What started as an experiment has morphed into something bigger and more special. Nine organizations serving diverse communities within the San Francisco Bay Area coming together across three cohorts to share ideas, camaraderie, and collectively resource each other with capacity-building funding to uplift their communities.
As our first Magic Cabinet cohorts adjourn after five years, we’ve asked the leaders of each nonprofit to reflect on their experience and what’s to come for their organizations.
After five years in a Magic Cabinet Cohort, what are some of the moments that have surprised you?
"Magic Cabinet was one of the few funders that showed up all of the time. The ways in which we were invited to participate and add our ideas to the experience was amazing."
"One of the best things about being a part of this cohort was how amazing it felt to be trusted by a funder. To have a funder come around and say, we see the work you’re doing, let’s not heap on more things, let’s actually lighten your load and get behind what you’re doing and make your job easier."
"I think the shared decision-making model really made us all cheerleaders for each other’s work. We all wanted the resources to go towards improving our organizations and we all were there to think together about how we could use the grants most effectively."
"One of the things that really surprised me was the sheer magnitude of the impact that we were able to make. Our efforts might seem modest, but when combined with the resources, network, and expertise of the cohort members, the work we’ve done has been transformative."
"A lot of organizations talk about trust-based philanthropy. I think Magic Cabinet was the first one that I encountered that actually created an environment that made it very comfortable for us to be open with one another, to share ideas, and to offer suggestions and feedback and really to be supportive of one another, even when we weren’t having our official meetings."
"Back in 2019, we had very few general operating funders. It was really a rare and important moment for Planting Justice to enter into such expansion and growth in our organization with guaranteed general operating funding and a lot of support from peers who we could really workshop ideas with and receive feedback from."
"As we discussed how to resource each other with funding, I tried to ask good questions about the operations and strategy of my peer organizations and I think they did the same in turn. That just kind of helped all of us refine our strategy and model and what kind of infrastructure we needed to build to get to the next level."
"So many beautiful times when I least expected a member of the cohort would say something and I would think, “that’s my family experience.” To have that degree of connection, to feel so intimate, so personal, and the personal is really political. It is through the personal that I feel comfortable bringing that benefit to my larger community."
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Of the capacity-building projects you’ve started, which one(s) impacted your organization the most?
"The creation and resourcing of our development team and systems to engage with donors. Our operating budget from 2019 when we started was less than $5 million and we had to fundraise around $3 million. Now our budget is $7.2 million and we are able to fundraise $5 million. Its really set us up to be able to serve our businesses better and focus on our own worker wellness and salaries, especially during what were very difficult years with the pandemic."
"The most impactful project that Planting Justice was able to get funding for was to increase our staff salaries. Most of our staff are parents and are taking care of children and family members. The cost of living has grown so much over the past five years in the Bay Area. Increasing our staff salaries really helped the organization remain a rock for people in their lives."
"The rebranding support that we got from Magic Cabinet played a crucial role in helping us redefine who we were. We had the opportunity to change the colors from black, gray, and white to more kid-friendly colors. That really changed how we operated. We were able to go to different funders and show that we were actually a kid-friendly program."
"The capacity-building project that had the greatest impact on First Graduate was our ability to engage some really wonderful help in crafting our strategic plan. We were able to engage in a process that involved staff and board members and it laid the foundation for the direction that we’re going in over the next three to five years."
"The aspect of funding support that's impacted us the most would be the grantwriting. We have been able to validate a system of care, a system of continuity amongst the most vulnerable families in San Francisco. To have the opportunity to do this and not be hindered by funding has made all the difference."
"We were able to use multi-year grants from Magic Cabinet to build out our own case management product. We've also begun the process of distributing it to other legal aid groups. We hope this is going to form the backbone of a citywide system of universal access to legal help."
"If I had to pick just one, I would pick our development director. Funding for her position has helped us exponentially grow in every aspect of our fundraising. It's taken a lot of load off my shoulders and we're in the best financial place we've ever been."
"The most important capacity piece was our rebranding. It catapulted us in terms of the community in which we do our work, our view of ourselves, and the ways in which our larger community saw us as an organization."
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What insights are you taking away from your time in a Magic Cabinet Cohort?
"Building internal capacity isn’t a nice to have, it’s a needed thing to truly be able to serve our organizational missions as best we can."
"The power of collaboration, being adaptable and resilient, continuing to learn, asking for help, celebrating our successes, and working on our long-term vision."
"Foundations should be more like Magic Cabinet. We really need multi-year general operating support to be able to grow programs and social enterprises that have the foundations to be successful for years to come."
