Starting a Nonprofit Designed To Create Systemic Change

[@AmberMelanieSmith]

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[@torque103]

you are a rock star Amber. You are so gifted and skilled at expressing and presenting the information in a way that is engaging and easy to understand. I have been having discussions with my staff about "relief vs. development" but the way that you describe it is next level and makes more sense on a fundraising level. The reality of non-profit life for me (and I think many people) is that we have to war several "hats" and have to fill needs where we are not skilled or studied yet. Your content provides me with more tools to take on the challenges of balancing it all. thank you!

[@AmberMelanieSmith]

Thanks so much for your kind words! I totally get it, and have been (and sometimes still am!) in the position of wearing "many hats"! What I realized is that nobody knows the perfect way to solve the world's problems - if we did, we'd have done it by now! We're like scientists, experimenting and repeating / scaling the things that work!

[@CommUnitopia]

Thank you Amber, for the opportunity to learn how we can be more effective at accomplishing our goals, and playing our part in this growing movement to live in deep, interconnected community with one another :) CommUnitopia is an nonprofit focused on fundamentally redefining the way society participates with it's environment. We are dedicated to forging a harmonious coexistence between humanity and the natural world through the creation of ecologically conscious food forests, innovative community development, holistic education, and spiritual development. Our mission is to cultivate a thriving ecosystem that nourishes the body, mind and spirit, fostering a new paradigm of conscious living. We will establish a web of interconnected organizations and intentional communities to support the rebirth of a harmonious Earth, working collectively through the conflict toward global peace and cooperation. Excited to witness a beautiful future unfold!

[@AmberMelanieSmith]

What a beautiful mission!

[@desmondkitsi]

Thank you for teaching us Amber

[@AmberMelanieSmith]

Hope it was helpful!

[@AlisaLomax]

Thanks for the inspiration!

[@AmberMelanieSmith]

You are so welcome!

[@georgekrax]

This is great but how do you fund the operations and research of this non-profit?

[@AmberMelanieSmith]

With a strong theory of change and business plan, there are donors and funders out there interested in this kind of work.

[@taylorw]

Our work is devoted to broad and needed systemic change and I was glad to see that we’ve been on the path (mostly!) you laid out here so well. What are your thoughts on the fundraising strategy that best accompanies this approach? Thanks for your very thoughtful explanations on navigating this world! 👍

[@AmberMelanieSmith]

Yay, so happy to hear it! For fundraising strategy, are there other nonprofits using a similar "lever"/strategy (from the Taproot framework) you know of? If it were me, I'd look to those as examples as my first step!

[@anitaclark1459]

I bless you

[@AmberMelanieSmith]

Thanks for your kind words Anita!

[@Blackwatercowboy1]

I own a for profit LLC which is a dog training company. I train mostly behavior and obedience. I’m looking for a way to receive donations to help support the training of service dogs for Veterans and police K9s used to patrol schools. Would it be better to start a non profit that focused primarily on that and run them both separate? Or have the non profit raise money to donate to my for profit for those particular dogs that fit its mission statement? Or is there another option that’s maybe better? Thanks a head of time for your input it’s greatly appreciated.

[@AmberMelanieSmith]

Hey there! I love dogs - thanks for your work! I think the easiest route would probably be partnering up with an existing nonprofit animal rescue for a partnership to raise sponsorships to train them. Nonprofit paperwork is a lot of work, but also there are rules against conflicts of interest where a nonprofit is set up to benefit a for-profit entity.

[@Blackwatercowboy1]

@@AmberMelanieSmith thanks so much.

[@danielcitizenman5510]

🙏👍😎🤗🇺🇸

[@AmberMelanieSmith]

:)