County aims to help Nonprofit Center

The Ozaukee Nonprofit Center in Grafton will receive a significant upgrade if it receives the $748,500 state grant being applied for.

The Flexible Facilities Grant Program, or FFP grant, administered by the Wisconsin Department of Administration, utilized federal funds allocated through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.

The Ozaukee County Finance Committee voted last month to approve the grant application on behalf of the Nonprofit Center.

The county is the lead applicant for the grant and is basically a pass-through agency to the Nonprofit Center.

It’s a similar situation the county has had with other nonprofit agencies, such as Family Promise and Ozaukee Advocates, when state or federal funds are being sought by private nonprofits who have similar goals to those of the county, County Administrator Jason Dzwinel told committee members.

“We do a lot of work with nonprofits in the county. They’re very critical to county operations,” Dzwinel said.

The Nonprofit Center is a 42,250-square-foot-building at 2360 Dakota Dr., Grafton, that offers office and meeting space, office equipment and services, including a commercial kitchen, at below-market rates to local nonprofits.

The building currently includes four conference rooms, a workroom with office equipment, including color copier, fax line, postage meter, bulk mail permit, Wi-Fi, conference calling capability, business-class voice and data service, a commercial kitchen and a storage area with secure units.

The Nonprofit Center had its genesis in the mid-1990s when several agencies collaborated to share facilities and services. It moved to its current location in 2021.

According to a memo submitted to county supervisors, the grant funds would be used to renovate “underutilized spaces to accommodate expanded high-speed internet opportunities for community residents to access and use for work, education and virtual healthcare visits.”

That would include equipping three meeting rooms with an immersive conference room webcam, outfitting a large multipurpose space for dual use for educational symposiums that can be divided into 10 concealed workstations, dedicating two rooms for virtual health care visits, creating an outdoor learning center with a raised garden bed and mobile workstations and updating and expanding high-speed internet throughout all those spaces.

More than 20,000 people visit the center each year to receive services from the 13 nonprofits located within the building, the memo said.

“This project aims to enhance community access to additional resources by consolidating them into a single central hub,” according to the memo.

“The meeting rooms will be available for local health-care professionals to conduct educational sessions on mental and physical well-being. Additionally, the outdoor space serves as a conducive environment for small gatherings focused on wellness activities,” according to the memo.

“The dual-purpose meeting room will have the flexibility to host 10 individual workstations all the way up to 175-person

educational symposiums.”

The Nonprofit Center serves an important function, organizers say, citing a recent national study by the Nonprofit Finance Fund, which showed that 31% of nonprofits have less than three months of cash reserves on hand, and 62% of them list long-term financial sustainability as their top operational challenge.

Martha Putnam, executive director of the Nonprofit Center, said the grant is “very competitive,” with a total statewide outlay of only $127 million.

“But I’m always confident” that the center will be awarded the grant, which is being offered for the first time.

But, she added: “As this grant is a new initiative from the state of Wisconsin, we are uncertain about the number of applicants or the level of competition we might encounter.”

If the center is awarded the grant, no county matching funds will be required, Dzwinel said.

“We appreciate the county’s collaboration in applying for this grant, which if awarded will enable us to extend our support to all Ozaukee residents,” Putnam wrote in an email.

“I am grateful for the support of my board of directors as we strive to be an organization that is committed to ambitious and innovative approaches to securing funding for our community’s benefit.”