Karen D.
Biography
Karen Dutro is the Founder and Executive Director of NetworkPeninsula, a nonprofit founded by Karen originally as NetworkWilliamsburg in 2007 and expanded to NetworkPeninsula in 2013.
Prior to starting NetworkWilliamsburg, Karen served as the Development Director of Military Ministry Campus Crusade for Christ in Newport News. She has also served as grant writer for the Richmond AIDS Ministry and was the first Development Director for the William Byrd Community House in Richmond.
In 2000, Karen started a youth service ministry at Bruton Parish that resulted in children of all ages providing more than 500 hours of service in 2 years. Most special among the service projects was preparing 250 comfort kits for the rescue workers at Ground Zero two days after September 11, 2001. She also served as a youth advisor at Bruton Parish and Hickory Neck Episcopal Church and was a Co-Captain for Relay for Life for 5 years. In 2007, she helped her two children start "Produce It Forward", a garden ministry that provided more than 200 pounds of fresh produce to local food pantries.
Karen's experiences at all of these organizations led her to create NetworkWilliamsburg in an effort to raise awareness for the important work being done by local nonprofits. Within one year, it became evident that local nonprofits also needed more accessible and affordable continuing education, Board Training, and information sharing.
Today, NetworkPeninsula provides all of this as well as grants research, networking opportunities with nonprofit colleagues and local business and community leaders, and other programs, to more than 300 nonprofits on the Peninsula. Most recently, Karen led efforts to produce the inaugural report on the State of the Nonprofit Sector on the Virginia Peninsula. The goal of the Report is to shine a light on the value of the nonprofit sector to the health, well being of our communities, as well as to the local economy.
