At our June SNACC meeting, we had a robust discussion about whether or not the Sunnyside Shower Project (SSP) should become a nonprofit in the near future. Hannah had attended an informative talk by nonprofit lawyer David Atkin called “So, You Want to be a Nonprofit?”. During it, she asked Atkin if any foundations discourage smaller organizations that don’t have nonprofit status from applying. He said foundations are used to having fiscal sponsors, which lend credibility to your project. Later during that talk, Nanci Champlin, Executive Director of Southeast Uplift (SNA’s fiscal sponsor) offered that she wanted to dispel the myth that you have to be on a path to becoming a 501c3. Sometimes, an organization is so small that it doesn’t have the resources to run payroll, submit taxes, and do all the other things a nonprofit needs to do.
At the SNACC meeting, Josette said that we’re still in our infancy—we’re still figuring out our “Incident Protocols” and other basic policies for how we run the Shower Project. Hannah pointed out that the grants she and Diana are currently applying for—the Collins Foundation and an Oregon Community Foundation grant—are fine with fiscal sponsors. We decided as a group not to pursue nonprofit status for the time being. We are grateful for all SEUL does for us!
Devin Lee suggested we keep a sewing kit at the SSP so we can help guests mend buttons and holes while they wait for their showers. [Another volunteer has already supplied this.] In the coming months, we hope to solidify our Incident Protocols, develop a consistent way of onboarding new volunteers, and launch a digital sign-in process for our guests. We also decided that SNACC will meet every other month. We hope to see you at the next SNACC meeting which will be held on Thursday Aug. 3rd at 6:30pm at SEUL’s conference room. We will start planning our winter clothing drive, so please join if you’re interested in helping out!