Generosity

The Local Crowd loves GivingTuesday, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, a day to unleash generosity across the globe. This year’s event on November 30 reported record-breaking giving. An estimated 35 million adults participated — just in the United States alone!

“This extraordinary show of generosity lit up the world against a backdrop of a dark two years. GivingTuesday is joyful even at the darkest of times,” said Asha Curran, co-founder and CEO of GivingTuesday. “Our hope is that this boost of generosity is an inspiration for continued giving, kindness, and recognition of our shared humanity each day of the year.”

What if every Tuesday was GivingTuesday?

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Give More: Shop Local

The Local Crowd joins the American Independent Business Alliance and its 100 partners to promote this year’s Shop Indie Local campaign — celebrating locally owned businesses. We hope to inspire you to shift more of your holiday spending to locally owned and independent businesses. Learn how your spending can give more hope!

Another thing that gives us hope, The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) recently awarded the Wyoming Small Business Development Center Network a $2.5 million grant to implement the SBA’s Community Navigator Pilot Program in Wyoming. This network includes The Local Crowd, giving us the opportunity to launch the TLC platform in four Wyoming communities/regions. We will help these communities build local coalitions, train coalition members, recruit crowdfunders, train the crowdfunders, and measure their results using the science of Social Network Analysis—a package worth more than $21,000 per community.

Soon, we will issue a Request for Proposals inviting Wyoming economic and community development groups to apply to become one of these four communities. If you would like to receive a copy of the RFP, please fill out our contact form with RFP in the topic line.

This is a great opportunity to build a localized crowdfunding platform that will continue to provide social and financial capital for Wyoming businesses long after the grant period has ended. Together, we’ll reduce barriers for small businesses to secure capital throughout our state.

Best,
Di, Kim, Amanda, Jen, Katelyn & Debbie

When you shop locally, more money returns to your local economy than spending that same dollar at a chain store.

Even with a smaller budget, you can give more this holiday season. How? By shopping local. Join the Shop Indie Local movement!  We’re purchasing more of our holiday gifts and celebration needs from our friends and neighbors — locally owned business owners.  Please join us!

Why Shop Indie Local?

When you spend your dollars at locally owned businesses, more money returns to our local economy than if you spend that same dollar at a chain store.  That dollar recirculates through your economy, generating ripple effects that strengthen jobs, charitable contributions, and community prosperity.

Shop Indie Local and Give More (Fill in the Blank)

Think about the people you love. Instead of stuff, what do you genuinely want to give them?  Perhaps it’s more hope, inspiration, or connection.  Now, consider each person, place, and thing that plays a part in growing, making, and getting that gift to your loved one.  When you Shop Indie Local, you give more to everyone.

For example, I want to give more hope to a dear friend.  I found a one-of-a-kind handmade lamp, one that I know will make my friend’s day a bit brighter.  The artist who created the light feels a bit more hope that they’ll make it through 2021, and my friend feels more hope every time she clicks the lamp’s switch on.

What do you want to give more of this year?

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October is Co-op Month: Build Back for Impact

Happy Co-op Month

This October, The Local Crowd joins with over 65,000 cooperatives and credit unions across the United States in celebrating Co-op Month observed nationally since 1964. National Cooperative Business Association chose this year’s theme, Build Back for Impact, to promote how co-ops and their members are working together to build stronger, more inclusive, and resilient communities in the wake of the pandemic.

We’re proud that we’re transitioning to a member-owned cooperative and we thank our founding members. We invite you to fill out our Co-op Interest Form to learn more about our co-op and how you can get involved.

Best,
Di, Kim, Amanda, Jen, Katelyn & Debbie

Read October’s E-Newsletter
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Eat Indie Local

A strong local food system keeps communities vibrant, economies growing, and landscapes healthy. When we buy and eat local food, the benefits ripple out to our community, helping small businesses thrive.

Many TLC communities leverage our resources to boost farmers and other businesses integral to their local food system. What better time to shout this out than during the inaugural nationwide Eat Indie Local campaign happening this August and September? It’s not too late to join in!

 

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Become a Founding Member of the TLC Cooperative

The Local Crowd is transitioning to a member-owned cooperative and the first 50 members to join will be the Founding Members.

What does it mean to be a member of the TLC Cooperative?

