St. Pete Standard

The City of St. Petersburg and Pinellas Community Foundation have partnered with The Hypatia Collaborative to introduce new resources to help St. Pete nonprofits. The new Shared Services Organization (SSO) program will be a three-year pilot and will provide eligible nonprofit organizations in St. Pete with key administrative services and support that will help them build capacity and scale their work in the community. The Hypatia Collaborative plans to use these funds to connect its nonprofit clients with local consultants to help scale and support their organization and mission. Nonprofit organizations that serve residents in St. Pete will be eligible to apply for these free capacity-building and support services, including grant writing, accounting, marketing, legal support, strategic planning, and program evaluation.

"The SSO model offers a creative and collaborative approach to address the hurdles encountered by small nonprofits. By enhancing efficiency, effectiveness, and impact, it contributes to the overall advancement of the nonprofit sector," said Hypatia CEO, Dr. Linsey Grove. "Our goal is to build real capacity in BIPOC-led and serving nonprofits in St. Petersburg to increase equity in the philanthropic sector and address community needs with community assets."

The Shared Services Organization will launch on May 15, 2024, at an informational kick-off event, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. at Thrive DTSP (136 4th St. N. Suite 201). Attendees can park in the City Hall parking lot on 2nd Ave. N. or in adjacent street parking. The event will also be live-streamed on Hypatia's YouTube channel.

The SSO is part of the overall ARPA Coordinated Social Services/HUBs project umbrella that allocated over $8 million in funding using a two-prong approach: establish a series of Community Support Hubs in the city and provide administrative backbone and capacity-building services through an SSO to support the nonprofits serving residents through the Hubs, as well as other community nonprofits doing impactful work in the community.

More information about the SSO project and the Hypatia Collaborative can be found at hypatiacollaborative.co.

About ARPA:

As of May 2021, $45 million in ARPA State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds has been budgeted to continue the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and to help drive an equitable recovery for residents most impacted by COVID-19. More information about ARPA funding in St. Pete can be found at stpete.org/ARPA.