| GMO-Free Portland! |
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The credit card processing is through PayPal but it’s a regular card charge, you don’t need a PayPal account to use this Donate button. It is an option though.
The donation is unfortunately not tax-deductible. Sadly, we can't make ourselves a non-profit to the IRS because a 401-c-3 requires a Board of Directors and its just the two of us. We incorporated as "Positive Food, Inc" so we can handle money. Thank you. |
...This is a video that explains what your
...donation will do since many of you need ...to multitask :) Or read the text below. |
Learn here what your donation will do!
We have some exciting plans for the outreach. As you may know, the big picture is that we want to form a community of non-GMO eaters and food providers. There are two prongs to our strategy:
1. By giving our patronage to those good small businesses that have non-GMO food, we are getting them to see us as a target demographic. If you eat non-GMO, you understand that when you ask, people tell you the food is non-GMO when it isn't because they make assumptions. But not if we teach our store managers and restaurant owners the difference. They listen because we make them money. Think of it like the next "gluten-free."
2. We are reaching out on this website, on Facebook, and at community tables in stores and farmers markets (with more to come) to give people the knowledge about eating non-GMO, give them our support, and connecting them with businesses that support their choice of real food.
But we need your help. We're just one couple and we have to use our own money to fund this effort. At the bottom we've listed common expenses- but to give you an example, in October, our outreach cost $100 out of our pockets. We don't have it. That's why we hope you'll donate with the button above.
But those tabling events we had this summer and in October were gold. We met many of you there. We know we have also given these deserving local businesses at least $100 in new business that was reported to us-and there is likely more. Still, business people don't understand when we come to them that we want to advertise for them at no charge. We go to them and pick up take-out menus and coupons and tell them we're handing them out at our tables, and eventually the light goes on... We're fighting to have this food to eat by supporting them as they provide it.
A small gift will help us very much. We have information on the project's future below, including the t-shirts we want to make that can raise awareness just by being worn. We put the design at the bottom of this page. But there are free ways to support us too....
1. By giving our patronage to those good small businesses that have non-GMO food, we are getting them to see us as a target demographic. If you eat non-GMO, you understand that when you ask, people tell you the food is non-GMO when it isn't because they make assumptions. But not if we teach our store managers and restaurant owners the difference. They listen because we make them money. Think of it like the next "gluten-free."
2. We are reaching out on this website, on Facebook, and at community tables in stores and farmers markets (with more to come) to give people the knowledge about eating non-GMO, give them our support, and connecting them with businesses that support their choice of real food.
But we need your help. We're just one couple and we have to use our own money to fund this effort. At the bottom we've listed common expenses- but to give you an example, in October, our outreach cost $100 out of our pockets. We don't have it. That's why we hope you'll donate with the button above.
But those tabling events we had this summer and in October were gold. We met many of you there. We know we have also given these deserving local businesses at least $100 in new business that was reported to us-and there is likely more. Still, business people don't understand when we come to them that we want to advertise for them at no charge. We go to them and pick up take-out menus and coupons and tell them we're handing them out at our tables, and eventually the light goes on... We're fighting to have this food to eat by supporting them as they provide it.
A small gift will help us very much. We have information on the project's future below, including the t-shirts we want to make that can raise awareness just by being worn. We put the design at the bottom of this page. But there are free ways to support us too....
Money isn't the only way to support us!
You can also be part of this without spending money. Ever write about us on Facebook? Ever tell a friend he or she doesn't have to eat GMO's and there is a couple that will help free of charge? Ever click one of the links to the non-profits we support or forward an alert to friends? Have you gone to one of our Patrons? Have you asked at a store or restaurant for GMO-free food? Do you ever tell people that you don't eat GMO's like your family or the grocer? If you said "yes" to any of these questions, you're supporting the mission! Thank you.
Yes, we do need money to continue. But money isn't everything. Thank you for whatever you can do- and please continue to seek our help for free. When we hear people say going non-GMO is impossible it breaks our hearts because we will do whatever it takes to make it possible- you only have to email us if what you need is beyond the site. We can take you shopping if you're local. We will give out our cell number if you have questions about anything- including reading ingredients for us to check when you're in the store. Anything. Letting us help you is a way to support us because when you are on the road to going non-GMO or are maintaining a completely GMO-free lifestyle, you're changing the world- probably more than you know. You are our community's most precious resource.
One more thing. If you want to try the iPage hosting service we use, please click Here
If you click through the above link and sign up for iPage web hosting for a month or longer, this site gets $115 of web hosting credit. We already recommend them and we only want to refer people that want a referral for a good web host. And they are wonderful. They support the Open Source community, they are there 24-7 with real, smart, nice people, and they can host a huge, slick site, or walk a rookie like me through a drag-n-drop page builder. Ask us any time about them and thank you for helping us with our hosting bill. Your click will cover a year for us so we can put more money into flyers and farmers market tables.
Yes, we do need money to continue. But money isn't everything. Thank you for whatever you can do- and please continue to seek our help for free. When we hear people say going non-GMO is impossible it breaks our hearts because we will do whatever it takes to make it possible- you only have to email us if what you need is beyond the site. We can take you shopping if you're local. We will give out our cell number if you have questions about anything- including reading ingredients for us to check when you're in the store. Anything. Letting us help you is a way to support us because when you are on the road to going non-GMO or are maintaining a completely GMO-free lifestyle, you're changing the world- probably more than you know. You are our community's most precious resource.
