The Nonprofit Montgomery Story

The initial impetus for Nonprofit Montgomery! came out of a community meeting organized by IMPACT Silver Spring.  At the meeting, leaders from a number of grassroots nonprofits spoke of their desire to see a more organized nonprofit community that could include established nonprofits as well as emerging groups in diverse communities.  The concept of Nonprofit Montgomery is an interactive network of nonprofits of all types working to promote the collective interests of the nonprofit community as it works to create a just and caring county. 

From 2004 to 2006,  “thought leaders” in the Montgomery County nonprofit community, including Sally Rudney (Montgomery County Community Foundation), Frankie Blackburn (IMPACT Silver Spring), Theresa Cameron (Arts and Humanities Council), Cindy Price (YMCA Youth and Family Services), Becky Wagner (Interfaith Works), and Jayne Park (Asian Pacific American Legal Resources Center) and others, worked through the Nonprofit Action Team to forge a vision of building the nonprofit sector’s collective strength, visibility and influence within the county. 

As a corollary to the Nonprofit Action Team, the Montgomery County Community Foundation spearheaded The Learning Circle, bringing together leaders from nonprofits, government, corporate and private philanthropy, and the nonprofit technical assistance community. Their recommendations remain important guideposts for action across sectors.  The recommendations of The Learning Circle called for the creation of a countywide organization of nonprofits – and thus was born Nonprofit Montgomery in January 2007.