Real life AS commune signup thread--check 1st post regularly

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Ana,

Sounds good to me. I tihnk the idea of Aspergian centers/ safe houses sounds awesome. There's a synagogue I know of that's in a house. There are always a few people living there but it's also a community center for people who don't. You mean something like that, where you have some people living together and some people who just come by for the kegers, as it were?

Yep... and everyone who is Aspie can crash there on the floor whenever they want to.


Aside from these safehouses/centres all around the world is the main center in Bulgaria, of course, as Username88 said.

He's an article from ic.org with 7 steps for getting started:

http://wiki.ic.org/wiki/7_steps_to_getting_started

For 7 steps it's quite involved.

Its the "start up money" part that makes me nervous..

Don't worry; we'll have to ask corporations and companies, celebrities and other rich people you might know if they want to donate. This does involve a little trust in each other... we'll have to start a bank account somewhere that can be accessed from all our locations, and that is in the name of whatever we plan to call ourselves. A savings account, so that nobody can grab the money and run. We can also have fundraisers at local elementary and high schools, selling cookies and stuff. Hey, if me made a dollar from each staffer and student in a school of 1000, that's $1000.

Bill Gates is a philanthropist. And maybe AS?

Yea but how is anyone supposed to contact that guy
His personal email wouldnt be floating around the net would it?

It's okay; we'll just have to look on the net for celebrity directories, lists of celebrities, lists of singers, lists off actors, lists of actresses, lists of famous sports players, and then go thru them 1 by 1 searching for emails on Google and that by name and the word "email". We'll have to split it up... one person does the singers, one person the actors, one the food companies, one the clothing corporations, etc.

As hard as this probably is for most of us, including me, I've spoken to someone who did a lot of grant work and she told me that e-mails tend to be ignored. A phone call, meeting face-to-face, or applying directly for a known grant is more effective. But I did learn a lot from her about how to craft an e-mail to make it most effective when asking for money.

It seems you know a lot about that stuff Maybe you or that person you know can take care of it

I don't mind helping to draft some of this stuff, but the ideas it expressed would be better determined first. I don't think she'd be that interested in helping. She got involved in a project I was trying to get off the ground primarily as a financial backer. It's the thing in SL I was working on. Unfortunately I was carrying most of the work myself and not seeing much interest in the SL community, so I spoke with her and the other person involved at an admin level and we closed shop.

Well, it's hard for one person to ask that many companies... maybe you can tell us how so that we can each do some companies and businesses. Why don't we each list the ones in our areas?

For me, the chains and big businesses are:


Booster Juice
Safeway
Save-On-Foods
Foodland
McDonald's
Taco Bell
Swiss Chalet
Ricky's restaurants
Denny's restaurants
Sutton Place hotel
Claire's Accessories
The Bay
Le Chateau
Urban Planet
Winners/HomeSense
Arby's
Queen Donair('s?)
Tim Horton's
Dollarama



All of these are within walking distance of where I live, so I can do those ones. Or call them; I don't know what's better.

Oh, I don't mean asking all the companies, just drafting up a base letter that contains everything we'd want to say. Then it can be modified if necessary to target the specific interests of each person/group we approach.

But before we even got to that stage we'd really need to have what machine referred to as a business plan. There are a lot of questions e.g.

What is our vision?

What are our short-term and long-term goals?

How are we structured?

How are decisions made?

How are finances dealt with?

What type of startup and upkeep costs are expected?

If possible we also want to be able to tell donors what we can do for them. That's not always an easy thing to answer but you have to imagine the number of letters these people get. To increase the possibility for success whatever they come across has gotta be clear, succinct and it's got to entice them.

With multiple people approaching many different orgs, it's especially important to have our stories straight. If we go gung ho trying to collect without figuring out who we actually are, what we're about, and how we plan on actualizing our plans then our chances are much worse.

edit: just wanted to comment, if the companies in your area are local franchises it may not be as effective as going to the top and figuring out who in the HQ you need to speak with to get the proposal considered.

BELIZE!! It's good for your blood pressure!

This tiny nation is so laid-back it's almost comatose. Dabbling its toes in the Caribbean Sea, Belize has more in common with its island neighbors than the fiery volatility of Central America - its history is thoroughly coup-free. Soak up the glorious natural wonders and rich cultural history.
Unpaved roads, high prices and a lack of infrastructure make it a difficult place to travel, but Belize compensates with brilliant diving, dramatic ruins and pristine jungle - secluded eco-lodges cater for sedentary adventurers. The English-speaking population is mainly Creole and Mestizos (mixed descent).



Lonely Planet information

Well its high priced and an island.. I just hope that if its gonna be there we will be getting some wicked funds and there will be internet
Oh and we are going to need someone to answer all those questions, I suck at doing stuff like that

Last edited by username88 on 13 Aug 2007, 8:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

look it up on the map, it's not an island!