West Berkeley Community Investments
Project: Community Benefits Fund
An overview of the West Berkeley Community Investments:
In 2022, Bayer and the City of Berkeley agreed on a 30-year Amended and Restated Development Agreement (ARDA), which provides Bayer with certain development rights and requires investments in the Berkeley community. A portion of these investments is allocated to the West Berkeley Fund to support nonprofit organizations that are working on climate action, health equity, and economic resiliency in neighborhoods adjacent to the Bayer campus.
Why Bayer and the City of Berkeley partnered with Lyons-Newman Consulting:
Following the ratification of the agreement, Bayer and the City of Berkeley required support to set up the West Berkeley Fund Committee, determine fund outcomes, design the request for proposals, solicit interest from qualified organizations, and ultimately facilitate the process for the committee to select organizations to be funded.
The process:
Working in close collaboration with the Bayer community relations team, we first engaged Berkeley leaders to provide input on local needs and funding outcomes. We then supported Bayer and the City of Berkeley to recruit and establish the West Berkeley Fund Committee, which is composed of West Berkeley neighbors and Bayer employees. With input from committee members at every step, we drafted the request for proposals, solicited applications from community organizations, and designed tools for the committee to use to evaluate applications. The committee meetings we facilitated served to enable West Berkeley Fund Committee members to decide on awardees with an eye toward equity and impact. At the end of the cycle, we reflected on the process and identified recommendations for improvements to the process for the next funding cycle.
The results:
At the end of 2022, Bayer and the City of Berkeley announced over $1.5 million in funding for 13 organizations. Seven of these nonprofits were selected by the West Berkeley Fund Committee to receive more than $400,000 over the next three years to address climate action, health equity, or economic resiliency. These organizations include:
Climate Action: Bike East Bay and Waterside Workshops
Health Equity: Healthy Black Families, House of Loving Hands, and Women’s Daytime Drop-in Center
Economic Resiliency: Multicultural Institute and Dorothy Day House