‘OUR EXISTENCE IS COLLABORATION’: How Nonprofits Support Community

Contributing to the health of every community, nonprofits play a crucial role in the vitality of our city and state’s wellbeing. Idaho is home to a variety of these grassroots organizations, and each provides a singular support and service to our citizenry.

“Nonprofits make life more livable. When you look at the important role nonprofits play in our communities, you recognize that oftentimes they are like the air we breathe,” said Kevin Bailey, who serves as CEO of Idaho Nonprofit Center. The center offers support to 850 nonprofits within the community and is responsible for campaigns like Idaho Gives and Idaho Leads, an executive leadership program that involves a 15-20 person retreat in Cascade and a year-long cohort program.

Together, the two campaigns get to the heart of what helps nonprofits thrive— funding and fuel. Without generous donors and strong leadership, these organizations struggle to survive, which impacts the greater Treasure Valley.

“Our existence is collaboration,” said Maya Duratovic, who serves on the board of Global Ties Idaho, an organization dedicated to sharing our state with the international community. Each year, they welcome around 50 visitors to Idaho with the help of an all-volunteer sta made up of folks from a variety of industries.

Leaders who visit, including people like Margaret Thatcher and Nikolas Sarkozi, get a tour of multiple states during their time in the U.S. and spend between two and seven days in Idaho. “What actually happens is a two-way exchange. International leaders learn from those they visit, but local professionals and leaders also learn from them,” explained Duratovic. “People leave Boise loving it.”

It’s a sentiment we’ve heard again and again, and it is no wonder. With organizations like Boise Nice, who celebrate the sense of comradery Boise has become known for, the community has embraced kindness, a sentiment embodied by the diverse array of nonpro ts who call the Treasure Valley home. And it isn’t just something they say—Boise Nice partnered with Boise State University to record actual statistics relating to the kindness of our community.

If you look, there are signs of it everywhere—the clean streets, doors held open, friendly hellos when you pass a group on the Boise River Greenbelt. Even our Library! is excited to greet you, a building made better by Boise’s Friends of the Boise Public Library, an organization with more than 50 years of service making the library a center of learning, recreation, and information for Idahoans of all ages.

At Global Ties Idaho, there’s a lot of value placed on the two-way exchange of knowledge, information, and kindness too. “International leaders learn from those they visit, but local professionals and leaders also learn from them,” said Duratovic.

Because what is kindness without knowledge? e Idaho Association for the Education of Young Children (IDAEYC) isn’t interested in nding out, and they’re devoted to empowering caregivers and learning from one another too. Idaho is one of a few states that does not fund early childhood education, which puts more pressure on families and other entities to give little ones the tools they need to thrive as they move into the school environment. AEYC provides support and resources for early childhood educators, schools, and daycares, as well as providing resources to families, making sure that the future of our community is healthy and bright.

“The early years of childhood are crucial to a person’s development. And Idaho AEYC helps provide 25 communities around the state with the task of preparing little ones for their lives ahead,” said Nicole Criner, Marketing and Communications Director of Idaho AEYC.

Criner said that collaboration is very important with this task. ey start at the grassroots with communities, and the communities lead how they approach early childhood education. Each partnership looks different in each town and city around the state.

Nonprofits like Camp Rainbow Gold are putting the community first too, and remain focused on evolving to meet the needs of the families they serve. Though they began as a week of camp for kids with cancer, it has evolved into a sibling and family camp too, as well as a scholarship program, a support group for teenagers, and a year round support system for the larger community.

This statewide approach is fairly common for Idaho nonpro ts, and one of the many reasons we celebrate the good work they’re doing. While each of these nonpro ts have a di erent initiative, they all work hard to better our community and support individuals within it. Whether it be these or other nonpro ts in your neighborhood, consider learning more about them, reaping from their good work, and sowing into the wellbeing of one person—or many—through the outlets they provide