Mr Influence, a retired businessman, has just joined Chimorel’s Board of Directors and has agreed to make a $500,000/yr commitment. The story below is provided to stretch your imagination. Not every board member will make a commitment at this level. We begin with a discussion between Mr. Influence and Warren, the Executive Director.  
       “Thank you, Mr. Influence, for accepting the responsibility of becoming a new Board member.”  
       “Your welcome, Warren. Your Become a Director introduction showed you expect a lot from your Board. Let’s begin to develop a plan to raise the $500,000 I committed to this year.”

       Mr. Influence writes a $50,000 check. Then he calls twenty-five friends and gets checks for $5-10,000 each. Twelve of his friends each agree to raise $50,000 and each one contacts 10-25 people. Some of these people help also. Within several weeks Mr. Influence and his friends have actually raised $775,000. Follow up and thank you notes are handled by Chimorel. Donors receive a variety of benefits based on the level of their giving.

       “Warren, I want to thank you for the opportunity to be of service, but now I want to get more involved. What else can I do?”  
       “I’m glad you asked. Tell me about some of your concerns … . So what you’re telling me is that you would like to develop a comprehensive program  to ‘eliminate welfare as we know it’, help the homeless, educate our kids, reduce crime, maximize our nation’s resources and relieve your tax burden.”  
       “Yes! I want to dream with you!”

        As Mr. Influence and Warren talk, Warren tells Mr Influence about some Chimorel projects he has worked on. Many  years ago, Warren developed plans for a limited partnership called Chimorel One LLC to acquire and renovate inner city properties. Several years ago Warren worked with members of his church on a program called Productive Prisoners to develop private prisons and jails. Not long ago Warren began to create a concept which might be described as Institutions for Dependent People or Working Resorts. He has initiated a number of programs: Cooperative Effort, I Got a Job, Property Renovation, and Create a Career. A few years ago he helped implement an ESL and Job skills program for refugees and immigrants.

        Periodically the newspapers have stories about the large number of high school graduates that can’t read and the fact that 30% of today’s children are born out of wedlock. These and other issues are the kinds of things Mr. Influence and Warren began to dream about. Then they rolled up their sleeves and began to put an organizational structure and a strategic plan together. They established Distribution Committees and developed a team of volunteers and Resource Developers, as well as, strong financial and advisory boards. They created Client Assistance, Education & Employment, Business Incubation and Nonprofit Development distribution committees. Resource Developers had the opportunity to become Managers, Planners and Coordinators. Warren & Mr Influence initiated an active Master Mind group.  

       On the nonprofit side, we established a series of nonprofit fund raising activities. Special Projects funded by Scrip, Auctions, Chimorel4U, our online Shopping Mall and Scrip were initiated for nonprofits and Action Planning members. Some of the team located property (large apartment complexes, warehouse and office space, shopping centers) in rundown areas of major population centers. The team found skilled contractors and service providers willing to teach teenagers, welfare recipients, homeless people, parolees and unemployed individuals fundamental building skills and pride in their accomplishments. The team sought to instill a sense of ownership by offering people the opportunity to buy a house or condo unit. The team attempted to create a desire to take care of their property with tough standards, frequent follow up and encouragement. The team stressed the need for honesty, integrity and the requirement to remain crime free.  
       Others on the team approached colleges, training centers and business incubation programs. Through these contacts the team enhanced opportunities for remedial education, GED, vocational and business training programs. The team worked with welfare departments and unemployment bureaus to develop programs to motivate, educate and employ welfare recipients and those seeking jobs. The team worked with personnel departments at large firms, the owners of small firms and budding entrepreneurs to provide training, benefits and employment for Chimorel clients.  
       Other team members began a two stream fund raising campaign. On the investment side, we developed the structure to re-establish Amerivestor Associates Inc as a broker-dealer firm. The first two projects were Chimorel One LLC and Ohio Resource Recycling Inc. On the nonprofit side, we established a series of nonprofit fund raising activities.

