I founded and launched a nonprofit five months ago. AMA.
On paperwork, being scared, and sending art supplies to classrooms that need them.
In January I formally launched Doodle Street, a nonprofit that sends art supplies to K–8 classrooms where budgets don't cover the basics. Before that, I was informally passing my old supplies to parents I knew, donating here and there, which was rewarding in a quaint way but not quite the way I wanted™.
I was also at a point where I just wanted to actually do something that I’d been silently mapping on my Very Serious Career Plan for ten years, so I listened to Miley Cyrus’ The Climb (also very serious) and just ran with the momentum.
I grew up in a school district with unlimited resources, so I know what that kind of access does to confidence and exposure. Replicating that across as many schools that I can felt important. I narrowed the focus to art specifically because it's either the first thing cut, or so underfunded that teachers end up buying supplies out of pocket, and if you've seen the price of acrylic or tempera paint, that's not something anyone should be absorbing on their own, let alone on a teacher's salary.
The reason it took ten years to get this off the ground is that I didn't know much about nonprofits or public education when I first had the idea, so I spent a decade volunteering instead. My stints ran from mentoring high schoolers on entrepreneurship and data science to working as a classroom assistant and a docent. I also did contract work for SMASH, Beyond12, and StreetLab.
Was ten years of this overkill? Ehhhh, no because I learned quite a bit. Was it me stalling because launching something on my own is BLOODCURDLING? Of course.
Getting started
The paperwork was long. It’s always another form and state code with the government, you know. The basics, incorporation and 501c3 stuff, took about six months, though it probably could have moved faster if I was more proficient with legalese and documentation.
While waiting on approvals, I was churning out ideas at a rate that became absolutely unmanageable, immediately. I really had to talk myself down and think about what was logistically and mentally feasible for the first year. So I set a zero-expectation baseline where I prioritized the simplest supply and demand, and tried not to be everything all at once. The results are in!
Since January, Doodle Street has:
Raised $1.9k, 100% from friends and family. Mostly one-time donations, a few recurring. A learning: I now have a much clearer sense of why recurring donations matter. Guaranteed $$$ is a lifesaver for monthly projections. If you’re a donating person, consider smaller monthly deposits!
Sent 20 boxes across California, New York, Georgia, Alabama, New Jersey, and Michigan. 15 of those 20 requests came from Title I schools and 8 of those came from one school district. A learning: word of mouth remains top-tier! A plot twist: per Google Analytics, AI-assisted searches account for 4.6% of website traffic and those visitors average 1:48 on site, which is the the highest engagement of all sources (direct, referral, etc)
Launched one marketing campaign through LinkNYC which is free for nonprofits. Their provided stats: 17,923 delivered plays across three Brooklyn locations, which equals to ~72,380 (assumed) impressions
My gut reaction is still that it's not enough ha ha. But I made a promise to myself, and by the terms of that promise this is a good first few months. Teachers are applying and supplies are shipping. One teacher’s feedback: "the supplies give students a calm, engaging option that keeps them occupied and happily creating."
Not without mild defeat though!
To start, a lot of the “defeat” is mental.
I present confident but I run scared. When I’m doing something new, and people are watching, I am nothing but your garden variety Chuckie Finster.
There’s a vast difference between volunteering at a nonprofit and running one. Running anything requires a particular set of skills I wouldn’t claim to have, so I really had to tap into this era of delusion, which for me is putting myself out there. Sales, pitching, rejection, it all requires the opposite of a passive and quiet lifestyle. 0% cottage core, guys.
Mental barriers were the hardest, but the most challenging piece, logistically, was balance. The donations against inventory against teacher intake. There were months where requests waaaaay outpaced what inventory and budget I had on hand (the eight submissions from Georgia). I naively assumed getting teachers to apply would be the hard part, but when your profession is historically underfunded, you get very good at finding resources.
The next 7 months
The rest of the year will probably be more of the same supply and demand work. I’m waiting on more teacher feedback before building toward whatever the next phase looks like. So far, the ask has been something like a field guide as a way to explain the less obvious supplies and how to actually use them. A replenishment model is also on the list, though that’s a balance I haven’t figured out yet.
How to support
If you know of any teachers or summer programs that need supplies, please share our request supply form!
If you’re able to donate please do!
And if you are a current or retired educator that has thoughts on how to make this work more intentional, please email at hey@doodlestreet.org!
Excited to share the end of year recap! What is your over under that I will stick to my promise of being lowkey? If I was a betting woman!!!
so proud of you! helping in the form of googly eyes should never go unnoticed!
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