"Public-Private Partnerships"—L.A. Shares

by Beth Regula-Thompson

Are public-private partnerships the wave of the future, as current political rhetoric suggests? I know of one partnership that certainly makes a good case for this trend. It is a materials exchange facility that benefits nonprofit organizations in Southern California. L.A. Shares is a nonprofit organization, based in Los Angeles, that began as part of the city's Cultural Affairs Department's efforts to assist artists in obtaining materials. Advantages to the community were quickly realized and in 1993 the program expanded to serve both educational institutions and nonprofits in L.A. County with much more than simply art supplies.

While the logistics get tricky, the basic idea is simple. When a donor business has material that can be reused, it calls L.A. Shares to schedule a pickup. Toyota supplies trucks to L.A. Shares for retrieval of the donated items from donors. The items then are stored in one of several warehouses donated by the City of Los Angeles and the Port of Los Angeles. Donors benefit from this arrangement in several ways: they save on their waste disposal costs, they use a receipt from the donation as a tax deduction, and perhaps most importantly, they are presented with an opportunity to contribute to their community.

Material donors include corporations, companies, and industries that donate reusable items, supplies, and equipment. Examples of generous donors include Bank of America, Petersen Publishing, Dupont, A&M Records, Nordstrom, IBM, Warner Brothers, AT&T, Home Depot, Northrup Grumman, Sony Pictures, BBDO and Southwest Mill & Lumber, and hundreds of other businesses throughout Los Angeles County. Grants from local and national corporations and foundations, as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, help to cover operating expenses.

The recipients in this program are nonprofit and educational institutions who register with L.A. Shares to receive materials. Recipients include: Boys and Girls Club of Hollywood, Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Camp Max Strauss for critically ill children, Organization of the Needs of the Elderly, Habitat for Humanity, El Centro del Pueblo, the San Fernando Valley Child Guidance Clinic, Inner-City Arts, Japanese American National Museum, and thousands more nonprofit organizations and schools across Los Angeles County. The only requirements are that they prove their nonprofit status, and that they are grateful.

Several days a week are set aside as shopping days for these recipients. At designated times they can come to the warehouses and browse for needed materials. Information located next to the item in the warehouse lets the recipient know who donated the material. Within a week, the recipient of the goods is required to send a thank you note to the donating business. A copy of this thank you letter is also sent to L.A. Shares, verifying that the recipient has fulfilled their part of the agreement.

Many public and private organizations benefit from this splendid arrangement. L.A. Shares has provided more than 2,500 nonprofit organizations and schools in Los Angeles County with over $10million worth of donated equipment and supplies. The program has prevented more than 1,500 tons of perfectly good "reusables" from ending up in landfills while helping businesses save thousands of dollars in disposal fees. In addition, L.A. Shares has given over 700 businesses the opportunity to be good corporate citizens and receive tax deductions for their contributed goods.

While L.A. Shares provides many benefits to nonprofit organizations, schools, and businesses throughout the Los Angeles region, it also plays a valuable role in promoting the concept of reuse. "The environmental community has done a great job educating the public about recycling,'' explained Bert Ball, Executive Director of L.A. Shares, "but there has been very little emphasis on reuse and source reduction." As more local reuse programs such as L.A. Shares are established throughout the state, perhaps reusing materials will be as common as recycling is today. For more information on L.A. Shares, contact Bert Ball at (213) 485-1097.

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Last updated: February 27, 2008