The Junior League of Little Rock is making a home for nonprofit organizations in downtown Little Rock.
The organization is renovating the third floor of its building on Scott Street between Capitol Avenue and Fourth Street to accommodate seven nonprofit groups and 16 employees. The floor will become known as the Junior League of Little Rock Nonprofit Center.
The nonprofits will have access to shared spaces including a conference room, resource center with office equipment, kitchen and reception area.
Housing multiple organizations in one building has several benefits.
"Nonprofit centers help organizations significantly improve their effectiveness and efficiency through cost savings, improved quality of service, improved quality of space, higher visibility in the community and increased collaboration with other organizations," said Lindsey Gray, president of the Junior League of Little Rock.
Junior League members have planned to use the third floor of their building as a nonprofit center since they first purchased it 12 years ago, Gray said.
In that time, at least two other centers offering nonprofit offices have opened in Little Rock.
"That's something that's amazing to us, looking back, is that someone 12 years ago had the vision to see that that would be a need, when these really didn't start popping up until 2009," she said.
Gray said the renovation will cost $350,000.
It is being funded through a capital campaign the Junior League started in 2012 to pay for building maintenance and improvements. Junior League members raised $850,000 through the campaign, which ended May 31.
Construction will start next week, and the center is expected to open in February, said Patty Opitz, administrative vice president for the Junior League.
The Junior League is assembling a committee of league and community members to choose the seven nonprofit organizations to rent the offices.
Jennifer Maune, leader of the nonprofit center committee and a Junior League member, said applications will open in October on the center's website, www.jllr.org/nonprofitcenter.
Rent prices will be below the market rate, but exact prices haven't been set, Gray said.
At a "wall-breaking" ceremony Thursday, members of the Junior League and their supporters took turns smashing holes in a wall with a mallet to signify the beginning of renovations on the building's third floor.
Angie Albright, director of programs for the Arkansas Nonprofit Alliance, said there are 1,812 nonprofit organizations in Little Rock registered with the Internal Revenue Service.
The Arkansas Nonprofit Alliance -- which provides resources, advocacy and networking opportunities to nonprofits across the state -- operates out of an office in the shared space for nonprofit organizations at the Charles A. Frueauff Foundation offices on River Market Avenue.
The Frueauff Foundation offices have space for about four nonprofits, each of which has its office and one or two cubicles outside it.
Albright said most nonprofit centers aren't meant to be a permanent home for organizations.
"It's a great way for small organizations to get off the ground, because you're sharing a lot of expenses," she said. "The goal usually is in all of these types of places, and this one, is that you eventually outgrow the space here."
That's a goal Albright and her co-workers have reached. They will soon move the Arkansas Nonprofit Alliance to a bigger space in the Arkansas Studies Institute.
Another nonprofit center, City Connections Inc., which is located in Cone Building I on West Markham Street in Little Rock, rents to faith-based organizations.
The Junior League nonprofit center will be a multisector center, meaning it will house a diverse group of nonprofits.
"We're not going to be restricted in who we allow in here," Gray said.
Metro on 07/18/2014