S.O.P.A.D.A.

SUBJECT:   Creating a National Community Economic Development Resource Center to Establish, Incorporate and Help Ensure the Success of a Network of Community Economic Development (CED) Benefit Corporations and B Corps.

OBJECTIVE:  Expanding the Circle of Success for Addressing Social, Economic and Environmental Challenges by Providing Greater Access to Resources that Foster Innovation, Collaboration, Job Creation and Sustainable Communities.

PROPOSAL: Establishing a Network of Cause-Oriented Companies that Combine the Principles and Practices of Community Economic Development with the Benefit Corporation Model and the Crowd Funding Provisions of the JOBS Act.

The field of Community Economic Development includes Self-help, Empowerment and Capacity Building as described at the introductory web site at www.CommunityEconomicDevelopmentBenefitCorporation.com .

The Project Objective is to provide expanded access to resources that help residents, businesses, non-profit organizations and communities: (1) realize more of their potential; (2) empower and enable them to help save and create jobs and (3) help address other social, economic and environmental challenges and opportunities.

ADVANTAGES OF THE PROPOSAL:

The CED Resource Center would serve as a central repository of information, materials, equipment, technology and technical assistance that would be made available to any participating individual or organization.

The co-creative nature and design of the CED Resource Center will provide maximum opportunities for multi-sector collaboration and participation by individuals, businesses, non-profit organizations, communities, resource providers and funders.

The proposed project is based on decades of (mostly) award-winning prototypes as described at www.CanDoResourceCenter.com and www.UltimateDestinyland.com .

The project would have access to hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of training equipment, marketing and promotional resources (such as sponsorship proposals, event work plans and budgets, monitoring and evaluation procedures, interest surveys, Resource Showcases, introductory seminars and workshops on visioning, strategic planning, community partnerships, organizational development and empowerment,  
and Successful Living Skills for the 21^st Century including entrepreneurship and Infopreneurship (that consists of publishing, electronic publishing, Internet marketing).

Participants in CED B Corps and the CED Resource Centers would have access to hundreds of programs and resources designed to facilitate personal and professional development for individuals, enhance efficiency and effectiveness for NPOs, improve productivity and profitability for companies and help communities attract greater levels of citizen participation in defining and manifesting a shared vision for their community.

Just a few examples of tested and proven resources that will be provided include:

The Three Round Method of Brainstorming (developed by the National Center for Community Education and the CS Mott Foundation), the 10 Step Cocreative Visioning and Strategic Planning System from CENTER SPACE, the Success Puzzle Template (a simple system designed by Ultimate Destiny University for more effectively demonstrating how various facets or components of a program or product relate to one another and the whole), etc.

The initiators of this "strategic marketecture™" have generated millions of dollars in grants, donations and contracts for non-profit organizations, and they have produced award-winning Community Resource Centers and highly successful community oriented development training events featuring world-class experts for up to 1,800 individuals since the Community Unity Event featuring Norman Vincent Peale and Les Brown in 1990.

Hundreds of millions of dollars have recently been allocated by private foundations and government agencies for entrepreneurship and community empowerment and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has recently allocated billions of dollars through the Recovery Act and other initiatives to help communities and their residents help address the root cause of foreclosures.

Some examples of the intellectual properties and resources that will be provided by and or through Universal Stewardheirship, Inc., the CED Resource Center, the University for Successful Living and Ultimate Destiny Hall of Fame Award recipients include: 

ETMS -- Empowerment Training Mentoring Systems;

ERCs – Empowerment Resource Centers;

Resource Showcases;

Community Empowerment Event Coproduction;

The Ultimate Destiny Success System;

Strategic Marketing Matrix Systems;

Cocreative Visioning and Strategic Planning;

Successful Living Skills for the 21^st Century;

Infopreneurship University and Resource Center.
 

DISADVANTAGES OF THE PROPOSAL:

Most people are not aware of the scope and significance of the field of Community Economic Development and its relevance to the pressing challenges we face today in our communities, non-profit organizations, nation and world.

The Benefit Corporation model is relatively new and the crowd funding provisions of the JOBS Act are under review by the SEC and won’t be available for implementation for several months.

Time, energy and funding will be required to implement the proposals.

Some organizations may view the proposal as competition or a duplication of effort. 

ACTION STEPS:

Universal Stewardheirship, Inc. (US, Inc.) is incorporating the CED Resource Center (CEDRC). Then US, Inc. and CEDRC will incorporate CED Benefit Corporations in the seven (7) states that have passed legislation: Maryland; Vermont; New York, New Jersey; Virginia; Hawaii; and California. US, Inc. and CEDRC will also incorporate CED Benefit Corporations in Michigan and Illinois where legislation is pending and where there are already strategic alliance partners. 

The project focus will be broader than the states that pass Benefit Corporation legislation as we will also promote and support establishment of and Certification of B Corps by B Lab in the other states. Each participating CED Benefit Corporation and CED B Corp will be encouraged to allocate at least 10% of their shares (and or utilize "phantom shares")  to support related not-for-profit community economic development and social entrepreneurship programs and projects within their state. Universal Stewardheirship, Inc. has allocated 40% of its shares to affiliated NPOs and the CED Resource Center will allocate at least 20%.

US, Inc. and CEDRC will each retain 10% of the cofounders shares of each CED B Corp in exchange for the scope of services provided to help ensure the success of each Benefit Corporation affiliated with the CED Resource Center. The majority interest in each individual CED B Corp will be held by the individuals, non-profit organizations and companies that serve as cofounders and cocreators of that Corporation.

US, Inc. and CEDRC will prepare presentation materials, develop web sites, Interest Surveys to identify priority interests by present and potential collaborators, resource providers and participants for specific programs.

US, Inc. and CEDRC will utilize the evolutionary business planning platform and resources provided by FundingRoadMap* ™ to develop a Business Plan to help each State based CED B Corp attract interest, additional cofounders, sponsors, board members, and investors. We will also develop and provide access to Master Marketing Plans and a Master Fundraising Plan for the Project to remain self-sufficient including invitations for individual and corporate memberships and donations, research, development and submission of applications for grant funding, identifying and establishing potential joint ventures, generating fees for service possibilities, etc.

For more information on any aspect of this project, please contact Charles Betterton at 928-284-2671 or ceo@universalstewardheirship.com. Thank you!

*The patent pending Funding Roadmap™ was created by an experienced and successful life long entrepreneur, and veteran investment banker, with over twenty years of experience in investment banking, corporate venture financing, securities trading, accounting and financial analysis. The need for the product and the idea came about after the Dot Com crash of 2001, and has evolved over the years as technology has changed to become more adaptable to our vision of online business plan and due diligence reporting, and leveling the playing field for access to capital for everyone.

The extensive content, format and structure of the software is derived solely from knowledge, and professional experience in business development; most notably, from negotiating and preparing venture funding proposals, preparing business plans and other supplemental reports including due diligence reports for the benefit of investor contacts, and prepping company principals for management reviews. We continually conduct the necessary research to ensure that this content knowledge stays updated to reflect current industry practices and guidelines, regulatory compliance and financing marketplace issues.

The Funding Roadmap™ is an electronic business plan and due diligence reporting system set to create a new industry standard in online server-based business plan and Due diligence reporting, and streamline the deal closing process. As we take our product to the next level we will revolutionize the way those involved in preparing and reviewing entrepreneurial-level venture financing and loan proposals, present information, search, screen, and store this information.

MORE INFORMATION: If you would like more information, please contact CEO Ruth E. Hedges at 877-780-8955 or by e-mail at info@fundingroadmap.com
 

www.CommunityEconomicDevelopmentBenefitCorporation.com