Helping Solve Personal, Community, National and Global Ultimate Destiny Success Puzzles!


Establishing a National Network of
Community Economic Development (CED) Benefit Corporations and B Corps
.

Expanding the Circle of Success for Addressing Social, Economic and Environmental Challenges by Combining the Principles and Practices of Community Economic Development (CED) with the Benefit Corporation
Model and Crowd Funding Provisions of the JOBS Act to Help Foster Innovation, Collaboration, Job Creation and Sustainable Communities


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Invitation to B Lab for Collaboration Promoting Benefit Corporations and B Corps

Greetings Jay Coen Gilbert, Bart Houlahan, and Andrew Kassoy:

I have developed this web page to provide supplemental information to the letter of July 27 that I mailed to each of you regarding possible collaboration and my request for permission to reprint some of your content in our publications, web sites and webinars with credit and links to your web sites of course.

I am writing to explore possible collaboration in promoting Benefit Corporations and B Corps and to request permission to reprint some of the content on your web sites on our web sites, in digital and print publications and a series of educational webinars.

First I want to express my appreciation and congratulations for your work! When I learned about Benefit Corporations a few years ago at an SVN conference, I instantly resonated with the cause-oriented approach. That was natural based on my experience in community economic development, intentional communities and disaster relief. 

My primary areas of interest are helping Expand the Circle of Success, Community Economic Development, intentional communities, and spirit in business (especially in the New Thought Community).  My partners and I established Universal Stewardheirship, Inc. in late 2011 in Arizona based on the Benefit Corporation model. We also allocated 40% of the cofounders shares to affiliated non-profits. More recently we incorporated the Community Economic Development Resource Center in AZ, and the California Community Economic Development Benefit Corporation, Inc. in CA.  

We are incorporating additional Benefit Corporations that will focus on spirit in business and intentional communities. We have identified several target markets of potential cocreators of Benefit Corporations that we believe will be interested in learning about and helping establish new Benefit Corporations, B Corps and some of them will also be interested in the NPO Community Economic Development Resource Centers we are helping establish.

Enclosed are examples of the introductory materials we have already shared at conferences such as the Enlightened Entrepreneur Summit and the International New Thought Alliance Congress. We are preparing for presentations in the next few weeks at the Centers for Spiritual Living Conference June 29-August 4 (where we will be sharing the Power Point with New Thought Ministers), the Art of Community Workshop, the Tyson Center for Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace, (where I will be facilitating presentations on Benefit Corporations and Crowd Funding at the conference and for the Fayetteville, AR Chamber of Commerce) and we plan to at least distribute introductory materials at the Association for Global New Thought conference and at upcoming Social Venture Network events.

We are also preparing to share presentations with National/State CED Associations, the CED Master’s program at Southern New Hampshire University, Community Action Agencies, Community Development Corporations, etc. We will be approaching Federal agencies such as HUD (where I served for 15 years in disaster relief, turn-around management and community economic development), HHS, Commerce, etc. and we are seeking Program Related Investments and/or strategic alliances with organizations already funded with a PRI.

Thank you for your leadership role and for your assistance with this request.

PS. More details of our vision and implementation plans are available in a Power Point at PP1.pptx, in a SOPADA Format at SOPADA and within an adaptation of Bucky Fuller’s Icosahedron.

The larger context within which we are operating is Expanding the Circle of Success.

That is both the name of one of our affiliated non-profit organizations AND our campaign to help distribute 100 million dollars worth of development training programs over the next 10 years, to and through the network of CAN DO! Community Resource Centers we are establishing based on decades of successful prototypes.

Click Here for a clearer version of the diagram below as a PDF with active hyperlinks.

Here is an Example of our Oversized Postcard on Community Economic Development

Here is an Example of Our Oversized Postcard for New Thought Presentations

 An Introduction to Universal Stewardheirship, Inc.

