The Community House Network is all about empowering individuals to direct their own lives and live the life of their dreams. I haven't talked as much about The Center for Creative Learning yet, but this is what I intend to focus on in the New Year! The Center is focused on alternative education, including adult programs for personal growth and expansion. On New Year's Day at 1PM CST the Center will host an intentions setting ceremony. It is open to anyone interested in participating. So Please Join Us! Please Join Us 1:00 CST Friday, January 1st 2021 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Setting intentions is a powerful way to align our lives with our highest aspirations. When we set intentions we are saying to the universe, “This is what I want for my life.” Intentions are the seeds of our soul’s desire. As we set them, we set the course to see new and beautiful things blossom in our lives. When setting my personal intention for the new year, I want to ask myself, “What is it I want to harvest in the new year? What is my soul most longing to experience? What would my life look like if I were living my dream? What do I need to let go of to step into my light?” 2021 Intention’s Setting Ceremony Guide: Prior to joining us, it will be useful to spend each night from today until New Year’s Day, thinking of what your soul most desires to experience in the new year. Each night before bed, grab your journal, and find a comfy spot. Center your attention on the present moment. Set your timer for 5 minutes and ask yourself, “What would my highest expression of my soul look like? What do I need to do to step onto that path? What is my soul longing to experience in the new year?” Notice what arises. Allow your thoughts to flow without judgement. When the timer ends journal for another 5 minutes or so. Notice both the positive and negative emotions or thoughts that arise. Perhaps there is the inner critic that wants to minimize your desires. Write down both the positive and negative in your journal. We will set intentions to let go of any limiting beliefs you have identified, so we may step into our heart’s desire without fear, judgement, or doubt. For Friday, please come with a candle and a journal or something to write with. We will light our candles at 1:11 Central Standard Time. The ceremony will end at 2PM CST. 1PM – introductions and sharing. 1:11 – Candle lighting 1:15-1:20 – Intention for Family 1:25-1:30 – Intention for Relationships 1:35-1:40 – Intention for Community 1:45-1:50 – Intention for Self 2:00 PM We invite you to stay on for an introduction to the free course Strengthening the Spiritual Core: A Journey to Self. https://www.consciousnessexplorations.com/strengthening-the-core.html ZOOM LINK: The Community House is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: New Year's Intention Setting Time: Jan 1, 2021 01:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada) Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85942756915?pwd=YTNpUTljZTNiODZDN1lBazk3SFZ1Zz09 Meeting ID: 859 4275 6915 Passcode: 367453 One tap mobile +13126266799,,85942756915#,,,,*367453# US (Chicago) +16468769923,,85942756915#,,,,*367453# US (New York) Dial by your location +1 312 626 6799 US (Chicago) +1 646 876 9923 US (New York) +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington D.C) +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston) +1 408 638 0968 US (San Jose) +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose) +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) Meeting ID: 859 4275 6915 Passcode: 367453 Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcdfrXFZfi
1 Comment
I was working on our upcoming personal growth course with Susan and we started talking about endings. I am not sure why, but I have a terrible time with endings. I have come to see this as part of my process-oriented mind. I like to see a project in the process of becoming, and start to shut-down when I think I am at the end. I believe we never really finish anything. Ideas come, take shape, and leave, but I find they come back in new and powerful ways if I allow them to.
My biggest problem with being enamored with the process rather than the product, is that it can be difficult to see things into a form. Ideas come to play and then float on their way. After years of sorting through jumbled notebooks filled with brilliant ideas, I realized I needed a system to organize and anchor these ideas down. Basically a way to not lose them forever. I found that publishing was a wonderful way to do this. Even publishing something like a blog. Anchors are what become places where ideas hit 3D reality. In creating these anchors for our dreams and ideas, we allow others to participate with us in new and exciting ways. A suggestion for the process-oriented mind: instead of random journals, use google docs with specific titles. This will spare you the pain of looking for those journals or scraps of paper. If you do write on a paper, you can take a photo and upload it to a folder designated for those ideas. What do you then want to do with these growing ideas? That is up to you. Starting to create anchors has taken me quite a way in acting meaningfully in the world. If you want to do more with this, you can join our courses. Check them out here: www.consciousnessexplorations.com The advice I would give at this point to anyone crazy enough to start a program of action like the Community House Network (or whatever your vision may hold) is to keep moving.
