Opportunity to Improve and Grow!
Our 3 year goal is to be able to move into a building with at least as much space as we currently have (7,200 square feet), but hopefully even more! Moving to a new building opens up opportunities to upgrade and expand. From surveys and work sessions gathering input from members and shift professionals of the clinic’s different sections, suggested facility improvements include:
A warm and welcoming lobby with two or more client bathrooms.
At least 6 clinical exam rooms from our current 5 and have them equipped to meet modern building code for a medical setting, adequate air circulation, with wheelchair accessibility, and sufficient space for conducting small group exam trainings.
A dental suite with at minimum three state-of-the-art dental stations instead of our current two cramped, moderately functional chairs. We’d like increased client privacy, increased space for storage and preparing and sanitizing equipment, space to conduct administrative work that isn’t right on top of the patients, and to add a panoramic 3-D X-ray machine to improve our ability to do root canals and restorative dental work.
5 comfortable individual counseling rooms, and one larger group counseling room with adjustable lighting and modern air circulation.
An optical clinic with two exam rooms to upgrade from the one optical exam room we recently installed with our partner, Mindful Eyes.
Larger and more flexible training and meeting spaces for our workforce development and collective administration.
An upgraded, private, and more workflow friendly lab and pharmacy.
And expanded storage for the ability to accept and organize more donated and purchased bulk supplies and equipment to keep our services running.
We would also love to be able to stay close to downtown Berkeley so we can continue to be easily accessible via public transportation for clients and volunteers.
There’s a good chance we’ll move into a smaller temporary space en route to the larger, better equipped space we wish for. The high cost and limited availability of real estate make this challenging - but our history, far reaching impact on healthcare and health worker development, the important community partners we house, and great friendships make us believe we can do it.
Defining Our Campaign
A capital campaign is a short-term intensive fundraising efforts to secure extraordinary gifts and pledges for a very expensive undertaking, such as purchasing property, building construction, a large scale renovation, equipment acquisition, or establishing or growing an endowment. The Berkeley Free Clinic’s new home campaign is in the category referred to as a “combined campaign,” which plans to raise the resources needed to secure a new home and to raise funds for an endowment to support our work into the future. Because of the likelihood of having to move into a temporary space prior to our final new home we have two stages in mind for our campaign.
Projected Fundraising Needs by Stage
Stage 1
1.5 Million - to renovate, move, and rent for temporary space for 3 years
Stage 2
$7 Million - to purchase and renovate an expanded permanent home
$3.5 Million - to establish an endowment for building upkeep and BFC stability into the future
Total to complete both stages: $12 Million
We’re in the Lead-Gift Portion of the Quiet Phase - What that Means!
Capital campaigns are structured in a series of sub-phases within two broader overarching phases (see outline above). The first of the overarching phases is the Quiet Phase.
As implied by the name, the Quiet Phase is done behind the scenes - without a far-reaching public announcement or fanfare about the work underway. The Quiet Phase involves activities such as assessing the needs of the campaign, lining up political support, identifying potential major donors to approach, working to develop relationships with these potential donors, and making the first asks for a small set of very large gifts. Traditionally half or more of the total fundraising of a capital campaign is conducted in the Quiet Phase - prior to inviting an expansive swath of the public to participate - and the transition to the Public Phase does not begin until this money is raised. It is common, especially in smaller organizations without strong connections to corporations, foundations, and wealthy individuals, for the work of the Quiet Phase to last several years. Right now we are at the step of making contact and developing relationships with the people who can help make a million dollar Lead-Gift.