Submitted Photo Patrick Kirby, president of the North Dakota Association of Nonprofit Organizations, kicks off the association's annual conference in Minot Wednesday, June 3.

For as numerous and diverse as North Dakota’s nonprofits are, they share a tremendous amount in common.

This week, representatives gathered at the North Dakota Association of Nonprofit Organizations 29th annual conference in the State Fair Center in Minot to talk about their shared interests, attend educational workshops and connect with major donor groups. The conference was held Wednesday and Thursday, June 3-4.

NDANO board member Melanie Gaebe, New Salem, said despite the impact nonprofits have in the state, often the public isn’t aware of how much they actually use services of nonprofits.

NDANO’s 2025 sector report listed 3,896 nonprofits in the state, providing 52,848 jobs and $12.2 billion in annual wages in North Dakota.

Patrick Kirby, NDANO president, West Fargo, said the organization was created to bring nonprofits together as a unified voice.

“This is really an organization that does its best to include every perspective to try and find a way to advocate, find a way to educate, find a way to champion the sector as a whole,” Kirby said.

“The heart of what we are doing is being that community hub for the entire nonprofit community, and not just for big nonprofits or little nonprofits, or urban or rural,” Gaebe said. NDANO enables nonprofits of all types to come together and discover issues they can address as a sector, rather than struggle to address individually, she said.

Gaebe said nonprofits currently feel they are on uncertain ground because of challenges with funding, finding volunteers and just keeping momentum going.

Kirby added stressors also come from increased costs, grant restrictions and competition, and finding staff with the talent and professional development to do fundraising. Despite that, the conference reflected an upbeat attitude, with a record number of sponsors and attendees.

“Everyone is unbelievably positive about being in the sector, because they’re doing amazing work. They know they’re doing amazing work, and rallying around each other in an environment like this is the reignition of the passion that is needed every once in a while to remind yourself that you’re doing amazing work and that everybody’s trying to help, and we’re all going through this and you’re not alone,” Kirby said.

“This is a community, and everybody needs community,” Gaebe said, “especially, I think, the newer nonprofits who are just getting into the sector, being able to come in here and find mentorship among their peers.”

NDANO also offers website resources and hosts webinars at low to no cost throughout the year.

In addition, NDANO recognizes those doing good work.

The Walt Odegaard Leadership Award was presented to Coiya Tompkins Inman, a Minot native who serves as president/CEO of the Community Violence Intervention Center (CVIC) in Grand Forks. The award recognized her work with the North Dakota Domestic and Sexual Violence Coalition. Her efforts included strengthening collaboration among organizations, elevating survivor voices and supporting efforts that contributed to an increase in state funding from $3.17 million in 2022 to nearly $12 million in 2025 through the Department of Health & Human Services. With additional investment from the Department of Corrections & Rehabilitation, the total is close to $19 million, NDANO reported.

There were fun stories that happened along the way, Tompkins Inman said, describing a chaotic last minute plane reroute to get to Bismarck and then a scramble with the help of peers to acquire an appropriate wardrobe to testify before legislators. But she also speaks of the support from law enforcement, health care and survivors that helped persuade legislators of the importance of the coalition’s work.

“I do see this as a statewide award and really credit my team at CVIC for a lot of it because several of them worked behind the scenes,” Tompkins Inman said. “Then the true heroes for me are really the survivors that have the courage to let us walk alongside them.”

Tompkins Inman highlighted a member of CVIC’s survivor impact panel who had both experienced and witnessed violence in the home as a child. He received assistance that was both convenient and affordable for his family through a CVIC therapist in his rural school. Now as a father, he is breaking the cycle of violence that had been in his family for generations.

“It just means a lot to know that this work is still going to continue, and that, hopefully, any youth that are impacted by this are only going to be part of the solution,” Tompkins Inman said.

Shani Reisnour of Carrington, with Mya’s Mission Foundation, received the Emerging Leader Award. Reisnour created the foundation in memory of her daughter, who was working through her addiction recovery when she died in 2022.

“We started the foundation to help others get into treatment and get services and to reduce those financial barriers to get into treatment,” she said.

Reisnour gave up her job as a paramedic to devote full-time to building the foundation, which has been active since January 2025.

“I came into this nonprofit world knowing nothing. So, I’m learning,” she said. The conference was an opportunity to soak up knowledge, and Reinour said she looks up to so many in the sector. While she still is trying to absorb the fact her peers see her as an emerging leader, she credits amazing donors and board members for bringing the foundation this far.

“I really feel like we are doing good. A lot of people have heard of us. The last year we spent most of our year doing branding and getting the word out and doing speaking events,” she said.

Now with testimonials from those helped, Reisnour said the foundation is making a difference.

“I think that Mya is guiding me, and that she would be very proud of me. It was in her heart to help people,” she said.

Other awards were:

– Partnership Building Award, Rydell Cars, whose Angels on Wheels program has donated more than 20 vehicles and invested more than $500,000 to support survivors of domestic and sexual violence.

– Legislative Champions, Sen. Sean Cleary, R-Bismarck, and Rep. Jon Nelson, R-Rugby.