An Open Letter to My Non-Profit Colleagues

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Greetings Nonprofiteers!

We all know that a strong and vibrant community makes real differences in real lives. That’s why your work to build, sustain, and strengthen our common fabric provides lasting inspiration well beyond the walls of your organizations.

As the owner of Conscious Real Estate – the premier Denver residential real estate brokerage that gives back to our community – I sought to develop brokerage that followed this example.

That’s why Conscious Real Estate, as a standard practice, donates 10% of every commission to a nonprofit of our client’s choice.

Through our work, I have met many of you, donated to some, and endeavor to take common cause with all your efforts.

We here at Conscious Real Estate are grateful to have had the opportunity to do this work over the past three years and watch your organizations grow and flourish. At the same time, we are dismayed by the obvious headwinds facing nonprofits in 2017 and beyond. With that in mind, Conscious Real Estate is committed to redoubling our efforts to sustain your vital role in our community.

A bit about how our brokerage works: When a Client purchases or sells a home through a Conscious Real Estate agent, the Client chooses a non-profit to which we donate 10% of the sale commission. While Conscious is exclusively a residential broker, we facilitate a similar arrangement for commercial real estate transactions through a partner broker, Forte Commercial Real Estate. Put another way – the more we grow, the more we give.

Allison Parks (Conscious Real Estate Founder, left) with Tiana Nelson (President and Chief Operating Officer, PawsCo)

So what are the results so far? In 2016, our average donation per transaction was well over $1000. This is real money for real organizations providing support and development to real communities – our community.

While we have received extremely positive feedback about the impact we have made thus far – feedback that we treasure – we still have significant work ahead of us. Our efforts to continue supporting you rely on your generous referral of Conscious Real Estate to your friends, family, and supporters. At the same time, we know that since your hands are always busy and your time is always short, you can’t regularly engage with Conscious to learn about the work we do.

In our heartfelt effort to keep an open line with our non-profit friends, we created this (occasional) newsletter just for non-profits to speak to only your needs. Through this forum, we seek to establish a tighter bond with you so you know the initiatives we pursue to support your work.

With this newsletter, we will include a toolbox for you that will include pre-written social media posts, pre-written newsletter blurbs, and ways that you can mention us to your supporters. We can also provide fliers, business cards, and other collateral to assist in your outreach efforts. Also, since this is a collaborative effort, we look forward to your feedback about the trends in the non-profit world and how your organizations can best be supported.

Finally – if we haven’t met – let’s meet! Please don’t hesitate to contact me through telephone, text, tweet, or smoke signal. I’d love to make your acquaintance. Again, I truly appreciate everything you do for our community and that’s why I created a business to help support you.

After all, you support our community – and that supports us all.

 

Warm regards,

Allison Parks

Conscious Real Estate Donates to Steve’s Club

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Steve’s Club is a nonprofit that started off completely grassroots in one of the most dangerous public housing units in urban Camden, New Jersey. The city is in better shape than it was when this news report: 36 Hours in Camden was filmed, but it is still considered one of the most challenging places to live and especially to grow up.

Crime is high, single parent households are common, buildings are crumbling and abandoned, there are hardly any restaurants or supermarkets and many of the residents have lost a family member or friend to violence.

 

Steve’s Club Founder Steve Liberati started the organization in May 2017, donating CrossFit inspired fitness programming to low-income youths in the Centennial Village Apartments public housing complex. Since, then Steve’s Club has grown nationwide, making an impact for at-risk kids everywhere there’s a club in America.

“Our mission at Steve’s Club and its participating members, is to provide a national network of programs through which at-risk or underserved youth of any socioeconomic background can join in the CrossFit Community at a reduced, low or no cost structure.”

 

“We Everywhere”

Imagining Steve’s Club founders saying that to themselves now that the nonprofit has spread from the East to West coasts and everywhere in between. Local communities can start their own Steve’s Club and the CrossFit connection has been extremely supportive.

