One week ago, I announced The Hedrick Project. A nonprofit on a mission to better animal, human, and environmental life globally. Today, I need your help to start impacting these lives.
If you missed my last blog, it covered my story over the last few years. From my first business starting in high school to my last three years in real estate, and ultimately to my journey to deciding that I wanted to create a nonprofit.
Since leaving real estate behind, I have been working on laying an intense foundation. I have created partnerships, networked, started fundraising, built our website, and completed our incorporation and nonprofit status papers. We have all of our initial steps complete. It is time to start running the organization.
The Hedrick Project has two overarching themes that I will focus on for the rest of my life, fundraising, and telling stories. We need funds to donate to our partners, and we need to create stunning media telling their stories to raise those funds.
We have set a lofty goal. $100,000 in donations by 2023. We have named it, you might want to sit down for this one, the Getting Started Campaign. We have roughly ten partners ready to receive our funds, and $10,000 is an excellent average for our partners.
For our clean water project, $10,000 can drill a well - giving an entire village clean water. For our coral project, you can build a restoration site for $11,000. The list goes on as to why $100,000 is our starting goal.
In addition, I have a personal goal to raise another $50,000 for our overhead account. Remember, we operate on a transparency promise - we do not touch the money for our projects. 100% of that goes directly to our partners. We are raising $50,000 to cover a starting salary, our current software and subscription expenses, and travel to all of our partners.
In short, I need to raise $150,000 in 135 days. I simply cannot do this without you. Here are 9 ways that you can help:
1) Donate.
One thing I have learned is that I am not good at asking people for help, much less for their hard-earned money. But, the one way I have surpassed this hurdle is to talk about how time is of the essence. So, that is what I am going to do.
The stats are clear for all of our projects. 780 million people do not have access to clean water. Corals will be gone, and 937 million tons of plastic will be in the ocean by 2050. Plus, the countless number of animals climbing the endangered list. There is a very steep hill to climb. Unfortunately, we need to do it quickly.
However, we can do it.
We can rid the ocean of plastics, we can help conserve endangered animals, we can plant corals before they are gone, we can build schools for those that don't have access, and we can provide clean water solutions to every single one of those 780 million people. We can do all of these amazing things if we work together.
We are working together with the brightest minds in all of their respective spaces to tackle their problems. We are working with other INGOs, NGOs, and nonprofits to most efficiently start to etch away at those big numbers.
The only thing we need is your help to get started.
Joining The Collective is the best thing you can do. The Collective is our group of monthly donors that distribute their funds across all of our projects. It is the best way to donate because, first, it allows us to project our incoming funds. This allows our partners to forecast their work. Second, we can distribute our funds where the impact is most significant. If our partner has had a major donor for a project fall through, we can quickly swoop in and prevent a derailment of their progress. Third, we get to know our donors more intimately. If you join The Collective, we send custom newsletters, and media directly to your inbox to bring you along for the impact you are creating. We believe donating is much more than being a checkbook. The Collective allows our donors to do just that. We are developing forums and other community engagement platforms so our members can plan fundraisers and cleanups, and suggest ideas to THP. We want our Collective members to be a part of our organization, our family.
2) Share with Your Friends and Family.
Hearing about an organization from a friend or family member is much more powerful than from a sponsored ad as you scroll through Facebook. Consistently sharing our message by sharing posts and talking about them to your friends and family will help spread our message in a much more meaningful way than our marketing dollars ever could. Whether it is a post, story, or campaign, please tag us in anything you post - we would love to see it!
3) Subscribe to our Newsletter.
Our newsletter is the best way for us to stay in touch. Every month we will be sending a newsletter filled with good news and progress that is being made. Whether it is a new well dig in Uganda or a new species of a giraffe being re-discovered, we want to share with you all of the powerful work we are doing together. You can subscribe to our newsletter here.
If you are a member of The Collective, you will get a custom newsletter filled with progress updates on the organization and the projects you are funding.
4) Fundraise on Our Behalf.
We have created a fundraising page where you can create a fundraiser for any occasion. Whether you would like to donate your birthday to fundraise on our behalf, run a 5k, or start a lemonade stand, there are plenty of creative ways to fundraise on our behalf. On our fundraising page, you will find a survey with all the questions we need to get your page up and running.
5) Volunteer Positions
Volunteer with Us! We have 8 volunteer positions available for those who want to help us on our mission to better animal, human, and environmental life globally.
Positions include:
- Build your Position
- Photo & Video
- Copywriting & Written Content
- Social Media
- Graphic Design
- Software Engineering
- Admin/Executive Assistance
- Events
6) Join Viewfinders
We are creating a group of photographers and videographers globally that can help us tell conservation stories globally. This collection of photographers and videographers allows us to use their media to raise awareness and might even have the opportunity to join us on location for a shoot. Contact us to learn more.
7) Join The Pack
The Pack is our group of generous donors who cover our operating costs. Our transparency promise and 100% model rely on these individuals to support our organization in paying for the items that we need to operate. We also utilize this group as a junior board of directors. We run ideas, issues, and inspiration by The Pack to get feedback and criticism.
To join The Pack, we ask for a three-year commitment to donations. We want to work together for years to come and invite you to be part of our team. In addition, we ask for an average large donation size - you can reach out to us here to learn more.
8) Board Positions
We are searching for outstanding board members to help guide us in our early stages. Whether you have experience in business, marketing, nonprofits, HR, or anything that could be beneficial - we would love to meet and see if you would be a good fit. The board is the most important part of any organization, so we will be taking the interview process intensely. Contact us to learn more.
9) View our Wishlist
Our wishlist is filled with items that can help us better The Hedrick Project. Instead of items, our wishlist is filled with things that would be difficult for us to come by, a list of opportunities. On there we are asking for things like office or coworking space, connections, PR & advertising opportunities, and more. Click here to view our wishlist.
Over the last five years, I have had the opportunity to learn more than I could have ever imagined. The world of entrepreneurship is one of those where failure is one of, if not the only ways to learn. From building furniture in my parent's garage to million-dollar listings, I have been able to acquire a wide variety of skills and important connections, however, never have I had the opportunity to make a difference in such an important cause. My fundraising skills are not up to par to do this alone. That is why I need your help.
I started The Hedrick Project because I know that together we can make a difference in the world. We can turn around the narrative that has been told over and over for the last few years. Together we can make an extraordinary difference in animal, human, and environmental life globally.
Thank you so much for reading this blog. Please consider sharing it with your friends and family members. In addition, click here to Join the Collective and donate monthly to all of our outstanding projects. Together we can make a difference in animal, human, and environmental life globally.
- Will