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Officials cut the ribbon on the Behnken Nonprofit Learning Campus at United Way of Northern Utah's headquarters on Wednesday, March 5, 2025.

Rob Nielsen, Standard-Examiner

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Officials tour the Behnken Nonprofit Learning Campus at United Way of Northern Utah's headquarters on Wednesday, March 5, 2025.

Rob Nielsen, Standard-Examiner

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Ogden Mayor Ben Nadolski speaks at the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Behnken Nonprofit Learning Campus at United Way of Northern Utah's headquarters on Wednesday, March 5, 2025.

Rob Nielsen, Standard-Examiner

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OGDEN — A long-sought space where local nonprofits can collaborate and work is now a reality.

On Wednesday, officials from Ogden City, United Way of Northern Utah, the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, Comcast and several area nonprofits came together in front of United Way of Northern Utah’s headquarters to cut the ribbon on the new Behnken Nonprofit Learning Campus.

Amandi Goodwin-Garstka, director of public relations and marketing for United Way of Northern Utah, told the Standard-Examiner the space allows resource-limited nonprofits in the area to rent out space for their administrative needs.

“The Behnken Nonprofit Learning Campus is a place where nonprofits can come to convene, knowledge-share or some nonprofits can go to rent space where they can have board meetings,” she said. “Sometimes some nonprofits might not have all of the resources. Instead of meeting in a park, for instance, they have a space where they can rent out for free.”

The Behnken Nonprofit Learning Campus includes individual offices that can be utilized by nonprofits as well as meeting rooms and other work spaces. While long-term office space tenants are charged, other nonprofits are able to reserve spaces such as meeting rooms for free.

Goodwin-Garstka noted that the Behnken Nonprofit Learning Campus is a unique space in the United Way system.

“We’re only the second United Way in the nation to adopt this model,” she said. “What’s really special and unique here is that we also have the Zada Haws Grant Center, and this is where nonprofits can search for funding to keep their nonprofit going. … It’s really imperative, really important that we have this space here for Northern Utah because we have a lot of nonprofits here that do a lot of great work and they need access to this type of tool to keep going.”

It was noted during the ribbon-cutting ceremony that the only other similar center in the United Way system is in Houston, Texas.

Currently, a handful of local nonprofits have rented office space in the center, including Ogden Soccer, Ogden Valley Adaptive Sports, Grandparents with Open Arms and People Helping People. However, any nonprofit is able to utilize other spaces within the facility.

People Helping People Executive Director Kathryn Thomas told the Standard-Examiner the nonprofit rented space in the center thanks to a long-standing partnership with United Way.

“We are an employment program that primarily works with low-income women and single mothers, helping them build a support system, the confidence and the employment tools to go to work successfully and reach self-sufficiency,” she said. “United Way has been one of our partners in Northern Utah for a number of years. We are office-ing here as we expand our program into surrounding areas.”

She said the center will give People Helping People several advantages it didn’t previously have.

“It allows us to collaborate with other nonprofits that are in the area — not only in the building in this nonprofit learning center, but also throughout the community,” she said. “It gives us a physical footprint that we can meet with our agency partners, our employment partners and also a home base for our staff and our clients.”

The center received a significant boost from Comcast that helped it come to fruition, said Deneiva Knight, director of external affairs for the Comcast Mountain West Region.

“Comcast is one of the major partners and funders of this project,” she told the Standard-Examiner. “We essentially partnered with United Way to help open this building because of the benefit it will have to nonprofits in the area who are looking for resources in a brick-and-mortar space to be able to serve the Ogden community and, also, statewide. There are some nonprofit partners, for example, who have brick-and-mortars in Salt Lake, but they’re looking to serve northern Utah. They’re able to use this facility to help their members out in the best way that they can and get training and funding that they need here as well.”

She said the Comcast Lift Zone provides Wi-Fi and “privacy pods,” which give users a chance to work and have conversations in a private setting.

Wednesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony also included statements from local and state officials.

United Way of Northern Utah President/CEO Julie Johnson said the new work space will contribute greatly to United Way of Northern Utah’s growing partnerships with local nonprofits.

“With the dedicated space of the Behnken Nonprofit Learning Campus, this work will expand to reach even more nonprofits,” she said.

Ogden Mayor Ben Nadolski said the new facility fits perfectly into the Ogden ethos.

“No single government, no single person, no single business or nonprofit and no single sector is going to lift this community unless we all do it together,” he said. “That’s what the Ogden Way is at its heart — a framework for collaboration and connection. This event, this facility is an opportunity for all of us to connect, but don’t just connect — it’s for all of us to elevate, to do the work that we know how to do and to do it better, to be the kind of people that we are but to always be better.”

For more information on the Behnken Nonprofit Learning Campus, visit https://uwnu.org/ourprograms/nonprofit-connection/what-we-offer.html.