We want you to know exactly what we are doing at Rolling Help Foundation and why. Before we donate our hard-earned dollars to any charity, especially a young organization life Rolling Help, we would want to know. It’s to be expected.
Our mission is simple. We will seek out underserved communities, primarily small towns across the country, and provide support to food banks and pantries. These will be organizations that don’t receive sufficient funding or support from major charities or governmental organizations that especially desperate right now in the middle of a pandemic.
We shall provide this support, which might be direct financial contributions, or possibly actual food donations through Amazon or other food delivery platforms, and document our contributions on YouTube. Through our channel, our contributors can watch their dollars in action. Additionally, the reach of the YouTube channel shall also serve to capture new donors.
Rolling Help Foundation began as a dream. Yup, it was something that has evolved and began with my obsession for driving big machines, and Chris’s desire to see the country. Chris is a beautiful, Hawaiian native, and lived all of her life, until a few years ago, on tiny islands. Of course, she had been to the mainland on vacations and college trips, but she hasn’t taken the classic, American, “Road Trip!” So, when we returned to the mainland, I came back to the area in which I went to high school, almost 45 years ago, and Chris came to the expanse of the mainland, which she was excited to explore.
We decided to leap into a unique lifestyle; full-time life in an RV, or life “on the road.” And, we committed to begin this journey at the beginning of 2021. Planning our new life and imagining our journey, we decided that we would document this adventure on YouTube. We have a very large social media audience, close to 20,000 connections, so we knew we could get a head start, and we both enjoy the process of content creation. Both video and written.
As our thought process evolved, and this is well before Covid, we decided that we would use this opportunity of traveling the nation, to augment our travels by meeting the people of our land and giving back a little. We envisioned spending some time helping out in soup kitchens or homeless shelters. Putting ourselves out there, but doing things that would be a “drop in the bucket,” that might just provide a little leg up.
Then, in the early part of 2020, everything started to come together. Chris and I decided that we didn’t just want to help out a little, but we wanted to go all-in. We conjured up the entire Rolling Help concept and began to examine the feasibility and process that would be necessary to build a non-profit, public charity.
The journey began before the Coronavirus, but when the pandemic hit, the need for support to small-town food banks became front-page news! The images of the massive lines at big-city food banks served to inform the public of this crisis. The truth is, even before Covid, close to 20% of our population have issues with food security and that includes 17% of our children, require supplemental nutrition, and often go without three squares a day. The need that Rolling Help Foundation serves has now become undeniable, as well as heart-wrenching.
As the business plan evolved, decisions were made. Strategically, we decided to approach our charter as though we were prospective donors. We thought to ourselves, how would we want to see a young charity structured?
We decided on policies, such as no more than a 15% expense load, which is more than 50% less than the average charity, according to Charity Watch, which is the largest source of charitable organizations. Again, we looked at this issue as potential donors; what would we want to know about a newly formed non-profit. Like any other newly formed business, we forecast and analyzed a budget, predicted our deficit while limiting our expense load to 15%, and will fill the void with angel investment.
Additionally, we committed to a zero expense load within 18 months. We have confidence in this objective we have made realistic projections that within that time frame, the revenue from our YouTube operations will be sufficient to cover our operating costs.
We anticipate $200,000 in the first year, 2021, donations. We also are targeting 10,000 YouTube subscribers by the end of our first year. Both of these targets are realistic and attainable, and in meeting these objectives, we will begin to be that, “Drop In The Bucket,” we strive to be.
We will be able to make a contribution to that family who never would have dreamt they would need help with their weekly groceries. Perhaps a hard-working, single-parent home, with two kids and an apartment they can now barely afford while on unemployment. Before the Coronavirus, that working parent was an assistant manager at a hotel and suddenly found themselves laid off.
It’s a story that is told by literally millions; a story that is simply hard to believe in America.
So, the need is unquestionable, the business model is sound. All that is missing is you! How can you help? Your donations are needed and greatly appreciated. But as you now have learned, you can also help out by simply subscribing to our channel, and liking our videos. The amazing value of YouTube is that you can be of assistance at zero cost – simply subscribe and like our videos. And hopefully, you’ll become a fan and enjoy our content as well.
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