Background and Investment Details
Americans All (AA) is a nonprofit community-outreach program
that specifically benefits and connects students participating in
non-academic school activities and small businesses/service providers
by using a unique storytelling tool and turnkey revenue generator.
Background
Our 35-year-old, 501(c)(3) program's website, has a Heritage Honor Roll where people and groups can create and publish stories that can be easily stored, updated and permanently accessed and Legacy Partner landing pages where these stories can gain greater exposure. What makes us unique is we include historical information to provide context for these stories and the experiences, observations and accomplishments reflected in them. Stories can contain up to 2,000 words (1,000 of which can be password protected for privacy), images, hyperlinks, photographs, audio-video and music links and be published in multiple languages.
Our storytelling tool is free for individuals, education organizations and nonprofits. Businesses and service providers pay a nominal fee to create their stories and we offer our members an optional, inexpensive subscription upgrade after a one-year, free trial period. Importantly, we invest 80 percent of member subscriptions and business fees in communities that support our program. We believe storytelling can help foster care, respect, trust and justice in our communities and nation.
Even though we are no longer active in the Social Studies, English-Language-Arts, or any curriculum arenas, members can access our online K–12 nonpolitical supplemental classroom resources presented in multiple perspectives, which were sold to more than 2,000 schools and libraries nationwide.
By sharing stories, especially those of immigrants and underserved minorities, we recognize the contributions of all Americans, reinforce the value of diversity, and promote tolerance and acceptance. Storytelling also helps students further their knowledge of history, strengthen their communications, research and writing skills and helps prepare them for success in our democracy and workforce. And small businesses can use stories to reach, and offer discounts to, their customers and clients.
Investment Details
Our current website can accept all new individual member and business registrations. The program has no significant overhead, inventory or fixed costs. However, to implement and document procedures during the pilots and to begin developing other markets, the program seeks an interest-bearing $195,000 start-up loan that will include equity. The loan will carry a 6 percent rate of interest rate and will also enable us to update our website platform (the decades-old Drupal 7 platform will soon be unsupported), build out the ACH mechanism to transfer revenue to schools and counties on an automated basis (this feature was not needed earlier), and create the implementation model to be replicated nationwide. All operating expenses for Year 1 are covered by the loan and should be augmented by membership and subscription revenue.
The start-up loan will be repaid from gross membership and subscription fees, not profits earned. As the financials illustrate (see page 7), all distribution categories are based on gross revenue received, thereby simplifying the accounting function. As revenue is generated, the lender will receive the first 20 percent of all distributions until the loan is repaid.
As part of the repayment process, the lender will receive 2.5 percent of the gross revenues, which represents 25 percent of the equity distribution to the managing partners. Once predetermined financial benchmarks are achieved by the development/management team, the lender will have the right of first refusal to purchase the Americans All Benefit Corporation, which currently receives 7.5 percent of the gross revenues. Regardless of the success of the program, the purchase price for the Benefit Corporation and its 7.5 percent equity in the program will be $600,000. The new Benefit Corporation will continue to manage the program, and the content of the website will be managed by the nonprofit, 501(c)(3) People of America Foundation.
As stated above, 80 percent of all revenue will be donated to participating schools and their communities. However, revenue generated by the Americans All Benefit Corporation not directly related to the mission of the People of America Foundation will not be automatically subject to this distribution requirement.
Click here to view the complete proposal.