In May of 2021, we announced Shalom Farms as the first recipient of our 2021 PIP Nonprofit Award. PIP stands for ‘People Inspiring People’ and was established in 2018 as an intentional outreach initiative to make a positive impact in the community and influence others to do the same.

We were also able to match five other nonprofit finalists with our 2021 PIP partners (lovingly called “Pipsters”): Journey Seven, Leap Innovative Group, Good Run Research, Lewis Media Partners, Feedback and TechArk. This means six nonprofit organizations received more than $100,000 worth of pro bono support to help them plant seeds of greatness, further their missions and create impact! In addition, the Pipsters were able to put on a summer workshop series geared toward specific needs of all 35 nonprofit applicants.

Congratulations to the following 2021 PIP Award recipients and a special thanks to our PIP partners who supported them:

JobsRVA aims to provide all people with an opportunity to better their lives and improve their skills in the workplace. They work with underemployed and unemployed individuals from varying histories, experiences and backgrounds and partner with local nonprofits and houses of faith seeking to host job training classes. Even more, they help to inspire participants and instill in them a sense of hope and confidence that they can successfully return to the workforce. In an effort to further their impact, JobsRVA partnered with Leap Innovation to evolve their brand using strategic creative marketing.

The Monticello Area Community Action Agency has a mission to improve the lives of people with low income by helping them become self-reliant, thereby enhancing the economic vitality and well-being of their community. MACAA serves the City of Charlottesville and the Counties of Albemarle, Fluvanna, Louisa and Nelson, with most programming focused on education, economic empowerment and health equity for families at or below 125% of the federal poverty level. MACCA worked with Good Run Research to benefit from their experience in delivering creative, custom and qualitative solutions in hopes of deep diving into the data and identifying new ways to better serve the community.

The Free Clinic of Powhatan provides medical services to uninsured, low-income adult residents in Powhatan County. Thanks to some incredible support from community partners, foundations, donors and volunteers, they just recently were able to open the doors to a new facility offering a fully equipped lab, two medical exam rooms, two mental health counseling rooms and a two chair dental clinic for on-site dental care. Now they are looking to better understand their audience – both their needs and how they receive information – so they can do even more to empower individuals to be a part of managing their health. Feedback, a research company that provides consumer insights, jumped in to help develop the right market research program to provide a comprehensive look at their audience.