A Strategic Restructuring Fund for Community Clinics

Between the economic crisis and the shifting landscape of health reform, California's community clinics face unprecedented challenges. To flourish in this new era, clinics will need to simultaneously compete for resources and collaborate.

To help facilitate this shift, the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF), in partnership with the Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF), has created the California Catalyst Fund, a restructuring fund designed to underwrite technical assistance (TA) for clinics involved in existing or new partnerships. In April 2012, Blue Shield of California Foundation (BSCF) joined the Fund as a sponsor. With BSCF’s support, the Fund has grown to $500,000.

The California Catalyst Fund brings together community based primary care providers and partners with TA providers to develop and implement strategic restructuring projects. Examples include: administrative consolidation; joint programming; as well as more formal long-term partnerships, such as joint ventures, corporate mergers, or the creation of management service organizations.

How the Program Works

• The fund will underwrite technical assistance to nurture promising strategic restructuring projects involving existing, or potential, partnerships between two or more organizations.
• TA support will range from $10,000 - $40,000, depending on the scope of the proposed project and where it falls along the planning continuum—pre-planning to full implementation.
• Projects at all stages of development will be considered, from pre-planning and feasibility studies to implementation of a detailed restructuring plan.
• More information, including upcoming deadlines, can be found in the Request for Applications and Application Form.

Application Process

Technical assistance providers interested in participating in the Fund’s provider pool and nonprofits interested in support must respond to the appropriate RFQ/RFA. A collaboration receiving an allocation from the Fund will work with the Fund Manager to select a technical assistance provider from the pre-qualified provider pool.

The graphic below illustrates the application and intake Process:

Types of Assistance

• Clinics or consortia may apply for Technical Assistance in financial management, readiness assessment, implementation planning, and negotiation facilitation.
• The Fund does not support IT consulting or legal representation (e.g contract negotiation), though general consulting around the legal requirements of certain types of project may be considered.

More details are available in the Request for Applications.

Eligibility

• Applicants must be nonprofit providers of primary care based in California, who serve primarily underserved populations; OR a consortium of organizations, the majority of which are made up of clinics that meet the above criteria.

• Eligible clinics include federally qualified health centers (FQHC), FQHC look-alikes, rural health clinics, free clinics, and clinics owned and operated by critical access hospitals. Clinics owned and operated by academic medical centers or large nonprofit health care systems are not eligible.

• While applicant organizations must meet all of the above criteria, potential partner organizations (if identified at the time of application) are not required to do so. Please note that a partner organization does not have to be identified at the time of application if the project is in a preliminary stage.

• Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis and reviewed quarterly. Once approved, the Clinic or consortia will select a technical assistance provider from a pool provided by the California Catalyst Fund. The grantee and TA Provider will then enter into a formal agreement that specifies the scope of work and fees involved.

• NFF is the point of contact for the Clinic or consortia and supports the collaborative venture through periodic status meetings to address any challenges and help ensure that the project continues to move forward.

Click here to view Informational Webinar for Applicants.

Technical Assistance Providers

• Application for inclusion in the California Catalyst Fund provider pool is by invitation only.
• An invitation to apply and/or successful application for inclusion does not constitute a guarantee that providers will be matched with collaboration projects.
• Nonprofit Finance Fund is the point of contact for technical assistance providers and, once engaged on a project, supports them through periodic status meetings to help ensure a timely and satisfactory completion of work. Click here to see the list of current approved providers.

Funders

The California Catalyst Fund welcomes additional local, regional, and national funding partners. Please contact the Fund Manager with funding inquiries at cacatalystfund@nffusa.org.

Applications and Downloads

• Request For Applications (RFA)
• Application Form
• Self-Assessment Tool

Click here for important and helpful resources.

Upcoming Dates and Deadlines

• Application Deadline: March 15, 2013

Media Coverage

• Press Release
• More coming soon!

About Nonprofit Finance Fund
As one of the nation's leading community development financial institutions (CDFI), Nonprofit Finance Fund^® (NFF^®) makes millions of dollars in loans to nonprofits and pushes for fundamental improvement in how money is given and used in the sector. Since 1980, we've worked to connect money to mission effectively so that nonprofits can keep doing what they do so well.

About the California HealthCare Foundation
The California HealthCare Foundation works as a catalyst to fulfill the promise of better health care for all Californians. We support ideas and innovations that improve quality, increase efficiency, and lower the costs of care. On the web at www.chcf.org.

About Blue Shield of California Foundation
The Blue Shield of California Foundation works to improve the lives of all Californians, particularly the underserved, by making health care accessible, effective, and affordable, and by ending domestic violence. On the web at www.blueshieldcafoundation.org.