Brazil Comes To Project Brownstone!

Project Brownstone wants to welcome Anderson Silva of Salvador, Bahia to our office. This project is in conjunction with his Master's studies at the University of Bahia in Brazil. The Social Residency, as it's called, was a three week commitment to have Ander shadow me to find out what we do on a day-to-day basis, as well as what it takes to establish an organization.

At first, it was a daunting task because I operate daily without paying close attention to the minute details that actually make the office function. The best part of the residency is it made me slow down and consciously go over details that I normally would not. It was helpful in it helped me to check in with the inspiration that motivated the creation of Project Brownstone, and how it evolved and bore fruit. As I learned in a business class where we developed our business plans, external developments can change the direction of your company and redefine why it's in business. I am pleased to know that we are still following the path that was originally charted in the plan.

Brazil has the largest population of blacks outside of Africa. I always refer to them as our close cousins because our histories are similar. While there are cultural differences, the spirit and struggle of a people held under the yoke of white supremacy is shared. Together, we share the same objective to uplift our communities and make a better way for our children to succeed and have prosperous lives.

Our shared experience made it obvious that we can share the work of Project Brownstone in Brazil because it aligns well with their needs. We aspire to open a satellite office in Bahia. Anderson will be instrumental in making this happen. See, he understands well the 'formula' that makes PB work. Like any franchise, there are standards and modes of operation that create our own special brand of service. It is important to maintain the integrity of our mission.

Stay tuned in 2016 for updates to our plans. You can see firsthand Project Brownstone taking a leap onto the global sphere. We are in agreement, both Anderson and I, that children and education are global issues!

Crowdfunding: Does it work?

A few months ago, Project Brownstone embarked on a new journey. We decided that we were going to try Crowdfunding as a way to generate support for Project Brownstone, but more so, the Textbook Stipend Project.

Going in, the process of signing up gears you to think that the moment you post, things will take off. That is not the case. Like everything else, once it's been tried and tested the airwaves get clogged with requests for legitimate causes and the not so legit ones. I imagine this leads to a bit of crowdfunding malaise.

The first step was to make a video appeal. That was pretty easy because our story has been told many times, and the need of our constituents remain the same. The profile you build is important for people that cruise the sites looking for worthy causes so they can find out about you.

Then...you wait. Days and hours begin to go by. The only messages you get are companies and individuals offering their services. They range from manipulating Facebook 'likes' to creating press releases to capitalize on your cause as well as garner some media shine. Through all of that you learn the ropes of what dictates success in crowdfunding and how to make the algorithms work for you in order to place you at the top of a very long list. In other words, it's a crap shoot.

While we earned 15% of our goal, I realized we could have done much better if we knew what we learned going in. In other words, hindsight is 20/20. Making lemonade out of lemons is how we looked at it and were pleased that our 'story' reached as far a Japan, Liberia and Germany as well as South America. Many people and places that never heard of us, now know of us. We were even fortunate enough to be sponsored by a viewer that will sponsor our year-end gala using their team of experts to raise $25K.

So, when entering the crowdfunding arena, make sure that your targets and goals go beyond just making money. That's a recipe for disaster. Instead, revel in the outreach your organization does and capitalize on the newfound interests in spreading your word further than it is.

Have a look at our video...you may get inspired: