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Benj and Jessica launched a nonprofit. Follow our journey as we built a 501(c)(3) and a web site, and now usher in an endless stream of worthy charity nominees and monthly grant winners!

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Spotlight on nominee The You Rock Foundation

Nominee The You Rock Foundation

Next in our series of posts about new Charitocracy nominees, we have nominee The You Rock Foundation nominated by donor misadowling. These rock musicians share their stories to spread awareness and help battle stigmas attached to mental illness. You can find their web site here.

A few words on Charitocracy

Firstly, for newcomers: here's how it works. Donors pool their monthly contributions, as little as $1. The cause with the most votes each month wins the pot. No matter how much or how little you contribute, each donor at Charitocracy gets one vote. This is where charity meets democracy. So please share this post and ask your friends to join us and vote! That's how we spread the word and, as a result, grow the monthly pot. The bigger the pot, the bigger our positive impact on the world!

ABOUT THE YOU ROCK FOUNDATION

It's estimated that nearly twenty million people are affected by depression in the United States. Left untreated, depression can lead to feelings of hopelessness, decreased neurological function, interpersonal isolation, and loss of interest in activities previously enjoyed. Depression remains the largest perpetuator of suicide. Suicide is the third leading cause of death amongst adolescents ages fifteen to twenty four and the second leading cause of death in college students.

The You Rock Foundation was created to serve as a safe haven for those who have suffered or are currently suffering. Using music as a backdrop, You Rock seeks to pull those suffering out of the dark and show them the possibilities of moving forward with life.

OUR GOALS

SPREAD AWARENESS - Using popular bands and artists as a catalyst for communication.
EDUCATE - Battling stigmas, ignorance, and embracing acceptance.
EMPOWER - Giving everyone the power to choose through sharing and inspiration.
THRIVE - Seeking hope and positive actions to live a life that rocks.

So visit the page of nominee The You Rock Foundation on Charitocracy to vote for, like, or discuss this cause! And finally, check out their 2017 overview video:

May 2018 winner Sky’s the Limit Fund

Charitocracy's 21st check to May winner Sky's the Limit Fund for $1114

We have good news about May winner Sky's the Limit Fund, right after this quick update...

First, a general update

The Charitocracy board has been talking a lot about catalyzing growth. We've experimented with advertising, hopefully converging on something that works. If this is your wheelhouse, we welcome your advice! We have corporate matching funds we intend to use to grow our donor base. But the learning curve is... significant.

As always, you can help us grow organically (i.e. for free!) by joining yourself or convincing someone you love. It would be great to get our June prize closer to $1200, and our active donors above 200!

May 2018 winner Sky's the Limit Fund

Thursday night we voted in Charitocracy's 21st monthly winner. Congratulations to Sky's the Limit Fund! You can find their web site here. Also congrats to donor obxlisa, whose family has been personally touched by this charity, for nominating it! This is obxlisa's 2nd winning nomination! I would welcome her to the two-timers club, but that sounds weird. So instead I'll encourage her to become founding member of the three-timers club!

You have a week to further sweeten the pot with a special one-time donation of any amount, which we'll add straight to the check we write to STLF next week.

Mission

The mission of Sky’s the Limit Fund (STLF) is to transform the lives of youth in crisis by providing grants, support, and hope through wilderness therapy programs and beyond.

Vision

Our vision is for youth to achieve their full potential as healthy and valued members of society.

Why Wilderness Therapy

Wilderness therapy programs use the wilderness as a tool to quickly and effectively impact students at risk. Experiential in nature, emotional growth wilderness programs provide struggling youth an opportunity to challenge themselves physically and emotionally while exploring the unhealthy behaviors that have prevented them from making progress in their lives. The wilderness program environment provides a supportive, non-judgmental arena in which students can process their limiting beliefs and core issues, and begin to view themselves and their abilities from a different perspective. The challenges inherent in a wilderness setting provide daily success experiences which serve to challenge old, negative beliefs and lead to new, more positive self-perceptions.

Check out this video about Sky's the Limit Fund, and feel good about your part in our collective $1114+ grant to help with their work!

Have a great June and log into Charitocracy to update your votes or nominate a new cause!

Stop the presses!

Wait, no, don't stop! Keep that press cranking!

The first Charitocracy article ever, printed in actual ink no less, appears in the new issue of North Beach Sun. This is a quarterly magazine for locals and tourists in the Outer Banks of North Carolina where we live. We made it into the summer edition, their most widely read of the year for a beach magazine, I have to imagine?

On any given Friday on the Outer Banks, you can stroll into Waveriders Coffee, Deli & Pub in Nags Head to find local Benj Lipchak tucked away near the corner of the cafe, sitting in what he refers to as "the comfy chair" -- a cushiony throne complete with beige upholstery and two oversized arm rests that can double as small desks. Amidst coffee enthusiasts and nine-to-fivers on their lunch breaks, the young entrepreneur works tirelessly on his graduate school project turned passion: Charitocracy.

We were honored to have an editor of the local First Flight High School's Nighthawk News tell our story for North Beach Sun. Arabella Saunders expertly captures who we are and what we're all about. And Kati Wilkins's photo puts us right in our natural habitat. Waveriders is where Charitocracy makes its giant leaps of forward progress each Friday.

Thanks to Amelia Boldaji, editor of North Beach Sun, for running into me months ago at Waveriders, being curious enough to ask about Charitocracy, and make this story happen. She also encourages me to drink beer after a certain hour. You can probably imagine my violent protests.

@ Waveriders, Benj far left: the young entrepreneur