Local nonprofits are getting larger and more professional in their operation, and at least one for-profit business – a bank – is taking notice of the change and its potential.

National Bank of Arizona is seeking to take the lead in establishing links to the expanding nonprofit sector. It is establishing an advisory board that can serve as a guide for ways to strengthen ties, offering legal, accounting, banking and marketing support for these organizations as they expand.

"We want to be the bank for nonprofits," said Shirley Laughlin, vice president of corporate sales for the Phoenix-based bank with four branches in Tucson. "We want to find out their needs, so we can meet them."

It’s a way to make a difference for the community, she said.

"We want to give back to the community to help them to do what they want to do," Laughlin said.

It’s also a chance to establish leadership in a large and growing sector of the Tucson economy, Laughlin noted.

"Except for restaurants, there’s no local industry that’s larger," Laughlin said. There are 2,200 to 2,500 nonprofits, locally, she said. "In many respects, they’re no different than for-profits. Some are small, operating on a very tight budget," but others are not. "They’re running big balances. They have broad missions that we can help them to meet."

Although it’s more evident among the larger nonprofits, professionalism has become a dominant trend at all levels, as donors press for more accountability, said Steve Alley, chief executive officer of the Community Foundation for Southern Arizona.

"All of us are being asked to show the effect we’re having," Alley said.

With more nonprofits serving more diverse needs, he said.

"It’s part of the natural maturation of the sector," Alley said. "There’s a growing desire to ask what we want to be when we grow up."

Looking beyond the immediate needs of the organization, "many are thinking about the next level."

There are greater expectations from donors to deal with, too, Alley said. "There’s more emphasis on documentation, to show not just what you’re doing, but to show that it’s being done right," Alley said.

The community foundation, along with the United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona, has been trying to help that process, Alley said.

"We’ve been encouraging them to ask more questions and think more about what they’re doing," Alley said.

Pauline Hechler said, "I hope that’s the case."

As vice president of development of the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona and president of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Hechler said she’s seen an increasing need to consider more sophisticated investments and priorities.

"I’ve been working in the nonprofit sector for 20 years, and I’ve seen an evolution," she said. "I’ve seen more standard practices and more standard application of ethical practices, and better coordination between fundraising and accounting, which is making a difference in outcomes."

Although nonprofits are "about changing people’s lives and not about dollars," Hechler said, "There are many perspectives that are the same."

With entrepreneurs entering the nonprofit sector, with organizations such as Social Venture Partners, she said, "It’s possible to bring the best of both worlds together, working in harmony."

That’s not to say that the process is always easy, said Bonnie Kampa, executive director of Interfaith Community Services. In her five years leading the organization, a collaboration of Tucson area churches, she said they’ve had to change the board’s leadership, improve staff training, transform information technology and implement new procedures to reinforce the consistency of the services offered, to meet donor expectations, "and we’ve had to do it all at the same time."

Kampa said it’s been a challenge to keep up with the expense.

"It’s also been a challenge to do it without losing the grassroots, volunteer-centered culture of the organization," Kampa said.

Bigger is good, because it means helping more people, she said, "but you don’t want to grow at the expense of the relationships. They need to stay strong and active."

Kampa said their relationship with the for-profit sector is growing.

"It’s building, but it still has a ways to go," Kampa said. "We’re talking and seeing how we can partner, because we’re excited about the opportunities that lie in front of us."

Ultimately, she said, "it’s about creating a different type of organization," but keeping the best of what created and sustained it for 22 years. "We had to keep focuses on what we’re all about, and that’s serving people. If we can keep that focus, we’ll be fine."