In 2022, I participated in the beginning of Urban Manufacturing Initiative's Local Branding Initiative in Cincinnati. Over the course of a few years, we had several in depth conversations and I helped facilitate the creation of the Cincinnati Makers Council Coalition. At the time, I was leading my plastic recycling initiative called Precious Plastic Cincy. I offered the perspective of maker, entrepreneur, and mentor who had been operating in the space for a few years.
We learned through social research that the Cincinnati Maker community is diverse and complex. The Cincinnati Maker community is connected, but could use centralized support to help build capacity for the existing work happening and create a stronger support system.
Bringing it To Life
The Urban Manufacturing Alliance received some funding from the Greater Cincinnati Foundation to kick off this work and I'm excited to support the work throughout 2024. They originally budgeted money for marketing and graphic design, but I used my sourcing background to propose an alternative that would be a better use of funds.
Strategically Sourcing Talent
Most people don't actually know what sourcing managers do, but this is a great example. They had budgeted a certain amount of money to pay a person to do graphic and website design work, but I saw it as an opportunity to stretch those funds. You bring in a strategic sourcing to think about things differently and also save a bit of money!
What I have noticed in the nonprofit and social causes space is that volunteers are underutilized. They typically are assigned fairly repetitive tasks that are important, but often don't utilize a person's full skillset and interests. With platforms like Catch a Fire and We Make Change, they have made finding volunteers online easier. I have a strong background in finding and managing volunteers via online platforms and I am confident in my approach that can save the council money and get us on a better footing for the sustainability of the council.
One of the best ways to work with volunteers initially is to work on projects with definitive ends to give the volunteer and the team practice in working together. Projects like developing a brand guidelines and website development like what the Urban Manufacturing Alliance needs.
Leveraging Staffing Savings for Investing in Sustainable Solutions
We have the benefit of not needing a physical home initially for the Cincinnati Makers Council because the work is in creating infrastructure for makers so supporting a digital workspace is key to create consistency. A good organized and practical workspace helps with team communications, project management, helps keep comms in one place. To support that, I suggest rethink the budget to support that workspace as those expenses come up. Any new venture with multiple stakeholders requires a central communication hub.
Internal Comms
I’ve tested out a variety of communication tools and Slack rather than texts or emails accomplishes what we need. The development team making the Cincinnati Makers Council is a working group that doesn't have a physical workspace so having a virtual one is key to helping us accomplish our goals. Slack is a workspace in addition to a communication tool that works in collaboration with tools the working group is already using like Google Drive. It has apps that sync in with Google to make it even more useful.
Another software that I recommended because of its potential to help this group is an Ecosystem Mapping Tool. There are official ones like the one used in this article (https://ecosystembuilderhub.com/how-to-get-started-mapping-your-entrepreneurial-ecosystem/). But, I’m a fan of industry leading tools as I mentioned above with Slack. Miro could map out most of what we want to see in the ecosystem and has a free plan to help us ideate until we are ready to pay for something more involved.
Insights from this Project
Industry Leading Collaboration Tools
I am a huge fan of using industry-leading tools like the Google suite and Slack as opposed to challengers like Zoho, etc. Most alternatives have features like self hosting or different privacy settings than some of the market leaders, but those features are not always essential to the function that is needed for the organization. Our team has taken this approach and it has helped us stay focused on the task at hand
Role of Procurement in Organization Development
Recommendations like the above and others are heavily influenced by my formal procurement training. I’m able to quickly analyze data and making a sourcing plan we can execute. Procurement strategy is important for any small organization. Without it, many of the choices on external spending get made without a data driven approach which can lead to overspending and picking inadequate tools or vendors. A study found that 75% of the spend with Fortune 500 companies was on vendors which means as an organization grows it will spend more with vendors. Strategic Procurement even in a smaller organization like the Cincinnati Makers Council is essential.
Designing Organizations for Sustainability
Designing organizations for social impact seems easy. The shoe company Toms cemented the fact in our head it can be just about exchanging value and everyone wins. In most cases, it is more complicated. For example, the Cincinnati Makers Council was incubated with the Urban Manufacturing Alliance. We are still determining whether to remain a fiscally sponsored project or go out on our own. The pros and cons of that are complicated as well because the Urban Manufacturers Alliance may not continue to offer fiscal sponsorship. Everyone can agree in principle that there should be a body to support creative makers but it always comes down to: who is paying for it and who is leading it. To build for sustainability requires: communication, strategic thinking, and patience.
Coalitions become Organizations
I consider our group to be a coalition and coalitions are meant to end once the goal is accomplished. I see our efforts ending with an organization created with a few fiscal sponsors. This project is ongoing with engagement still happening with the team and external stakeholders. Stay tuned for what happens next!
Thanks for reading - Cyrina
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