Today we’d like to introduce you to Sook Jin Ong.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
EquaSpace is a nonprofit shared workspace hub located at Court International in St. Paul, opened in Fall 2024 and currently hosts 21 diverse nonprofit organizations. Our tenant organizations come in all shapes and sizes with a broad range of missions, from addressing the housing crisis in Minnesota, economic development locally and abroad, youth development programs, education in all forms, healthcare and the wellbeing of its workforce, and so much more.
EquaSpace was founded by Susan Corridoni after she noticed, in Minnesota, despite our vibrant nonprofit sector, good real estate that houses nonprofit work in a meaningful way to create a sense of community was hard to come by. With some initial investments, EquaSpace was seeded and became the community that it has grown into today.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
As with any startup, it has been both a delight and challenge to determine what are your risk factors holistically or as thoroughly as you could. One of our biggest joys was the reception of this concept. EquaSpace reached full tenancy for its office suites within its first year, which spoke a lot about the sort of demand we were seeing in the sector.
That said, with the decline and shift in larger philanthropic support towards basic needs in covering for the decline of federal funding, nonprofits like ours (yes, we’re a nonprofit too!) who are considered intermediaries struggle to find grants or additional funding to stabilize our first years. We went through a moment of financial turmoil ourselves, and had to rework our operations and finances. This includes recalibrating what we can now realistically expect or forecast as revenue streams coming in, if we are no longer seeing an abundance of ecosystem-type grants for nonprofits like ours to apply. We want to keep ourselves affordable for our tenants.
Economically, these are challenging times for all of our tenants too, who are nonprofits themselves. We are in this together. We would love to see more high net worth individuals who are passionate about our cause to reach out to us. There is nothing more exciting than seeing how, because of the way our space enables the level of collaboration and mission-driven focus, our tenants are able to lean into the work they are meant to do. That is truly why EquaSpace exist.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Our vision: EquaSpace is a nurturing hub where diverse voices shine.
Our mission: Provide a platform of high-functioning workspaces, shared knowledge, resources, and opportunities for collaboration.
Nonprofit work is mission-driven and heart-driven, and it’s important to have the space to do this work with dignity and respect. By continuously reimagining our space and services, we’ll remain responsive to our community’s needs, prioritizing well-being, joy, partnership, and justice.
Our main space is EquaSpace at Court International. Opened in fall 2024, EquaSpace is currently home to 21 nonprofits of all sizes, missions, serving a wide variety of communities.
What sets us apart: We are relatively affordable given our high-quality workspace. Our location is premium (transportation accessible along the Green Line, with ample parking, and the added perk of rentable conference space for events), which makes us top choice for nonprofits who need that flexibility for meetings, board retreats, and community events.
We are most proud of the fact that our tenants love the sense of camaraderie and community they’ve built with each other. They came for the space that enables them to do their mission driven work. They stay because of their sense of community.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
We are looking for future collaborators for programming with nonprofits and entrepreneurs. We are also launching our hot desks (where solopreneurs or small nonprofits can rent out passes to drop in to do their work).
Additionally, we are also interested in talking to any donors – especially corporate or individuals – who are looking to support a cause like ours. We are an innovative and unconventional nonprofit in the sense that we do work to catalyze others to do theirs. We take pride in that. It gives us joy to see others have a dignified, beautiful space to do their best work. Help us help them to so.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.equaspace.org/
