iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Hi friends! We wanted to take a minute to talk about something we experience as a small nonprofit - missing out on partnerships or fundraising opportunities because we’re not big enough. While we understand people may not want to take a chance on us, it makes it harder to grow 🧵

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Thank you for the kind words! You were a joy to work with and we’re sad to have things end the way they did. We’re still trying to get back to work there, hopefully 🤞

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You’re absolutely right, but it makes it really morally difficult for us to push for that potential donor’s money when there’s things happening that actually save people’s lives. Helping people have fun is important, but if a donor only has $5 we would much rather it go to humanitarian aid

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Good nonprofits were all formed for the same reason - to do something to help people. To give back to their community and make people’s lives better without expecting anything in return. Sometimes we need help making that happen! - Thoughts from an Executive Director 💜

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No organization wants to admit they’re struggling because they’re supposed to be a source of positivity. Plus, the world is on fire and especially with groups like ours it’s hard to fundraise for a little thing like gaming accessibility when war and food scarcity is much bigger.

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For those who are not, we ask that you simply learn what you can from this post and see what you can do to help. Maybe that means helping us or maybe it means finding the smallest nonprofit in your local community and volunteering your time there!

As a note because this is the internet - we’re not seeking advice on how to run our organization from the comment section. If you are a professional who wishes to volunteer or donate your services that is appreciated and please feel free to reach out.

Our hearts swell every time we get a message from someone who has just discovered us, especially if they’re blind and they learn about the dice and get to roll their own for the first time. Gaming should be for EVERYBODY and we’re doing what we can to make that a reality 💜

If you’re more interested in a donation, there is information available on our website (which will be undergoing some updates by the end of this year). Donations are always great, but helping promote our work goes such a long way!

If you are looking to support after reading this thread, thank you! The best way to do it is to tell people about us, that weird little nonprofit named DOTS that is made up of a bunch of nerds who want to make games more accessible for our disabled friends.

We are exceedingly thankful for the companies and individuals who take a chance on us with grants or fundraising events (stay tuned for news on another recent fundraiser’s final amount and our October event!) because truly, every dollar matters.

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We know all the tips and tricks and are learning the chaotic structured art of grant writing, but that takes time and labor and our team members can’t always afford to do it since they need to participate in Capitalism™️ and focus their efforts on paying jobs.

You need money to succeed but you need money to promote your work and then you need more money to pay for services to manage it and run programs while you chase down even more money. It’s a vicious cycle for nonprofits just like it is for any individual especially nowadays.

Even if we offer financial reports, we have been rejected from partnerships or grants because we don’t have an expanded 990 tax return. We had to do that this past year (yay?) since we hit $51,498 but that meant accountants which cost $.

For those of us who raise under $50k a year, the IRS doesn’t even care about a detailed accounting or tax return. The 990n form is simply “did you make under $50k? Yes? Ok have a nice day.” This helps but is harmful when companies can’t see detailed financials on public record.

When you’re bigger though and that one dollar is one of millions, it kind of becomes Monopoly money. Millions of dollars is barely real anymore and so much money gets fed back into fundraising programs like fancy dinner galas or golf outings.

You always hear “every dollar matters” to nonprofits and that’s true to an extent. When you’re small, every penny matters. You pick the banks with cash back options to get another dollar here and there. You look for every single nonprofit discount you can find.

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As a last option, it could’ve paid some of our team members for the first time in our organization’s history. We have hired contractors for short fixed projects in the past but our regular team, some of who work on this full time, are unpaid.

That amount could’ve funded attendance at another convention or two where we can offer accessible gaming support to tens of thousands of attendees, molds for a new braille gaming aid we want to make, covered our donations of dice to people who can’t afford them, or so much more.

The reason? We weren’t as well known as an organization that was formed in the same year and brought in over $4 million last year with total assets of over $10 million. That group does great work of course, but the few thousand $ (and more later) is a drop in the bucket for them.

Recently, we lost out on an opportunity that would’ve been a great partnership with multiple companies relevant to our industry and work that directly furthers our mission of making tabletop gaming more accessible. It also would’ve brought in a few thousand $ in funding.