Change Chicago 1 High School Student at a Time!

One of the things we want to get better at this year is sharing volunteer opportunities.  Promoting volunteerism is part of our mission.  You can learn more about our mission on our website.  In the meantime, here's a great volunteer opportunity for you to consider.

Did you know? Only 3% of Chicago Public School minority students graduate from a 4-year college. 

You could be part of mentoring a CPS High Schooler in Bronzeville to make sure he or she makes it through to college and sticks with it.  The mentoring is mostly virtual, and was designed with working people in mind but retirees, recent college grads and other-not-9-to-5ers can participate too. 

Learn about Chicago’s growing education gap, and what you can do to change the future for our children, and our community @ an interest meeting Monday, January 7 @ 7pm or Saturday, February 2 @ 10:30am here @ Overflow Coffee Bar.

Click on the image or zoom in to enlarge the text.

We're Looking For: NONPROFITS!

We feature a different nonprofit each month and are putting together our line-up for 2013.  If you know of a local nonprofit we should support,  make a suggestion via this form.  If you work or volunteer for a nonprofit and would like to talk about partnership opportunities, use the same form.

We're always on the look out for nonprofits with which we can partner.  Please share a nonprofit you know of or at which you volunteer or work.  We only work with nonprofits who are active in the South Loop or nearby Chicago neighborhoods.

One of the South Loop nonprofit activities we support is the South Loop Food Pantry!

October's Featured Nonprofit: South Loop Food Pantry

In August, we launched our new fair trade store in partnership with Ten Thousand Villages.  Each month, we're giving 5% of the gross sales to a different nonprofit.  Because of September's sales, we are able to give $32.02 to Chicago Fair Trade.  That doesn't sound like a lot, but with the film screening proceeds going to them as well, they are receiving $65.57.  That bigger than we were able to do in August so let's see if we can keep the trend going and beat that amount this month.  Here's who will be receiving October's 5%...

The South Loop Food Pantry at South Loop Community Church is a member agent of the Greater Chicago Food Depository.  They launched this year and are already serving 40 plus families per week at their Saturday distributions.

I (Amanda) used to volunteer at another food pantry on the north side. While volunteering there I learned that the families who depend on food from the pantry are especially in need at Thanksgiving.  The week before Thanksgiving, there were lots of families who showed up at the pantry needing food.  Partially, they wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving just like the rest of us but also their kids were out of school and they were losing a day of work, etc.  Several factors made it very important to get some food to put on their tables.

During the season from Thanksgiving through New Year's, there are lots of people and organizations that help those living in poverty in our communities but not very many before Thanksgiving.  We were thinking about this and decided that we should use our giving in October to be ready to help in November.  Thus, the 5% we're giving to the South Loop Food Pantry will go toward distributing extra food on the Saturday before Thanksgiving.

If you'd like to help more than with your purchases from our Ten Thousand Villages store, please visit the food pantry's website for information.  You can also drop off non-perishable food items the next time you stop by Overflow for your cup of coffee or croissant.

What's Happening

It's been a while since I've written a mass update about what's going on with the IRS.  I've been thinking a lot and talking with our board of directors, trusted advisors, friends, etc.  Now, I'm ready to share what's been going on with everyone because I feel like we're almost at a consensus.  We want to be transparent during this process and share openly.  We've got nothing to hide and find value on including others in what we're doing.  If you're reading this, you're part of the team helping to make Overflow happen.  So, here's the update (without going into too much boring legal or tax details... if you're interested in these kinds of things, let me know and I'd love to talk with you over the phone).

The IRS is not going to recognize selling direct trade coffee and other products as an exempt activity of a non-profit organization.  Therefore, we are faced with 3 options: (1) keep coffee and other sales to a minimal level, (2) hive off the coffee shop as a separate for-profit from a non-profit focused on community building, arts and volunteering or (3) have everything be a single for-profit entity (but we can still use 100% of our profits for non-profit activities). 

The consensus seems to be to go for option #3 and keep all of our activities under a single entity.  We'll still do the mission we've set out so far - giving South Loop residents, students and workers the opportunity to change the world through community building, volunteering, the arts and using direct trade and organic products.  We will give 100% of our profits to non-profit activities (mostly within the South Loop and surrounding neighborhoods).

I'd love to hear your thoughts about a "socially responsible" coffee shop that doesn't have a 501(c)(3) status but is still 100% invested in the community.  Comment and share your thoughts and ideas!