"The insight that I’m taking away is really the power of community and investment in leaders. It’s been fun to watch how much all three of our organizations have grown in the past five years. I really hope that more people will adopt this model because it works."
"We are stronger together entering this process. Being a part of a cohort was really a collaboration funded and a collaboration brought about as a result of our common interests. It allows for us to learn about the things that are often left invisible. We were sitting voice-to-voice and heart-to-heart with other executives to learn."
"How unique Magic Cabinet is in choosing to fund infrastructure and how difficult it is to fund infrastructure elsewhere. We could apply for grants with Magic Cabinet focused on our development teams, HR teams, and technology teams and that’s almost totally unique in the funding space. When we started with Magic Cabinet we had a budget of less than $2 million and after five years, we’re over $6 million."
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What advice or guidance would you give to other Magic Cabinet Cohort members?
"Definitely embrace collaboration, and listen to your community, that's extremely important. Also, celebrate your successes."
"Think about where you want to be five years from your starting point and work backward from there. That enables you to be more strategic about the types of proposals and opportunities that you ask Magic Cabinet to support and help you move forward in a very productive way."
"Imagine what you could possibly do to build and grow your organization and propose it because nothing is ridiculous. Let yourself do that early on and trust that this is a foundation that really wants to see you go beyond even your wildest dreams."
"Build sustainable relationships with the other members of your cohort and really lean on your cohort advisors. These people have decades of experience and can really help in lots of other ways besides funding."
"You're in this together! There is so much to learn from other organizations, and the transparency about challenges that can feel scary is exactly what is going to help you identify the projects that you should be funding."
"Lean into the core process and value the wisdom and experience of the other nonprofits. Use it as a peer support group so that you can both ask and receive the support you need to make your organization thrive."
"Allow yourselves to be influenced. I would recommend to walk in softer and invite change and transformation, especially the change that comes through relationship building."
"I would say show up ready to give and receive. You've got great wisdom, knowledge, and passion in this cohort. It's really just a special time to be amongst peers that get what you're going through. Enjoy every moment of it."
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What are you excited about for the future of your organization?
"I’m very excited about how we’re using a data set that we were able to purchase through Magic Cabinet. We’re able to show on a local and national level the impact of our work to inform folks who are doing this work how to improve systems, how to better serve Black women and girls, and how to better serve young people who are vulnerable to exploitation."
"I’m really excited about a major new academic study coming out quantifying the impact Open Door Legal has had on homelessness. In summary, the study found that Open Door Legal has caused homelessness to decline by about half in Bayview since Magic Cabinet started funding us."
"As an incubator, we’re always seeing new businesses come to our program and I’m excited for the re-opening of what was our Municipal Marketplace into a second, much larger incubator kitchen where we will be able to serve additional businesses and host events for the community."
"I’m probably the most excited about the diversification of income streams that we’ve learned through being in this cohort. That is what’s going to sustain us in the long run."
"We have the opportunity to expand to a three-acre neighboring parcel where we’ll build an aquaponics farm that will create 20 more living wage jobs and grow hundreds of thousands of pounds of organic produce for our community."
"We want to replicate our model throughout the nation. All of that sustainability that’s now within us, functioning as our core is allowing this outburst of attention care, and collaboration. I’m thrilled to think that we’re in the position now where our growth is a measure of our inner strength."
"We want to serve more young people here locally as well as grow to other cities. We want to see complete diversion from young people going to jail to moving into a path of healing, hope, restoration, transformation, and living their lives vibrantly, the way they were intended to."
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Looking Ahead to New Horizons
As our first nonprofit grantees embark on the next stage of their journey, we look forward to following their progress beyond their time in a Magic Cabinet Cohort. We’re excited to begin narrating the impact of our grantmaking methodology across the full arc of the Magic Cabinet Cohort experience.
We’re also taking time to reflect on lessons learned over the past five years of partnership with these nine incredible organizations. These learnings will enable us to evolve our grantmaking and partnerships as we continue to explore alternative funding relationships.
- Develop pathways for learning and sharing best practices between new and tenured cohorts. Fostering learning between cohorts enables grantees to share guidance and develop long-term strategies for using their capacity-building funding.
- Prioritize flexibility when it comes to defining ‘capacity-building.’ Recognizing that capacity-building won’t look the same for every organization and being open to listening and prioritizing the needs of grantees and their communities.
- Provide resources for nonprofit grantees beyond the check. Having access to extra tools in the form of technology, educational resources, and funder connections enables grantees to feel fully supported.
