Unexpected Catalyst!

When we decided to go for it, we reached out to our dear friend Alisa Chatinsky from NPO Success. She is an amazing woman who helped get Daring Adventures to a new level. I knew from all our work with Anthony’s Adventure and her personal love for our family’s story she would really appreciate what we were trying to do.

Alisa in turn introduced us to some folks over at Vitalyst health Foundation (formerly St. Luke’s Health initiative). Upon her direction, we went to them and told our story and shared our vision.

Those of you who know the process, starting a non-profit can be very time consuming. You have to file your incorporation papers, file for tax exempt status, draw up your articles and bylaws, and organize a board of directors. This process can take 8 months to a year and then two years or more before you are eligible to apply for any grants. One solution to expedite things is to find a fiscal sponsorship.

Fiscal Sponsorships are 501© (3) charitable corporations who give unincorporated organizations starting out (who have similar missions), a place to park while they are building capacity. The sponsor provides accounting, human resources, grant reviews, and other very important services behind the scenes. They give a new organization some credibility and fulfill requirements certain grants demand.

TAP/AZ (Technical Assistance Partnership of Arizona), an affiliate of Vitalyst, offered applications for a fiscal sponsorship and we decided to apply. This would allow us to get started now with some significant backing. Not just fiduciary oversight, but also a large prestigious organization saying our idea had merit.

Filling out the application was a little daunting and took days. Alisa reviewed it for us and helped us fine tune our mission, plan and budget. We were introduced to a very kind man named George from TAP/AZ   who guided us and helped clarify what the organization was looking for in its candidates.  We submitted the application and waited with our fingers crossed.

We are overwhelmed with joy and gratitude as we tell you, today we have signed the legal agreement with TAP/AZ as our official fiscal sponsor!!! We can now accept donations, apply for grants, and have the leadership, experience and support we need to do this NOW!

DeeDee and I went to lunch and sat and stared at each other with tears in our eyes. This is happening. It feels so divinely inspired. All my early years of the journey with AC felt like I was paddling up Niagara Falls. Everything was so hard. Getting him services, getting him healthcare, delivering interventions, getting friends, keeping friends, working, relationships, discipline, perseverance.…. But over the last couple years, I’ve started to slow down. Some of it I’m certain is simply sheer exhaustion but much of it feels more like a “letting go” of some sorts. At first it felt awkward and uncomfortable. I wondered if I was giving up the fight.

Over time, I slowly shifted my philosophy from “making it” happen, to “allowing it” to happen.  Instead of fighting for what we needed all the time it became more about collaboration, support and asking for help. I can’t help but feel everything is unfolding, opening up and standing to reason. When I look at all the dots effortlessly being connected with #OneSharedRoot, I can’t help but wonder how amazing and limitless the potential seems….. Now that something so much bigger (and wiser) seems to be running the show.

I can’t wait to see what happens.