Nonprofit Village in Midtown aims to cut costs, attack basic needs for mission-based groups

An area investment firm has opened a new collaborative working space to help support Kansas City’s vast network of nonprofits.

Led by Jon McGraw and Mehgan Flynn, 31w31 investment group launched the Nonprofit Village, a 6,300-square-foot space at the recently-renovated historic building at 31 W. 31st St.

The village hopes to soothe the pervasive challenge that Kansas City’s more than 7,000 nonprofits face with high rent costs and access to basic business amenities, Flynn said.

“Jon McGraw and I have spent years leading and volunteering for nonprofit organizations and noticed that a lot of time at critical meetings is eaten up by conversations around basic needs — affordable office, meeting and event space,” Flynn said. “The idea behind the Nonprofit Village is to assist with capacity building, meeting the baseline needs of these organizations so they can focus their time and resources on fulfilling their respective missions.”

In addition to offering affordable office space with all-inclusive amenities, the Nonprofit Village will offer tenants an event space, conference room, open coworking loft, digital print station and storage. Virtual offices and meeting and event packages are also available.

Five nonprofits are already a part of the village, including Global and Multicultural Education, KC Jazz ALIVE, KIDZ Just Wanna Have Fun, Steps of Faith and GUILDit.

“We hope this community of nonprofits will find ways to collaborate with each other, share ideas and best practices to increase efficiencies,” Flynn added. “Before we were open we saw evidence of this just on our hard-hat tours. When two or more organizations toured together they almost always started asking questions about how the other handles a particular situation they were currently facing.”

There are thousands of nonprofits in Kansas City that can benefit from such a space, said Susana Bruhn, founder and executive director of GUILDit.

“An advantage of being at the Village is that beyond the coworking space, organizations can share ideas, resources, and services,” she said. “It fosters opportunities to learn and support each other, whether through casual conversations or collaborations.”

Prices vary from $150 per month for a drop-in pass to $600 per month for a private office that fits up to five people. For more information on office or event space information, contact Mehgan Flynn at info@31w31.org

Check out the space with the gallery below.