Start and Grow Your Non-Profit with the North Charleston Chamber

5265 International Boulevard,North Charleston SC 29418

01 March, 2022

Description

Join the members and business guests of the North Charleston Chamber of Commerce to learn about starting & growing your nonprofit or brand. When: Tuesday, March 1, 2022 at 12pm Where: Hilton Garden Inn Charleston Airport - 5265 International Blvd, North Charleston, SC 29418 What: Join the North Charleston Chamber of Commerce for our monthly Lunch & Learn, featuring Dorothea Bernique and Katie Blomquist. March is designated as our nonprofit month, and these two women are the pinnacle of brand and nonprofit development in Charleston. SPEAKERS Dorothea Bernique with Increasing H.O.P.E. Dorothea Bernique is the founder and Executive Director of Increasing H.O.P.E (Helping Others Prosper Economically) Financial Training Center in North Charleston. Increasing H.O.P.E’s mission is to create financial freedom and stability for local families through education, training, and community development. Increasing H.O.P.E. operates as a one-stop resource, providing integrated services to help people with low- to moderate-incomes grow their savings and achieve financial stability. As an Accredited Financial Counselor, Dorothea has been affectionately called a “financial guru”: since 2005, she and the agency have trained thousands of individuals in the Lowcountry to effectively manage their monies, giving them more choice about life decisions – which, Dorothea says, is the beginning of financial freedom. Increasing H.O.P.E.’s total impact equates to more than $9 million in the community and the region. In 2021, Increasing H.O.P.E. expanded its services and opened its I-HOPE Women’s Business Center; the U.S. Small Business Administration selected the agency to run one of its 20 new Women’s Business Centers across the nation. In addition, Increasing H.O.P.E. is an owner/partner in its new office building, The Opportunity Center, on Rivers Avenue. Dorothea is the Board Chairwoman of the Opportunity Center. In 2021, Dorothea was recognized as one of the leading S.C. Women in Business, in the non-profit category, by Integrated Media of Greenville. She was also chosen to testify about financial literacy before the U.S. Senate’s Special Committee on Aging in January 2022. In addition, Dorothea is a proud veteran of the U.S. Airforce. She and her husband, Christopher, have been married for more than 40 years. They have two children and four grandchildren. Katie Blomquist with Going Places Speaker, coach, social media specialist, and nonprofit strategist, Katie Blomquist uses her current success story as the Founder and Executive Director of the nonprofit, Going Places to teach others the how-to, to create impactful messaging, and navigate the media for maximum fundraising results while creating their own successful nonprofit. Katie has been featured on The Steve Harvey Show, ABC World News Tonight, Nightly News with Lester Holt, and many more. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Going Places and uses her incredible insight to help other leaders create an impact in their communities. Her own story began as a Title 1 elementary school teacher who believed all children have a fundamental right to joy. In the fall of 2016, Katie created an incredibly successful GoFundMe campaign to get all 650 underprivileged children in her school a new bike. The campaign went viral, leading her to raise over $80,000 in three months. In just 4.5 years, Kaite has raised for Going Place over $600,000 so they could provide 2,520 children with a new, custom bike, lock, and helmet, have collected over 1,500 Halloween costumes for children who couldn’t afford one, provided over 1,000 staff members who work in the low-income elementary schools with gifts of joy. Katie is passionate about helping others more effectively define their story and create a nonprofit that moves people to action to get results and have a positive impact on their community." The North Charleston Chamber of Commerce opened its doors in 2016 with a shared vision: We aren’t in this for ourselves; we are in this for our members and the local community. We believe that a Chamber should work for its members; not the other way around. Our focus is on connecting the business owners and professionals of North Charleston with the people and resources they need to grow and run their business. Led by a dedicated and talented team of business owners, the Chamber has grown exponentially in its membership, reach and capabilities in our first official year. As a result, we’ve also expanded our ability to provide the type of benefits, education and mentoring opportunities our members need to significantly improve their business capabilities – and have fun in the process.