Membership is Ownership! As a member, your community will enjoy all the features and benefits of a localized crowdfunding platform; plus, your organization will receive a percentage of the platform fees. You will also have a voice in the ongoing management and future of TLC, so you can grow it from the grassroots—and keep it focused on real, local needs.

Founding Members will be part of the formation of this new and powerful cooperative. Their input will build the foundation and shape the future. Founding Members will be recognized as the visionaries who created the initial structure and set the intention for the work to come. These Founding Members will be part of a permanent web page noting their contributions.

Some Founding Members may also want to serve on the Transition Team to develop organizational documents and an initial operations plan. Much work has already been done, so this process won’t be as demanding as starting from scratch. It will be a great way to get to know your fellow TLCers from around the country and share your talents. Some members may want to serve on the cooperative board once elections are held. Fill out the Co-op Interest Form now to let us know how you would like to participate.

The opportunity to become a Founding Member happens only once. The time is now!

If you are new to TLC or would like a refresher, here’s a quick two-minute video that will bring you up to date.

TLC Cooperative Intro from The Local Crowd on Vimeo.

We hope to hear from you soon!

Fill out out Co-op Interest Form

 

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Small Business Month 2021

This May, celebrate Small Business Month with The Local Crowd. We’ll highlight all the ways small businesses contribute to strong communities and vibrant local economies. Follow our Facebook Page today!

We also have incredibly exciting news to share. The Local Crowd is taking its first steps to shift to a member-owned cooperative! We invite you to learn more at this upcoming event:

TLC Cooperative Membership Event

Tuesday, June 8 at 12:00 PM Mountain Time via Zoom

We will share the excitement and benefits of becoming a Founding Member and bringing a localized crowdfunding platform to your community. As a Founding Member, you will be recognized as a groundbreaking pioneer in business finance and social capital. You will also have the opportunity to shape the future of the cooperative, receive program income as a percentage of funds raised, build your entrepreneurial ecosystem, connect with other cooperative members, and cultivate social capital in your communities. This is BIG! Join us: Register here!

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Earth Day: Restore Our Earth

This year’s Earth Day theme is Restore Our Earth, highlighting innovative ways to regenerate our ecosystems worldwide.

From EARTHDAY.ORG
When life around the world returns to normal, our world cannot return to business-as-usual. We have the ability to make a difference in every industry, but that can only happen when we work together. More than 1 billion people in 192 countries now participate in activities each year, making it the world’s largest civic observance. Today, we invite you to be a part of Earth Day and to help further climate action across the globe.

Celebrate Earth Day Virtually with The Local Crowd

TLC Monadnock invites you to the Monadnock Earth Day Film Festival, April 22 – 24, a free virtual event featuring films and panel discussions to celebrate and cultivate a more resilient world.

Curious about our film line-up? Please read on.

Seeding Change Film | Long Trailer (2:45) from Seeding Change on Vimeo.

Seeding Change

This film features “triple bottom line” businesses that consider the social, environmental, and financial impacts of their companies addressing some of today’s most challenging issues. This award-winning documentary empowers viewers to be part of the solution by voting with their dollars and supporting the brands and products that align with their environmentally conscious values: seedingchangefilm.com.

First We Eat – Trailer from Suzanne Crocker on Vimeo.

First We Eat

What happens when an ordinary family living just south of the Arctic Circle bans all grocery store food from their house for one year? Add three skeptical teenagers, one reluctant husband, no salt, no caffeine, no sugar, and -40° temperatures. Ultimately the story becomes a celebration of community and the surprising bounty of food that even a tiny community in the far North can provide: firstweeat.ca.

Why we cycle from Nieuw & Verbeterd on Vimeo.

Why We Cycle

To the Dutch, cycling is as normal as breathing.  Take a ride with ordinary cyclists and specialists from a variety of fields. These conversations uncover some obvious but even more hidden effects of cycling on people, societies, and the organization of cities: whywecycle.eu.

The Falconer Trailer from The Falconer on Vimeo.

The Falconer

Meet master falconer Rodney Stotts on a mission to build a bird sanctuary and provide access to nature for his stressed community. This film is a story of second chances: for injured birds of prey, for an abandoned plot of land, for a group of teenagers who have dropped out of high school, and for Rodney himself. The Falconer weaves Rodney’s present-day mission with the story of his past, both of which are deeply rooted in issues of social and environmental injustice: thefalconerfilm.com.

