Jerry Forbes Centre

Better together
The Jerry Forbes Centre, six years in

When the Jerry Forbes Centre for Community Spirit opened its doors in the fall of 2018, there were a lot of unknowns. The concept was promising, but largely untested: to create an affordable, practical and collaborative space specifically for non-profits and charities, so that they could benefit from shared resources and lower costs.

Then, the pandemic hit.

“We had almost a two-and-a-half, three-year blip where everybody was in survival mode,” says Diana Davis, executive director at the Centre. The pandemic, she says, hit the non-profit sector particularly hard, as demand for services increased while in many instances, funding decreased.

Yet through the challenges, Davis remained determined to see the Centre establish itself at the core of Edmonton’s non-profit industry.

“These things take time. You have to plant the seeds and then it might take a year or two for them to grow,” she says. “Now, we’re finally starting to see that.”

Today, the Centre is a hub of activity. It’s at full capacity, with 25 charities and non-profits based out of the 93,000-square foot office and warehouse space.

“There are days where you bump into people all over the place because there’s a couple hundred people between what’s going on in the mezzanine and who’s here working or volunteering, which is wonderful,” says Davis.

“It’s such an incredible feeling to have that amount of people flow through here.”

More than 300 people work at the Centre either part- or full-time. From that small-but-mighty base, the tenants of the Centre have an incredible impact: more than 500,000 Albertans are reached through the programs and services provided by the organizations housed there.

The Centre is named for the long-time station manager of Edmonton’s 630 CHED radio station, who was a passionate community advocate and volunteer. It’s housed in a former fabric warehouse, just east of Edmonton’s downtown core, which was refurbished and purpose-built to create a collaborative workspace for non-profits. The goal was to create an affordable and professional space for charitable and community-focused organizations to work out of, with expenses to be collected on a cost-recovery basis only, to cover services like property maintenance, utilities and administration.

“It’s fiscally very responsible if you’re asking the non-profit sector to be diverting the majority of their funds directly towards supporting the community. That’s what collaborative spaces do, and that’s what we’re doing here,” says Davis.

The Centre is run by the Jerry Forbes Centre Foundation, which owns the building outright thanks to government support and financing from SEF. The Foundation, Davis explains, is like ‘a charity for charities’. Their mandate is to take care of the essentials for their non-profit tenants, so that those groups can focus on what they do best.

“We’re supporting all these other non-profits so that they can then direct more of their resources to the community,” she says.

Before moving into the Centre, many tenants were paying 40 to 60 per cent more for their office and storage space. Some were working out of basements, others out of cramped offices with paid parking and storage units scattered across the city. Moving to the Jerry Forbes Centre meant a one-stop shop with lower costs, and greater convenience.

“This is a model that, if it’s paid for, is very viable. It’s based on shared costs. If you can share it with five different people or ten, then you’re going to be saving money. It’s just a no brainer,” says Holly Pshyk, marketing and fund development director at the Centre.

Over the past couple of years, as organizations have moved past the crunch time of the pandemic, the Centre has blossomed in its role as a collaborative space. The building was designed to promote collaboration, with shared coffee areas, open seating and plenty of meeting rooms. “We always say, ‘Proximity promotes collaboration.’” says Davis. “You can’t go by the same person 10 times, five times a week and not eventually get to know who they are. You just can’t,” says Davis.

One of the biggest unexpected benefits of the collaborative space, explains Pshyk, has come from tenants simply getting to know each other. Through regular social events, monthly lunch-and-learns, and professional development activities, tenants have plenty of opportunities to network and learn about the groups they share space with.

“We actually can all be ambassadors and advocate for each other,” she says. “The more we know about our neighbors and options down the hall, the better able we are once we’re out in the community to advocate for them.”

Whether it’s lending out office space to different organizations who have busy seasons at different times of the year, or passing along useful knowledge and contacts to help overcome operational challenges, the groups have found ways to grow together. In a sense, the building is like an all-inclusive resort, where all the details and amenities are taken care of. All tenants need to do is show up to work.

“We really want them to show up in the morning and you’ve taken away so many of the stresses and barriers that would draw their attention and time away from the programs and services that the community is counting on them for,” says Pshyk.

“Our whole mandate is to say to these organizations, ‘You don’t worry about that. You show up and get down to work to make Edmonton a stronger, healthier, happier place.’”

In addition to the 25 organizations who call the Centre home, there are also community spaces — like a classroom, meeting rooms, and even a newly-developed space for podcasting — available for rent at a low cost for charities. The spaces proved invaluable during the pandemic, when groups needed access to technologically equipped rooms with adequate room for social distancing.

Although the Centre has been open for several years, the building is still a work in progress, with spaces being developed and refined based on tenants’ needs.

“One of the beautiful things about it here is that we will just continue to evolve and change as the needs and the feedback comes in,” says Davis.