How We Accidentally Started a Non-Profit

What started as a simple conversation about how Nat Finley and Adele Herman needed to make some friends, evolved into a full-blown, legal non-profit organization. Seems like quite the leap to take in a four-month period.

She Unites began as this idea of simply gathering women to meet each other and maybe learn something. Doesn’t sound too complicated. We chatted up the few friends we had to get their take on how a group like this might look in a city like Dubuque. We actually thought we would just be hanging out in someone’s backyard drinking wine. We still may very well do that.

Well, the more big ideas we had and the more ambitious we became, it was clear that we were going to be building something quite substantial. We felt called to this greater purpose and our why became clear. To connect and educate women so that we can grow collectively together. We began finding speakers to share their stories and inspire women in this community. We found a venue to call our home. And then the reality of IRS set in. Once money begins to exchange hands, we need to be legit.

From that point on it was obvious that we were doing this for real, starting a non-profit. We found some wonderful women that are far more intelligent than us on corporations and taxes. We picked the brains of every person we knew in the non-profit sector to see if what we were setting out to do was the right move. Time and time again, we were told that She Unites has a purpose and needs to exists.

Now that we are almost exactly four months from our first conversation and one month away from our first event, this was absolutely the best accidental project we could have stumbled upon. It has been the greatest learning curve and humbling experience. We have big dreams for the future of this project and can’t wait to share them with you in the years to come. Yes years, because She Unites is here for the long haul.