WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) – Organizations that serve and meet the needs of the community also have needs themselves.
HandsOn Northwest North Carolina is a nonprofit with a mission to support other nonprofits.
It provides training and development resources to 500 nonprofits in Forsyth, Surry, Stokes, Davie, Davidson, and Yadkin Counties.
“We really want to be a one-stop shop for people who are looking to get involved in their communities – whether that’s as an individual volunteer, a company or a small business that wants to mobilize their employees or, somebody who is really interested in getting their own nonprofit off the ground or bringing it to scale,” Executive Director Amy Lytle said.
Ellen Forbes knew she wanted to give back to her community.
She founded One Love Strong Foundation to help families navigate difficult childbirth experiences.
Since working with HandsOn Northwest North Carolina, she has been able to staff the nonprofit’s board, complete paperwork and earn grants.
What she learned during a recent class on grant writing will impact her team’s ability to serve.
“I take the knowledge that I learn and tell my board about that knowledge. It’s like I’m training them while I’m getting trained,” Forbes said.
Kate Storhoff also found support through HandsOn Northwest North Carolina.
She went through the nonprofit’s Women’s Emerging Leadership Program as an employee with Bookmarks.
The experience gave her the confidence to approach her work with the literary arts nonprofit in different ways.
“So many of the people at nonprofits, we just kind of fall into these roles and our training into different areas and we don’t get a lot of hands-on leadership training,” Storhoff said. “But this program gave that to us in a way that was so accessible and so practical. I can immediately take it back and start changing how I thought about things.”
Funding from The Winston-Salem Foundation supports operations and programming that HandsOn Northwest North Carolina offers.
The nonprofit plans to move to a new location at the Intergenerational Center for Arts and Wellness later this year.
“We are excited because we can bring more partners into this space,” Lytle said. “We can bring volunteers in this space to help support the programming, the collaborative intergenerational programming that’s going to happen here, as well as bringing some of those 500 other nonprofits to use and enjoy and get the benefit out of this space.”
Those interested in finding volunteer opportunities or making a donation to HandsOn Northwest North Carolina can get started online.
