By Dianne Anderson

Everyone is asking the same question: Where to get the money?

Once they know, the next thought is how.

Now that President Biden recently approved the next round stimulus American Rescue Plan, OneOC is helping nonprofits learn to access what’s soon coming down the pike.

Mom and pop nonprofits are usually so busy on groundwork, that they miss out on the other aspects of how to make their organizations thrive, but help is available.

Amanda Green with OneOC said that most nonprofits that they work with are small and midsized, and are usually operated on a shoestring budget.

“You don’t always have the know-how or have the ability to keep your organization and infrastructure in place while trying to deliver on your mission. That’s what we try to do in service to the community to free up time for nonprofits to focus on their mission work,” said Green, OneOC organizational development services director.

Besides ARP, other funding is also available since COVID-19.

“We do provide some support for our fiscal projects, we have about 50 fiscal projects underneath us. Our client services administrator really works with them to ensure that they’re poised to apply for the right opportunities,” she said.

Last year, OneOC held about three dozen webinars and events across numerous topics, including access to the second PPP loan. Their leadership also serves on a task force looking to create a fund to provide recovery loans to nonprofits as they emerge from the pandemic.

Lately, their organization is helping support some government-sponsored initiatives in engaging volunteers and nonprofits.

“We mobilize 20,000 volunteers a year. and work with over 120 companies a year. Over the last year in COVID-19, we were the emergency volunteer center for Orange County,” she said.

Nonprofits with urgent requests or those needing immediate support could post opportunities on their website and they were able to mobilize over 4,000 volunteers. Depending on what individual nonprofits need, she said their memberships run from $265 to $595 per year.

She said they realize that nonprofits are potentially cash-strapped.

“But we also know there has to be some level of investment in their organization, but we offer financial assistance to organizations in dire need of support through partial subsidies,” she said.

OneOC also provides back office and infrastructure support. Membership allows nonprofits to leverage their volunteer management system to recruit more volunteers, manage their time, post potential jobs. Hundreds of trainings and a massive information library are available.

“Certain events are complimentary including our Meet The Funder series where they can meet with a funder and learn more about their requirements and put a face to the name since so much of the funding is relationship-based,” she said.

Additional services include consulting, accounting services and Human Resources that are often priced according to a percentage of whatever is processed. Back office support, professional development, consulting at the board level and provide fiscal sponsorships for organizations that are doing good work, but may not have their own 501c3.

Originally, their effort was the Volunteer Center of Orange County, which connected volunteers and resources for nonprofits. In 2010, they rebranded as a management services center for nonprofits.

She said that they also leverage opportunities to get companies involved with the nonprofits, and services for them around charitable giving, board placement, training and development for their staff members to get engaged.

“We serve as that connector in the community,” she said.

Earlier this year, they supported COVID vaccine distribution and recruited those who were skill-based with a medical license, or able to administer vaccine shots, along with administrative volunteers.

They also can link up nonprofits with potential grant writers. She said that people are often surprised to find how much they offer in one organization.

“With the rise in the pandemic and the virtual, there are more opportunities to reach beyond Orange County. We’ve done work in Fresno, Northern California, we have partnerships throughout the state,” she said. “We do HR, we do accounting. You name it, we probably do it or we know someone that does.”

For more information, see https://oneoc.org/ or call 714-953-5757