Microplastic Madness

Meet 56 fifth graders from Public School 15 in Red Hook, Brooklyn, living in the frontline of the climate crisis. Their actions on plastic pollution morph into extraordinary leadership and scalable victories. With stop-motion animation, heartfelt kid commentary, and interviews of experts and renowned scientists engaged in the most cutting-edge research on the harmful effects of microplastics, this alarming yet charming narrative conveys an urgent message in user-friendly terms: cafeteriaculture.org.

Earth Day Film Festival Banner

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B Corp Month

It’s challenging to know how a business really does business: How do they treat their employees? Do they try to reduce their impacts on the environment? Are they striving to contribute more to their community? A certification process called B Corp makes answers to these questions more transparent. “[It’s] like the Fair Trade label but for a whole company, not just a bag of coffee,” says Jay Coen Gilbert, B Lab Co-Founder, the nonprofit that certifies B Corps businesses.

March is B Corp Month, a perfect time to give a shout-out to these fourth sector businesses.

From B Lab: Certified B Corporations are a new kind of business that balances purpose and profit. They are legally required to consider the impact of their decisions on their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment. This is a community of leaders, driving a global movement of people using business as a force for good.

We’re proud that one of TLC’s communities in the Upper Valley of NH and VT boasts a high concentration of B Corps. In fact, Vermont is second on the list of states with the highest number of B Corps per capita — just behind the District of Columbia. Go Vermont!

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Supporting Vision for Black History Month

During Black History Month, we invite you to reflect with us on how crowdfunding can support more Black-owned businesses. The financial innovation firm RUNWAY has a powerful vision and approach to relationships that will serve as a starting point for our February reflections.

RUNWAY’s Vision

We envision a world where Black entrepreneurs thrive in a reimagined economy rooted in equity and justice.

RUNWAY’s Approach to Right Relationship

RUNWAY is guided by the principle that capital can be used to heal, repair, and connect Black businesses and the communities surrounding them. This principle informs all aspects of our organizational culture; from our lending and credit processes with our entrepreneurs, to the interpersonal working relationships within our team and with our partners. What makes us unique is the value we place on transformational relationships over transactional ones.

Our reflections will grow into practice here at The Local Crowd.  How can we help manifest RUNWAY’s vision in the work that we do?

One way is to hold up crowdfunding campaigns supporting Black-owned businesses.  The campaigns highlighted below are from FundBlackFounders, Rewards Crowdfunding for Black Entrepreneurs founded by Renee King.  Please take time to explore all the current and past campaigns on their platform.

Supporting Vision for Black History Month Supporting Vision for Black History Month Supporting Vision for Black History Month

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Start With Your WHY

We ask campaign teams who work with us to start with their WHY. It’s a practice that helps teams ‘peel the onion’ and get to their core mission. It gives them a solid foundation to build their campaign upon by getting to the HEART of what matters. Ultimately, their WHY will inspire more community support for their campaign.

Simon Sinek’s TED Talk highlights the power of starting with the WHY:

“Every single person, every single organization on the planet knows what they do, 100 percent. Some know how they do it … But very, very few people or organizations know why they do what they do. And by ‘why,’ I don’t mean ‘to make a profit.’ That’s a result. It’s always a result. By ‘why,’ I mean: What’s your purpose? What’s your cause? What’s your belief? Why does your organization exist? Why do you get out of bed in the morning? And why should anyone care? As a result, the way we think, we act, the way we communicate is from the outside in; it’s obvious. We go from the clearest thing to the fuzziest thing. But the inspired leaders and the inspired organizations — regardless of their size, regardless of their industry — all think, act and communicate from the inside out.”

Why not start with your WHY as we begin a new year. What is your WHY, and how will you express your core mission in 2021?

Start With Your Why

TLC Campaigns That Start With the WHY

A Stone Mill for Mill Hollow

In communities all across America, bakeries are introducing their customers to the increased nutritional value and flavor of baked goods made with freshly milled flour.

LEARN MORE

 

 

The Hilde Project: Empowering Wyoming Women

Help us provide a community for women that includes a safe, inspiring space, project supplies, and skill development that lead to gainful employment.

LEARN MORE

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