One Year Later...

Yep, life sure does get in the way! It's been a whole year since the non-profit opened and lessons are a plenty! So lets just get started shall we? I'll start with just three today:

1. There Really Is No I in TEAM! GASP!!! - Our non profit did not get here alone! It took the dreams, passion, and hard work of many in order to get us to where we are today. (Which in the grand scheme of things isn't really all that far! More on this later in the week.) We created a simple and clear mission that people in our community could relate to and easily support. And support they have! Families have come together to help us keep our doors open, help us keep the place clean and neat, donated supplies, helped us organize events and activities, and allowed us to pay the rent when things were tight. We will just call them...VOLUNTEERS!! We don't pay them to do this, they do this because they are invested in our mission, and they truly care about what we are trying to do in our community. It is so important that this type of support continues throughout the life of a non profit because if you lose volunteers, you lose support, you lose everything. Period!

2. Sometime There Are Hard Choices - Non profit life isn't always easy. As a founder, there are difficult choices made every day. Things that may seem simple to some can be excruciatingly difficult to the non profit founder or director. Take for example the simple idea of hours of operation for you non profit. Most businesses are 9-5 Monday thru Friday. But what if you are the only one to run the facility, and you have a family, and perhaps other responsibilities outside of the non profit world? (You need a life right?) Your schedule in this case will probably revolve around YOUR life, not the lives of the community you are trying to serve right? But is that the right decision? Will the general public understand? Will this cause some in the community to not be able to take advantage of the services offered by your organization? It could. This is truly something to take into consideration. There is a reason they say "if you want to get rich, don't go into non profit business" right? It takes a HUGE amount of selflessness to start one, and even more of your time and effort to run one. It may be a better solution to find someone else to run your organization. Someone who can afford to be there during hours that best fit your community needs. It's not about you in the end is it? 

Which brings me to my last lesson for today:

3. The Mission Must Come First!!! - Why have you started your non profit? Who are you trying to help, or what areas are you trying to serve? Whatever the mission, you must make it the main focus of all decisions made regarding the organization and the way it is run if you want to stay true to that mission. People are watching!! They take notice of EVERYTHING you do when you are running a non profit. Think about it. In our world today, how many organizations can you truly trust anymore? People take advantage all the time. If you are going to become invested in an organization, you want to know they can be trusted, that they are honestly doing what they say they strive to do! You want to make sure they follow the mission they created and that they are following through with the rules and regulations they create. If they are not, then what does that say about that organization? The mission of an organization is it's foundation! It should tell you what the organization is all about and what they are passionate about. The actions of it's people should follow that mission throughout it's existence! 


There are many more lessons of course, and I could go on just about these three for days! However, I think I will just leave it at this for now. And stay tuned. This is just the tip of the iceberg! This is a journey I want to share because we have done so much right, and oh so much more wrong!!! And there should be someone out there willing to tell it like it is! And that's what I plan to do!

WOW! It Happens So Fast!!!

It's been way too long. And oddly enough, my last sentence from my last post came true: "...when it all falls into place" because it all did fall into place. And in lightening speed!!!!!

What are you talking about?? That's what you are saying right? Because it's been SO long that you probably have no idea what I am referring to. (Life got in the way of writing!) But let me tell you...My non profit found a place to start, with no start up costs, no money in the bank, just a wing and a prayer! And we are still open 6 months later! Amazing is just not even the word. Awesome, maybe. Crazy!? Yes, that's it.

So, let's talk lessons:

1. It really is all in who you know - My nonprofit had been looking and looking for ways to find a building but with no success. No one wants to take a chance on a business with no money in the bank, let alone one that is a nonprofit. (Our board agreed to never take a loan) Have you seen the number of nonprofits closing their doors lately? Of the more than 1.5 Billion charities in the U.S. it's a lot I tell you! (that number was taken from the National Center for Charitable Statistics by the way) I don't have the actual figure right now, but there were organizations closing shop left and right here where I live and it was scary watching it while trying to get one started at the same time.

So how did it happen for us? Our nonprofit happened to be called one day by a very new friend who had an eye on supporting what we were doing in some way non-money related. She was renting a small space for a small amount of money for a co-op and could not afford to stay anymore due to families leaving. Being that the place was perfect for a small start up for our cause, she called us asking if we would be interested in the spot. We were in it within two weeks thanks to her ability to put her personal defeat aside and ability to focus on a possible success for others first. Selfless! Love it. Love her. It just happened that she thought of us, and so it just happened to work out for us. But only because we knew the right person at the right time.

