Goals to grow on

After officially being incorporated for just over a year, I am finally sending in the final paperwork to the IRS to become a 501(c)3. This will give the organization tax-exempt status and its donors a tax write off. I have been able to do this since July, but putting the funding together has been a hold up. PLUS, we welcomed our third child in September so I have been spending the last 12 weeks getting my bearings on having three children under the age of 5. My oldest just celebrated his 4th birthday. Some days it is hard to believe it has only been 4 years, it feels like a life time ago that I was single or even married without children. Other days I feel the moments are flying by and 4 years happened in a blink.

I have a few goals that I hope to reach in the next 4 years in regards to From the Heart, Inc.

• I hope to have helped at least 10 families total (1 down 9 to go!)
• I hope to be a paid part-time employee not just a volunteer
• I hope to have consistent donors

In 4 years the organization will be turning 5. I hope there is a lot to celebrate by then. I know that this organization exists for a reason. I feel like it plays a part in my greater purpose in life.

I am still looking for individuals to glean off of. If you are interested in volunteering for our organization please contact me. Ashley Ferris aferris06@gmail.com with a subject line of VOLUNTEER. I specifically need those with knowledge in the fundraising area. 

Coming Full Circle

We are approaching our one-year anniversary! The vision of this organization was put on my heart in June of 2010. On July 13, 2010 I pitched the vision to three other amazing women and they jumped into this journey with me. In September of 2010, we were officially incorporated by the state of Indiana. We had started the process of becoming a 501(c)3 non-profit organization around that time too. Now as of May 14th, all of our paperwork has been sent to The Foundation Group (the company that is helping through the process) and we are waiting for their review and council. They will be the liaison between us and the IRS, This process may take 2-5 months...or more if we are randomly selected for further review/questioning. A nice benefit to this process is that it is retroactive. If you donate to our organization today, it is still tax-deductible even though we are not yet a fully tax-deductible entity yet.

Now beyond just the business of getting our org. up and running, we are currently sponsoring our first family!!!

This is the most exciting part, because just under a year of the birth of the idea, we are living out the core of the organization already. The family that inspired the idea of the organization is currently being sponsored. We are helping this family eliminate medical debt that they have accumulated while trying to find a cause for their girls constantly getting sick. They have not been able to find a definitive diagnosis, but they are getting pieces to the puzzle with each passing test and trial of meds. You can imagine that this course of action can run medical costs up quickly. We are helping to relieve some of the burden of the past in order for them to point their resources toward the future.

Here is the link to our website where you can view their video. It gives you a glimpse into what they have gone through. There is also a more detailed article if you want to get into the "nitty gritty" of their journey.

http://www.igivefromtheheart.org/Our_Heart_Beats.html

You also have the option to donate on their page as well.

Thank you to those who have followed our organization's journey and are now seeing us help our first family. We are grateful for all the prayers and monetary support that has helped us get where we are today. We hope to help many more families in the coming years.

~Written by Ashley Ferris
One of four board members

From the Heart: Sharing the Vision

I have been contemplating when to dive into the heart of what this organization will do and feel now is the time. We are about to finalize all the business-side pieces to make us a full-fledged non-profit company and thus we can begin taking donations. Before I ask you to open your wallets though I ask that you open your mind...

From the Heart, Inc. is a non-profit organization that raises money and awareness for families dealing with a medical challenge. We take the approach of hosting a physical benefit, only we are doing it all on line. Here's how it all works.

First, we choose a family to sponsor (we will call them Family X in this scenario). Family X has a child who is suddenly become a paraplegic and their family needs a wheel chair accessible van. This is where we come in. Instead of  hosting a bake sale, raffle, or something of that nature, we take their story to the internet. On our blog and on our website will be an in-depth story that the family and our organization has put together (they approve everything that is posted on both sites). On that same page there will be information on how you can give to Family X. By giving through our organization here are the benefits:

1.) 100% of your gift will go towards that family's need
2.) Your gift will be tax-deductible
3.) You can donate on your time, not at a specific event.
4.) We can reach friends and family members from all across the world with a need instantly.

Another benefit (more for the family) is that they will not receive a check from us (there would be taxes on that type of gift). Instead we would directly put the money towards the van. This allows all of the funds raised to be used for the need, not divided among, organization costs, the government, and then the family.

Each sponsored family will get a set amount of time for their story to appear on our blog and website. After that time we will have periodic updates but we will not be accepting further donations. We will hopefully have other families to help.

So, when their story is finished and ready to be put on the website and blog we give them the link to it. Family X will then send this link (via email, facebook, twitter, etc) to all of their friends and family. This gives all they know a chance to learn more about their struggle in hopes of gaining support, prayers, and obviously, money. Plus, it may be spread to people beyond their relationships and touch the hearts of people they have never and will never meet. This is the power of the internet. We want to channel that power for the greater good.

After the set amount of time has passed our organization will report the lump sum of money that has been collected for Family X. Then we will document what we do with it and report back to the givers (via our website). In this scenario, From the Heart would write a check to ABC Dealership for the amount we raised and it would be applied towards the purchase of the van. Again, the benefits of going straight to the need are to keep the family from having to pay taxes on the money (it would be seen as a gift if given to the family).

