Michigan Community Resources operates as an intermediary in the nonprofit sector. This means that we often work with both foundations and nonprofit organizations doing community facing work.
While this role means we have a lens on conditions across the sector, a more important element of that positioning is the ability to use the information we have to help shape and better policy, grantmaking processes, and the networks of support for organizations on the ground.
Our work towards this end allows us to transform the systems that make up the nonprofit ecosystem in ways that make it better reflect the needs expressed by communities and the organizations that serve them.
We don't take this role lightly. In this piece, Heather Nugen—program director for our Systems Transformation work—shares her thoughts on her role and why it's important in 2025.
YOU LEAD MCR'S SYSTEMS TRANSFORMATION WORK. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
Heather Nugen: MCR has three main program areas: the first is Legal Services for nonprofits, where we support organizations with transactional legal matters like establishing their bylaws, developing their boards, maintaining 501(c)(3) status, and more complicated issues like intellectual property, real estate matters, and land ownership.
Another is Resource Navigation, where our team supports organizations and cohorts in carrying out grant-funded projects and navigating complex systems of support meant to better equip nonprofits, but without a trusted advisor, can often leave them feeling confused and disenfranchised.
The third pillar of our work is Systems Transformation. While this body of work was formally defined in the last few years, this is work MCR has been leading since our founding.
Our systems transformation work goes beyond direct support of individual nonprofits or cohorts. We're working collaboratively across the social impact sector with the goal that organizations and communities have the resources to identify and meet their needs. Central to this goal is achieving racial and social equity, within our industry and beyond.
WHAT EXCITES YOU MOST ABOUT THIS WORK?
HN: After serving as executive director of a small nonprofit during a difficult chapter, I was burnt out and ready for a change. I got my master’s degree in community development with a focus on organizational development to better equip myself with what I wish I had known when I was ED.
After working in a few positions managing collaborative worktables bringing together diverse stakeholders around a common goal, I joined MCR’s Systems Transformation team. (I had admired MCR’s work and candid thought leadership since I had leaned on them for legal guidance during my time as ED.)
I’m most excited now to be bringing together smart, diverse thinkers to solve complex problems facing the nonprofit sector in Detroit. Problems like: how can organizations of all sizes achieve funding sustainability? How can funders be better partners in solving the root causes of issues that direct service groups and organizations are tackling? How can we work together on the complex challenges of this moment?
WHAT'S NEXT FOR DOVETAIL?
HN: MCR has been working alongside Co.act Detroit to generate new and innovative solutions to barriers nonprofits face through our Dovetail partnership. Our Dovetail Directory continues to provide nonprofits of all sizes with connections to values-aligned, vetted service providers they can hire to help augment their capacity.
New in 2025 is Dovetail’s Funding Navigator, which provides accessible, effective information about fund development to help you raise more money for your cause. The navigator has four modules covering different areas of fundraising.
WHAT'S COMING UP FOR SYSTEMS TRANSFORMATION?
HN: MCR's Systems Transformation body of work will continue to lead innovative, impactful solutions to sector-wide barriers to success for nonprofits and communities. We're looking forward to finalizing our second Dovetail playbook, “How We Invest,” which was collaboratively ideated at the last Detroit Capacity Building Forum, a convening we host that invites everyone to reconsider what it means to invest in nonprofit and community work.
We're excited about continuing and new partnership opportunities, especially about tackling issues in a coordinated way with other intermediary partners.
Right now, we're working with the Transforming Solidarity Collective (intermediary partners Co.act Detroit, Michigan Nonprofit Association, Community Development Advocates of Detroit, and NEW) to identify ways for our organizations to work together to support nonprofits in the wake of policy shifts and funding austerity brought on by the new presidential administration.
HOW IS SYSTEMS TRANSFORMATION RELEVANT IN 2025?
HN: The heart of the Systems Transformation goal is the need for equitable wealth, power, and resource distribution in our society. Under the current presidential administration, our federal government is challenging widely-held beliefs about the essential infrastructure that supports a thriving civil society, and the rights and future of nonprofits and their critical roles in our daily lives for the last 75 years are being called into question. Under this administration, even the concept of "equity" is being challenged and politicized.
Since the creation of our modern tax code and the emergence of the 501(c)(3) tax-exempt designation which defined nonprofit rights and activities, nonprofits have become a primary vehicle for everyday people at the grassroots level to come together around shared challenges and create pathways to their preferred futures together.
This present moment, in which the first amendment rights of charitable organizations are being called into question, will require all of us not just to support nonprofit organizations we believe in and rely on, but for us to grow into our own voices as leaders to speak up and speak out about the importance of equity-informed work.
Although we don’t know all the ways the administration’s actions and orders will directly affect and trickle down to impact nonprofits, MCR and our Systems Transformation work will stay vigilant, commit to organizing, and speak out against the threats to the nonprofit sector and to our democracy as a whole.
Follow MCR on social media and sign up for our newsletter at the bottom of this page for the latest on how MCR is responding and supporting nonprofits during this time.