2. Never be afraid to think out of the box - The place we got into is small, and does not fit the entire vision we have. No matter though, we are well practiced in the art of creativity and flexibility! (No, we are not yogis, ninjas, or show girls) We got in and opened up our doors within the two weeks, making sure to never look back or question too much what we were doing. We just went full force ahead! It was too scary to think about it if we stopped to do so, so we decided not to. We basically looked at what we were given and made it work for as much as we could with the idea of looking back later and making adjustments as we went. And that seemed to work really well. Those we are helping in the community are super excited and loving what we are doing. We were really out of the box type thinkers anyway, so we were able to adapt to our situation well without much trouble.

Ah! But trouble always comes. And lessons are always learned. Hey, maybe I should title my blog something about daily life lessons!? Hmm...

Anyway, overall we are excited to be where we are and there are so many thing I can share about what we have done right and oh so wrong. So, obviously that will be where we are headed as I finally get back into blogging on a regular basis. Feel free to come back and check out the roller coaster ride of nonprofit world!

When Energy is Low

This month seems to be one where non-profit energy is very low with those on our board. A proposal we put in on a building was just recently declined, and so morale is down and all the hard work seems as though it was for not. So, was it?

Let's think this through a moment. In all honesty we had never put in a proposal before. And, to continue the honesty, it took us a while to get one put together correctly as we had to create it, send it for review and make changes, send it for more review and edit again to make sure it had all the correct and necessary information. Next, we had to get the proposal printed according to the specifics requested, and get it turned in on time. Let's also mention here that we only had two weeks to get everything done. I would say we gained some valuable experience here because we did get everything done on time, and it turned out to be one very well put together proposal even if it wasn't accepted.

Although morale is low right now, I would say all of the hard work was totally worth it, and perhaps that is what our group needs to focus on. This experience has allowed us the ability to know what to expect for the next time, and there will be a next time. So, while energy is low, we must stay focused and move forward. Brush off the rejection and look forward to that one moment when it all falls into place. It's going to happen. The hard part is not knowing when.

Funny Think About Non-Profits...

They move so very slowly!

So what have we accomplished in all this time? Well, we have received many donated items, and donations to keep our donated items in storage. (Be thankful for the little things in life.) And we have made contact with some very influential people within the community, including a meeting with the Governor and other higher ups. The outcome? Well, that's a tough one to answer really.

I am told it takes a good 5 years to figure out if you will be a successful non-profit. This is because running a non-profit is just like running a business, only you have a clear understanding that you will never make any money doing so. No getting rich here, just working hard to make a difference in the world. And when I say working hard, I mean working your butt off.

This journey has been long and full of more ups and downs than the longest roller coaster. Yet somehow among the lowest of the lows we have managed to keep moving forward. And the biggest lesson we have learned is it's all in who you know. Talk to the right people at the right time and you may find information on more people to talk to with real decision making power. However, the decisions they make may not be what you wanted to hear. All things come in due time though.

It comes down to a balance of taking the good with the bad, or the other way around depending on the situation at hand. New ideas take time to grow and need support like the most fragile flower. Word of mouth is paramount to your success so taking the time to talk to everyone you know and haven't met yet is priority. And it takes time for trust and sometimes understanding to build to the point of actual support. But it will come in time.

So, stay focused and keep beating the pavement and getting the word out there on what your goals and dreams are for your non-profit. In due time, events will happen that will change your world.

As to my non-profit, well, I'll keep you posted...

Moving Forward!

The biggest obstacle some people struggle with in life is fear. Fear of failure, fear of death, fear of bugs, fear of people, fear of rejection, fear of success. Success? Yes, I said fear of success. Success can be scary! If you want to do something big, (like start a non-profit??) and you succeed, life can get complicated and full of responsibility. For some this reality can cause one to stop right were he or she is on the journey and keep progress from happening. and we all know progress leads to success, well, sometimes.

But progress does not just happen. One must get up and make things happen.

This is what I have been dealing with in my life in regard to my non-profit. The entire process had been kind of scary. But not as scary as it is about to get. We have kicked off a building campaign to raise money for a rental facility and therefore things are about to get wild and crazy and, well, scary!! Why? Because we just might succeed, and if that happens, life will get busy and there will be much more responsibility to deal with and some of it may be complicated. Could we fail? Of course that could happen! And failure is scary!!

And I could just let fear take control and I could sit around and wait for things to happen. It is so much safer after all. But instead I have decided to stand up, take a deep breath, and move. I have made a conscious decision to ignore the fear and focus instead on the destination I am trying to get to. Because in the end, I would rather say I moved forward and gave it everything I had instead of one day waking up and wondering what could have been had I just gotten up and moved forward.

