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Sponsored by: Fortunato Construction
July 5, 2023

How Non-Profits Can Navigate Capital Projects

As a mission-driven organization, your capital projects can expand much needed community services allowing you to scale up your impact. However, undertaking a facility construction or expansion can be unfamiliar territory to many non-profit organizations. The stakeholder landscape, funding requirements, and resource demands of a non-profit capital project call for experienced partners and consultants that can help you navigate the construction process effectively. 

Considerations for Project Planning

As a non-profit, our capital project will tie into your overall mission and strategy. Some of the key considerations include:

-How does this project fit within our long-term strategic plan and vision?
-What will the community you serve gain from this project?
-What are the core objectives and overall impact you hope to achieve?
-How will this project serve your long-term program goals and space needs? 

Once you’ve defined the project within the context of long-term program goals, the planning process can get underway. This may include a capital campaign strategy or a communications plan to inform donors of the project’s progress. These can be important tools to maintain engagement throughout the process of funding, planning, and executing a capital project.

Engaging a project design team can include architects, engineers, designers, and owner’s representatives as suitable. These partners, along with your construction firm, will help the physical project meet its program goals. Decision makers can look for partners that have established communications channels, such as real time project collaboration tools, and the experience to engage diverse stakeholders.

For non-profits, prequalification of potential project partners should consider insurance and bonding capabilities, safety ratings, established relationships with the local building department and subcontractors, and procurement resources. 

First-Hand Experience from The Padre Pio Foundation

In Cromwell, CT, expanding the Padre Pio Foundation’s facility was often a topic of discussion amongst the non-profit’s staff. Built in 1810, the old Victorian home housed the Foundation’s gift shop, offices, support areas, and chapel, with little space to spare. As space became more of an issue for operations, Executive Director Julie Fitts Ritter and the Board of Directors started looking at options. 

A few solutions included splitting the Foundation’s office space off into a new location or moving to a larger facility altogether. However, neither of these choices would provide the continuity that the Foundation needed. As a religious organization, the Padre Pio Foundation wanted to maintain its gardens and chapel for their patrons and followers who utilize the facility and its grounds as a sanctuary for prayer. 

The Board interviewed architects who could help with a possible third option: expanding the current facility. They selected Peter Grasso (PFG Design Group) to explore an expansion to the Foundation’s current location. PFG helped the Foundation clarify the potential design and navigate the zoning requirements for the renovation and addition. Once the addition was approved, the Foundation invited three construction firms to bid on the project, ultimately landing with Fortunato Construction Group.

Construction in an Activated Space

About three years from the start of expansion discussions, the project broke ground in September 2021. Fortunato Construction Group began work on the addition while the Foundation was fully operational. While separated from the occupied spaces at the start, the construction work included building and connecting a three-story space adjacent to the original structure which created construction noise and debris. 

A key factor in minimizing disruption was to have a superintendent available onsite every day, a requirement that the Foundation included in their CM selection criteria. This allowed the construction team to coordinate with the Foundation and any issues that affected the non-profit’s operations to be corrected immediately.

An onsite superintendent was also critical to ensuring the highest level of safety throughout the project. Non-profits who choose to remain operational during a construction project benefit from a CM with an excellent safety record. This selection criteria will protect employees, visitors, and tradespeople while the project is active and result in an incident-free outcome. A company with an Experience Modification Rate (EMR) of 1.0 is not more or less risky than another company. An EMR below .9 demonstrates that a company is significantly safer than most.

Another factor in the project’s success was the turnover process, which included a one-year warranty period. Fortunato Construction Group completed a walk-through just ahead of the warranty expiration. This allowed them to identify any maintenance that could prevent potential issues. It also provided an opportunity for the staff to convey any repairs or problems that needed to be addressed. 

Construction Budget Reconciliation

As non-profit funding can have a multitude of sources, the right construction partner is critical to a project’s overall success and reception. Managing a construction project with diverse funding sources can include tracking multi-tier subcontractor classification, integrating donor recognition displays, phasing the project, or meeting schedule milestones.

As in the example of the Padre Pio Foundation, Fortunato Construction Group worked under a standard construction management agreement, aligning their interests with the Foundation’s, and acting as advisor and constructor throughout the planning, design, and construction. As Construction Managers, Fortunato provides an array of preconstruction services, including budgeting and scheduling, ‘right-to-build’ services, design input, value engineering, and of course, comprehensive construction planning and execution. 

The Payoff for Padre Pio

The increased space for offices and gift shop management has allowed the Padre Pio Foundation to hire more staff and work more efficiently. Where staff once shared offices between 3-5 people, the workspaces now allow for 1-2 desks and designated storage and workspace per office. The sun filled lower-level functions as highly organized inventory storage for the gift shop and online store. The space has direct access to the parking area, making the workflow from delivery to order fulfillment a smooth process.

“Our new space has allowed us to hire more people so we can continue the type of service that our benefactors deserve,” said Executive Director, Julie Fitts Ritter. “In turn, their donations allow us to help so many all over the globe.”  

The addition nearly doubled the facility’s space and today the Padre Pio Foundation hosts its program within 20+ rooms across more than 10,000 sq ft. Its chapel remains a place of sanctuary, and the expanded workspaces have allowed the organization to focus on its mission: to spread devotion of Padre Pio by sharing his spirituality and teachings.