When kids experience quality leadership, it impacts their lives. Seeing a strong, consistent and health adult regularly in their lives, which, living in Camden, couldn’t have been all too common, must have been an incredible blessing to the community. In our local community, Steve-Club Denver works with at-risk youths here in our community. Using CrossFit and team building, the program gives kids strength both inside and outside.

 

Steve’s Club Denver

Once Steve’s Club took off (pretty much instantly), the need for something nationwide became very clear. Here in Denver, even Five Points and Colfax Street are gritty neighborhoods that can never compare to Camden, NJ, however, the need is here for at-risk kids to have an outlet to get through to adulthood. Steve’s Club is one option for them, and one that we’re extremely proud to have recently donated to.  

The mentors and coaches “foster resilience to stress and aim to improve the lives of all involved.” We love how they explain their mission:

 

“We care just as much about outcomes related to mood stability, decision-making, and social functioning, as we do about more easily measurable variables such as benchmark times, lifted pounds, or total rounds. Our group is passionate about fitness and every factor that is needed to sustain a life with regular exercise. In case there were any concern, we are also fully capable of having a boatload of fun along the way.” – Steve’s Club Denver

 

At-Risk Youth & Health

It’s obvious that without access to healthy food or a place to do healthy recreational activities…any human, teen, or child would feel antsy, perhaps choosing activities that are an outlet of a type, but without the results of a program like Steve’s Club/CrossFit. Simply wearing yourself out helps you sleep, regulates your blood flow, gets oxygen to your brain and allows for incredible stress relief.  Steve’s Club also started as a way to bring healthier food to urban teens in poverty. Whether you’re into Paleo or not, Steve is and we can definitely agree it’s a lot healthier than Hot Cheetos and Takis. He also started Paleo Kits that have also helped improve inner city nutrition. 

 

About Conscious Real Estate

There are lots of real estate brokers in Colorado, we know. But how many donate 10% to charity with every single sale? Not many we’ve found! Our agent, Kimberly McAleenan had the pleasure of delivering the Steve’s Club Denver donation and we are stoked she introduced us to this awesome organization that’s all about strength and empowerment. Giving to good causes is what we’re ’bout.

So, do you have a favorite nonprofit?

Thinking about upgrading, downgrading, moving closer to the mountains, getting more land, or moving into the city? Consider working with Conscious Real Estate and think about that gold star you’ll get when they get their check and another cause gets to continue – because of you!!! (And you’re celebrating in your new home.) Sound blissful? It is! Contact us to set up an interview today.

Conscious Real Estate Donates to MaxFund

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Why Is It Called MaxFund?

In 1988, Dr. Suro owned a large veterinary practice in the Denver area and worked alongside his wife, program manager. Nanci Suro. The practice was thriving and the couple had just expanded to be a 24-hour practice. Immediately, the Suros discovered they had a “problem” on their hands. What should they do with the animals that good samaritans were bringing in? Most clinics and shelters were euthanizing the animals without owners immediately, unable and unwilling to foot the animals’ medical costs.

When “Max” came in one day after being hit by a car, the Suros began a fund from a fishbowl, called on service donations from local vets, held a yard sale and eventually came up with the money. To their delight and surprise, they had collected even more fund than they needed for Max’s successful treatment and so they continued the process for the next animal and so on and so on.

Max!

What Happened to Max?

Max healed and the Suro’s lived with him for 13 more years! Max inspired the Suros to continue and so they did. After some time, they were able to gain press coverage and even had an offer from a large corporation to buy their teeny nonprofit. Well, once the corporation realized how expensive some of the medical procedures were, they backed out. The organization was fully run by volunteers until 1995. Now, the organization relies on the generous support of the public which has come from the legacy of estates, generous living contributions, service donations by local vets, and donations from socially conscious business (yup like us here at Conscious Real Estate!!).

 

Why Do We Love MaxFund?

Well one reason is this sweet little bitty of a pup. Her only problem? Well, she has two in these pictures. Two broken legs. Poor thing. Thanks to MaxFund she was able to get the medical attention that she needed and…well…a donation wasn’t enough for us in this case. Conscious Real Estate owner and founder Allison Parks ended up adopting her to add to her pack. She’s had a lot of happy days since then!

