An invitation · Small Town Grants

Would you serve your town?

We're looking for people who know their town well enough to tell us when we've got it wrong.

We Help People Everywhere, Inc. · a 501(c)(3) public charity

Somebody forwarded you this, which means they thought of you. Here is the whole thing in about two minutes.

We run a program called Small Town Grants. We pick a small number of businesses in small towns — ones that are already open, already serving the town, already doing more than their share — and give them professional marketing and business help they could never afford to buy. It's donated. It costs the business nothing, and no business is ever required to buy anything from anyone.

But the company donating the work should not be the one deciding whether the work is any good. And nobody sitting in an office somewhere should be deciding which business in your town deserves help.

So every town in this program seats its own board — people who live there. That board picks the business, writes down why the town needs what it does, goes and sees it in person, and tells us the truth about what they find.

That's what we're asking you to consider.

What a town board actually does

Helps choose. Which local business gets a grant — and puts in writing what the town is short of that this business supplies.
Goes and looks. Visits the business in person, on a regular schedule. Not a report. An actual visit.
Checks the homework. Reads what the donating company says about its own work, and tests it against what you saw with your own eyes.
Sits in on interviews with the owner, alongside our interview team.
Says continue, or says stop. Recommends to our main board whether a grant keeps going.

What it asks of you

A few hours every couple of months
One meeting a quarter — most of it can be by phone
A visit or two to a business you can probably walk to
Willingness to say something out loud when it isn't right

What it does not ask

Any knowledge of marketing or advertising
A business of your own
Any money — yours or anyone's
Any fundraising. We will never ask you to raise a dollar.
A long commitment before you've seen what it is

The seat is unpaid, like every seat we have.

Who we're asking

People who have been paying attention to their town for a long time:

Town eldersChurch leadersCity employees School staff and teachersCouncil membersLibrarians Fire and EMSChamber and civic clubsBusiness owners Retired folks who know everybodyAnyone who wants this town better

If none of those describe you but you want your town to be better and you'd give it a few hours — that describes you well enough. Write to us anyway.

Not sure you want a board seat? There's other work. Sitting with an owner who has nobody to think out loud with. Lending a skill — bookkeeping, a trade, hiring, dealing with the county. Telling us what this town used to have and what it drives somewhere else for now. Say so on the form and we'll find the right fit.

The part we'd rather you hear from us

Mark Hope is involved both in this charity and in the company that donates the marketing work. We are not hiding that, and you would have found it out anyway.

What we did about it: the charity owns the program and its rules, boards of local people make the selections, a separate team interviews independently, and Mark does not vote on individual grants. That is exactly why a board of people from your town matters — you are the check, not a rubber stamp.

We would rather have boards that argue with us than boards that agree with us. If you'd tell us a business isn't doing the work, or that we picked the wrong one, you're the person we're looking for.

Tell us how to reach you

Two boxes are required — your name and your town. Everything else is optional. We'll call or write, whichever you prefer, and answer your questions before you decide anything.

Your name

Your town and state

Email — or leave blank and give a phone

Phone — optional

Best way and time to reach you

What are you open to? — tick anything

Sitting on my town's board

Volunteering some time or a skill

Telling you about a business in my town that should be considered

Just want to know more before I decide anything

Anything you want us to know — optional, a line is plenty

Or skip the form — call 720-289-0212 or write admin@wehelppeopleeverywhere.com

To respond: call 720-289-0212 or write admin@wehelppeopleeverywhere.com — or go to wehelppeopleeverywhere.com/serve