I will continue to share my journey, and I will continue to stay focused on the destination while trying my best to enjoy the ride. I hope you do the same.

Enjoying the Ride

There's just no other way to describe starting and running a non-profit other than saying it's like a roller coaster ride. There are ups and downs, and all-arounds. Right now my non profit is on an up. We were just accepted into a contest for a rather large grant. If we win, we could get our building. If we lose, at least we got the word out and gave it our all. In the meantime, we move forward and continue the funding search, and working towards supporting our mission.

If you feel led to do so, please take a moment to vote for us once a day through the month of October.

Funding Your Non-Profit

So, part of what we do in non-profit world these days is try to find funding. After all, you can't run a non-profit on volunteer service alone, there are costs involved. For example, our specific non-profit needs a building, and to maintain a building we need money. So, we are trying to find ways to raise money for our building.

Right now, we are trying to specifically find grant money. It's not an easy task really. First of all, after figuring out specifically what you need the money for, you have to find available grants and foundations giving away money for that specific area you need it for. That isn't too bad because there really are a lot of grants out there. But the hard part is doing the research to find out how much these foundations have given away in the past, and what organizations they gave it to. What types of programs do they support and does your non-profit fit with their vision or agenda? Do you qualify to apply? Are there specific things they want to know? Specific projects they will not fund? Do they have a dead line for their application?

The work is time consuming to say the least but doable. (Probably why most people hire a qualified and experienced grant writer to do it for them when they can afford it.) Next, after finding out if you qualify to even apply, you have to put together your request letter, and eventually an actual proposal. And they have to be just perfect and on time or you miss the opportunity. Finally, after all of your hard work, it's the waiting game. And in the end, you still may not get your funding. It's a crazy world this fundraising is. But these are the hoops non-profits are made to jump through in order to find money, and support.

There are other ways out there to obtain funding as well. As of late, there have been a bunch of places doing contest for funding, including our government. My non-profit does not go after government funding, but we did find a great contest to enter through Kohl's. (see that button up on the right hand side?) They are giving away grants to the top 20 educational institutions that get the most votes. So we entered and now we have to try to get as many votes as we can to qualify for the grant money we need. With the thousands who have no doubt entered this contest, this is probably a shot in the dark, but a shot we are willing to go after. After all, it has been a great way for us to get the word out on our non-profit. And it has been a great learning experience for all of us involved. There are other plans in the works still, but for a while, we will concentrate on trying to get in on the top 20 list for this grant. And if we won the money? Well, like I said above, we need a building. So, our money would go to getting us into a building and building it out to fit our needs.

By the way, if you have a moment and care to help us out, click on the link up there and share your votes. It would be so appreciated. :)

Another important note to share here on funding is you should never put all of your eggs into one basket. You cannot find a money source, then rely on that same source of money to keep you afloat. You must branch out and diversify your fundraising. You never know what may happen to funding. Especially in an economy such as our today. Here today, gone tomorrow you know. So, make sure you spread your focus over many areas of funding, not just one. Do fundraisers, find many supporters, go after many grants, put together some type of merchandise like t-shirts and stickers to help raise money, go to the local ice cream shop. Ice cream shop? Yep, sometimes they will do a one day event where they donate a percentage of each sale to your organization. Other food businesses will do it too. Pizza places, the mom and pop shops. These are all great ways to raise funding. Yes, the big money is in the grants and other supporters of large corporations and foundations, but remember to keep going after the smaller funds too. Every penny counts! And in the end there is nothing to lose by trying. After all, isn't your non-profit, our mission and vision, worth it?

On Other News...

I am going off course tonight. Instead of talking about non-profit world, I am going to share for just a moment about school. I'm a homeschooling parent you see, and we started the new school year today. It went really well actually. Better than I thought it would for sure. First of all, my kids were up and out of bed by 9 am. This is a huge victory since their normal up time has been many hours later than this all summer. I was very proud of them. Next, my kids were finished with their work by 11:30 am. This says to me, "great planning!" as the amount of work they had seemed not to overwhelm them, and it also did not seem too easy for them to get done. Instead it was a perfect amount of info for them to take in. If only they were all days like this. I know I am in honeymoon mode, but I feel the need to linger there for a bit. Tomorrow is another day you understand, and who knows what will happen. But for now, I bask in the glory!

The Next Step

It's been a busy time for our non-profit. Since getting our 501(c)(3) status we have been busy with researching grants and preparing updates on the business plan. Finding funding proves to be very hard right now in this economy, but we are staying positive. What we have found though, is that there is a ton of free information on the web on fundraising, writing grants, etc. This has been a tremendous help and within a few months I foresee funding coming in.

On the other side, we are also looking at buildings at the same time. I know, you are thinking what is the point of looking for a building when you have no money. I realize this seems a bit crazy, but finding the perfect property for your cause can be very tedious work, and we expect it to take quite a while as our cause is very specific needing a specific type of building.

As we forge ahead with this next step in our journey, there is a lot of uncertainty as to how things will turn out, but our passion keeps us motivated to keep moving ahead. Don't ever let the passion go. If it does you are done for.

FInally!!! We have arrived!

So this has been a long week of celebrating and embracing change. I was fortunate enough to have been celebrated at a dinner for a job I finished and stepped down from, I was provided the opportunity to go to a great picnic to celebrate the end of the school year, then I was blessed with attending my own graduation as I finished school recently, and tonight we celebrated our children finishing yet another wonderful year of school at a promotion ceremony. So much celebrating I could use a vacation. But wait, there's more!!!

I get home tonight, grab the Mac and go to check the email as I do every night before I go to bed, and there it is... the official word. We got our 501c3!!! We can now proceed to the next step. What an amazing feeling it was to see that email. It just makes for the perfect wrap up to a wonderfully blessed week and weekend.

So guess what I will be doing tomorrow? Celebrating once again a tremendous achievement.

Celebrate with me!

Hurry up And Wait!! Still

Yep, we are still waiting on our 501c3 status. Not sure what the hold up is, but should be any time now. We just had to go through some changes to our bylaws in order to continue the process and make the IRS happy, and now we are still on hold. There is just so much we would like to do but can't until we get this piece of paper that has now cost us, well, a lot of money.

Patience is hard. But you have to have them to get through this process. And you have to have a lot of faith that all things will work out. So, the waiting continues.

So what do you do in the meantime? Well, you work on policies and procedures, you work on volunteer contracts and a nice long fund raiser list, among many other items. And you continue to talk it up with the locals so they stay informed on your progress and stay interested and excited.

Plenty there to keep us busy. :)

Hic-ups in Non-profit World

There is bound to be a hic-up or two when starting a non-profit. We had one just this last week.

We have been waiting and waiting for our final non-profit status to be approved but have heard nothing until just a few days ago when we received a nice little letter in the mail. The IRS has asked us to make a few amendments to our bylaws and to get them officially done and sent back to them by May 11th. Yikes!!! To say the lease, we panicked a bit. Since when does anything get done in this state in two weeks? Especially when you have little to no money? But knew we had to do what was asked in order to get our status. So, we did what we had to do. Dug deep in our pockets and paid to expedite our paperwork so we could get it in on time.

The result? Well, we again get to hurry up and wait. And everything goes on, business as usual. Our hope is that we get our official status by May 11th or soon after.

As hic-ups go, it's kind of small so we lucked out there. Can't wait to see what happens next though. It would be great to have the ability to fund raise soon.

On another note, we found a rather large building that has been empty for years with an owner that just may be ready to donate. I'll update more on that later as the process unfolds.

Isn't non-profit world just full of excitement??

Hurry up And Wait!!

There is nothing more frustrating in non-profit world than waiting on your 501c3 status to come though. We last heard it would be another month. ARGGG! We are in need of funds people! We are trying to raise money with fundraisers, but we can't to anything without that stinking number!! In the meantime, we work on things like policies and procedures for volunteers and potential employees in the future. We work on defining our positions within the organization and what we are okay with and what we are not in regards to fundraisers, grant options, business hours, etc. It is a long and slow process that sometimes feels painful. But I know we are working on important stuff and we will thank ourselves later. So, while we are a bit anxious to see things move ahead, we realize that we are okay where we are as well.

Hurry up and wait! That's us.

Oh, be sure to check out the work we are doing on the website. We have a picture up and some color. But understand it is a work in progress...www.riseresourcecenter.org

Taking a Trip Down Non-Profit Road...

Ha! Like I am some kind of expert or something. NOT!! But I have been through it recently and continue to experience and learn, so I thought I would share a few tips:

First, make sure what you want to do is something that can fit under the non-profit status description and that it is something others will support. Trying to raise money to support shoe shoppers on Rodeo Drive will probably not fit under the description, however, collecting shoes to provide to homeless individuals might.

Then, find some people who have the same passion, vision, and similar mission as you do and get together for some talk time. LOTS of talk time. Get to know all you can about these people, even if you already know who they are. Taking a trip down non-profit road can be a long one and you will want to make sure you can handle the ride without any major road blocks. Be honest and extremely blunt about your ideas and agenda for your non-profit idea. (Everyone has an agenda!!!) Find out what special skills each of you has because you will need people with writing skills, community contacts, non-profit law knowledge, non-profit experience, and many other skill areas to help you create a great organization.

Oh, and be prepared to invest a bit of money. The non-profit status paperwork charge has been upped recently and it's not cheap. Nor is filling out the paperwork something you can do in one day. It requires certain documents and filings to be completed first so do your research and have everything in place.

And that is how it all starts really; a vision, a passion, people to share it with, and the courage to move forward.

And the Winner Is...

I have given myself some time to think things through, and while my experiment was a noble one, I just can't make walking every day and eating my veggies interesting enough to want to continue writing about. So, I have decided to start a new experiment.

Over the course of the last year, some friends and I decided to start a non-profit organization. It is called... well, should I share that here? Hmm... maybe I should just share about non-profit building in general without names and places and such. I wouldn't want to upset the tea cart so to speak. Anyway, we started a non-profit organization and I feel that there is so much more of an interest there for me that I could easily write about it. So, that is what I have decided to do.

Perhaps someone will find some interesting insight, or good advice on what not to do through my experiences. I'm not sure. I do know that before starting my non-profit I was clueless on just how to get started. I kept wondering what the special thing was that had to be learned or who that special person was that you had to talk to. I realize now that there is no real special thing or someone. You decide to do something and you do it. It requires forms and some money. Some knowledge is useful, but I've met people with no formal training or education in the field of non-profits and they have managed to do really well. So, I will begin with sharing just how we managed to get our non-profit off the ground, and the bumpy roads we have shared and still have ahead.

So, that is the new subject of this blog. Enjoy!

To Bore Or Not To Bore!

So, I have been one busy momma. But I have been getting my walks done. However, I realized that all I ever do is walk. How boring!!! Why would anyone want to read about that? Unless... maybe I should start walking in different places, or start walking with others and share about that. Snooze!! I could just make up stuff but then that wouldn't be nice. So... what do I do?

I am boring myself writing every time about walking. Maybe I am just a boring person. Hmm.

That could be true. Oh the dilemma! I could nix the whole 90 day boring talk about walking and start sharing about my non-profit. I will sleep on it and see how I feel in the morning. And I will post my decision. After my walk of course. :B

I'm Late!

I had school tonight so I am late with my post!

So today was walking again. And it was not a great walk, but it will do. I'm noticing that I don't breath so heavy when walking up stairs anymore. That is a good thing. For breakfast I had toast, for lunch I had a chicken salad with rice and beans. It was soooo good! And for dinner, two small pieces of pizza. I'm talking small people. My only weakness was that I had a candy bar today that I have not had in years, and I drank half of a pepsi. So, not great but not horrible. The sugar made me tired.

Lesson for today: (yesterday technically) Salad is super yummy with rice and beans!

And we are back!!

Okay, so I got my walk on today at a local church while waiting for someone. It was interesting, as there was a lot to look at, and it felt good to get back into the groove after being so sick and without energy. And I found an awesome new salad today that probably isn't really great for me, but better than a cheese burger. It is spicy, has chicken, and is found at a local sandwich shop. (Don't feel the need to advertise for businesses on here)

My breakfast was a simple breakfast bar, and my dinner was grilled chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy. Yummy! Overall, a pretty good day I think.

lesson for today: Exercise makes you feel good, especially after being sick for so long.

Lets Keep Going!

Okay, so you might be wondering where the heck I have been. That is IF you were actually reading this blog. Which most likely you were not. No big. Anyway, I have been very sick and was unable to exercise for the last few days. But, I am now doing so much better that I am ready to get back out there and get my walk on! And that is what I will do. So tune back in tomorrow for the continuation of my 90 day journey of exercise and good eats!

What Happened to day 5 of 90?

Okay, confession time. You will notice I am missing day 5. That is because I was very sick yesterday and never got enough energy to do a work out. At least that is what I told myself. My nose was stuffed and I was out of energy. Sometimes you just have to take a day off and rest up right? So, that is kind of what I did if you don't count the fact that I still attended a three hour meeting and went to school for four hours. I was pretty much just there physically, not exactly there mentally if you know what I mean. So in reality, I could have taken a walk if I had wanted to, but I chose not to.

So, I will have to make sure I take the time to get my walk or some other kind of exercise in today. Oh, and yesterday's food consisted of soup, and chicken and cheese wrapped in a tortilla. Snacks included a piece of cheese and a hand full of chips.

Stay tuned for another post later today.