Emerging Prairie announced today that they are transitioning to become a 501(c)(3) non-profit.
After nearly 2 years of operating as a for-profit entity, the Board of Directors has decided that becoming a non-profit is the best structure for Emerging Prairie’s service-oriented mission.
Scott Brusven announcing Emerging Prairie’s non-profit transition at today’s 1 Million Cups Fargo.
“Since Emerging Prairie started, our founding team has believed strongly in our mission to connect and celebrate the entrepreneurial ecosystem,” said Emerging Prairie Executive Director, Greg Tehven. “We believe our organization and the people we serve will be best supported by becoming a stand alone non-profit.”
Jim Gartin, President at the Greater Fargo-Moorhead Economic Development Corporation, sees the decision as not only beneficial, but necessary.
“It is imperative that Emerging Prairie become a non-profit to be able to attract the funding necessary to carry on its mission,” he said. “Without consistent funding, it’s impossible to create consistent programming.”
Emerging Prairie is now in transition to become a non-profit. The process can take up to a year and a half or longer, according to Miguel Danielson, Emerging Prairie co-founder and lawyer at Danielson Legal.
“Our hope would be to complete the process within six months or so,” he said.
Who is Emerging Prairie?
Emerging Prairie’s mission is connect and celebrate the entrepreneurial community. It does so through organizing events like 1 Million Cups and Startup Drinks, running programs like the Intern experience and the Speaker’s Bureau, operating a downtown coworking space, and reporting daily news on the local startup community on its website. The four pillars of the organization’s mission are: educate the city, build on your bright spots, infuse the arts, and be radically inclusive.The organization’s greatest strength, in a word, is connectivity.
“Our role is to connect the entrepreneurial-minded with each other and with those in our community who can help them,” Danielson said. “This connective tissue then creates a fabric that contributes to a vibrant and participatory local community, that raises all boats, attracts and retains people, and allows endless opportunity for all of us to create the city we want to live in.”
https://youtu.be/nIBHT0oDipY
A social enterprise
In the early days of Emerging Prairie, the strategy was to operate as for-profit, “based on convenience and time,” Tehven said. More recently, the Board toyed with ideas of merging with other larger organizations, but eventually came to the conclusion that it was best to stay independent.
“We made the clear distinction that hey, we need to take this step forward of staying an independent organization – especially with the new responsibilities of the Prairie Den,” Tehven said. “This gives us the ability to partner with foundations and to partner with individuals that share our mission.”
Emerging Prairie is best identified as a “social enterprise,” Tehven said, defining it as “an organization that is committed to solving social problems with a community benefit in mind, while using a blended income model of both philanthropy, and earned income.”
The earned income, he said, will come in the form of event/design consulting, the membership model of the Prairie Den, and occasional partnerships with other companies. However, as a non-profit, the organization will no longer need to rely on those paid partnerships in order to exist.
“We will now have the ability to create new opportunities, where when we generate value for someone, we don’t necessarily have to have that individual pay for the value that is created,” Tehven said.
A core reason why Emerging Prairie is able to become a non-profit, is because of the incredible generosity the community has shown to support it thus far.
“What I get most excited about is the culture that’s forming of the give-before-you-get,” Tevhen said. “Folks that are constantly helping others out, whether it’s a place to stay when someone’s in transition, or an introduction to a potential business partner. I’m absolutely amazed by that.”
Video created by Grassfire Studios.
