RISE Augusta

Our first and longest active client, RISE Augusta has been partnering with Gateway since 2017. Executive Director Laurie Cook is a dreamer, always envisioning how to improve and expand. Gateway has become part of her team that executes those dreams, building the ideas into a structure in word form so funders can catch the dream too. 

When COVID required the cancellation of all in-person events in 2020, Gateway launched virtual fundraising services. Now with an established online presence through social media, e-newsletters, and an up-to-date website (all managed by Gateway), RISE Augusta has another reliable stream of in-kind and cash donations. In 2021, Gateway played an integral part in the creation of RISE Augusta’s new STRIVE program, even winning funds for its first year of operation and helping Laurie define the acronym: Skills Training, Relevant Internships and Vocational Education. In 2022, as RISE Augusta moved into the HUB for Community Innovation, Gateway’s winning grants were key, and still are, in the scaling of the organization and the programs into this new, larger location.

About her relationship with Gateway, Laurie says, “You are so approachable! Gateway is both open to new ideas and shares ideas which I really appreciate. You offer advice to help prevent mis-step even when it might be awkward. The relationship is not just transactional.”