DONIECE SANDOVAL
DONIECE SANDOVAL RESPONSES TO QUESTIONS
QUESTION 1: You have deep commitment to helping people in need. It is interesting that in life we all have the opportunity to walk away from helping others, and it is equally interesting that some people don’t take those steps away from others in need. What were the main factors in your life that encouraged you to walk toward people in need and devote a significant part of your life to helping others? Please elaborate some about each factor.
RESPONSE: There are three key factors that drove me to create Lava Mae: 1) Moving back to San Francisco after being in New York City for three years and being shocked at how the number of people living on the streets had seemingly exploded in that short time; 2) Living in a neighborhood being transformed by gentrification and witnessing the resulting evictions of several longtime residents – all renters in their 80s – who were forced to find shelter in their cars or the street because they couldn’t afford the soaring rents. These were people I knew, not strangers, and so homelessness became personal. It was also incredibly painful and frustrating to feel powerless to alter the course of their trajectory; 3) And lastly, passing a young, unhoused woman on the street who was crying that she’d never be clean, wondering what her options were to access hygiene and rushing home to research facilities available in the city. What I found appalled me: there were 16 shower stalls and about as many toilets available to the 7,000+ unhoused men, women and children living on the streets of San Francisco – one of the most affluent cities in the world.
Each of these factors built upon each other and created an emotional imperative within me. I could no longer drive through the city or walk its streets without seeing our shameful disregard for this segment of our community. These were human beings; people with hopes, dreams, and fears just like mine even if their circumstances were radically different. People who, because of one or two turns of bad luck – and no safety net to break their fall – just kept falling until they hit bottom.
I was also driven by the belief that while it’s hard to reconcile the suffering that surrounds us, particularly when we feel powerless to help, once you acknowledge another’s humanity; once you no longer look at them as other (or turn away because you see them as unworthy), it changes you. You can then no longer look away or refuse to engage and attempt to be part of the solution.
QUESTION 2: When you started your nonprofit, what were the main challenges? Please explain the main challenges and how you overcame them.
RESPONSE: Launching Lava Mae was rather Sisyphean; for every success there would be two new obstacles; for every opportunity, five more ToDos. When you’re launching an organization and it’s pretty much a company of one (though I always used ‘we’ when talking about the work leading people to believe we were bigger than we were), focus is vital. Warren Buffet says, “Successful people say no to almost everything”, but I was terrified that if I passed on an opportunity, we’d miss out on critical funding or a strategic partnership. I probably created more work – and distraction - for myself and Lava Mae in that first year than in all the years combined after. Thankfully, a crew of three amazing volunteers, who once we raised funding became employees, joined me in month seven to divide and conquer the load.
While there were a lot of people who instantly saw how showers and toilets on wheels creatively solved access to hygiene for the unhoused, it was a challenge to convince local government officials that this service was necessary and their partnership vital. I easily attended 20 or more meetings with representatives spanning the metropolitan transit agency, water department, and public works trying to convince them to get behind our proposed 6-month pilot. However, once we gained support from the mayor’s homelessness czar – by proving to him we had the support of the major nonprofits serving the unhoused in San Francisco -- everything began to fall into place. Having friends in the right place is indeed critical.
Finding a company to retrofit a public transportation bus into a mobile hygiene unit was daunting. We contacted bus design and retrofit companies across the country who initially expressed interest and then fell away. It wasn’t until we met a well-connected, electrical/mechanic engineer who loved our idea that our luck turned. He championed our cause to the COO of a mechanical systems company that had never done a project like this but was seeking ways to give back to the community while providing their employees with new design-build challenges. The process was at times overwhelming like making decisions about macerators and electrical panels, all of which I knew nothing about but had to bone up on quickly. There were times that permitting issues, especially around ADA compliance, threatened to tank the entire effort. But diligence, deep commitment and ingenuity won the day. Seven months after dropping off a public transportation bus with the company, we drove off with our first Lava Mae mobile shower unit – a brilliant prototype that other organizations use to this day.
QUESTION 3: What suggestions would you give to university students who are committed to helping others in need and are considering starting a nonprofit?
RESPONSE: 1. Engage the end user. Be clear there’s a need you’re meeting and, most importantly, that the community who might benefit from your work wants what you have and in the way you’re planning to offer it. In short, shape your program in partnership with the community you seek to serve and continue to give them voice throughout the existence of your organization.
- Collaborate. The nonprofit world is plagued by silo-ing, typically driven by the scarcity mentally. When I started Lava Mae, an African proverb repeatedly crossed my radar. It reads, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” So much more can be achieved by working together. From shared resources, to the ability to increase programs offerings and impact, the benefit of collaboration – with aligned partners – is profound.
