A local business owner and nonprofit founder is coordinating mixers where other area nonprofit leaders can network to learn from each other.
The first mixer was held last week at The Merk on Commerce Avenue, and around 50 people attended, said event organizer Ariel Largé.
“There were both familiar and new faces that showed up, and a couple brand new organizations,” she said.
Largé founded in 2021 arts nonprofit The Broad Strokes Project, which spearheads murals in downtown Longview, and she also owns Offbeat Antiques and Oddities on Broadway Street.
The Office of Secretary of State reports 111 active Cowlitz County nonprofits are filed with the state, but no local group connects them.
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Small nonprofits can struggle to organize due to the relatively low revenue they gain, Largé added, which was one of the main motivating factors for organizing the mixer.
For local nonprofits, coordinating events together is one way to both cut costs and boost the quality of the event overall, she said. For example, there have been times when two local groups are hosting an event on the same day on different sides of town, when instead they could host two events in the same venue and get twice as much activity.
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‘Sharing knowledge’
Talina Aubian is president of the Giving Tree branch that serves Rainier, Longview and Clatskanie which collects gift donations for children in need on Christmas. Even though it was only the first mixer, Aubian said she was already learning from the other nonprofits.
“We’ve never done grant writing in the 17 years we’ve been around; we just never thought we would qualify, but someone told us that there were grants available for nonprofits like ours,” Aubian said. “We’re all doing the same thing, and we’re trying to help the community by sharing knowledge.”
Shay Marshall is president of Brave at Heart Learning Connections, an educational cooperative for students 8 and older that began in 2023.
“It’s awesome to see that we’re not alone out here and that there are other nonprofits in town with their own missions,” said Marshall.
Starting a nonprofit is a huge undertaking, said Samantha Gilbert, board member at Brave at Heart.
“We need to rub elbows with other people in the community,” she said. “People who are looking to start their own nonprofit could use all the help they can get.”
Largé plans to hold the next nonprofit mixer within three months and wants to broaden the invite to include people interested in forming a nonprofit.
“This can be an opportunity for them to get a feel for what the workload is like, and how they can get involved with existing organizations,” Largé said.
Caleb Barber is a news reporter for The Daily News covering housing and business.
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