Our main company, Universal Stewardheirship, Inc. (based on the Benefit Corporation model) is a multi-faceted Strategic Marketecture comprised of cause-oriented companies, not-for-profit organizations, and strategic alliance partners that publish, produce, market and distribute programs, products and services that facilitate personal, organizational and community empowerment, enlightenment, transformation and sustainability.




Air/Ocean version of the Icosahedron Dymaxion
Map from the
Buckminster
Fuller Institute
www.bfi.org


The larger context within which we are promoting Benefit Corporations and your ongoing certification of additional B Corps is demonstrated in the Icosahedron diagram that shows the 20 synergistic facets of Expanding the Circle of Success. Click Here for that diagram with hyperlinks to each of the individual facets.

Our shared mission is Expanding the Circle of Success to generate greater individual and collective capacity for solving the social, economic and environmental challenges we define as “Ultimate Destiny Success Puzzles”.  Some of the major programs, projects, and initiatives are included in the icosahedron diagram.

There are over 20 interconnected revenue streams and profit centers including: Print and Digital Publishing; Audio Video Production; Membership Services; Online Training; Webinars; Teleseminars; Coaching; Consulting Services; Certification of EmpowerMentors™; Seminars; Workshops; Playshops; Resource Showcases,  Empowerment Training Mentoring Systems; CAN DO! Community Economic Development Resource Centers; Product Sales, Licensing and Franchising; Affiliate Programs; Grants; Donations; Contracts; etc.

 Examples of Publications That We Would Like to Feature Your Work and Content In

Harnessing the Power of Benefit Corporations and Crowd Funding

This forthcoming digital and print publication from Universal Stewardheirship, Inc. will introduce the new Benefit Corporation model and the Crowd Funding Provisions of the JOBS Act. Chapters will be included on various ways that these unprecedented resources can help individuals, non-profit organizations, cause-oriented companies and communities collaborate, cocreate and help foster innovation, job creation and sustainable communities.

www.benefitcorporationsandcrowdfunding.com

www.harnessthepowerofbenefitcorporationsandcrowdfunding.com

Background on how we have been preparing to launch these projects:

The non-profit organizations we have cofounded through which we are about to seek $500,000 from major foundations that provide Program Related Investments and Federal agencies include:

Ultimate Destiny University for Successful Living

Expanding the Circle of Success

CENTER SPACE (the Center for Spiritual, Personal And Community Enlightenment)

The cause-oriented companies and new Benefit Corporations we have cofounded (through which we are about to raise equity capital) include:

Universal Stewardheirship, Inc.

Community Economic Development Resource Center, Inc.

California Community Economic Development Benefit Corporation, Inc.

 The training programs we have attended in preparation include:

Several Mega Book Marketing Universities with Mark Victor Hansen
T
hree of Rick Frishman's Author 101 University events
Peggy McColl's Bestseller Book Mentoring
Arielle Ford's Everything You Need To Know . . .
David Riklan's training from Self Growth.com on digital publishing
Daniel Hall's Real Fast Books and Real Fast Webinars
Kathleen Gage's training on Membership Sites and Kindle Bestsellers
I am presently participating in the BestSeller Blueprint training with Jack Canfield and Steve Harrison

Internet Marketing Training

Tom Antion's Great Internet Marketing Center
Several of Armand Morin's Big Seminar, AM2 Gold, etc.
Stu McLaren's Incubator Event
World Internet Summit

Miscellaneous:

We have developed award-winning prototypes of our CAN DO! Community Resource Centers in conjunction with our priority target niche markets of: United Way Agencies, Chambers of Commerce, HUD funded Public Housing Authorities and Community Development Block Grant entities (cities and counties), Community Development Corporations, New Thought Spiritual Centers, etc. Click Here for a few newspaper clippings and support letters.

Our team has previously generated over 100 million in grants, donations and contracts for clients.

