In September 2010, a couple of folks who attended Slow Money National Gathering in Shelburne Vermont decided they wanted to get together to discuss Slow Money NYC.
Kerry Gendron, Taylor Cocalis and Holley Atkinson formed a Meetup group and invited folks met at the Gathering, including Derek Denckla and others. Not surprisingly, most of our 12 or so members were from Brooklyn.
In December of 2010, Kerry, Taylor and Holley asked Derek to take over administration of the Meetup.
In January 2011, Derek thought that we should bring members together to discuss what we could do as a group, holding a meeting at 61 Local, a locavore public house in Boerum Hill section of Brooklyn. 16 people attended who were given a paper and pencil survey to find out who they were and what they would like to do to further the Slow Money Principles.
We discussed the results of our self-survey and called for people to self-nominate for work on a Steering Committee. Of those eight volunteers for the Steering Committee, two dropped out based on excessive outside commitments shortly thereafter.
Over the next year, the following Steering Committee has worked to build on ideas expressed at that first meeting: Derek Denckla as chair and Holly Howard, Brian Kaminer, Sam Kressler, Mo Moadeli and Nicole Reed. Subsequently, Mo dropped out in May 2011 due to demands from another non-profit with which he volunteers, GetDirtyNYC!, and Holly stepped down in November 2011 due to demands arising from the launch of her new consulting practice. They will be missed!
We were helped by countless volunteers and many supporters. Key volunteers have been Lauren Servin, Erica Hval, Lindsey Greene, Eva Morales, Lionel Johnnes, and many others. Key supporters have been The Moderns, The Contact Fund, CC Culver, Mission Markets, Brooklyn Roasting Company and Edible Brooklyn. Thank you all!
Below, please find a Summary of what we achieved as a band of volunteers in the past year:
- Elected a Steering Committee
- Received office space at The Commons, an incubator for sustainable business.
- Surveyed Members, Investors and Entrepreneurs about interest in Slow Money programs, ideas and direction.
- Hosted discussion with Ari Derfel in March 2011, previewing his TED talk.
- Organized urban agriculture reading circle (book club) in Spring 2011.
- Presented Entrepreneur Showcase on May 14, 2011 — featured ten NY area food ventures; 150 people attended; $5,000 raised.
- Catalyzed placement of about $100,000 investments to Entrepreneurs.
- Launched websites: slowmoneynyc.org and meetup.com/slow-money-nyc.
- Coordinated potluck supper for both NOFA-NY’s Locavore Challenge and Dine In Irene.
- Steering Committee members participated in strategic planning retreat for Slow Money in Berkeley, CA, resulting in substantial committee work.
- Steering Committee engaged in 5 strategic planning retreats for SMNYC.
- Obtained pro bono strategic marketing services from The Moderns.
- Entire Steering Committee attended National Gathering in San Francisco in October 2011 at which we presented our programs and held NY foodshed caucus.
- Developed relationships with Slow Money Hudson & Slow Money Central NY.
- Chair, Derek Denckla, spoke at U.S. Department of State Visiting Program.
- Attended dozens of food events in & around NYC representing Slow Money NYC.
- Developed basic pilot project with Brooklyn Cooperative Credit Union.
- Commenced online deal flow platform for NYC LION (Local Investment Opportunity Network) after coordinating 4 networking and planning meetings.
- Farm Dinner with Woody Tasch on November 2, 2011 at Parish Hall, a soon-to-be-opened Farm-to-Table restaurant seeking a final round of funding.
- Grown from 12 to 345 (and growing) members on our Meetup site.
