Sheer Force of Will
I still vividly remember the moment at 3AM sometime in 2010 when I woke suddenly in a sweat with a picture in my head of the live/work/play community for adults with autism that I needed to create for Lindsay and adults like her. (that’s how I use to describe it then)
Our original board member, Kim Breitling (who sadly passed away last year), had been encouraging me to turn our conversations over coffee about my concept for LTO Ventures into written words and a brochure and a website that could be shared with many.
As a former journalist and market development professional, I know the power and utility of words. But increasingly people don't read (TLDR…too long, didn't read ) My 3AM vision needed to come to life as an image, a visual concept that made it more real. I believed then, as I do now, that I needed to be able to tell our entire story from one picture.
I’ve never been much of an artist and I can’t be bothered to learn computer-aided or graphic design software. So I hacked out a site plan using poor man’s CAD (a.k.a. Powerpoint). And for many years, with regular tweaks and edits, that was the image of what we now call Autumn Hills Village. Today, we're fortunate to have the professional skills of Groth Design Group who have taken that hack and created the beautiful upgraded site plan now on our website.
So where does the “sheer force of will” come in?
Well, it's one thing to have an image and a brochure and a website. Making it into a multimillion dollar reality is an order of magnitude bigger challenge. I’ve never believed for a moment that I can’t make this happen. I mean, after all, I built a consulting and project management practice that has helped 18 nonprofits around the country develop their own intentional communities for adults with disabilities.
So what are the challenges we’ve pushed through in the last few months for our own project?
We will launch a day program that runs all day 5 days a week, but I need someone to run it and we need to raise funds to pay that person. We thought we had that person, but she got lured away by a job paying 3x what we can pay. We did receive a very generous grant from the Gordon Hartman Family Foundation, and we have several other grant requests in the works. We’re hoping to launch in the first quarter of next year.
We need land. After losing the better part of a year to empty promises from a potential partner, we went after our own dirt. I had had my eye on an off-market parcel for two years that would be ideal. Met with the owner and presented him with a Letter of Intent to Purchase. [Update: Pulte Homes apparently wanted the same parcel really badly and put a huge amount of money down that we couldn’t match. So we persevere and on to the next opportunity.]
Speaking of money, we need to raise some. Here’s where you can help.
I have run LTO Ventures from Day 1 with the approach that we need to be financially self-sustaining through earned income and not dependent on donated funds which can be unpredictable. That said, we are required as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit to raise revenues from donations. The attorneys, appraisers, and other professionals we need to make Autumn Hills Village happen cost money.
Serendipitously, we came across a grant writer through a professional group we’re part of and hired her and only 3 months in she has produced a 5-figure grant with more in the queue. Grants alone won’t get us to where we need to be. We need YOU!
Every time we run up against an obstacle we have overcome. This is going to happen. I won’t be denied. Sheer force of will.
Mark Olson
Founder, President, and CEO