Sometimes the idea for an organization begins with a personal turning point. For Jonathan Gardner, it was a moment that changed the way he thought about opportunity, careers, and the role relationships play in opening doors. That realization eventually led to the creation of GardHouse in 2019, an organization built on the belief that talent and hard work matter, but access to opportunity often begins with connection. 

After moving to Charlotte for law school, Jonathan found himself pursuing a role that aligned with his desire to work at the intersection of community, students, and business. When he was initially passed over for the position, he was told he lacked the necessary experience. Later, he learned the person who had been hired instead had secured the opportunity through a family connection. 

“The connections that you make while in college, as well as those that you just have in life, are extremely important for you to leverage when you’re trying to find an opportunity.” 

The realization helped shape the foundation of GardHouse. While education, skills, and hard work matter, Jonathan recognized that access to professional networks often plays an equally important role in determining who gets opportunities and who gets left behind. 

Today, GardHouse works to bridge that gap by helping college students gain meaningful work opportunities, expand their networks, and build the social capital needed to successfully launch their careers. 

“No college student is going to college just to be in college,” Jonathan shared. “They’re going for a job.” 

Growing Professional Confidence 

While internships are one of GardHouse’s most visible programs, Jonathan believes the organization’s impact goes much deeper than helping students secure work experience. 

At its core, the work is about confidence, communication, relationship building, and helping students learn how to navigate professional environments. 

One story that stands out involved a student who entered the program quiet, reserved, and hesitant to speak up. Through his internship experience and coaching, he learned how to navigate difficult conversations, communicate effectively, and advocate for himself. After graduating, he successfully negotiated a starting salary of nearly $100,000. 

For Jonathan, that outcome represents what GardHouse is really working toward: helping students develop the skills, confidence, and relationships needed to create opportunities for themselves long after graduation. 

That same philosophy is shaping the organization’s next chapter. GardHouse is currently developing Career Launch, a new initiative designed to help students build professional skills, confidence, and networking experience before they ever begin applying for internships. 

Inspired by what Jonathan describes as “pressurized environments,” the program will create opportunities for students to practice navigating real-world workplace situations before the stakes are high. Through hands-on learning, coaching, and relationship-building, Career Launch is intended to help students strengthen the soft skills, confidence, and professional instincts that often determine whether opportunity becomes accessible in the first place. 

Many nonprofit organizations rely on strong board members to help advance their mission and strengthen their impact. Yet for those interested in serving, it can be difficult to know where to start, what to expect, or how to find the right fit.

Social Venture Partners Charlotte is hosting Nonprofit Boards: Get Engaged, a free virtual workshop designed for anyone interested in learning more about nonprofit board service.

Led by SVP Partner Denise Burkard and SVP Charlotte Executive Director Kristin Winkle Beck, this session will provide an introduction to effective board service, including key responsibilities, what to expect as a board member, and how to evaluate potential opportunities. Participants will also learn eight important questions to ask before accepting a board position.

Whether you’re exploring your first board role, looking for a new way to engage in your community, or considering your next opportunity to serve, this workshop will help you approach board service with greater clarity and confidence. Join us to learn what effective board service looks like and how you can put your skills and experience to work in support of local nonprofits.

Nonprofit Boards: Get Engaged

• Monday, June 29, 2026
• 7:00–8:30 PM ET
• Virtual

Register HERE.

This workshop is free and open to community members, professionals, volunteers, and anyone interested in supporting nonprofit organizations through board service.

Consistency in Action

For Lisa Mathews, Executive Director of The Bulb, it starts with something simple: knowing food will be available today, next week, and next month.

Earlier this year, The Bulb received SVP Charlotte’s Investee Grant, which provides multi-year funding and capacity building support. During our recent Partner Social at The Innovation Barn, our donor volunteers had the opportunity to learn more about the organization’s approach to food access and meet the people behind the work. In a follow-up conversation, Executive Director Lisa Mathews shared additional insight into the lessons, challenges, and opportunities that continue to shape The Bulb’s growth.

For nearly a decade, The Bulb has increased access to fresh produce through a network of barrier-free mobile markets operating across Charlotte. At the center of that work is a commitment to consistency.

“When people think about food access, they often think about food supply,” Lisa shared. “But one of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is that access depends just as much on consistency. Families need to know where food will be available, when it will be there, and that it will still be there next week.”