       Through Chimorel One LLC, Mr Influence and his friends helped fund a $10 million investment pool. This funded the acquisition of $50 million in apartment units, as well as, warehouse and office space. The commissions on the investment funded re-establishing Amerivestor Associates Inc. A manager and brokers were hired. Soon projects were established to buy shopping centers, businesses and farms. Plans were made to buy/develop businesses to repair and sell cars. Other plans were established to feed thousands of people through farms with greenhouses, vertical hydroponics, aquaponics, vermi-composting, growing mushrooms and bees, etc.. Plans to sell donations of just about anything on the internet, through auctions and in Chimorel stores were created. Plans were put in place to hire hundreds, then thousands of people.  
       The first project for Ohio Resource Recycling was a plastic reclaim facility designed to process 60-100 million pounds of plastic each year with a collection program adequate to exceed these material requirements. One of the first things Mr. Influence helped to energize was raising the first $15,000,000 in a private offering of common stock to provide seed money. Then he helped find investors for 10% of the next $30 million in convertible preferred stock. Some of his associates also bought part of the $30 million in industrial revenue bonds. Warren talked to people he knew, put together a network of brokers, and finished the funding for the first plastic reclaim plant and the beginnings of the first industrial park. As the funding was completed, Warren completed the management team for the facility. As the facility was built the management team lined up three month’s worth of plastic  raw stock and kept buying when the price was right with the intention of maintaining a 3-6 month’s supply. As the facility was completed, the management team hired the remaining employees. The goal was to earn 21% on sales and 20% on equity by selling plastic lumber and other products direct to the market. The marketing specialists began developing stable sources of plastic raw stock. We anticipated being able to sell our surplus to other plastic reclamation facilities and acquiring or building reclaim facilities adequate to deal with all the unprocessed plastic which clogs our oceans, etc over a reasonable time period. Plans were developed to establish  industrial parks to reuse and recycle almost everything disposed in landfills.

       As you can discover in “The New Recycling Story“, Chimorel’s reason to get involved in recycling is to create thousands of jobs from resources we now throw away. Each year we throwaway more than $1 billion in materials in Ohio and more than $22 billion nationwide. This translates into $10 billion in Ohio jobs and business opportunities and $200 billion nationwide. Our intention is to capture 10% of the Ohio market and to work with others to develop the market nationwide.

       Members of the finance board started developing the funding for the other facilities and an industrial parks in Ohio within six months of opening the first facility. A consultant on the advisory board completed the plans for a facility to turn glass and plastic into greenhouse windows. We added the ability to produce plastic wood and fuel pellets to our reclaim plant. Within a year we were putting vermi-composting and greenhouses on farms across Ohio and nearby states. We created Tiny houses that could be used to house indigent, migrant and refugee workers globally. As we added productive employees, their productivity enabled their direct compensation to improve and kept the ESOP contributions growing. This in turn helped us develop seed capital for new ventures.  
       In the meantime, Mr. Influence and other Chimorel Board members were busy developing programs through Chimorel Services Inc. We hired Coordinators to handle Chimorel’s programs for financial planning, education and employment, recycling research, market development, business incubation and social services. The Coordinators worked closely with distribution committees to create special projects, solving problems and achieving goals for thousands of people. Would you like to join one of these distribution committees? Perhaps you will turn part of this story into reality for our clients.
      Many of the projects that were established were in Opportunity Zones, so we were able to enable Mr Influence and his friends to obtain some significant tax advantages.

       Here is a link to a quick list of fund raising strategies and the time normally anticipated before each strategy yields results. You may want to explore some of the nonprofit activities that the team will initiate by visiting the fund raising area of our website.

       Strategies were put in place to involve people at every level of annual and lifetime memberships. Individual and corporate donations mechanisms encouraged people and organizations to get involved, learn about our programs and begin to solve big problems and achieve meaningful goals. Special events were organized. Proposals were submitted for government grants and to foundations. A planned giving strategy was implemented, which gave people the opportunity to establish a charitable remainder trust (saving taxes and implementing significant legacy options). The doors were opened to significantly expand our Scrip and Buy Stuff programs. Our Special Project program and our $1000>$5000 program was implemented.  
       If Mr Influence inspired you to think in a significant way about how you can make a difference, we encourage you to explore becoming a Director or a member of one of our distribution committees.