Stories

 

Albemarle Foundation Announces Partnership with SHARE Charlotte to Provide Mecklenburg County Nonprofits Access to New SHINE™ Initiative

Written By Michelle Boudin
 

When the Albemarle Corporation, a specialty chemical company, relocated its worldwide headquarters to Charlotte in 2016, the company’s leadership knew they wanted to get involved in the community in a powerful way.  They tasked Sandra Holub, the Executive Director of the Albemarle Foundation, with finding the best way to make the most impact. “When we came here we wanted to make sure that the city knew we were really excited to be here and we wanted to play a positive role.”

The Foundation’s slogan is “Grow the Good” and Holub says when she heard about SHARE Charlotte, she knew the two organizations could do a lot of good together.

“SHARE Charlotte is just an awesome resource for this community. It is a win, win, win. I don’t know how many wins you can put on the end of that sentence! SHARE is a win for the community as a way to get information about nonprofits and it’s a win for us to be involved.”

The Foundation has given away almost $40 million since 2007, working with their employees to decide where to give their money.  This year the Foundation is teaming up with SHARE by sponsoring a new initiative called SHARE SHINE™, a program designed to help Mecklenburg County nonprofits take full advantage of SHARE’s specialized programming. 

SHINE™ is a part of SHARE Charlotte’s evolving partnership model, packaging many of the services they offer to their nonprofit partners into one all-inclusive price. The concept came together after years of closely partnering with hundreds of Charlotte nonprofits, and the design and name for SHINE™ came from working with Wray Ward, a Charlotte marketing firm that awarded SHARE one of their 2019 EmpoWWer grants.  

SHINE™, which stands for SHAREholders in Nonprofit Empowerment, will provide nonprofit participants exclusive access to SHARE’s most valued programs, expertise and services including SHARE-a-Latte (SHARE’s monthly nonprofit networking series), six annual business development workshops, an annual nonprofit summit and early bird opportunities to participate in community events such as VolunBEERing™and #YPMixerCLT.  SHINE’s™affordable annual fee will help sustain SHARE’s ability to support nonprofits at the highest level. 

SHARE Charlotte Executive Director Amy Jacobs explains, “Ever since SHARE created a more powerful way to connect nonprofits with volunteers and funders, we have continued to find ways to support our nonprofit partners and meet their evolving needs.  We are really excited to introduce this new opportunity for nonprofit involvement!”. 

The Albemarle Foundation has committed to donating more than $100,000 to guarantee that SHARE SHINE™ is accessible to all 450+ SHARE Charlotte nonprofit partners for only $250 – half the cost of the packaged services.   

Julie Campbell, SHARE’s Director of Nonprofit Partnerships, says “Our hope is that by packaging our educational and networking opportunities, we have simplified the process of registering and prioritizing these events throughout the year for our nonprofit partners. We believe that the nonprofit community will continue to be strengthened as they meet each other and learn together.  We have countless stories of collaborations that began by one local nonprofit leader meeting another at a SHARE-a-Latte and organically finding an interesting way to partner or share ideas. We are so grateful to Albemarle Foundation for helping us to continue to build on that synergy in the nonprofit community - it’s good for them and for Charlotte.”

Holub says the Foundation, which last year donated almost $3.5 million to Charlotte area causes, is thrilled to be a part of SHARE SHINE™. “We can’t be everything to everybody. There are many great nonprofits so when we think about getting a conduit for Albemarle to touch as many nonprofits as we can, as well as educate our employees and assist them with powering the potential in Charlotte, SHARE is just a great avenue.”

Jacobs adds, “This is our first year offering SHINE™ and we are pleased with the response so far!  We are confident our partners will find value in the program and we are beyond grateful to the Albemarle Foundation - their gift will indeed help “Grow the Good” in Charlotte!”