That philosophy shapes how The Bulb operates its markets. Locations, schedules, and timing are intentionally designed to fit within the routines of the communities they serve. Some markets are coordinated around school pickup times. Others are hosted alongside healthcare providers, creating opportunities for community members to access fresh produce with other essential services.

The goal is not simply to provide food in moments of need, but to create a dependable resource that families can rely on week after week. Consistency extends beyond market schedules. It also shows up in the relationships that sustain the work.

When asked what gives her hope right now, Lisa pointed to the way Charlotte responds when challenges arise.

“People showed up. They volunteered. They donated. They shared resources. They checked in on neighbors,” she said. “Charlotte is at its best when neighbors step up for neighbors.”

That spirit was visible during the SVP Partner Social itself. As attendees learned about The Bulb’s efforts to collect and reuse clean produce clamshell containers and egg cartons, several Partners returned with donations before the evening had even concluded. It was a simple reminder that meaningful contributions come in many forms.

As The Bulb looks ahead, much of the organization’s focus is centered on strengthening the systems that support its growing impact.

“Over the last several years, we’ve seen more families attend markets, more volunteers get involved, more food move through our programs, and more organizations reach out looking to partner,” Lisa explained. “We’re incredibly grateful for that growth, but it also creates new demands on a small team.”

Like many nonprofits, The Bulb navigates challenges of ensuring that the organization behind the work grows alongside the need for its services. Building sustainable systems and strengthening operations are all part of preparing for the next chapter.

“The goal isn’t simply to do more,” Lisa shared. “It’s to make sure we can continue doing this work well, consistently, and sustainably for years to come.”

As The Bulb looks toward that next chapter, those conversations are part of what makes the organization’s new partnership with SVP Charlotte especially meaningful.

“The funding SVP provides is absolutely valuable,” Lisa said, “but what excites both our board and staff most is the opportunity to learn alongside people who bring different expertise, perspectives, and experiences to the table.”

While the partnership is still in its early stages, both organizations are beginning conversations about how SVP’s network of skilled volunteers and advisors can help support The Bulb’s long-term goals.

The Bridges Are Already Built 

Reflections on Connection, Coalition, and Community from the SHARE Charlotte Community Impact Summit

by Brandi Cagle 

Last week, SVP gathered alongside nonprofit leaders, community partners, creatives, and changemakers from across Charlotte for the 2026 SHARE Charlotte Community Impact Summit. Throughout the day, conversations moved across topics ranging from civic engagement and food insecurity to creativity, collaboration, and community leadership. Yet despite the variety of speakers and sessions, many of the conversations seemed to return to the same underlying question: in a rapidly growing city, how do we remain connected to one another? 

Charlotte continues to grow at an extraordinary pace. During the summit, Tracy Russ noted that the region has now surpassed three million residents, with more than 54,000 newcomers arriving over the past year alone. At the same time, civic participation and social connection continue to decline nationally, while loneliness has reached historic levels. That tension between growth and connection created an important backdrop for many of the day’s conversations. 

One panel that especially embodied those themes featured several of Charlotte’s eastside leaders, moderated by journalist Tonya Jameson, including Ann Gonzales of the Carolinas Asian-American Chamber of Commerce, Greg Ascuitto of CharlotteEAST, and Manolo Betancur of Manolo’s Bakery. Their conversation centered around cultural connection, coalition-building, and what it truly takes to build trust within communities. 

At one point, Greg spoke about the importance of simply knowing your neighbor. Starting small. Neighbors helping neighbors. Tonya emphasized that consistency in community work is what builds trust over time. Manolo reflected on the importance of shifting from “I” to “We,” acknowledging that collective thinking does not always come naturally within American culture, where individualism often takes center stage. 

When asked what still prevents stronger collaboration and partnership-building, Manolo’s response drew a visible reaction from the room. He named four barriers: love, identity strongholds, fear, and jealousy. Honest answers like that seemed to create space for more honest conversations throughout the day. 

Another powerful moment from the panel centered around last fall’s ICE raids across Charlotte, which heavily impacted East Charlotte’s Hispanic community. As an East Charlotte resident myself, I remember the daily visuals and tension surrounding those moments vividly. Manolo’s Bakery became a gathering place for support, advocacy, and solidarity during that time, but as the panelists shared, the response stretched far beyond one neighborhood. People from across Charlotte showed up. The phrase used to describe that collective response was a “huge army of angels.” 

