Hollyhock Presenter & Guest Blogs
Hollyhock's Articles · 21st March 2006
Joel Solomon
We made the conversion January 1, 2006. Since our inception, all revenues generated by Hollyhock have gone back into our work & mission. We are ready to do more & we need help from more supporters to make it happen. As an NFP we are able to open many more options for participation in growing this vision & program. The global condition demands it more than ever.
Why were we a "for profit company"?
Two big reasons. Hollyhock was founded in the 80's- a period of audacious expansion of greed & rapaciousness, when our purported greatest societal superstars were those who could "make a billion dollars". We had a vision that businesses could be community generators, contribute to culture & make the world better by providing security & meaningful work.
Secondly, on a practical basis, we needed a reliable method for raising capital to fund our vision. We were stewarding a large piece of land with dilapidating buildings in a remote location at the edge of the continent. Attracting enough capital through donations was impossible so we tinkered with how we could bring dollars onto the island without harvesting trees, fish, or minerals. We needed capital to cover years of heavy losses, expand & enhance old buildings, invest in compelling programs & pay good wages to good people.
We believed we could offer "investment" rather than ask for donations & there was a land value to back it up. Every one bought in because of their love of the land, not its cash value, but there is simply a psychologically more comforting mind space for handing over tens of thousands of dollars to a raggedy place with huge vision, knowing that if it fell apart, there was always the land.
It was an effort to create a "better business", and a practical method for attracting capital.
Over this start up financing period, some 50 people have written substantial cheques, totaling over $3million in share purchases, loans, and occasionally, donations.
Hooray to those pioneers. What a miracle. What a gamble.
The power & magic of the land got the pen to paper by bringing the experience of transformational nature to so many, year after year. What kept the faith through a million dollars of losses, was the power of shared purpose, community, inspiration.
It was also the growing movement of people starting to question where they placed their money, disenchantment with damaging multi national companies- the realization that one might have some responsibility through being the owner of money invested in destructive practices.
Maybe it was the charms of island enchantment. Some said it was the water...
Whatever it was, like any start up, we began with a set of legal & financial structures, bigger on dreams than on clarity.
Year by year we faced bankruptcy, trees falling on roofs, decaying foundations, workshops that drew no attendance, squabbles in our expanding consensus decision making- every hurdle imaginable.
Yet the "changed my life", "wildly exceeded my already high expectations", "heard about this place for years", "learned things I had only dreamed of", kept us going.
As an experiment in building an idealistic vision into a pragmatic organization, we were in new & engaging territory. "Social profit" growth & new supporters kept us moving forward despite annual financial losses.
We were blessed with a series of capable manager leaders, each just right for the time & setting along with a hard working staff of dozens & dozens.
Investor/benefactor funder saviors came along just in time. Carol Newell raised the stakes dramatically. We winterized, came up to Code, brought in modern technology, rebuilt the Lodge, expanded the season, started a scholarship fund, seeded a wave of home grown programs. At long last, we were able to finish out the formula of "personal development and social change". Long our dream, it took a major benefactorial investor to enable us to enter our modern era.
Joel Solomon
Board Chair
Why were we a "for profit company"?
Two big reasons. Hollyhock was founded in the 80's- a period of audacious expansion of greed & rapaciousness, when our purported greatest societal superstars were those who could "make a billion dollars". We had a vision that businesses could be community generators, contribute to culture & make the world better by providing security & meaningful work.
Secondly, on a practical basis, we needed a reliable method for raising capital to fund our vision. We were stewarding a large piece of land with dilapidating buildings in a remote location at the edge of the continent. Attracting enough capital through donations was impossible so we tinkered with how we could bring dollars onto the island without harvesting trees, fish, or minerals. We needed capital to cover years of heavy losses, expand & enhance old buildings, invest in compelling programs & pay good wages to good people.
We believed we could offer "investment" rather than ask for donations & there was a land value to back it up. Every one bought in because of their love of the land, not its cash value, but there is simply a psychologically more comforting mind space for handing over tens of thousands of dollars to a raggedy place with huge vision, knowing that if it fell apart, there was always the land.
It was an effort to create a "better business", and a practical method for attracting capital.
Over this start up financing period, some 50 people have written substantial cheques, totaling over $3million in share purchases, loans, and occasionally, donations.
Hooray to those pioneers. What a miracle. What a gamble.
The power & magic of the land got the pen to paper by bringing the experience of transformational nature to so many, year after year. What kept the faith through a million dollars of losses, was the power of shared purpose, community, inspiration.
It was also the growing movement of people starting to question where they placed their money, disenchantment with damaging multi national companies- the realization that one might have some responsibility through being the owner of money invested in destructive practices.
Maybe it was the charms of island enchantment. Some said it was the water...
Whatever it was, like any start up, we began with a set of legal & financial structures, bigger on dreams than on clarity.
Year by year we faced bankruptcy, trees falling on roofs, decaying foundations, workshops that drew no attendance, squabbles in our expanding consensus decision making- every hurdle imaginable.
Yet the "changed my life", "wildly exceeded my already high expectations", "heard about this place for years", "learned things I had only dreamed of", kept us going.
As an experiment in building an idealistic vision into a pragmatic organization, we were in new & engaging territory. "Social profit" growth & new supporters kept us moving forward despite annual financial losses.
We were blessed with a series of capable manager leaders, each just right for the time & setting along with a hard working staff of dozens & dozens.
Investor/benefactor funder saviors came along just in time. Carol Newell raised the stakes dramatically. We winterized, came up to Code, brought in modern technology, rebuilt the Lodge, expanded the season, started a scholarship fund, seeded a wave of home grown programs. At long last, we were able to finish out the formula of "personal development and social change". Long our dream, it took a major benefactorial investor to enable us to enter our modern era.
Joel Solomon
Board Chair