Kim Raff

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Nonprofit executive directors wear many hats. They’re in charge of fundraising, volunteer recruitment and retention, marketing, grant writing and anything else that needs to be done. For many directors, the struggle and burnout are real. High turnover rates make it hard for nonprofits to find consistent leadership, and many fail.

Five years ago, leaders at United Way of Northern Utah laid the groundwork for Nonprofit Connection to help organizations increase capacity by offering training and resources. Nonprofit executives could participate in networking and leadership training, and find access to information to help organizations thrive.

“In February of 2020, we were ready to hit the ground running, we had these incredible plans but you know what happened in 2020. We truly felt like our plans had been hijacked,” said Julie Johnson, President/CEO of United Way of Northern Utah.

Doing a quick pivot, Johnson reached out to banking professionals who agreed to be on a Zoom call with nonprofit leaders, talking about the employee retention credit offered through the IRS. Even with short notice, the Zoom call brought in two dozen nonprofit execs and allowed Nonprofit Connection to get off the ground.

Kim Raff

Fast forward to March 2025 when UWNU, Comcast and other partners joined in a community celebration to open the Behnken Nonprofit Learning Campus as a business incubator for nonprofit organizations. The campus is an extension of all the work that has been done to gather public and private partners, creating a center for resources, training and more.

“We have this physical space that nonprofits can come and use,” Johnson said. “There’s some meeting spaces, there’s a collaborative networking space to use and there’s a drop-in workspace.”

Johnson is glad the program’s evolution happened slowly, maneuvering through COVID and its aftermath. It allowed her and her team to pause, change plans and let things move forward more effectively.

The journey allowed UWNU to learn from its nonprofit partners, developing programs and services they wanted and needed, resulting in a nonprofit start-up incubator to help executives find their footing in a way that’s supported through resources and community leaders.

“We built in the style of being able to collaborate and spend time together that we otherwise would not have done,” she said. “It worked out the way it was supposed to.”

Kim Raff

Along with private and co-working spaces, the Behnken Nonprofit Learning Campus, located at 2955 Harrison Blvd. in Ogden, offers free trainings throughout the year, a monthly newsletter to help nonprofits stay connected, an Executive Director Series that features mentorship and leadership classes, and a grant research station to help directors find funding.

“Last year, we had over $30,000 of value in trainings that were offered to our nonprofits for free,” Johnson said. “When you look at it from the monetary value, that is a savings that nonprofits can put back into the community for the services that they provide.”

One of the benefits of the campus is its ability to offer reduced-rent space for nonprofits so they can have a physical location. Grandparents With Open Arms, the Major Brent Taylor Foundation, Ogden Valley Adaptive Sports, People Helping People and the Ogden Soccer Foundation are located on site. The groups have a three-year lease (with a slight increase in rent each year) to stay on campus as they build a foundation for success.

Kathryn Thomas serves as the executive director of People Helping People, a nonprofit dedicated to assisting single mothers or women with low income by offering mentoring, employment education and coaching. The organization serves more than 1,000 women each year, helping them land meaningful employment and break the cycle of poverty.

“The biggest highlight of working with United Way is this unique business center. With my background in co-working spaces, I understand the importance of connecting with like-minded individuals where there’s energy and community,” Thomas said. “It’s helping everybody grow and support each other, bounce ideas back and forth and share funding sources. It’s that collective effort that resonates with me. In the nonprofit world, there are so many unknowns. It can be a very lonely world when you are operating in that sector.”

Innovative technology is imperative for nonprofits to find success. Comcast ensured that the incubator was equipped with state-of-the-art workspaces that include a Comcast Lift Zone, making sure the organizations can leverage digital tools, like high-speed internet.

“We’ve had a partnership with Comcast for several years,” Johnson said. “We’ve had a Lift Zone that offers free WiFi for anyone in the building. Anyone, like any of our guests, could access the internet if they were attending meetings.”

While creating the incubator’s capital campaign, Johnson met with Comcast officials to see if they would be willing to increase its partnership to support nonprofit groups who would be tenants in the building.

“Comcast loved that idea and wanted to be part of that,” Johnson said. “It’s been an awesome partnership and we’re so appreciative of them.”

Not only did Comcast increase internet access, it invested in the campus’s Nonprofit Connection Center which includes innovative “privacy pods” where leaders access a quiet, professional space to host a Zoom meeting or jump on a phone call.

“The opening of this center marks a significant milestone and Comcast is proud to be a key partner and funder of this impactful project,” said Deneiva Knight, Director of External Affairs for Comcast’s Mountain West Region. “Through our partnership with United Way, we helped bring this vision to life because of the tremendous benefit it brings to nonprofits in the Ogden community and across the state. Many nonprofit organizations now have access to a dedicated brick-and-mortar facility here in Ogden to better serve their members, receive essential training, and secure funding to further their missions.”

Officials from UWNU, Comcast, Ogden City and the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity joined in the ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Behnken Nonprofit Learning Campus on March 5.

Ogden Mayor Ben Nadolski congratulated UWNU on the innovative concept and said the facility creates an opportunity for connection by elevating local nonprofits through vibrant partnerships with public and private organizations. The nonprofit incubator will serve as a launchpad for community-minded organizations fostering innovation and driving social change.

“There are more than 10,000 nonprofits in Utah and about 77% of those have less than a $100,000 operating budget,” Johnson said. “That helps you to see how many there are addressing critical needs in our community, but their operating budgets are so low. There’s such a big need to be able to help them be able to meet their missions and thrive.”

For more information, visit UWNU.org.