For 15 years Breaking Barriers Community Services Center has provided support services and transportation to and from medical appointments for low- and moderate-income Sacramentans with catastrophic diseases.

Then the economy tanked and the State and County began cutting funding. In response, Breaking Barriers has teamed up with Golden Rule Services, a local minority based nonprofit organization committed to addressing the disproportionate rates of HIV/AIDS in People of Color communities, by sharing office space and administrative resources.

Breaking Barriers also worked with the NorCal AIDS Challenge, an organization that raises funds large amounts of money for local HIV charities by presenting a three day cycling fundraiser, to become an independent organization. “For people in at-risk communities these services are life and death,” said Stephen Blakley, board treasurer of Breaking Barriers “Whenever there is a risk to services we are committed to doing everything in our power to help.”

For an equal number of years Ride & Shine offered disabled children and adults the chance to build physical and emotional strength by working with horses in El Dorado County. With donations plummeting, feed and veterinary costs skyrocketing, and clients cutting back on what they could pay for services the agency was struggling.

This summer, with bills piling up, the nonprofit group’’s board of directors pondered closing. Instead, they turned to another charity with similar goals, and found new life.

Ride & Shine is now part of the Grace Foundation, a horse rescue organization based in El Dorado Hills.

“We were in bad shape, but we just didn”t want to let this program go,” board member Ed Kaufmann said. “Grace seemed like a perfect fit.”

Across the region and the state, as nonprofit groups struggle to stay afloat, many are turning to one another for survival. Collaborations, partnerships and mergers are becoming more and more common, said Ann Lucas, executive director of the Nonprofit Resource Center in Sacramento.

“It’’s the new reality,” Lucas said. “People are having to find new ways to be efficient and effective with less money, and these alliances are part of that.”

When Wonder Inc., a mentoring program for foster youth, was having trouble meeting expenses because of state budget cuts and a drop in donations last year, it approached Sierra Adoption Services, now known as Sierra Forever Families. Sierra acquired Wonder in July.

“We are one of the organizations that has remained economically healthy, so we were happy to be able to assist another group that helps families,” said Sierra spokeswoman Sara Hanson. “It’’s worked out very well for both of us.

“There are more than 6,000 nonprofits in our area, and many of them service the same segment of people,” Hanson said. “So it makes sense that we would work together on ways to share resources and collaborate.”

For Women’’s Empowerment, which helps homeless women find housing and jobs, partnerships “are central to the way we do everything,” said spokeswoman Amber Stott. “We don”t want to duplicate services that already are available in the community, so we look for groups with shared missions.”

Women’’s Empowerment works with the nonprofit Rudolf Steiner College to provide parenting classes; with CARES for HIV education and testing; and with UC Davis Extension for classes in nutrition and cooking, among many other partners, Stott said.

Before aligning with Grace, Ride & Shine was suffocating from a combination of declining donations and increasing costs, said board member Marlene Price. “We were operating month to month, trying to pull everything together,” she said. “Looking at the long range, we did not see things getting much better. So to keep things intact, we really had to reach out.”

The Grace Foundation has suffered the effects of the shaky economy as well but pays no rent at its ranch, which sits on 600 acres owned by developer Angelo K. Tsakopoulos. Grace was able to absorb the smaller Ride & Shine with few complications, said Beth DeCaprio.

Ride & Shine horses, staff members and supplies have moved to the ranch in El Dorado Hills, and the smaller group’’s board of directors will advise the Grace board. Ride & Shine clients will be able to take advantage of Grace’’s educational, counseling and other programs.

Julie McBride, director of programs for Grace, said Ride & Shine brings something to the table, too. “We”re just starting our fourth year, so our program is very new and very small. Ride & Shine had some years behind it and a wonderful reputation, so we”re all excited about this.

“It’’s a necessity in these times for nonprofits to come together and support each other,” she said. “We”re more powerful when we work together.”

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3. What is the Role of Nonprofits in the Economic Recovery?

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