One more thing. If you want to try the iPage hosting service we use, please click Here
If you click through the above link and sign up for iPage web hosting for a month or longer, this site gets $115 of web hosting credit. We already recommend them and we only want to refer people that want a referral for a good web host. And they are wonderful. They support the Open Source community, they are there 24-7 with real, smart, nice people, and they can host a huge, slick site, or walk a rookie like me through a drag-n-drop page builder. Ask us any time about them and thank you for helping us with our hosting bill. Your click will cover a year for us so we can put more money into flyers and farmers market tables.
Here are our past and current expenditures, but the exciting stuff is below!
1. The website hosting.
2. Gas to go find new patrons and pick up coupons, etc.
3. Snacks if we have to wait a long time while the owner is simultaneously working. Otherwise we appear to be waiting to pounce on them and taking up their seats. People don't get that we're giving things to them not trying to get something- not at first.
4. When we table we spend money on jelly beans, chips and balloons – bright things to bring people over to the table, also, we give out ten dollars worth of flyers easily. One tabling event costs $20. We paid for 5 in October.
5. Any window clings we put up cost five dollars a piece.
6. Every single thing we print ourselves and hand out adds up fast.
2. Gas to go find new patrons and pick up coupons, etc.
3. Snacks if we have to wait a long time while the owner is simultaneously working. Otherwise we appear to be waiting to pounce on them and taking up their seats. People don't get that we're giving things to them not trying to get something- not at first.
4. When we table we spend money on jelly beans, chips and balloons – bright things to bring people over to the table, also, we give out ten dollars worth of flyers easily. One tabling event costs $20. We paid for 5 in October.
5. Any window clings we put up cost five dollars a piece.
6. Every single thing we print ourselves and hand out adds up fast.
Ok- this is the good stuff! Here's some stuff we want to do soon.
1. Make T-shirts and bumper stickers. Soup up the tables! The tables we man work so well- we need to do them as often as possible! There are not many markets in the off-season but there are places we could go if we pay a fee. We will continue doing the table events- but we'd do bigger ones too. In those cases we would pay for the table which would free us to sell those t-shirts and bumper stickers. We can't do that if we've been granted a community service table at no cost. We need to do both because its an honor to get those grants and reach people without paying a fee. Once the shirts and stickers sell at or slightly above cost, it will pay for the next batch- we just need the initial capital. We think this could really get the word out!
2. Start the non-GMO workplace challenge. I'm making a little video here to explain it today. We'd send out a mailer saying what the challenge is and the cost to the business. The idea is that we'll create something special in workplaces out there where small groups of employees are trying to learn and eat non-GMO together- taking the challenge. There are whole companies out there that are already savvy to the benefits of non-GMO food. The employees will see to it that their own break room snack machines have options- and they'll work together so that there are things they can have at the company potlucks. If one of them calls us with a question, they might all learn the answer. If one of them has a health benefit like loss of allergies, they’ll all find out about it- maybe the whole company will. And when they go buy groceries locally, they’ll get their stores to carry non-GMO food because it only takes a few shoppers who want a product to make that change in smaller stores. This could very well be the future of the project- working with small communities so we can support them and the members support each other. We're going to charge employers a little because its a service they are giving as a benefit to employees we're selling. What we really need is a dedicated phone line for GMO-free Portland, and to be able to devote time to answering the calls. But this is on top of what we do now. We will always help individuals for free.
3. Take out an ad, and if we don’t have one by then already, we'll get that dedicated phone line so we can publish the number on the ad and all of our literature. This will make it easier for people to get help shopping or ask us questions. Currently, they have to make a little more effort than if they felt like calling us on a whim because they saw one of our flyers. We want those whims! Some of our best ideas began with a whim. :)
Ok, there you have it. Please support the GMO-Free Portland! Project by your participation in using this service we provide, and if you can, by donating a small amount to cover expenses we incur now and if we get a little more we'll do those t-shirts and special projects. Our mission has proved successful. That is why we're reaching out. We are working for you and we're ready to do more. And if you do make a contribution and would like to see it dedicated to something specific, contact us at donate@gmofreeportland.com. We're at your service.
2. Start the non-GMO workplace challenge. I'm making a little video here to explain it today. We'd send out a mailer saying what the challenge is and the cost to the business. The idea is that we'll create something special in workplaces out there where small groups of employees are trying to learn and eat non-GMO together- taking the challenge. There are whole companies out there that are already savvy to the benefits of non-GMO food. The employees will see to it that their own break room snack machines have options- and they'll work together so that there are things they can have at the company potlucks. If one of them calls us with a question, they might all learn the answer. If one of them has a health benefit like loss of allergies, they’ll all find out about it- maybe the whole company will. And when they go buy groceries locally, they’ll get their stores to carry non-GMO food because it only takes a few shoppers who want a product to make that change in smaller stores. This could very well be the future of the project- working with small communities so we can support them and the members support each other. We're going to charge employers a little because its a service they are giving as a benefit to employees we're selling. What we really need is a dedicated phone line for GMO-free Portland, and to be able to devote time to answering the calls. But this is on top of what we do now. We will always help individuals for free.
3. Take out an ad, and if we don’t have one by then already, we'll get that dedicated phone line so we can publish the number on the ad and all of our literature. This will make it easier for people to get help shopping or ask us questions. Currently, they have to make a little more effort than if they felt like calling us on a whim because they saw one of our flyers. We want those whims! Some of our best ideas began with a whim. :)
Ok, there you have it. Please support the GMO-Free Portland! Project by your participation in using this service we provide, and if you can, by donating a small amount to cover expenses we incur now and if we get a little more we'll do those t-shirts and special projects. Our mission has proved successful. That is why we're reaching out. We are working for you and we're ready to do more. And if you do make a contribution and would like to see it dedicated to something specific, contact us at donate@gmofreeportland.com. We're at your service.