund
The Nonprofit Space Capital Fund (NSCF) is a grant program of the Northern California Community Loan Fund. The program is designed to help nonprofit agencies acquire and improve permanently affordable office and/or program space. The NSCF operates two grant programs:

The Performing Arts Program provides extensive technical assistance and grants to performing arts organizations that are looking to acquire and/or renovate mid-size, live performing arts facilities. The program operates in the 9-county Bay Area and in Monterey and Santa Cruz counties. The current round of funding is made possible by a grant from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. To learn whether your organization is eligible for a grant through our Performing Arts Program, please download the newly revised Grant Guidelines. If your organization is eligible, you should submit a LOI. After reviewing the LOI, our staff will work closely with you and may ask you to submit a full grant application package. Please note that NCCLF is not currently accepting LOI’s for its Performing Arts Program. Please check back for future LOI submission deadlines.

The San Francisco/Alameda County Program provides extensive technical assistance, as well as planning and capital grants to San Francisco and Alameda County-based nonprofits seeking to establish new permanently affordable nonprofit office space through capital improvement projects or the acquisition of real estate. The Fund provides a portion of the equity needed for such projects. However, applicants are expected to significantly leverage these grant funds with other resources. In evaluating the grant applications, preference is given to projects providing co-location opportunities to other nonprofits serving the community. . To learn whether your organization is eligible for a grant through our San Francisco/Alameda County Program, please download the Grant Guidelines and Letter of Inquiry ("LOI") form. If your organization is eligible, you should submit a LOI. After reviewing the LOI, our staff will work closely with you and may ask you to submit a full grant application package. NCCLF is not currently accepting LOI’s for its San Francisco/Alameda County Program. Please check back for future LOI submission deadlines.
In 2002, NCCLF created the Nonprofit Space Capital Fund (NSCF) with grants from the city and county of San Francisco, The Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund, Northern California Grantmakers, The Partnership for Affordable Nonprofit Space Coalition and The Seligman Family Foundation. Subsequently, NCCLF received grants from The Walter And Elise Haas Fund, The San Francisco Foundation, the CDFI Fund of the United States Department of Treasury and The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation (for the NSCF/Performing Arts Program). These grants were used to match a challenge pledge from The Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund. In addition to grants received for the NSCF, NCCLF has received low-interest financing from Wells Fargo Bank and access to a $4.0 million loan guarantee pool at The San Francisco Foundation. This current round of funding is made possible by a matching grant from The Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund for the contributions which we received from The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.

Technical assistance is available to organizations that are interested in applying to the Nonprofit Space Capital Fund. For more information or assistance please contact Sarah Abbe Taylor, Associate, Consulting and Grant Programs at the Northern California Community Loan Fund 415-392-8215 or by e-mail at spacefund@ncclf.org.

Foundations

East Bay Community Foundation
Fleishhacker Foundation (P.O. Box 29918, San Francisco, CA 94129-0918, 415-561-5350)
Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation
Richard & Rhoda Goldman Fund
Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund
Walter & Elise Haas Fund
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
The James Irvine Foundation
Kresge Foundation
David and Lucille Packard Foundation
San Francisco Foundation
The Charles Schwab Corporate Foundation
Zellerbach Family Fund

Philanthropy Resources

Philanthropy by Design
Chronicle of Philanthropy
The Foundation Center
Philanthropy Center
Council on Foundations
Grantmakers for Effective Organizations
Grantmakers in the Arts

Mortgage Calculators

Links to mortgage calculators updated with daily rates:

Borrowing Money is Not Fundraising *

Receiving a loan is different than getting a grant. Loans must be repaid. Often, the source of repayment is contributions received in the future. This is especially true with borrowing to complete a project, where the source of repayment is pledges to be received during the final stages of a capital campaign. Borrowing, therefore, accelerates the ability of an orgaization to use future income. For example, if a capital project requires $1 million in funds, and the organization has raised $800,000 to date, borrowing $200,000 will not eliminate the need to raise that remaining $200,000; it will only ensure that the money is available at the time it is needed.

A lender receives interest (a form of rent) on the money lent. Out of this must come any provisions for loan losses. For this reason, loans are only made to organizations that can convince the lenders that the probability of prepayment is very high - over 95% - lest the lender suffers a loss on the transaction.

Financing facilities, which are long-term assets, with short-term debt, that must be repaid in a year or two, can be a big cash drain. It is best to match the term of the financing to the life of the asset being financed, i.e., long-term debt for long-term assets.

Approaching A Lender *

What You Are Trying to Show:

You are in financial control
Your organization is financially healthy
You can comfortably handle the necessary loan payments

Materials to Have and Understand Before Approaching a Lender:

Ceritifed audits for the last three years
Preliminary financials for the most recently completed year, if the audit is not yet available
Budget for the current year
Project budget and cash flow
Post-project "Pro Forma"

What NOT to do:

Say you are going to dedicate an existing stream of revenue for loan repayment (you've already spent the money)
Borrow less than you really need (you won't be able to finish the project)
Borrow more than you can really handle (your program will suffer)

Additional Resources
Low Interest Loans: California Communities
California Communities administers the State's Industrial Development Bond program to finance non-profit facilities projects with bond funds at 2% below prime rate. Each project must provide a significant public benefit to the local community. Financing has been provided for health centers, museums, research institutes, social services and community centers.

Northern California Community Loan Fund (NCCLF)
NCCLF is a non-profit lender dedicated to strengthening the economic base of low income and minority communities. As a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), NCCLF lends to non-profit organizations which serve these communities that have limited access to financing from traditional lenders. NCCLF believes in a personal, flexible approach to lending and a hands-on partnership with each borrower.

Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF)
The Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF) provides a range of financial tools and advice to help nonprofit organizations nationwide to grow and thrive as businesses while honoring their mission. NFF has served the San Francisco Bay Area nonprofit arts and culture community since 1994, providing loans, workshops, and planning assistance. To date, NFF has served more than 1,000 Bay Area organizations, and has made more than $3 million in loans to help such nonprofits as Zeum, Headlands Center for the Arts, and the Bay Area Video Coalition to plan and undertake their facilities and other growth-related projects.

Arts Loan Fund of Northern California Grantmakers
The Arts Loan Fund, ALF, helps agencies manage their cash flow needs, and is not designed to replace contributed income. While large non-profit institutions and businesses can use commercial lenders, community arts groups generally cannot draw upon those resources. The ALF attempts to fill this gap and to provide a useful financial tool for small- and mid-sized arts groups (annual budget usually less than $1 million).

Grants for the Arts
Mayor's Office of Community Development
San Francisco Board of Supervisors
California Arts Council
National Endowment for the Arts
San Francisco Art Commission