Local nonprofits meet for first monthly coffee chat

Eleven attendees representing over 15 local nonprofits met at Great Plains Family Restaurant on Friday, April 24 at 9 a.m. for coffee and collaboration. The group discussed common needs and challenges for area nonprofits and ways organizations can work together to better serve the community.

Attendees hoped to see several outcomes of the monthly coffee chats, including a shared website with a community calendar, volunteer opportunities page, and shared donation platform. Everyone agreed that the more we can share our human interest stories in local media and work with others to create matching opportunities for donors, the more successful we will be.

The group also discussed and started making plans for $5,000 in grant funds from the Rural Philanthropy Institute to implement a collaborative Mobridge-wide SD Day of Giving campaign. Options discussed included a mailed Nonprofit Impact Report with a form and link to donate by mail or online, yard signs for nonprofit board members that can be updated each year, the report form and stories in the local newspaper and a radiothon on the local radio if possible, coordinated social media marketing, and potentially a matching partner or sponsors.

The next Nonprofit Coffee Chat will be held Friday, May 29 and will focus on volunteer engagement opportunities we can work on together. For more information, please contact Haden Merkel at 605-848-9048.