What Does It Mean to Launch?

So what does ‘launch’ of Impact Phoenix look like? What does it entail?

Our initial focus has been on creating a website. As I spoke to my friends and family about Impact Phoenix, they all asked about our website. I know when I’m introduced to a new organization, I always look to ‘kick the tires’ by checking them out on the internet. So that’s why we’ve spent October getting our website operational.

The next step involves ‘friend raising’. Friend raising involves building sustainable relationships with persons, foundations and corporations, in order to get to know them better, and to (co)create a wide variety of ways to support Impact Phoenix. Raising money from people whose values and personal vision align with Impact Phoenix—people with whom we can have a dialogue—is a lot more fruitful than simply making “asks.” Before we can raise funds, we need to raise friends.

We’ve set a budget of raising $300,000 over the first 18 months of operations in order to effectively serve those seeking assistance from Impact Phoenix. Our supporters will be able to follow our progress on our Hope Changes Lives Campaign page on our website.

During the campaign to raise our ‘seed money’, we’ll be meeting with community partners to determine what ‘access points’ make sense for Impact Phoenix to reach individuals in crisis. We’ll also begin to form a ‘coalition of the willing’ of collaborative partners who wish to join Impact Phoenix on this journey of making a collective impact on Phoenix. More information about what that looks like can be found on our website.

And finally, we’ll be looking for office space, office furnishings (including computer equipment), in-kind contributions to help our clients (gift cards, gas cards, bus passes, etc.), and volunteers who are passionate about our mission.

I look forward to using this blog space to keep you informed on how our launch is going. Thank you for your support.