Benefits of Consortia Membership

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• Funding. A consortium expands center fundraising opportunities because potential funders and partners are often interested in supporting large-scale community-based projects that involve many groups and serve a larger population. For example, the Crescent Park Multi-Cultural Family Resource Center in Richmond, California, pursued a U.S. Department of Education (ED) grant opportunity as part of East Bay Neighborhood Links (EBNL), a consortium of five computer education and training programs. ED funds were designed for large organizations or groups of organizations, which made teamwork between the centers and their partners essential.
  
  
• Shared information and resources. Consortium meetings provide centers with the opportunity to exchange program ideas, successful practices, and curricula, and identify solutions to challenges that individual centers face. A consortium facilitates joint programming and sharing of program resources among centers.
  
  
• Networking. In a consortium, centers have the opportunity to network with other centers, community technology organizations, and partners. Membership in a consortium expands each center’s access to skills, information, and resources. It also broadens a center’s ability to combine resources for marketing and media outreach efforts.
  
  
• Nonprofit status. Centers without 501(c)(3) nonprofit status can acquire it through membership in a registered nonprofit consortium. This status expands funding opportunities for centers because many grant funders require applicants to have 501(c)(3) status.

	Funding – the search for funding can be assisted through consortium membership, as centers gain access to opportunities usually unavailable to individual centers.
	Resource Sharing – consortium members can share program ideas and centralize common services such as volunteers, instructors, financial advisors, marketing, and/or technical support.
	Networking/Mentoring – consortium membership encourages the exchange of strategies, knowledge, and successes between member centers to address the unique issues that centers face.
	Nonprofit Status – centers without 501(c)(3) status can gain it through membership if the consortium is registered as a 501(c)(3) organization.

Joining or starting a Neighborhood Networks consortium offers considerable benefits to both centers and the surrounding community. For a consortium to be successful however, it requires a well-planned startup and considerable support during its early years.