EmpoWWering Charlotte: Meet Our 2025 Grant Recipients

  • Categories:

    Community

  • Date:

    April 1, 2025

EmpoWWering Charlotte: Meet Our 2025 Grant Recipients



Community

I’m a believer that great marketing is only as powerful as the mission behind it. When you start with a meaningful purpose, your marketing becomes a tool to amplify that impact — and when those missions are close to home, the work feels even more rewarding.

As the creative company for the world’s leading home and building brands, we spend a lot of time exploring what truly makes a place feel like home, starting with the essentials that bring comfort, stability and a sense of belonging.

But what if your home neighborhood had been without a full-service grocery store for over 30 years? Or what if you’re a nonprofit with an outdated website that fails to best showcase your community impact? What if you had a vision to create change but lacked some of the tools and resources to bring it to life?

The reality is that many Charlotte-area nonprofits struggle to tell and amplify their stories, limiting their ability to share their work and expand their impact.

That’s where EmpoWWer comes in.

Rooted in our three pillars of creativity, shelter and advancement, Wray Ward’s EmpoWWer marketing service-grant program helps strengthen what nonprofits already have in their DNA, providing them the marketing tools and the fuel to help them achieve their goals. Over the past six years, we’ve helped more than 20 Charlotte-area nonprofit organizations tackle complex business challenges through website redesigns, rebranding initiatives and comprehensive marketing strategies, to name just a few.

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See past recipients and prepare for the 2026 grant application process.

Want to know more about EmpoWWer?

This year, we’re proud to collaborate with two incredible organizations that are deeply connected to Charlotte and embody Wray Ward’s passion for home and community. One is right in our backyard, uplifting West Charlotte residents, while the other equips nonprofits across the city with the tools — literally — that they need to accomplish their own missions. Let’s meet them:

West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition works to improve public health, economic development and education for the residents of the West Boulevard corridor. Their work is rooted in a mission to combat decades of systemic disinvestment, including addressing the area’s food desert status through initiatives such as the Seeds for Change urban farm and the upcoming Three Sisters Market, a community-owned grocery store. We look forward to amping up their efforts with a targeted digital advertising campaign.

Charlotte Toolbank supports local community-based organizations by providing access to tools, event supplies and equipment at low costs so nonprofits can focus on their impact instead of their resources. From outfitting volunteers to maintaining facilities, the Toolbank ensures other nonprofits can get the job done without breaking the bank. We can’t wait to bring a new website to life for Charlotte Toolbank and help them take their impact to the next level.

We’re honored to work with Charlotte Toolbank and West Boulevard Neighborhood Coalition, and we can’t wait to see how their stories continue to unfold.

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