Category Archives: Uncategorized

ioby’s Step-by-Step Guide to Raising Funds & Building a Network of Donors You Love

Here at ioby, we believe in the power of small groups coming together to fundraise for big change. Through this step-by-step guide, we’ll outline the steps to cultivating meaningful relationships with donors that will sustain your work over the long haul. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel with each project you launch, so let’s dive in and make those dollars stretch as far as they can, block by block! 

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ioby’s Comprehensive Guide to Creative Placekeeping

If you’re a neighborhood leader who wants to find creative, strategic ways to maintain the spirit and vibrancy of your community, look no further! ioby’s comprehensive guide to creative placekeeping outlines everything you need to know to launch a transformative project in your neighborhood. Maybe you heard about placekeeping through the NEA creative placemaking and placekeeping grants, or maybe there’s a cultural site in your community that you are longing to preserve. Either way, this guide will give you the tools you need to ideate, launch, and maintain a compelling creative placekeeping project. 

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5 Creative Placekeeping Projects We Love!

Arts and culture inspire communities, deepen neighborhood connections, and transforms lives. Whether a Pride parade in June or afterschool music sessions for teenagers, culture is an essential element of thriving public life. 

Here at ioby, we believe strongly in the possibilities of creativity, and a large part of that is due to creative placekeeping. Creative placekeeping refers to a community-driven approach to preserving and enhancing the character, history, and values of a space. Instead of focusing exclusively on adding to a neighborhood through physical development such as museums, creative placekeeping emphasizes the assets that already exist. 

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What Do Most Successful Community Gardens Have in Common?

Summer is right around the corner, which means that gardens have begun to flourish. Ripe tomatoes are starting to bud on the vine and heads of lettuce are peeking through the soil. The long summer months ahead are the perfect time to re-energize your community garden through public events, farmers markets, and guided tours. Whether you have a few neighborhood plots or are just starting to repurpose an empty lot,  here’s everything you need to known about cultivating a successful community garden. 

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Black to the Land Coalition Builds Equity in Outdoor Leadership

In 2018, a group of about 14 Detroit outdoor enthusiasts began meeting at the home of Tepfirah Rushdan, who would become a founding member of Black To The Land Coalition (BTTLC). Being a long time advocate and farmer in the Urban farming scene, Tepfirah (Tee) wanted to form a super team of BIPoC leaders who shared the same passion and goals for building a relationship with each other, through the land. Through their ioby project Be Out!, they are hoping to raise $8,000 before July 11th. Their project is a part of our 2023 Detroit Match Program, meaning donations are doubled up to $400 per donor!

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Neighbors in NYC Hike Through Parks and Chart Their Own Way Forward

Right now, Hike the Heights is raising funds to celebrate their 19th annual event, a community hike and celebration in Northern Manhattan parks. The family-friendly event, taking place on June 3, invites New Yorkers to explore and celebrate their city’s natural treasures by combining physical activity, art, fun, and civic participation. It also helps ensure that NYC parks are safe and accessible to all. Since 2011, the Hike the Heights team has enlisted ioby to help them fundraise and receive grants. 

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One Woman’s Idea to Provide Menstrual Products to her Neighbors Grows into a Large Scale Operation

Eli Cloud co-founded Sister Supply with a straightforward mission: eradicate Period Poverty. After raising over $5,000 on ioby in 2016, she was able to expand the impact of her organization. Since then, the number of menstruation products she has been able to provide for menstruating people in Memphis has nearly quadrupled. 

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Celebration in the Streets of LA Brings Life-saving Awareness to Bike and Pedestrian Safety

In 2015, Adé Neff raised over $15,000 for Street Beats, a community festival that took place in the Hyde Park neighborhood of South Los Angeles. The event took place at the intersection of Crenshaw Boulevard and Florence Avenue, one of the most dangerous intersections in LA county. Through music, food, and art, Street Beats highlighted the importance of street safety and the power of public space. 

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Meet the Neighborhood Leaders Fighting For Food Justice 

From windowsill gardens in New York City to community juice pop-ups in Cleveland, these activists are planting the seeds for a different world.  Food justice leaders work to ensure universal  access to nutritious, affordable, and culturally-appropriate food. These leaders are transforming their neighborhoods through food justice projects.

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