Is Fiscal Sponsorship Right for You?

If you are following along at home and read last week's post, you’ve thought about your business structure.  If you’re leaning toward organizing as a nonprofit entity, there’s an option you’ll want to consider  --  fiscal sponsorship. 

Photo courtesy of  www.sxc.hu

According to the National Network of Fiscal Sponsors, “fiscal sponsorship means a nonprofit organization (the fiscal sponsor) agrees to provide administrative services and oversight to, and assume legal and financial responsibility for, the activities of groups or individuals engaged in work that furthers the fiscal sponsor’s mission.”  In other words, you can leave the humdrum administrative and legal tasks up to the sponsor and get right to focusing on establishing your creative reuse center.  And raising money.  As the sponsor’s project, you will have the benefit of their tax exempt status.  This means, right off the bat, you can offer tax exempt receipts for donations you receive from fans, friends, family, foundations and other folks. 

To read the full chapter, please pick up a copy of our book:

Print:

lulu.com

amazon.com

Digital (PDF):

lulu.com

Nonprofit? For Profit? Hybrid?

Here’s where we get all businessy and start talking about establishing yourself as a business. After all, a creative reuse center is a legal entity that must be registered with the government and Internal Revenue Service. Since you’ve had an opportunity to identify your passion to start a creative reuse center, the time to tap into it is when things get a little dry and left-brained. 

Do you have a technique for keeping focused on your dream?  Use it!

photo courtesy of www.sxc.hu

To read the full chapter, please pick up a copy of our book:

Print:

lulu.com

amazon.com

Digital (PDF):

lulu.com

Extra! Extra! Etsy's Recycler's Guild

Here's an extra little tidbit I found. (Please note, this will not be included in the book. It's intended to further enhance your creative reuse imagination.)

photo from Rezipit

I just stumbled upon the Recycler's Guild of Etsy this evening.  All of the products and projects they feature on the site are worthy of checking out, but I was especially excited to see that they have a tab dedicated to creative reuse.  Follow this link for more...

http://etsyrecyclersguild.blogspot.com/search/label/Creative%20Reuse

Inspiring reuse...

Stay tuned for the next chapter... "Nonprofit, For Profit, Hybrid".

The Crazy Reality of a Creative Reuse Center

A creative reuse center (CRC) can be a magical, creative haven--a place where one can wander, dig, and see what their mind imagines.  It can also be a place of chaos and unpredictability.  Part of the je ne sais quoi of reuse is that it’s hard to imagine the types of materials (and types of people, for that matter!) that will come your way.

photo courtesy of morguefile.com

While the CRC might include other features like a gallery, boutique, library or workshop space, the biggest chunk of square footage (and the bread and butter!) of most CRCs is the retail store.  If you’ve ever worked in a retail environment, that experience is of course very valuable in training your customer service skills, but that’s about it.  Imagine, if you will, walking into your nearest big box store to buy laundry detergent.  First of all, you probably know right where it will be, in the aisle marked with “Laundry” or “Cleaning Supplies”.  You arrive in the aisle to find 20 different choices - powder or liquid, this brand or that, spring fresh or lavender, stain fighting or color saving, etc. So, you choose exactly what you need and walk away a satisfied customer.

To read the full chapter, please pick up a copy of our book:

Print:

lulu.com

amazon.com

Digital (PDF):

lulu.com

What is your passion?

photo courtesy of morguefile.com

And, what's passion got to do with it?  

We all have strong, compelling feelings. Our temperaments, personalities, experiences, skill sets and preferences inform our passions. For the most part our passion is intuitive, powerful and difficult to quantify. The root of our passion can reach deeply into childhood or a family legacy.

Passion plays an important role in establishing a creative reuse center. Without a compelling drive, it's difficult to stay the course when it gets bumpy. And at times it will get plenty bumpy, but that’s another chapter. Consider how tempting it can be to bail out of a situation when nothing seems to be going right. You’ll need an anchor to hang on to during the challenging times. Enthusiasm and passion for the work make up that anchor.

To read the full chapter, please pick up a copy of our book:

Print:

lulu.com

amazon.com

Digital (PDF):

lulu.com