Who rescued who? She’s perfect!

Another amazing fact about MaxFund? Founder Dr. Suro got his own new lease on life when he was donated a kidney from Hillary Rettig who said she chose to donate to Dr. Suro because of all the lives of animals he’s saved!!! – MaxFund

What Does MaxFund Do?

MaxFund offers low-cost medical services for injured and ill animals as well as preventative services like spay, neuter and vaccinations. They also offer adoption services for dogs and cats, including those with special needs. Every animal deserves a home, they say.

 

“We believe in second chances. And, we’ll continue to follow our mission in saving injured animals without owners. No matter how large we become we get, in a real sense we will always be “the small shelter that makes a big difference.” We are growing and have been fortunate to receive many wonderful donations and estates, which we have turned into capital improvements.” – MaxFund

 

MaxFund Needs You + Ways to Give

As usual, there are many ways to give to this nonprofit. You can connect them with sympathetic vets, donate individually, shop through Amazon Smile, volunteer, adopt a pet, or, our favorite – work with us at Conscious Real Estate. We donate 10 percent to a nonprofit of your choice after every sale. Yep, you choose who we donate to! It’s a wonderful way to celebrate your new home and give back to a cause you care about. So far we’ve donated tens of thousands to local and national nonprofits. All you have to do is work with us when you buy your next home. We have a track record of happy clients and are available when you need us. Ready to start?

Spotlight on Sovenco | A Social Venture Company

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“How personal should I get?” asked Danielle Norris when we inquired as to the start of her socially conscious enterprise – Sovenco.

Norris calls herself an at-risk youth. At 16, she was assigned a case worker who was a beacon of light. Her name was Mary. When life for Norris seemed its bleakest, Mary spent 18 months guiding her out of that world and out of poverty. “She was everything to me,” says Norris.danielle

Danielle, Norris, Founder, Sovenco

Things changed when Danielle turned 18. Her program was shut down due to lack of funding and Mary lost her job. It was at that moment that Norris realized the injustice of the situation. Fourteen years later, one of her core values is making a difference, so that is what she sought out to do.

“With nonprofits, the biggest thing that doesn’t work is that they are not allowed to spend money on building the business. Too much time is spent fundraising instead of making an impact. Also, it’s an “us and them” model (for-profit businesses vs. nonprofits). It divides the class systems and creates inequality. There are two myths in business: that nonprofits can’t invest in overhead and that for-profits can only focus on bottom-line.”  – Danielle Norris, Sovenco

Now, Danielle runs the socially conscious consulting business, Sovenco. Business owners tend to reach out to her when they are wanting more out of their life and want to have a direct impact in the community. “We like to connect them to their purpose,” she says. “We take them through an 8-step process, which is a combination of life coaching and basic business consulting. We look at business in an holistic way and add a social enterprise twist.”

Case studies show a very direct impact on the community. One client, a social media marketing company came to Norris wanting to do good and enter the socially conscious industry. When they came to Sovenco, they weren’t making any impact. Now, they are looking at hiring underserved populations.

“We are very new in the industry. Our overall goal and big vision is to bring the concept of do good businesses to regular everyday small businesses. That every small business owner can make a small impact in the world. And it creates a more fulfilling life. In general, people have an innate need to serve others directly and it’s missing in our society,” says Norris.

And that’s where Sovenco comes in.

At Conscious Real Estate we love supporting socially conscious businesses. If you have an idea for a story on a business that is doing great things for our community, just reply here and drop us a note.

And, remember that Conscious Real Estate donates 10% of every commission to a nonprofit of our clients’ choice. Make a difference today! Referrals are the sweetest thank yous.

 

Change the World with Conscious Real Estate

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How much do YOU want to change the world?

Here at Conscious Real Estate, we want to change the world a lot. Let’s talk about what we do… We help people buy and sell houses and we love that!  But we took it one step further and created a philanthropic real estate business model.