We have generated a couple of million dollars in equity capital including several hundred K for our own enterprises (mostly from our cofounders) and we have turned down over 20 million from a billionaire who liked the ROI but we discovered doing due diligence that he had paid a $4.4 million dollar fine to the SEC for alleged "pump and dump"

We have successfully transformed the usual for-profit development training model into a not-for-profit "community empowerment mode": and have produced events for up to 1,800 participants (in a county of less than 100,000) featuring world-class authors and trainers such as Norman Vincent Peale, Les Brown, Brian Tracy, Jim Rohn, Mark Victor Hansen, Chin Ning-Chu, Bonnie St. John, William Bailey, etc. (http://www.candoresourcecenter.com)

Click Here for a few of hundreds of positive newspaper articles, support letters and examples of how our innovative model helps empower communities and generate maximum cocreative participation and sponsorships.

All of our publications feature resources from 50 recipients of our Ultimate Destiny Hall of Fame Awards,

We are about to produce webinars on using Mike Filsame's Evergreen Webinar Business System.

We have an revenue generating affiliate marketing program in place Learn, Earn and Return

We have developed an Ultimate Fundraising Program that pays NPO's up to 100%.

As part of our marketing and list building strategy, we provide our programs and publications on a Pay It Forward and Conscious Energy Exchange basis at http://www.paywhatitsworthtoyou.com/.

“Charles Betterton's project for the 1990-1992 Community Economic Development Master's program was to establish a National CED Resource Center.  In 1998, he turned down a HUD Community Builder Fellowship worth about $250,000 to continue his non-profit community empowerment work. As one of his faculty advisors 22 years ago, I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in helping ‘Dr. Bettertown’ continue with this project which is needed today more than ever before.” -- Michael Swack,  Ph.D., Professor,  The Carsey Institute, University of New Hampshire and founding Dean, School of Community Economic Development, Southern New Hampshire University

Summary and Invitation:

Dear  Jay, Bart and Andrew:

Yes, I do realize that this is what most people would consider an overwhelming amount of information. If I'm right though, you three are among the 1 in 1,000 who will be able to "grok" and comprehend the scope, substance and potential significance of the global marketing and distribution infrastructure we have been inspired to cocreate. This really is only the tip of the iceberg. . . 

Our ultimate vision is: (1) To help millions of people A.R.K. (Awaken to Spirit; Realize more of their potential; and Know how to fulfill their ultimate destiny; (2) To manifest stewardheirship over billions of dollars (for and through personal, organizational, community and global transformation); and l(3) To eave a trillion dollar legacy for empowerment and enlightenment. We also have a vision and implementation strategy for helping fulfill the Ultimate Destiny of the USA in the process, including a vision of a "United State of Americans" (http://www.ultimatedestinyoftheusa.info )

When we are successful in redirecting just 1/2 percent of the development training industry, (and we know how to do that by combining Benefit Corporations, Crowd Funding and the network of CED Resource Centers) we will have developed a billion dollar enterprise for "doing well while doing good."

Thank you again for your visionary leadership in cofounding B Lab. What I am envisioning is a mutually beneficial collaboration where our publications, web sites, seminars and webinars will help further introduce B Lab and your wok, along with Crowd Funding and Community Economic Development, Spirit in Business, etc.

Please do consider this invitation for collaboration and request for permission to reprint some of your content.

 

Charles Betterton, MSCED
Creator and Coauthor of the Ultimate Destiny Success System
with the Study Group Facilitator Manuals
ceo@universalstewardheirship.com
Cell 760-212-9931

PS: Click Here for the letter we sent to cofounders of B Lab seeking possible collaboration and permission to reprint some of their content on our web sites, webinars and publications. Click Here for an earlier message to Heather Van Dusen of B Lab. Click Here for the August 28th a response to our Invitation for Collaboration. Click Here for more recent communications about publishing a book on Benefit Corporations and B Labs for Dummies.

www.CommunityEconomicDevelopmentBenefitCorporation.com