I started a Facebook group about 5 years ago to pull women together to create an intentional community in Ohio for lesbians and their female allies. There are more than 400 people in that Facebook group. We’ve created an LLC, a website Ohio Womyns Intentional Living Communities, a Board of Directors, Members of the LLC and Supporters. We had weekly meetings on Zoom for about 8 months during 2021. And then one General Meeting and one Business meeting per month for several months. And yet, we don’t have a solid Core group of committed investors and/or future residents. Some of our Board of Directors have fallen into other opportunities and others are strong supporters of our Mission but don’t have the ability to be investors.
What suggestions/ experiences do you have to find the people who created your Core group in the beginning of your Community’s development? Our greatest need is committed investors.
Wow. As a budding starter of an ecovillage, this is something I worry about. I’m nowhere near where you are. Yes, any tips appreciated!
For those of you that don’t receive regular e-mails from FIC, this information arrived in my inbox this morning. I hope it helps.
Where are you located?
Are you trans inclusive?
Congratulations on being so far along! I’d be curious about what you are offering to potential investors. What does the package look like? Are you actively seeking investors with a marketing approach? My own hunch is that it’s far better to create a design and then offer it to people than have a collaborative process. But I’d be interested in other people’s thoughts on that (including your own, AdlaiJN).
Thanks for this. Thanks for sharing that FIC program. I’ll definitely check it out.
Yes, we welcome compatible transfolk.
Let’s connect AdlaiJN! I’d love to see how I might be able to help you with securing investors and a committed core group. My email is jonathan.dean@compass.com!
I have started officially seeking either founders, or a similar project local to me that is currently seeking founders. So I’ve put myself out there starting yesterday as “officially” seeking or wanting to cofound. There are already a few interested people, but I’m making sure not to count my proverbial chickens yet, in part thanks to this post and how it shows that people are excited but then can’t commit. I might end up in this same situation though I hope I don’t, re. ambiguity of who will help found.
So the reason I was able to gather cofounders quickly (4 of them) was because I orchestrated the process of meeting in person quickly, with zoom as an option for folks if they can’t make it that day in person. Ultimately my husband and I realized that because of other needs in our lives we need to be joiners instead of founders. But I’m supporting these cofouneders in any way I can still, because if they succede and get infastructure in place we’ll potentially buy in later when they’re ready to add members that aren’t founders.
Bringing things into immediate focus by getting going on concrete planning meetings, _in _person, will help solidify your project and solidly figure out who is a potential cofounder and who could be a joiner later.