All Good Work put excess office space to use for social good

• Published date: 01 March 2019
• Date: 01 March 2019
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/nba.30565

MARCH 2019 NONPROFIT BUSINESS ADVISOR

5

© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

DOI: 10.1002/nba

Industry News

All Good Work put excess ofce space

to use for social good

For most companies, having empty ofces and

unoccupied workspaces means resources are being

wasted that could otherwise contribute positively to

the bottom line.

But more and more, companies are recognizing the

value of these assets in terms of how they can be put

to use for social good.

According to Nate Heasley, executive director of

the All Good Work Foundation, there’s plenty of de-

mand for ofce workspace—with access to accoutre-

ments like Wi-Fi internet, printers, breakrooms and

restrooms—among nonprots of all stripes.

Heasley’s organization currently works with own-

ers and operators of co-working facilities and busi-

ness centers to make use of vacant desk and ofce

space for social good. He told Nonprot Business

Advisor that he usually asks the business center or

co-working facility to donate between 1 percent and

3 percent of its ofce space, a relatively small share

of the typical 7 percent to 12 percent vacancy that

such facilities usually hold back. Depending on the

facility, that can work out to be quite a few desks

and workspaces that local charitable partners can

make use of.

All Good Work elds inquiries made through its

website from a variety of individuals and organiza-

tions that need a small amount of workspace for a

short period of time. Some examples of this would

include:

• Existing nonprots looking to tentatively enter

a new geographic region without committing to

longer-term leases.

• Small nonprots that need to add short-term

staff during certain times of the year and don’t have

space in their current ofces to suit.

• Individuals and groups just starting out on their

charitable journey, looking to take the next step by

getting bona de ofces instead of working out of

coffee shops and the like.

• Organizations that are expanding services or

piloting new programs that may or may not be con-

tinued long term.

In all cases, the nonprot benets chiey through

cost savings—All Good Work only charges a nominal

fee per organization to make sure they are serious

and will use the space—but it is far less than the

market rate.

“Certainly the cost savings is big,” Heasley said.

“And they can put that savings back into their

programming.”

But, Heasley said, they benet in other, more subtle

ways as well, including:

• A degree of professionalism that’s hard to attain

when working in coffee shops and other venues where

free Wi-Fi and informal workspace are available.

• Reduced commute times for nonprot staff who

nd facilities in their local communities instead of

having to trek to big cities nearby.

• They can be in closer proximity to the communi-

ties they serve—for example, when an organization

headquartered in a downtown urban center has con-

stituents in outlying suburban and rural communities.

• They offer networking opportunities for non-

prot staff, who mix professionally and socially with

the business center’s other occupants—typically

white-collar business professionals.

Heasley’s organization is in the process of expand-

ing its reach beyond business centers and co-working

facilities to include corporations with excess space

in their facilities due to staff drawdowns. At press

time, he said, All Good Work was on the cusp of

announcing its rst major corporate partner, and it

was looking for more opportunities to try out this

kind of arrangement.

Heasley also noted that All Good Work does a

thorough vetting of any organization it places in

donated workspace.

There’s a paper application, followed by an in-

person interview, he said, in which the applicants

are evaluated on several fronts. First, they check that

it’s a veriable social good organization. Then, they

make sure that the organization is truly in need of

the space, and would be more effective in its mission

were it to have the space.

Crucially, they check to make sure that the ap-

plicant organization would be appropriate for the

space. For example, an organization that regularly has

(See WORKSPACE on page 8)