Lawrence center opens to link nonprofits, benefactors

Help is on the way for Lawrence's nonprofit agencies, organizations that struggle to get adequate resources to sustain some of the community's neediest citizens.

The Grant Resource Center held a ceremony Thursday to mark the opening of the region's first center offering access to expert guidance in linking nonprofits with foundations and corporations offering grant money.

"There are just a plethora of phenomenal charities out there that are just a lifeline to the people in Lawrence," said Joan Kulash, executive director of Jericho Road, one of the center's partners. "This organization is going to help the funders as well as the people in the city at a time when getting money is . . . a precious commodity."

In addition to Jericho Road, center partners include Associated Grant Makers and Northern Essex Community College. Jericho Road pairs the business needs of Lawrence nonprofits with professionals willing to donate time, and is a spin-off of Jericho Road in Lowell, Kulash said. Associated Grant Makers, headquartered in Boston, provides databases, workshops, and professional guidance in grant research and writing, helping foundations and corporations with giving programs and making grants in Massachusetts, said Martha Moore, director of the AGM resource center for philanthropy. The center is funded for the first year by the Stevens Foundation, based in North Andover, said Dawna Perez, associate dean of access and resource development for NECC.

Nonprofit workers can visit the center, in the library at the community college's Lawrence campus, use a grant research database, and have access to trained staff to answer questions. There will also be grant research and writing workshops. All services are free and bilingual library staff will be able to provide help in Spanish, Perez said.

Moore said nonprofit staff often don't have time to come to Boston for a day to get training and then come another day to use the service.

"What they end up doing is . . . doing it the best they can by their tools. They'll use Google for hours on end when they could get much better resources and those targeted specifically for them in half that time," she said.

Peg Duddy, executive director of Si, Se Puede in Lawrence, a neighborhood nonprofit that has an after-school program and other services for area children, said the center will benefit her nonprofit, which has one part-time employee besides herself.

"When I needed to use the AGM office [in Boston], it became an all-day project to get in. Now with it being in Lawrence, it will be absolutely wonderful for us to go over there and do two hours of research and be able to get back," she said.

Mary Marra, executive director of Bread and Roses Housing, a nonprofit developer, said the service is an indication of the spirit of good will.

"On a practical level, it is really going to be a good help but also it's just an affirmation of all the good work that is really happening in the Merrimack Valley and in Lawrence," she said.

Kate Augusto can be reached at k.augusto11@gmail.com.