Letter from Jonathan Spack
TSNE Restructures Programs

The weeks just before and after Labor Day are always busy at Third Sector New England. This year, they saw us beginning work with new fiscal sponsorship, executive transitions and coaching clients, finalizing training programs, and creating new research and educational partnerships with colleagues across the region.

But just after Labor Day, Third Sector New England received news that has caused us to announce a restructuring of our programming – as we continue apace with the fall program calendar. The reorganization is the result of a chain of events triggered by a lawsuit filed in Maryland by a subsidiary of global pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca against the University of Massachusetts Biological Laboratory.

TSNE receives royalties from AstraZeneca subsidiary MedImmune under a 3-way agreement signed in 1989 when TSNE was still known as the Massachusetts Health Research Institute. When we transitioned to TSNE, UMass assumed our obligations under the agreement although we retained our royalty rights.

For AstraZeneca, the $33 billion colossus seeking to invalidate the royalty agreement after more than 20 years, the amount we receive each year barely registers on their balance sheet. But the loss of funds for TSNE will have a direct, adverse impact on the hundreds of outstanding nonprofit organizations that we serve. These nonprofits, in turn, serve at least tens of thousands of constituents in scores of communities across New England and New York.

Given the uncertainty of future royalties, which represent more than 40% of the organization’s budget, TSNE has had to reduce staff. However, by focusing on our core values and program strengths, TSNE will be able to continue to deliver high quality capacity building services to our constituents as follows:

• As the regional leader in the fields of fiscal sponsorship and executive transition services, we will continue to fully support – and grow – those programs along with merger and strategic alliance work, and executive coaching.
• We will continue field building in the areas of fiscal sponsorship, executive and organizational transitions, diversity and inclusion for nonprofits, human resources consulting and supervision training, nonprofit center creation and administration, shared services and shared space, and more.
• For the foreseeable future, we are refocusing our training programs with management training at our downtown Boston Training Center and an emphasis on offering custom-tailored onsite training.
• With deep regret, TSNE is suspending grantmaking for the Capacity Building Fund, one of the organization’s two grant programs. Support will continue to be provided to current and active grantees.
• While grantmaking for the Inclusion Initiative is on hiatus, we plan to work with long-term partners to continue to gain resources for this critical re-granting program and hope to announce a new round of grantmaking in 2012.
• The NonProfit Center, offering safe, comfortable, affordable office and meeting space, will continue as a central TSNE program. Educational programs and charity drives will be scaled back to monthly or biweekly offerings by the end of the calendar year.

While the next several months will be challenging, Third Sector New England will work with our projects, partners, funders and colleagues across the region to continue to serve the needs of the region’s nonprofit organizations. I believe that we will emerge from this challenge as a stronger, mission-focused organization.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Spack, Executive Director

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