- Don’t do it alone. Start-ups, even in the nonprofit sector, take a pound of flesh. And while you might have many strengths, you can’t be good at everything. Sharing the load, especially in those early times, during start-up and again when scaling, is critical to avoiding burnout. Founders are often viewed as heroes but underneath that label is likely one very crispy, stressed out person feeling themselves underperforming because they’re worn to the bone.
- Find something that truly moves you. It’s nice to want to make the world a better place but starting something from scratch is demanding. To ensure success, you need what Silicon Valley used to call ‘fire in the belly’ – a driving need to solve the problem – to sustain the effort needed to achieve your goal.
QUESTION 4: If a person wants to start a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation, what suggestions do you have based on your experience doing this? Did you complete the paperwork yourself, or did you hire professionals? If you experienced any problems with this process, please share the problems and how they were resolved.
RESPONSE: It takes a tremendous amount of work to launch a new entity. Not only must the vision, mission and programming elements come together but the daunting task of raising funds begins its never-ending cycle. To lighten the load, especially for projects that are in the ‘proof of concept stage’, I strongly recommend that new founders consider fiscal sponsorship. A great fiscal sponsor provides fiduciary oversight, financial management, and other administrative services to help build the capacity of charitable projects. In other words, they oversee payroll and all aspects of financial management and reporting, provide employee benefits to your team, and extend umbrella governance via their board to your organization — all for a small fee (ranging from 5% - 13% depending on the level of service offered and the types of grants/funds they will manage for you). Electing to go with a fiscal sponsor also means that the time- consuming paperwork and cost of incorporating as a nonprofit is eliminated.
One of the best pieces of advice I got when I began working to launch my nonprofit was to keep it simple. Fiscal sponsorship, with a good fiscal sponsor (do your due diligence by reaching out to projects they manage), lightens the load significantly as you get your nonprofit up and running. You can find a fiscal sponsorship directory fiscal https://fiscalsponsordirectory.org/
Should you opt to go straight to incorporation, then do find a professional to help fill out and submit your forms. Many corporate and smaller law firms provide pro bono services. Reach out through your network to see if you have any connections, otherwise, contact your local or state bar association. They often run, sponsor, or know of free legal clinics and pro bono programs. Another good source are the law schools in your area or state.
QUESTION 5: The selection of members of the Board of Directors for a new nonprofit is important. What characteristics for Board members do you believe are important? What contributions by Board members do you believe should be expected? Did your Board members receive any training? If so, please identify that training.
RESPONSE: Finding the right board of directors can feel like threading a needle in the dark. While there might be a lot of people who believe passionately in the mission and vision of your organization/project, that doesn’t necessarily translate into their being right for the job. Board members must:
· Be doers; the rubber meets the road when you find people eager to roll up their sleeves and support the founder/ED/CEO around operations/HR (especially where it concerns developing and growing the team), fundraising and networking.
· Understand that financial support is a vital part of their responsibilities. Contributing annually (of course, as their means allow) and helping to identify and solicit other sources of funding, especially from their networks should be mandatory.
· Open their contact list widely to consider who among their friends/family/colleagues might care about the issue and be willing to donate and/or make connections to others in their networks.
· Be relentless ambassadors for your project/organization by keeping it top of mind as they move through their world.
· Represent a broad range of skills and experience to ensure the right support is in place for your organization.
· Reflect the diversity of the community you serve. If, for example, your issue area is homelessness, having one to two board members with lived experience is critical. That voice must be present at the very highest level of the organization to ensure you see and hear – at a leadership level -- from those you serve.
Once you have a board in place, be sure to set up a nominating committee so that new candidates with fresh eyes and relevant skills are always in the pipeline. When new candidates are approved, make sure there’s training both so they more fully understand the organization but also how to serve successfully as a board member. Here are some great online/training resources: · Blue Avocado · BoardSource
QUESTION 6: Most nonprofits benefit greatly from the contributions of volunteers. Approximately how many volunteers do you have? Approximately how many paid staff do you have? Have you experienced any problems recruiting volunteers? If so, please share your experience. What suggestions do you have for recruiting volunteers?
RESPONSE: Before LavaMaeX pivoted its business model to become a nonprofit accelerator, 100% of our programs were focused on direct service. To ensure that we provided our guests with peerless service, treated them with utmost respect and extraordinary care (which we call Radical Hospitality), we relied heavily on volunteers. At our peek we had 28 FT staff and worked with 1,000 volunteers annually.
With few exceptions, we were able to successfully recruit and train our volunteers. Our consistent presence in the media combined with the fact that our service was on the street throughout the communities we serviced – making us very visible -- provided a constant pipeline of new volunteers.
That said, having had numerous less than successful volunteer experiences myself, I was determined to understand what our volunteers were seeking and find ways to deliver that experience to them in a way that met our needs as well. A happy volunteer is one who wants to deepen their connection to your organization, which means both spending more time volunteering and, often, supporting financially.