LETTER FROM LEADERSHIP

In 2023, Michigan Community Resources celebrated our 25th year of working to transform the nonprofit sector. From our roots as Community Legal Resources connecting nonprofits to pro bono legal services, we have always sought to bridge the gap between community organizations and resources that allow them to pursue their missions.

Our evolution over 25 years has never taken us away from this: our commitment to creating equitable access and shifting norms to deepen the impact of these organizations has remained consistent, even as our programs have shifted in response to evolving community needs.

The work looks different now than it did in 1998, or 2005, or 2019. Sector norms and ecosystems shift. Some of those changes happen to us and we, together, do our best to listen and respond to what our clients tell us they need. Some of those changes are the result of tireless work put in by MCR and our allies in the sector – in the struggle for equity, every so often we can make dramatic, intentional steps forward.

In reflecting on MCR's 25 years of history, I am struck by the ways MCR’s work has impacted our sector and shaped the ecosystem as it exists today. To honor the milestone year and celebrate the path we’ve walked to get to where we are now, here are five ways we have changed the game.

With continued gratitude,

WAYS WE'VE CHANGED THE GAME
#1: ACCESS TO CRITICAL LEGAL SERVICES

Our legal work is where it all began.

In 1998, Michigan Community Resources was founded as Community Legal Resources, with the mission of pairing community organizations with pro bono attorneys to help nonprofits navigate complex legal barriers. There was no other institution in the state connecting neighborhood organizations to legal support at no cost to the client.

By tapping pro bono networks and forging relationships within Detroit communities, the organization worked to close a sector-wide resource gap that left nonprofits and grassroots organizations unable to thrive.

This is still a unique way MCR continues to change the game for nonprofits today.

Even as Michigan Community Resources evolved after its founding to provide broader support and wraparound services for nonprofits, the legal program remained a pillar of our work.

In 2023, our legal programs continued to serve nonprofit clients, offering one-on-one consultation, access to our referral network of highly respected pro bono attorneys, and an issue-based, virtual legal clinic. We've expanded our legal team, giving us greater internal capacity to meet client needs.

By leveraging the MCR team and our statewide network of pro bono attorneys, we’ve created impact not only for the organizations touched by our programs, but exponentially among the communities each organization impacts.

WAYS WE'VE CHANGED THE GAME
#2: ACTIVE LISTENING

Since our founding, Michigan Community Resources has set itself apart in its ability to maintain proximity and respond to the needs of our clients and to trends facing local nonprofits.

By keeping in close contact with organizations we serve, we are able to listen to the everyday realities of community work and thoughtfully mold our programming to better support emerging needs.

Our practice of maintaining close relationships in community means we stand alongside those most aware of the needs of their communities; these individuals and communities are often the ones most impacted by decisions made by philanthropy, municipal leaders, and nonprofit intermediaries about where to invest their resources. Our nonprofit clients possess a wealth of knowledge from their firsthand experiences, and we continue to do our best work by getting to know them beyond the surface.

After some time operating as Community Legal Resources, it became clear through conversations with community leaders that there were organizational development needs beyond what could be addressed through pro bono legal services. MCR worked alongside sector partners to lead transformative initiatives that changed the game in Detroit, like the Detroit Vacant Property Campaign—which streamlined the city's multi-stakeholder response to widespread vacant property and its impacts on communities, like crime and decreased property values.

We maintain this value of proximity and respect for community leadership today, and are committed to holding this as paramount in our next 25 years of service.

WAYS WE'VE CHANGED THE GAME
#3: CONNECTING ACROSS THE SECTOR

MCR is an intermediary organization, meaning we operate in the intermediate space between direct service organizations and philanthropic leaders and decision-makers equipping nonprofits with resources and influencing the environment in which they operate. We provide services in both directions—through consultation, workshops, and referrals for nonprofits, and also with funders and other nonprofit support organizations, as a trusted thought partner and subject matter expert on equitable and accessible nonprofit support.

Our founding as a legal services intermediary laid the groundwork for the ways we broker resources and relationships today—by working directly with nonprofit and community leaders to understand their needs and leveraging our network to best support their work. By maintaining close, trusted relationships with stakeholders across the sector, from grassroots volunteers and nonprofit leaders to fund managers and policymakers, MCR can advocate for resources and systemic changes needed to respond to urgent and emergent nonprofit and community needs.

WAYS WE'VE CHANGED THE GAME
#4: MOBILIZING RESOURCES

Awareness of resources is one thing, but the ability to access those resources, and the knowledge of how to navigate the processes around that access, is another. Our value add in the granter/grantee relationship is that of an ambassador and facilitator, and our specialization around small and grassroots nonprofits comes from our 25-year history of focusing on the needs of those clients. Our nonprofit clients do their best work when they are focused on programming. Michigan Community Resources enables success by doing the research and providing the guidance around the tools, trainings, and resources that exist in the ecosystem.

Our relationships and connections across the sector inform how we tailor assistance of this kind. With limited capacities, many of our smaller clients simply don't have the time to manage the nuances of grant applications, storytelling, and relationship fostering, and because of this, MCR's allyship extends to technical and application assistance. Our work means funders can know that the initiatives they hope to support will be successful, and that nonprofits can spend less time worrying about applying and reporting, and more time getting their work done.

WAYS WE'VE CHANGED THE GAME
#5: TRANSFORMING SYSTEMS

When we discuss how nonprofit work is funded, the ways community needs are recognized and addressed, and processes for decision-making, we must acknowledge the privileged position Michigan Communtiy Resources holds in the nonprofit ecosystem.

Whether we’re showing up as a member of the community, an intermediary, or a trusted consultant, we operate within existing systems that drive the philanthropic sector and govern the expectations funders and nonprofits have of one another.

When needs aren’t being met and nonprofits continue to struggle to sustain programs and operations despite their tireless work, it is these systems that we must transform to facilitate the important work of leaders across our communities.

Though our work has changed over the years, transforming systems to more equitably equip nonprofits and communities continues to anchor MCR's mission work.