Grant Writing is one of my favorite pastimes. Seriously.
I turn the lights down, put on some sweet, mantra-laced techno/trance beats, and I’m in the “Homestead Zone”. “How does your nonprofit benefit the community?” “How many people does your nonprofit serve?” “What are your most successful programs?” All my favorite questions.
The Holistic Homestead offers health and wellness education and outreach programming for the rural communities along the Peak to Peak corridor in Colorado. Our annual events include our Winter Retreat, Spring Cleanse, Mountain Mama Fun Run, Fall Roadside Clean-Up, Natural First Aid (at Wild Bear Nature Center) and Holistic Health Fair (at the Gilpin County Community Center)!
Or regular community offerings include meditation and sacred dance classes (at Tadasana Mountain Yoga & 7 Healing Stars), wild weed walks, and Hands-On Health Literacy for Kids (at Wild Bear and Nederland Community Library)! We also write monthly health and wellness columns in The Mountain Ear and The Weekly Register Call.
Over 300 people directly participate and interact with The Holistic Homestead annually. We currently have 52 members and sponsors, most of whom live in Colorado, but we our membership also extends to Connecticut, and New York. When you add up our social media followers (865 on Facebook, and 473 on this blog), and the readership of the two largest papers in the mountains, our mission impacts thousands of people.
Amazing – really – to think that we do all this with an annual budget of less than $15,000, 5 supremely dedicated board members, and 100% volunteer powered.
The most important question is always, “What is the current program that needs funding?”
“Opening the Door to Health” is the title of our capital campaign to rent, remodel and open Gilpin County’s first and only Co-Op market, cafe and wellness center. Our Facebook and Crowdrise campaigns are seeking to raise $50,000 each, for a grand total of $100,000 to rent the space, build the shelves, install a commercial-grade kitchen, fill out our inventory, and open the doors! Don’t worry, we’re not trying to get all this money from donations – hence the grant writing!
Foundations do also ask about our donor support – right now approximately 1/3 of our funding comes from direct donations, and many of those donations are less than $50. A broad base of donor support proves to granting agencies that our impact is broad and that many people experience the benefit of our work.
charitable donations
Help us open our Co-Op Market, Healthy Cafe and Wellness Center! For your donation of $25 you become a member of the Homestead and will receive 10% off all Homestead merch, free admission to ALL our events, backstage access to this website, and our monthly newsletter!
$25.00
Make your tax deductible donation today!
Do you know a foundation or granting agency with similar priorities? Do you have experience serving on a Board of Directors for small nonprofits? Tell us about it below!
