A new kind of workplace community has not-for-profits sharing common places, spaces and resources. And they’re gaining a lot more than a healthier bottom line.

Recently, 240 forward-thinking leaders from Ontario’s not-for-profit sector came together at Toronto’s MaRS Centre. They were there to tackle some classic business-type problems with strategies that would strengthen the bottom line and the organizational culture. To take productivity to the next level, they learned, try thinking sideways. Start sharing.

Sponsored by the Centre for Social Innovation (CSI) and Tides Canada, the Sharing for Social Change conference looked at the pros, the cons and some of the unexpected pluses that can come about when groups combine spaces and services to save time and money.

At first blush, the CSI in downtown Toronto is all about the space. Member-tenants are 110 social-mission organizations representing everything from environmental activism to social justice and the arts. Some are start-ups and others are long-time organizations that aren’t big enough to need their own facilities.

Along with workspaces and office equipment for members, the centre has meeting rooms, administrative support and mailboxes. The space is well-equiped, modern, and centrally located. Prices are more than reasonable. A basic package with access to work and meeting space can be had for less than $150 a month.

But members say the shared rental cost is just the start. The real gains are harder to quantify on a balance sheet. More than the practicalities and economics, CSI and other sharing organizations are finding that it’s the ideas that are the most valuable – the learning, the collaborations, and the synergy that just naturally fall out when the right mix of groups and people meet in a constructive physical setting.

The founders of Heartwood House in Ottawa had the same experience when the first six of today’s 11 organizations moved in together in 2001. Co-ordinator Maureen Moloughney says there just wasn’t enough money for the groups to work effectively independently. They had all believed from the very beginning that not-for-profits were just better when they had the chance to work together, and co-habiting in this way gave them the chance to prove it. The organizations were all small, some with only one or two staff members. Sharing resources not only helped them stretch their funding, it gave them a ready-made network of people and organizations that could help them with a service, an idea or even a hand at the photocopier.

There are a few principles that make this kind of space-sharing a success, both as an enterprise for the facility manager and as an experience for members.

The first is that diversity promotes discovery. Innovation can’t happen when the ingredients never change and the processes and systems are stagnant. For creative bubbles to form, rise and take flight there must be places where different viewpoints can meet, bump up against each other and stimulate new ways of thinking.

Next is having the right kind of space, or more accurately, spaces. To be innovative, people need environments where they can spark, develop and apply their ideas. They need resources and a functional work environment with reliable support and office infrastructure.

They need other kinds of space, too. Just as many progressive private companies now provide recreation, games and relaxation for their employees on site, so do both CSI and Heartwood House have unstructured social space in their facilities. Kitchen tables and meeting nooks create spaces where the informal and often most fruitful conversations and brainstorming always seem to happen.

Finally, CSI has found that some priming-of-the-pump or “gentle animation” can work wonders. As an organization, it’s more than a landlord and property manager. It’s an orchestrator, putting on training workshops, organizing informal social mixers and setting up message walls to create a particular kind of environment – one that supports innovative thinking and produces original actions.

Sharing space in this way is not always easy and not for everyone. If it’s in the nature of one’s work or style to need a lot of control over space, this likely won’t be the solution. Consider, too, the mix of organizations and people you’re joining. Are they likely to give you the kind of support you need? Are the economies, the connections and the savings meaningful and valuable to you and your organization?

Common Roof in Barrie is an example of a shared-space arrangement that works on a variety of levels. The social agencies and groups that are housed there benefit from the proximity to one another and the possibilities for joint outreach initiatives and better community engagement. But the biggest beneficiary is the community. By pooling a number of social and family service organizations into one location, it’s providing a kind of one-stop-shopping for those needing the services – an anticipated 300 people each day at the Common Roof site.

Sharing arrangements like these also have many of the earmarks that funders and supporters look for when trying to determine which projects to finance or underwrite. Enthusiasm is infectious, and positive attitudes create commitment and confidence. The risks are fewer when there are so many avenues of support, when there is access to training and advice to help organizations grow, and economies of scale to be leveraged.

Doing more with less doesn’t have to mean pared-down results and dampened expectations. The highest standards are achievable, even when individual budgets are small. If organizations are willing to stretch their visions to include shared services, space and resources, an enhanced bottom line is only the beginning.

L. Robin Cardozo is chief executive officer of the Ontario Trillium Foundation. Tonya Surman is executive director of the Centre for Social Innovation.

The Sharing for Social Change conference took place in Toronto, Ontario on June 18, 2008