I was speaking with my colleague and collaborator Brandy about how it feels like things are moving just too fast right now and I want to press pause for a minute. She mentioned a program she had just attended which focused on the emergent and responsive nature of any project. She also mentioned working with another non-profit that was hitting just the same wall I seem to be up against. That is: What happens when and idea hits 3D reality? I think the key is not to lose the big picture. So while I am stressing out about the fact that the internet is not working, I don't need to say, forget hosting the first organizational meeting. I don't need to shut down the main purpose to fix the non-essentials. Just keep on moving, oh yeah, and ask for help! Friday the 13th seems like an ominous day to have my first meeting with my Foundation Group mentor, but it is also World Kindness Day! The world could use a little kindness these days.
The conversation was enlightening, it got me back to those pieces I still need to put in place. A big one is process guides. A written pathway into becoming a part of the Community House. It will help people orient and get us all on the same page. I better have some of those ready for our first meeting on November 23rd. Also we talked about finances. Uugh. A tough subject for me, as I have had my own personal battles with money. I have often equated money with greed, and so it is a big shift for me to start to realize money can just as easily be associated with generosity, kindness and even personal empowerment. One thing I learned was that if you are an operating foundation you must spend at least 85% of your donated funds towards operations. Well, I don't think that will be a problem. I am sure we will use 100% and then some. I was wondering what else you might do with donations than use them for the project? The big non-operating foundations apparently can hold onto their money, they only need to distribute 5%, which seems awfully low. Or maybe I heard him wrong. Anyway, I am not a big non-operating foundation, I am a small operating foundation. And so 85% it is. Wednesday was big. We closed on the houses and then it was time to celebrate. They showed up for pumpkin painting and S'mores. It was a good time.
Then on Friday I presented the model of learning math I developed (Conceptual Math) to the Memphis School District City Year project. It was very exciting as I had only presented at academic conferences, to local classes or to friends and small groups of children in the neighborhood. I was very excited to see this work moving out into the world. Yet, it was stressful. Then came Halloween, the day to open the house to the community. We had planned a haunted halloween house, and a painting party. I was feeling overwhelmed. This seemed like a lot, and I just wanted to cancel. Maybe next time, is what I was thinking. But, in my experience, there is no time like the present. My work with schools, especially in the alternative school setting, has taught me well. Those environments are always full of chaos and unpredictability. You may have a beautiful lesson planned, and then the child comes in who just lost their brother in a gang war. Or you plan a Shakespeare festival, and the kids just want to talk about who is dating who? Well, I found that if I say, I will do it later, that tends to be a lost opportunity. I have found that if I do even a little of what I envisioned, it opens many doors. I find that if I don't stop in my tracks, taking even the small step forward towards the idea, the results are powerful and consequences are good. So I said to myself, "Just Do It." Whatever it may be, it will be better than nothing. We did the painting party, met the neighbors, and then I gave out candy and a couple promo cards about the Community House Project to interested parties. I even gave out my first set of keys! Was it a big deal? Absolutely not, and that is A-OKAY with me. I took another step. The houses are now officially part of the Community Houses. It feels like a huge leap. But getting the houses is not the goal, it is only a small piece of the puzzle.
One of the courses we are working on is ahout Inspired Action. Taking those steps towards living the life of your dreams. Often people make goals that are ends in themselves. Like, for example, deciding to write a book. That is a common one. While there is nothing wrong in a goal like writing a book, it is so much more powerful to create a vision. Writing a book can help me move closer to that vision. It is an integral part of a bigger dream. It may be a very small part of the bigger whole, and that is good. Dream big, and take little steps towards that dream every day. What is the little step you will take today towards your dream? So I received a letter from the IRS assigning the Community House Network an EIN-- for those wondering, it means Employer Identification Number. That is exciting.
