Be Small, Think Big!
Who, When, Why
I created JOY in 2009 because non-profit philanthropy is the business model for using your resources to promote specific causes, or create new charitable projects. If projects existed that were doing what you wanted done, you could just give them money. I wanted a structure that would ‘explain’ what we were already doing with investment of time, money, space, resources – an interface with the wider world that might generate some collaboration. I hope to inspire people that money helps love do stuff; that it follows our intentions and investment; that it can be used creatively to create ‘Catholic cultural initiatives’.
As an official structure, JOY could conceivably help mediate funds from bigger granting organizations to small, ‘on-the-ground’ projects in a way an individual could not. JOY could help small projects when even start-up costs like copying, supplies, postage, would be prohibitive. I hoped to get others to invest time, creativity, energy, with JOY’s help. I hoped JOY would be an example to others that a home is a center of philanthropy, as it is of education, health care, and enterprise.
I would love to have dozens of tiny family projects and foundations operating in the area. When we multiply the number of people mediating money, we humanize and concretize it and multiply its effects. Inefficiency is a plus!
Foundational Thoughts
* Money should follow active involvement, not substitute for it.
* Leisure is the basis of culture.
* Creativity is not just for artists.
* Moms are our heroes.
* Things worth doing are worth doing imperfectly.
* Response is the path to freedom.
* Small is the scale of authentic change and healing.
* Slow is the pace of authentic change and healing.
* Inefficiency is characteristic of organic growth.
* In God’s economy our giving is multiplied a hundred-fold.
JOY Documentation
Per IRS Letter of Determination, Joy Foundation is a 501-c-3, and donations are officially tax deductible!!
We are registered in the State of Kansas and no longer keep our Charitable Solicitation License active, as we are not soliciting (but certainly welcome!) funds.
Ask for anything else you need to know.
JOY Projects
In addition to providing seed money for the Chesterton Academy of St Philip Neri, making donations to the Catholic Academy of Sacred Music, School of Love, A Simple House, and Just Homes, Joy continues the tradition of supporting the Regency Guild’s English Country dances.
Historically, Joy generated sixteen seasons of the Catholic Creative Salon, sponsored the performances of Sursum Corda Renaissance Polyphony Ensemble, birthed and nurtured the Living Poem Society, made grants in aid of award winning iconographer Peggy Shopen, and award winning sculptor Kate Marin., and helped Lucas Tappan create the Most Pure Heart of Mary children’s sacred music program.
JOY provided scholarships for an iconography workshop, Catholic writers workshops, Gregorian Chant classes, and Portrait Sculpture classes for Catholic students who could not otherwise have afforded to go.
JOY sponsored the creation of a Stratford Caldecott wiki and cross-referenced Bibliography. After his death, JOY funded several memorial scholarships in his name for CASPN students.
JOY contributed funds for the development of the G.K. Chesterton online archive, being built by the American Chesterton Society.
JOY sponsored the development and testing of the Holy Geometry! series to help parents and children understand the riches of sacred geometry in art, science, literature, etc… .
JOY financed an informational Open House by the Lawrence Catholic Home Educators for any Catholic parents interested in the independent education option, or in the materials available for Catholic education.
JOY has sponsored classes for Catholic high-school students and adults: “Drama – A Christian Approach” and “Aristotle’s Rhetoric for Modern Catholics”.
50 Million Names was technically a failure, but all the hard work and investment was worth it because we heard stories about how the initiative changed a few lives for the better. We created a way to memorialize aborted babies. People gave names in honor of one or more of these children. Each name was accompanied by a concrete gesture by which the Namer promised to honor the child. It might be an act of service, a donation to a humanitarian organization, the creation of something beautiful, or any gesture the Namer chooses. We collected over 10,000 names.
In this way, we hoped to contribute to a legacy of love for the children – a rippling of effects from the beautiful reality of their lives. Yes, they’ve been killed, but they are real and unique and unrepeatable, and we want to rejoice in the fact that God said YES to the being of each of these people! By giving them names, we link ourselves to their lives, and pray with them for their relatives and even for their abortionists. The bottom line? Violence is not the end of the story!
JOY has sponsored several Joyful Moms events for Catholic moms: a nutrition workshop, a Montessori education workshop, and a grocery card to help moms help new moms with meals. ,
JOY underwrote the printing costs for resources given to Heart of a Woman workshop participants in Kansas City.
JOY contributed to the IHP Memorial Project – a beautiful stone-and-bronze memorial to the professors who created the Pearson Integrated Humanities Program at the University of Kansas.
What is a Catholic cultural initiative??
It’s an event, membership organization, publication, or campaign that involves real Catholic people in building Catholic culture, addressing issues, pursuing shared interests, and contributing to the new evangelization.
What criteria must a cultural initiative meet?
Catholic – Hint: nuns on the bus R not us!
Local – Lawrence, KS and surrounding area, Kansas City, Topeka, or local to friends and family of JOY
Open – May involve Catholics and non-Catholics
Seed – Has potential to grow and multiply
Leverage – Creators leverage small financial capital by investing labor, passion, time
How do I submit a proposal, or ask questions?
In person, if you’re a local pal.
By email: JoyFoundOrg@gmail.com
By mail: Joy Foundation, 18240 Northwind, Lawrence, KS 66044
What is Fiscal Sponsorship?
Fiscal Sponsorship is an arrangement by which an organization which is tax-exempt under IRS code 501(c)(3) may offer oversight to organizations with similar missions. The cost of incorporating and getting through the 501-approval process is staggering, and in this way we may be able to help very small non-profit creatives start up new projects without having to raise these large amounts. Many larger grant-funding organizations can only consider the applications of tax-exempt, or fiscally sponsored projects. There are various models this relationship can take, depending on the degree of the sponsor’s ownership of the project, and its stage of development. Some projects will stay under our umbrella indefinitely, while others will be in our ‘incubator’ while they grow ready to become independent organizations. When JOY’s tax-exempt status is approved, we can take applications for new projects, but until then will continue to help where we can. Proposals should be made in person.
The JOY Foundation, by providing ‘shelter’ for small initiatives without the resources to seek out their own tax-exempt status, may make it possible for creative people to focus on fulfilling their dreams for our community. Without the huge burden of incorporating and filing for approval, someone with a great idea can begin immediately to seek tax-exempt donations from underneath the JOY umbrella. (Until the official letter comes through, we are ‘status pending’ and can’t offer assurance that donations will be tax deductible. The recent government ‘shutdown’ has delayed everything even more, so we just leave it all in God’s hands and trust Him for the timing.) We have in mind projects of our own, as well, and welcome the collaboration of anyone who dreams similar dreams.