Chamber brings nonprofits together for first roundtable

Above: Amanda Roberts from the Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce facilitated a Nonprofit Roundtable on July 23, 2025

By Andrea Bruner, White River Now

Amanda Roberts knows just how vital nonprofit organizations are to a chamber as well as a community as a whole.

She has spent years in grant writing to help businesses and organizations reach their fullest potential, and to this day wears a variety of hats, including her newest as membership engagement specialist at the Batesville Area Chamber of Commerce.

On Wednesday, she facilitated a meeting of the first Nonprofit Roundtable, a new initiative hosted by the chamber designed to bring together local nonprofit leaders to collaborate, coordinate, and strengthen their collective impact.

“I am so excited to bring all of our nonprofit groups together. Our nonprofit community is really the foundation to help families, the elderly, and children in our area,” Roberts said. “Our goal is to figure out what common resources and needs everyone has, so maybe we can leverage for-profit groups here in the area to help our nonprofits, maybe go after grant funding that we as a consortium can leverage bigger dollars for our needs here and really for everybody to learn from each other.”

Approximately 40 people representing 25 different nonprofit organizations turned out for the first roundtable meeting, held at North Heights Church of Christ fellowship hall.

Some of the individuals there wore two hats, such as Bruce Oakley, who said he was not only representing Fellowship Bible Church but also Gallery 246, and Joanna Fulbright, an Adult Ed ESL faculty at the University of Arkansas Community College at Batesville as well as working with the Ozark Foothills Literacy Project.

There were new organizations there, like 100 Families, which started last September, and the Batesville Homeschool Co-op, which is just getting started, as well as nonprofits that have been around for decades, including Network of Community Options and Arkansas Sheriff’s Youth Ranches (which were established in the 1970s), and the Alpha Center, Alzheimer’s Arkansas, Batesville Help and Hope and Family Violence Prevention (which were established in the 1980s), to name a few.

“I think our nonprofit members of the chamber are so vital a foundation to everything in our community, and I am so glad we are here together,” she said.

Chris Hill, chamber communications director, echoed Roberts’ words, saying, “We exist to help you guys.” He outlined some of the ways the chamber can help nonprofits:

· Including news/events in the chamber’s weekly newsletter which is emailed to all chamber members;

· Featuring events on the community calendar, which is both on the chamber website and app;

· Highlighting member events, news and promotions across the chamber platforms;

· Printing mailing labels with current member addresses;

· Dedicated email blasts.

He also said the city has its own Advertising and Promotions Commission that is now “incentivizing people to host events.” Basically, event grants are available for groups that host events bringing in at least 10 hotel guests, with grants doubling during the Christmas/winter season.

In addition, Hill created a forum for nonprofits – for information, call the chamber at 870-793-2378. This will be a place dedicated to organizations so they may collaborate and share announcements, programs, etc.

Oakley said there are community art and culture events like the Renaissance Fair, Artoberfest and the Plein-on-Main open-air live painting competition that draw visitors, but there are several agencies that host some kind of race, like 5Ks, Glow Runs and Color Runs.

Autumn Ravisconi, director of Our Father’s Table, which has been operating in Batesville for the past 10 years, said they were recently “elevated in community service” in that high school students needing community volunteer hours before graduation could get some of those at their soup kitchen. Furthermore, she said they are also working on certification to take individuals needing community service hours from the Division of Community Correction-Arkansas Probation and Parole.

Roberts noted that service hours are a requirement for high school students. As part of the LEARNS Act, Arkansas high school students must complete a minimum of 75 hours of community service to graduate, starting with the graduating class of the 2026-2027 school year.

Roberts said she would be compiling a list of those attending the first roundtable meeting and what their organization does or offers, and she would be sharing a list of community organizations with the local school districts to help students attain their service hours.

“You all need volunteers, all day, every day,” Roberts said.

She also said she hopes to hold roundtable meetings quarterly and would also be sending a survey to attendees to learn more about their top issues or obstacles.

Roberts said her background is in grant writing and recognized Jan Smith, director at White River Planning and Development District. “They are phenomenal at what they do and their grant work. We’ve talked about things like transportation – I think that’s one of those common things that everybody could agree (is a need).”

She said after surveying the biggest challenges, she hopes to collaborate with WRPDD about possible ways to tackle them.

She also encouraged when nonprofits submit news and events for the chamber newsletter, to include a small “wish list” of ongoing wants and needs

For more information about the roundtable or future meetings, email Roberts at membership@batesvilleareachamber.com.

Images from Wednesday night’s Nonprofit Roundtable by Andrea Bruner, White River Now