The Past Week or So.

On Friday, February 5th I found out Mark from the IRS had our 501(c)(3) application on his desk.  I got his phone number, called, and left a message.

On Monday, February 8th,  Mark returned my call.  He said he would look at the application within the next couple days and would be getting back to me with a request for additional information.

On Wednesday morning around 9:30am, Mark sent me a fax with the requestion for additional information.  The request took up 10 pages and consisted of 18 sets of questions to which he needed answers. 

By Wednesday night around 10:30pm, I had a rough draft of my responses to all Mark's questions ready to send to Overflow's Board of Directors for their feedback.

On Thursday, I received the responses from the board and finalized the answers and their corresponding attachments.

On Friday morning, I went to Staples to get all 34 pages of the answers and attachements printed and ready to go.  Then, went to a partner organization who let me use their fax and sent all 34 pages via fax to Mark.  It was around 9am Central Time when the fax was sent.  Finally, I went to the post office and put everything in the mail to Mark.  I got home around 10:30am and napped for an hour or so.  Then, it was back to work getting caught up with all the things I missed while working on the IRS stuff.

I hope to hear something on Tuesday or shortly thereafter.  Check back for an update as soon as I have one.

major steps completed today

Today...

• We opened a bank account with the $200 that was given this past weekend. Thanks to all of those who donated for my birthday!
• We put our 501(c)3 application in the mail for the Federal Internal Revenue Service.
• Our website went live (www.overflowcoffeebar.org). It's still under construction but it's up!

A few major hills climbed over... now we continue with the fundraising and await hearing from the IRS regarding our application. It can take 2-6 months. Pray for a prompt approval!

2 weeks...

It's been 2 weeks since the first newsletter was published and at least 91 people have viewed the newsletter at least 156 times. That's a lot. Wow! I'm impressed.

We also have 9 followers of the blog and 23 fans on facebook (Overflow Coffee Bar on Facebook).

On the one hand, this is all very encouraging. On the other hand, we still have $0. I mean, people have given $40 but it's already been used for government applications and filings and such. I'm hoping this changes soon because we need the $750 for the 501(c)3 application that I'm almost ready to send in.

Please note: I'm not all about the numbers... I just find them helpful in articulating stuff. We've also been having some good qualitative conversations with neighbors here in the South Loop. It would take way too long to tell you about them all. :)

A Day of Firsts!

Mark it down. On August 1, 2009, Overflow Coffee Bar had its first board meeting and is distributing its first newsletter. This day will go down in the history of Overflow as having special significance.

During the board meeting, we approved the organization's bylaws and I got the go-ahead to move forward with the 501(c)3 application, with opening a bank account and with fundraising.

Click here for the newsletter. Feel free to download, digest and distribute. (FYI, we will not be printing newsletters for mass distribution so as to save trees. We'll be posting newsletters on this blog, sending them by email and publishing them on our future website.)

Open publication - Free publishing

Writing from the South Loop...

I'm currently sitting at the Caribou Coffee at 8th and Wabash. I am NOT condoning Caribou - this just highlights the fact that there are no independently owned coffee shops in the South Loop. But that is changing...

In the past week:
(1) we moved into our new home in the heart of the south loop (we unpacked already!);
(2) I visited 3 local banks to find out information about opening a business account (at one bank I talked with a lady for 30+ minutes about everything from banking to religion - very cool);
(3) felt like a real *barista* while working at the Common Cup; and
(4) had an awesome prayer meeting at the new apartment.

There's much more to do:
(a) I have a rough draft of the Bylaws to finish.
(b) I have a few pages of the 501(c)3 application completed.
(c) There's lots of money to raise.
(d) The business plan still has a couple holes to fill in.

Most urgent prayer request: God has put it on my heart to pray for $250,000 from wherever/whomever He'd like to provide from... I've committed to audaciously praying for this provision while still working very hard to raise it from various places over time. Will you join me in praying that God will provide for this venture with $250,000??? (I know how crazy this sounds.)

first day working at home

Today is my first day working all day from home on stuff for the coffee bar. Currently, I’m working a lot on our 501(c)3 application and the Bylaws. I’ve also been doing some networking, following up with our graphic designer and working on our first newsletter. I have a long to-do list to work through.

Our biggest need right now: $750 for the 501(c)3 application fee.