What struck me most was that the conversation never framed community support as charity or performance. It was about showing up for one another and resisting the fear of “intruding” into communities different from our own. One of the most powerful lines shared during the summit came from Manolo himself: “We have so many bridges built. It isn’t that. We need people to take the risk and cross those bridges.” 

That sentiment carried naturally into the launch of fftc:FWD, a new civic empowerment and engagement initiative from Foundation For The Carolinas’ Robinson Center for Civic Leadership. The initiative is designed to help people better understand community issues, discover who is already doing meaningful work across Charlotte, and more easily connect with opportunities for engagement and action. 

One phrase shared during the presentation captured that spirit well: “We need more of us to move us.” 

Rather than positioning civic engagement as something reserved for institutions or experts, the initiative emphasized collective participation and shared responsibility. In a city growing as quickly and dynamically as Charlotte, that framing felt especially timely. 

One of the most thoughtful aspects of fftc:FWD was its intentional integration of local artists into the initiative’s issue-based storytelling. Artists were commissioned to visually interpret topics ranging from housing and economic mobility to sustainability, healthcare, education, transportation, and AI. The artwork gives those issue areas emotional texture instead of presenting them as sterile categories. In a space so often driven by metrics, systems, and terminology, it felt meaningful to see creativity positioned as part of the civic conversation itself. 

That same intersection between systems and lived experience surfaced again during a discussion on food insecurity led by Tina Postel, CEO of Nourish Up. Her remarks challenged the false belief that food insecurity exists only within houseless populations. In reality, many working families quietly experience food insecurity every day while balancing rising costs of housing, healthcare, transportation, and childcare. 

She emphasized that it is not simply an availability issue, but an issue of access and distribution. More importantly, she reminded the audience that food, healthcare, education, and housing are all interconnected. None of these challenges exist in isolation. 

One statement she shared truly felt aligned with the broader spirit of the summit: “The goal should be to put ourselves out of business.” It was a simple but powerful reminder that nonprofit work, at its core, is about building healthier and more sustainable communities over the long term. 

What I appreciated most about the summit was its continual return to participation. Not perfection. Not expertise. Participation. Give. Volunteer. Advocate. Know your neighbor. Cross the bridges that already exist. 

Even the creative moments woven throughout the day reflected that spirit. Through partnerships facilitated by Charlotte Is Creative, the summit opened with a performance by Phoenix Down RPG featuring Umoja (“unity”) by composer Valerie Coleman, symbolizing the interconnected ecosystem of nonprofits, foundations, donors, community organizations, and residents all existing within the same community ecosystem. 

And the closing moment may have captured the spirit of the day best of all. 

Led by my dear friend Zacch Estrada-Petersen, Founder and Director of the Brighter Day Community Choir, the audience was invited to gradually build rhythm and voice together through the song “Lean on Me.” After a full day of conversations about trust, loneliness, coalition-building, food insecurity, civic participation, and connection, it felt like a fitting close. 

Not because everyone in the room shared the same perspectives or experiences, but because the summit continually reinforced a simple truth: stronger communities are built when people choose to show up for one another. 

We’re excited to share SVP Charlotte’s 2025 Impact Report.

Each year, this report offers a moment to step back and reflect on how SVP shows up alongside nonprofits across the Charlotte community. In 2025, that looked like funding, skilled volunteer support through Spark Teams, and the continued growth of SEED20, all working together to strengthen nonprofit organizations and the communities they serve.

It’s also a look at what happens when partners bring their time, expertise, and networks to the table. Across our work, SVP Charlotte served 41 nonprofits, contributing to a growing network of organizations working toward stronger outcomes for our community.

What You’ll See in This Report

This year’s report highlights both the work that took place and what continues to build from it, from hands-on strategic support through Spark Teams to increased visibility and funding opportunities through SEED20.

SVP partners contributed 286 hours of skilled volunteer support this year, working directly with nonprofits on strategy, operations, and growth. That kind of support doesn’t just move projects forward, it helps organizations build the capacity to sustain and deepen their impact over time.

View the Report:

THANK YOU to our partners, nonprofit leaders, and community members who make this work possible.