The next action we were instructed to take was to host our first meeting of the board to discuss and sign the bylaws. We used the standard boilerplate version, but we likely will revise them as we get accustomed to how this whole rigmarole works. As a business model for decision making, I believe in true consensus. This is where we all agree upon the next step of action, rather than a majority rules version of voting. Sue talked a lot about participating in some of the decision making process of the Japanese companies she worked with. She said it was long, but they truly worked to get everyone's ideas into the pot, and no decision was made until there was consensus. I like the Ringi process. This allows everyone, at all levels of the organization, to contribute to the final version of the plan. Open discussion, transparency, shared beliefs, communication are the foundation for a good, healthy environment. Just because I like one idea when the conversations starts doesn't mean that my idea will look the same at the end of the conversation. If we all bring our ideas to the table, and let the process of making the sausage begin, in the end we will all have a bit of our personal intersts in the story, and a most delicious sausage. This doesn't mean that every idea is adopted, or goes into the pot at the same time. Some of our lawmaking processes have these terrible addendums at the end that muddy the water. I may have a great idea, but the time is not right. Through openness, willingness and a shared vision we will eventually come together on what is the next right action. The standard form of decision making, and what was written up in the bylaws provided by the Foundation Group, is of course majority rules. But it will do for now. Next steps, send in a copy of the Articles of Incorporation to the Secretary of State. So I had my first conversation with Nick from Foundation Group and he had me convinced that I should become a public charity instead of an operating foundation.
Advantages to a public charity - Allows anonymous donation, easy payment of program directors (including myself), and some other things I can't remember. But there were a few troubling things. First and foremost, 1/3 of all funds must come from small doners (the public). I am not sure it would be easy for me to do this. Initially, I have set aside funds that were left to me by my step-mom to start this project. My own monies will be used to purchase the houses and these will be considered part of the revenue of the project. I am not sure I could make up 1/3 in donations, and I DON'T want to have to beg. Also there are limitations regarding board members. Although I have members in the community ready to participate, I also would like Ed my fabulous fiancee who is my level-headed support system to sit on the board. In a public charity you cannot have board members who are related. Anyway, my intuition is telling me to go with the private operating foundation. As I said to Nick, if it doesn't pan out, then it will simply be "back to the drawing board". So I had my first conversation with Foundation Source and the bottom line is, try again.
Apparently there are a number of different entities that will support charitable activities that allow one to become a 501-C3. There is the public charity, which may be right for me, still trying to determine, and then there is the foundation. Foundation Source helps people who are creating a foundation, but only if it is what is referred to as a "non-operating" foundation. In a non-operating foundation the funds are directed towards other groups and charities, rather than towards its own day to day operations. Because I am hosting the primary activities of the Community House Network, and in particular since we will begin as three properties being held by the foundation, the very helpful Erik Larson advised me that I should set up as an operating foundation and that he was not the man to do it for me. So back to the drawing board. The newest lead is... Foundation Group! Their website is: www.501c3.org Whew! When this is done, I should be an expert. Starting a non-profit sounds like a daunting task. In many ways it is a bit overwhelming. Just like the first time you do anything, there are a lot of unknowns.
I am grateful to have an excellent financial advisor who has already put monies aside for the project as is willing to work with me while I figure out how to complete the process. Since I will be making my way through as a total novice or N00B as the computer geeks like to call them, I have decided to share with you what I encounter so that others may follow my lead. First I am investigating how to create a Community Foundation, which is a private foundation rather than a donor advised fund. I really have no idea what I am talking about, so I will have to let you know more later in the process. The suggested website for my research was https://foundationsource.com/ |
AuthorAn Idealist-Realist. Striving to Bring those Idealistic Dreams into Reality. Archives
December 2023
Categories |