Nona Community Partners, a local nonprofit organized by Ryan Thomas, raised and donated $1,000 for the Orlando VA Medical Center at Lake Nona. With the support of the Nona Community Partner members, the total of donated items from their drive was $8,057.24 for the VA.
“Our first community service project, we teamed up with the Lake Nona VA hospital for a clothing drive,” Thomas said. “Our members set up outside of Sam’s Club from 10-6 on Saturday and Sunday during tax-free shopping and handed out flyers with a needs list and asked people to buy something from the list and donate it on the way out.”
The nonprofit group, made up of local business owners, meets for weekly meetings of about 15 members at Graffiti Junktion on Mondays from 8:30-10 a.m. The members sit around three tables pushed together in the burger bar-style restaurant and network for the first 30 minutes, then each week a different member of the team presents their business to the entire group and the other members propose ways to help their business.
At the Monday, Sept. 9 meeting, minutes were read and agreed upon, the quote of the week was read, organization of the next fundraiser began, and member Mikaela Walker gave her presentation about her business as a travel agent. She spoke about the 10 reasons why you should use a travel agent, and afterward member Matt Rosenthal said he had used Walker’s expertise and vacationed in Ireland with her help.
The “family-friendly” style of the meeting hours makes the Nona Community Partners more flexible and appealing to the business owners who are members, said Nicole Finegan, a member of the nonprofit group, during the meeting. During the first half of the meeting, members are encouraged to network; however, it is not required, and the time of arriving at the restaurant is flexible.
Another member of Nona Community Partners, Connie Ortiz, said joining this nonprofit has helped her business through promotion and having a community to rely on for business advice.
Thomas began the industry-exclusive nonprofit as an alternative networking club after moving to Lake Nona from New Hampshire.
“As our group grows, we will do a lot more and eventually make a big difference in Lake Nona,” Thomas said.
Currently, the best way to get involved in the nonprofit is to get a referral from a member. Once accepted into Nona Community Partners, members are required to pay a $600 membership fee that goes toward paying for guest speakers, training, and donations to charities.
The nonprofit is a 501(c)(6) business-based nonprofit under the Internal Revenue Code of the IRS. According to the IRS website, “A business league is an association of persons having some common business interest, the purpose of which is to promote such common interest and not to engage in a regular business of a kind ordinarily carried on for-profit” and must help the business conditions of one or more businesses; however, none of the nonprofit’s revenue can go to a private shareholder.
