STEPS TOWARD STARTING YOUR OWN NEIGHBORHOOD COMMOTION.

 

1. Start by emailing your personal network. Use this description or modify it to your needs.

Sample email content:

Dear friends, I’m starting a crowdfunding group for public art in our neighborhood. I would love to see more fun things happening, things like murals, community gardens, pop-up events, etc. Public art lifts people up, sometimes in the flow of their day and sometimes when they need it most. Will you join me in paying it forward to get things started? I’ll be setting up a secure website with One Future Arts Alliance (OFAA) where we’ll put in a little money monthly by subscription and when we have enough there we’ll announce our first RFP (Request for Proposals). I need to get some verbal commitments for now and once we have a group together we’ll formalize the agreements. I haven’t invented this idea. See Commotion West Berkeley for reference. Will you commit to paying $50 or $100/month in order to make a difference in our community?

 

2. Send the email to anyone you think might be interested, or who might share it in their own network. 

Remember, only a small percentage of people will jump in. That’s normal. Let’s say 3% will say yes. So if you need 9 people confirmed to start, you might need to ask 300 people in order to get 9 confirmations. 

 

3. Once you have $500/month pledged in writing, contact OFAA and we’ll build a webpage for you. OFAA will be your fiscal sponsor and will handle the paperwork and taxes, etc. Fiscal sponsorship fees are 10% of the income. 

 

4. Once you have $2000 or more in the account you can issue your first RFP. Send it to everyone you know. We might share it too. 

 

5. OFAA will provide forms which you can use to receive and evaluate proposals. 

 

6. Once your group decides which project/s to fund, and terms are agreed upon, we’ll send money :)

 

7. Send photos of your results and we’ll add them to your website. You can use that success to attract more paying members and more future projects. 

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