Cohousing-L Mailing List: Ending Isolation and Loneliness. How FIC is helping and how you can, too.

[Neil Planchon (neil]

Click to view an html version of this post in a web browser: 
http://hosted.verticalresponse.com/450250/e293e04fcc/1493504125/2e76f5ef59/

-=-=-

Dear Cohousing-L readers, Friends of Cohousing and personal friends, 

Happy New Year! As a new staff member at the Foundation for Intentional 
Community ( FIC - https://www.ic.org ), I am excited to share with my cohousing 
friends FIC’s bold vision for 2020 and beyond: Ending isolation by bringing 
community into the lives of everyone who seeks it.

After several months of surveying and interviewing our audience - community 
residents, website visitors, readers of Communities magazine, classified 
advertisers, bookstore customers, and others - and analysing website data, the 
research findings are clear. Our website visitors want a better user 
experience, enhanced communications tools between individuals and communities, 
personal profile pages where preferences can be saved, notifications about 
openings, access to community handbooks and agreements, more advanced search 
tools, and more.

You can find summaries, charts, and detailed information about our findings in 
our professionally prepared Pitch Deck, Market Research Report, and Business 
Plan, all right here in one convenient location: https://www.ic.org/fund-change/

Pitch Deck: Our Pitch Deck is a quick and informative way to learn about our 
new business proposition. Check it out!

Market Research Report: This report is the result of a rich study of our 
audience and website analytics, including the participation of hundreds of 
people who shared with us how we can make our website better than ever before. 
(Big data! ~50,000 seekers visit ic.org each month)

Business Plan: This document has more details about our new business model and 
organizational development, including our goals, strategy, timeline, financial 
projections, team bios and more. Start-up funds needed are $216,000. $100,000 
by mid-January. 

I hope our compelling documents make clear where we are heading, what our 
users’ needs are, and how we plan to meet those needs, and I hope our 
passionate mission inspire you to make a generous gift. I am personally 
reaching out to you as a friend of cohousing who supports FIC’s mission to 
support and promote the development of intentional communities as pathways 
towards are more sustainable as just world.

By donating to our capital campaign, you will support FIC’s movement-building 
work and help bring community into the lives of thousands more people in 2020.

Any donation amount is appreciated! Here is the link to our donation page - 
https://www.ic.org/donate/

We also have a major gifts and loans program. If you want to help in a 
financially bigger way, let’s set up a time to meet and explore what you have 
in mind. If you know someone else who might be interested in making a major 
gift, would you be willing to introduce us? My contact information can be found 
below.

I ask that you please share this important message with your community and 
others. I’d like everyone to know about FIC's Market Research and new Business 
Plan, as well as having the opportunity to ask questions and learn more. Thank 
you.

In community,
Neil Planchon - neil [at] ic.org
Swan's Market Cohousing (Founding Owner)
Cohousing Research Network (Steering Committee)
Foundation for Intentional Community (Fundraising and Operations)

P.S. My immediate fundraising target is to raise $100,000 by mid-January. 
Please make your donation now: https://www.ic.org/donate/ to help me reach this 
important goal. Thanks again and I look forward to hearing from you.