We are Colorado’s only real estate social enterprise.  Each time one of our clients buys or sells a home with us, we contribute 10% of our own commission to the nonprofit of our clients’ choice.

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Here is some sad news… On the day of this writing, August 21, 2015, Conscious Real Estate did NOT close on any homes.  Yet a quick look at the MLS states that 299 homes sold on this day in Colorado.  Our owner, Allison Parks, decided to tally up the total sales prices of 100 of these homes.  Taking the total of these 100 sales into consideration and considering that commission is negotiable, our estimate is that if those buyers and sellers would have used Conscious Real Estate on just one side of the deal, that would have generated around $75,000 to $100,000 for nonprofits.  That’s right… we could donate that in just one day of real estate sales.

Imagine what a DIFFERENCE that $75,000 to $100,000 could make in our local and global community from JUST… ONE… DAY of people buying and selling houses with Conscious Real Estate.  And that’s if we only represent 1/3 of Colorado’s home sales from that one day…

Now imagine if those buyers and sellers used Conscious Real Estate for those 100 home sales each day next week, just Monday through Friday.  That would create $375,000 to $500,000 for nonprofits in just one week.  What difference do you think that could make?

In one month, it would create $1,500,000 to $2,000,000 for nonprofits.  What difference would THAT make?

In a year, that would create $18,000,000 to $24,000,000. That is an enormous amount of money to give away and quite frankly, nothing would make us happier.

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Every day at Conscious Real Estate is Colorado Gives Day.

We’re here, folks.  We are willing to do the work.  We are willing to grow as big as we need to, we are willing to hire more people and create jobs, and we will always keep our commitment to customer service our top priority.  We know that, without our clients, we are nothing. We will keep our communities close to our heart every step of the way and implement innovative business practices that increase the greater social good.

If you would like to change the world with us and you have a friend who is planning to buy or sell a home, let them know that they can make a difference with their next real estate transaction if they work with Conscious Real Estate.  For more information, please contact Allison Parks at 303-908-9873 or [email protected].

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Denver Social Enterprise and “Do Good” Business Meetup

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A good friend of Conscious Real Estate has started a new meet up group for Denver Social Enterprises and “Do Good” businesses.  Changemaker Danielle Norris of Sovenco has started the “Denver Social Enterprise and Do Good Meetup” to bring together like-minded business owners or entrepreneurs who would like guidance and inspiration in starting a purpose-driven business.

 

“Social Enterprises are businesses whose primary purpose is the common good. They use the methods and disciplines of business and the power of the marketplace to advance their social, environmental and human justice agendas.” – SEA

We live in a world where profit has been the only bottom line and has been for many years, but things are changing. People realize the system is broken and inadequate to address the numerous problems facing this world.

Are you a business owner? How is your business making the world a better place? Does your business have a purpose besides just making money? Or maybe, you would like your business to have more than just a profit-driven motive. Come join our group and share your stories of IMPACT. How is your business making the world a better place? We believe the combination of money and purpose is the most powerful thing on the planet. So, what is the impact you want to leave on this world? If you’re looking to have your business leave a lasting impact on the world other than just profits and sales goals, we can help.

Our goal of this meetup group is to make this world a better place, all while increasing your profits and leaving the least negative impact on the planet. We help you build PURPOSE or support you in building a greater PURPOSE into your business model.

So, what is the impact you want to leave on this world? If you’re looking to have your business leave a positive lasting impact on the world, we can help. If you’re a little overwhelmed, no problem. If this all sounds a little froufrou, that’s fine too. Just join the group and have some great conversation, fun activities, and a strong support group, as you venture into the unknown of changing the world.

If this sounds like a group you would like to join, please join the Meetup group or the Facebook group to learn about upcoming events.  We would love to see you there!

You may already know that Conscious Real Estate is Colorado’s only philanthropic residential real estate company that contributes 10% of all commissions to the nonprofit of their clients’ choice.  If you would like to learn more about Sovenco, you may follow them on Facebook or Twitter.

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