Women's Shelter - Jordan Arsenault

THE Women's Shelter Project

(charity)

I attended a startup weekend in my city and one of the startup ideas was to start a women's shelter. I joined that team and we built a plan to open a women's shelter for women who don't have a place to sleep. After the weekend, we decided to actually go ahead and work on setting up the shelter.

THE PROBLEM

If a woman doesn't fit a certain criteria, there is no place for them to stay in our city. For example, if you aren't fleeing an abusive situation or seeking addiction help there is no place to sleep in the city.

THE GOAL

A fully funded women's shelter which provides a safe and warm place for homeless women to sleep at night.

THE PROBLEM

DESIRED RESULTS

A fully funded women's shelter which provides a safe and warm place for homeless women to sleep at night.

OBSTACLES

Human resources. Money for a building. Zoning requirements. Money to run the shelter.

INCOME

Corporate donations. Private donations. Government funding. Fundraising. Using Google Ad Grant to raise funds.

OBSTACLES

Human resources. Money for a building. Zoning requirements. Money to run the shelter.

INCOME

Corporate donations. Private donations. Government funding. Fundraising. Using Google Ad Grant to raise funds.

MENTAL

The team must meet regularly to maintain motivation. And build a second-tier team to help with tasks, so leadership team doesn't burn out.

STEPS

Get donor commitment
Register nonprofit and apply for charity status
Begin fundraising for building

MENTAL

The team must meet regularly to maintain motivation. And build a second-tier team to help with tasks, so leadership team doesn't burn out.

STEPS

Get donor commitment
Register nonprofit and apply for charity status
Begin fundraising for building

Timeline

Jan 26-28, 2018 - Startup Weekend. Formed initial team of 5 people, including myself. Created a website that weekend, pitched a major donor, and did research on whether there is enough of a need for a women's shelter in the city. The team talked to the police, mayor, a homeless woman and people running other non-profits in the city. The team decided to actually move ahead and work to get this project off the ground.

Feb 1, 2018 - Had first team meeting. Discussed what would be needed for the business plan. Decided to work on that until our next meeting. Estimated it will take 1-2 years to get off the ground.

Feb 12, 2018 - Team met again. Took some information we had gathered and put it together. Started a shared Google folder. Started to build a list of all the to-do tasks which needed to be done.

March 5, 2018 - Team met. It was just two of us at this meeting. One member of the original team moved across the country so they will no longer be with us. We added to the business plan. Talked about some contacts we had talked to during the past couple weeks. Exploring potential options for a location. Decided we will need to register the nonprofit soon and apply for charity status.

March 12, 2018 - All four team members met. One team member brought forms to open a corporation/non-profit/charity. Another team member has been connecting with other charities and doing research. Most of the meeting was spent filling out the forms.

March 19, 2018 - Three team members met. Went over updates from the past week. Decided criteria for what we are looking for in terms of board members.

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