About The Links, Incorporated
LINKED IN FRIENDSHIP, CONNECTED IN SERVICE
The Links, Incorporated is an international, not-for-profit corporation, established in 1946. The membership consists of more than 16,000 professional women of African descent in 299 chapters located in 41 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, and the United Kingdom. It is one of the nation’s oldest and largest volunteer service organizations of extraordinary women who are committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry.
​
Our core values are friendship, integrity, honesty, service, commitment, family relationships, courage, respect for self and others, legacy, confidentiality, responsibility, and accountability. The members of The Links, Incorporated are influential decision makers and opinion leaders. The Links, Incorporated has attracted many distinguished women who are individual achievers and have made a difference in their communities and the world. They are business and civic leaders, role models, mentors, activists and volunteers who work toward a common vision by engaging like-minded organizations and individuals for partnership. Links members contribute more than 1 million documented hours of community service annually – strengthening their communities and enhancing the nation. The organization is the recipient of awards from the UN Association of New York and the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation for its premier programs. In 2019, The Links, Incorporated was nominated for a Luxembourg Peace Prize by the Schengen Peace Foundation and recognized by the late Congressman John Lewis as a distinguished organization of outstanding community service and influence.
​
The outstanding programming of The Links, Incorporated has five facets which include Services to Youth, The Arts, National Trends and Services, International Trends and Services and Health and Human Services. The programs are implemented through strategies such as public information and education, economic development, and public policy campaigns.
​
The key programming initiatives of The Links, Incorporated are organized into facets: Services to Youth, The Arts, National Trends and Services, International Trends and Services, and Health and Human Services. With more than five million service hours recorded in the past three years, The Links, Incorporated’s members regularly contribute more than 500,000 documented service hours in their respective communities annually through various programs.
​
The Links Foundation, Incorporated, the philanthropic arm of The Links, Incorporated has distributed more than $26 million in charitable contributions since its founding in 1979. The organization is the recipient of awards from the UN Association of New York and the Leon H. Sullivan Foundation for its premier programs. The Links, Incorporated: “Linked in Friendship, Connected in Service.”For more information, visit www.linksinc.org
Our Chapter
The Wilmington (NC) Chapter of the Links, Incorporated ™ was chartered in April of 1951. Since its inception, the local chapter has sponsored such events such as GALA 2000, A Celebration of African-American Music to benefit the Zimmer Cancer Center, The Annual Fine Arts Brunch, The Links Salute Young Americans, The Links at Freeman, supplies to a sister school in Belize and the development of the video production, “The Talented Tenth: Heritage Rediscovered, and support for Centre d”Etudes Classiques de Meyer (CECM) in Jacmel, Haiti.
The Links have collaborated with the Commission for Women, Walk-A-Thon with the March of Dimes, and Linkage to Life, a Links program to address organ donations and Heart Health for Women. Contributions have been made to Elderhaus, Inc., the Sickle Cell Foundation, the Fannie Norwood Home, One Love Tennis, and Voorhees College in Denmark, South Carolina.
2022 New Members