Now that you see how we work, there may be questions. Here are a few I can think of:

If 100% of my donation goes to that family, where are you getting the money to run your organization?
In order to fulfill the vision of 100% of the donations designated for a family to go to the family's need, we need to take donations for our organization. We will have times throughout the year when we are raising money strictly for operations of the organization. These are minimal as we are at 100% volunteer staff at this point. However, site maintenance, fees associated with online donations and general expenses will be covered with these donations. We expect these to be relatively low due to the fact that our entire presence is on line.

Will I get a receipt for my donation?
If you donate online you may use your credit card statement or a print screen as a receipt or you may contact us and request a receipt. If you send a check, your cancelled check can serve as your receipt or you may also request a receipt.

How can I or someone I know become one of your sponsored families?
We are still in the process of ironing out our application process, but for the time being, we ask that you contact me, Ashley Ferris at aferris06@gmail.com with the subject line "FROM THE HEART" so that I am able to quickly filter it out of my other emails. I will contact you and talk more about your story. Then when I have enough information to bring to the other board members, I will talk with them and we will make a decision.


So, now you have the basics of our organization. As always, the first thing I would ask of anyone reading this is to please pray for our organization. I feel that this dream has been placed on my heart for such a time as this. I know I am following what God has for me and am doing at least a part of what I was put on this planet to do. If in your prayers you feel led to give, then please do so.

Here comes the fun part. We are now accepting donations towards our organization. We have two families ready to help, but we have to get completely up and running first. We need to raise funds to get our website up and fully functioning so that we can give these families the opportunity to gain prayer, support, and funds for their child's medical challenge! If you would like to make a donation, please make your checks out to: From the Heart, Inc.


Until our website is up and running snail mail is the only way for us to accept funds. We hope to be up and running by the end of March.


PLEASE MAIL ALL DONATIONS TO:


From the Heart
P.O. Box 325
Fishers, IN 46038




Also, please indicate whether or not you would like a receipt so that we may provide you with that in a timely manner.


We are officially registered with the State of Indiana (as of June 2010) and will be done with our 501(c)3 process later this year. But all donations for this year are tax deductible due to retroactive benefits of the 501(c)3 status.


If you have any other questions before you can make the leap to a donation, please feel free to contact me via email. or comment on this blog post. 

aferris06@gmail.com with subject line "QUESTION FROM THE HEART"

Thank you for your time and consideration of this project and the organization as a whole.

Ashley Ferris

Another Step Forward

Life is funny in that it can take you months to get around to doing something that you have literally thought about every day for...well, months.

This, I believe is the text book definition of procrastination in action. ( I giggled at the very idea of the phrase "procrastination in action".) I have been at a standstill with the non-profit since September. The reason? It is simple yet complex. A one-word answer would simply be: PROCRASTINATION. The more complex answer would be that there are a lot of little components that need to line up. I let myself get overwhelmed with what to do next and I stalled. Then I hid behind my exterior, my life; I am knee-deep in the trenches of raising two preschoolers that both had birthdays in the fall. Then there are the fabulous holiday's that November and December bring. Just a few days before the celebration of New Years, I find that I am expecting our third child. Life has not been simple and thus I would like to retract any "simple answers" to this question. Life happened.

Here we are almost 6 months from my last post and I have only a few new things to share. I attended a Non-profit boot camp with one of my board members at the end of September, I opened a page on facebook (click on From the Heart and "like" us), and I officially started the process of becoming an 501(c)3. Here is where you are going to get a little lesson in Non-profit 101.

You can be a non-profit for years and years and never have tax-deductible benefits. You must file with the government to become a type of non-profit. There are 28 types of non-profit organizations 501(c)1-28 (thank you Wickipedia). The most recognized by the masses is 501(c)3 these are your religious, educational, charitable, etc organizations. When you become a full-fledged 501(c)3 as an organization you have tax-exempt and tax-deductible benefits. The IRS will review your application for whatever type of 501(c) you apply for and they are the ones that determine if you qualify to in fact be that type of organization.

So, now that my lesson is done, I will tell you that this is not simple task. I decided that From the Heart, Inc. would never get off the ground if I had to do this paperwork myself. Thus the board agreed to hire The Foundation Group to be our guide in this process. I was thrilled! This is not cheap and our first fundraising will be put towards paying for this major milestone in our organization. Which also brings me to my point of this post. I would like to now make a public to-do list for March. I feel that making it public might actually help me achieve my goals more quickly.

1.) Draft the letter that will go out to everyone I know letting them know what we are doing and what we hope to do.

2.) Open our bank account to begin accepting funds

3.) Begin to get the website up and running.

I feel that these tasks along with at least one more blog post (hopefully more) in the month of March is about my limit to what I can accomplish.

Wish me luck, if you read this say a prayer for me and the others working on this project. If you would like more information please leave a comment and I would be happy to answer any questions.

Thanks!