Jennifer and Jason Helvenston founded Growing Food after a very lengthy battle with the city of Orlando over whether or not they should be able to grow vegetables in their front yard. Good news, Orlando finally decided they can! Now, though, the Helvenstons are going through the long process of applying for 501(c)3 status for their organization. Which is just great for us students, because we now have close to first hand knowledge of the whole process.
Mr. Helvenston told us that it is society and the organization itself that makes a nonprofit a nonprofit. How society sees a nonprofit carry out its mission is how society judges the legitimacy of a nonprofit. The IRS judges the legitimacy of a nonprofit based on its status–those with the 501(c)# status are legitimate to them, those without are not. At the beginning of the status-seeking process, the Helvenstons’ accountant thought they should apply for 501(c)4 status, as that status is mostly for organizations built around farming and agriculture. However, Growing Food grows food as a byproduct of the community they have created. For this reason, we were told that having an accountant is vital to the application process and that having that accountant on board with your message is just as important. We learned the document to apply for 501(c)3 status can be anywhere from 50 to 100 pages long and it can take a year or more for the IRS to process all of the paperwork*.
Mr. Helvenston also gave us some insight to the way he and his wife think about running the “business” side of their organization. He talked about regenerative transformation and a triple top-line instead of a triple bottom-line. He told us that he thinks in very cyclical patterns and is always trying to see how the cycles connect and how they can be connected. We were told to look into holacracy as an alternative to hierarchy. Mr. Helvenston told us that a good way to visualize where you want to go is to visualize your utopia and work backwards from it instead of forwards to it.
What the Helvenstons really strive for with their organization is to grow healthy communities full of healthy bodies. Growing Food’s mission statement is “Planting seeds; helping people grow”. At their core, they believe in the Golden Rule–do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This means that they don’t compete unnecessarily with other nonprofits trying to accomplish similar goals. They don’t fight with Homeowners Associations when they’re trying to get vegetable gardens approved; they find what works for both communities involved.
I honestly don’t know how he packed so much information into the hour-long session he had in our class, but Mr. Helvenston really changed the way I view startup organizations (and by extension, startup businesses). There are so many things he told us about starting from the ground (literally!) up. If there’s one thing I could use for my future as a writer specifically, it would be I should try to really understand the message of any organization I work for–be it a grassroots nonprofit organization or a Fortune 500 company. My understanding of the organization or company’s mission will benefit the way I communicate with and for them.
As a fun side-note, they were scheduled to have a featured skit on the Colbert Report during their fight with the city. It was to feature them scheming to take over America with beautiful, sustainable vegetable gardens in front yards everywhere. By the time the Report picked up the story, however, the city was mostly on-board with the Helvenstons; the lack of conflict made the skit less funny and it didn’t run.
*If you’re wondering if the year-long process can be expedited, the answer is yes! You can send a letter to the IRS stating that you’re waiting for the organization to receive its 501(c)3 status before making your initial donation. You don’t have to tell them how much you plan on donating or anything like that. If you’d like to do that, leave me a comment with your email and I’ll find you a template and an address!
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