Build IRL SF Newsletter #9

GirlTREK, awkward money convos, Join or Die screening, accelerator week 2 updates, panelists for Jun 22 event and more ...

👋 Hey fam!

Saum & Colt from Build IRL 🛠️ here!

This week, we dove into nitty-gritty tactics and awkward money convos. We shifted gears from Who/Why —> What/How.

The incredible Bailey Richardson joined us IRL and shared this gem:

“Communities feel magical, but they don't come together by magic.” 🌟

They come together because of hard work of rockstar community builders! A skill that is extremely rare today. Wonder why there is no school for it 🤔?

Curious on tactics to build magical communities?

First, RSVP for our June IRL events @ SF

• 🎬 Jun 22 (Join or Die screening)

• 👑Jun 27 (Build IRL Capstone)

In this edition:

• 💡Ingredients of rockstar communities - GirlTREK story

• 👑Can belongingness be designed?

• 💸Why we struggle with the money conversation?

• 🏗️Business models for IRL communities

• 🥂Announcing our amazing expert panel for Jun 22 Join or Die screening -
  Linsey Morrison, Juliana Schroeder, Kat Vellos

Week 2 - Summary

We dove into tips and tactics for two crucial community building blocks:
✨Active & Connected
🛠️Well-resourced

Ingredients of rockstar communities

We explored stories of many rockstar communities. One community that we fell in love with - GirlTREK.

Morgan and Vanessa started it to improve health outcomes for black girls and women. What made it special?

• 👟A simple yet powerful ritual - it all started with a 10-week challenge to walk daily with other black women in your local community.

• 🗣️Space of real conversations - they nudged people to share their stories, hug each other, walk near black history landmarks, take pictures & document their stories.

• 💙Iconic blue t-shirts became a symbol of pride, with hundreds of black women in blue trekking together daily, creating a striking and inspiring sight.

• 🚀Supercharging more leaders - they encouraged members to host walks, created templates to make organizing easier and celebrated contributions.

Today GirlTREK has 1,371,776 members, representing 7% of the total population of African American women in the country.

Inspiring stuff. Which tactics could you apply in your community?

Can belonging be designed?

Falling into belongingness is like falling in love.💖It manifests as unexpected acts of kindness or desire to give back.

You can’t guarantee belongingness but you can create conditions to increase the chance of stumbling into it. That’s designing for belongingness. ✨

We reflected on ‘moments of belongingness’ in our communities, and brainstormed tactics to improve it — w/ rituals🧘‍♀️, celebrations🎉, badges🏅, roles 😌and more.

💸Why we struggle with the money conversation?

80% of our community builders hesitate to ask for money. They fear appearing self-benefiting, or worry that no one would show up if they asked them to pay. Most are barely covering costs and have no capital to pay for venues or extra help. No wonder they burn out!

80% want to be valued and compensated. 25% would go full-time if viable.

70% aspire to make their communities (both non-profits and non-profits) financially sustainable and have funds to reinvest. But they don’t know where to start.

Members who care, contribute. One builder shared his story with member dues. He was surprised by member’s eagerness to contribute - it helped him make a sustainable living in SF doing this full-time. But he is an exception.

It wasn’t always like this. America was a nation of clubs and associations. We paid our dues and valued our community builders.

How do we rethink models to support our builders?

🏗️Business models for IRL communities

The wonderful Suhas Motwani & Andy Huang helped us brainstorm revenue models - sponsorships, grants, partnerships, member dues, merch, events, trips and more.

It’s still early days. These models are untested for the new-age local IRL communities that don’t scale the same way as online-only communities.

Would existing models suffice, or will we create new ones (e.g., new age co-op)?

Lots to experiment with!

And of course - it wasn’t all work!

What we did for fun you ask - Bhangra, bugs and Burmese food!

02 / 📅Join us IRL

We are pumped for our public events this June - come meet our cohort IRL in SF!

Announcing our amazing panel for Jun 22 Join or Die screening: Linsey Morrison, Juliana Schroeder, Kat Vellos

• Jun 22 - Join or Die screening, 4.30 pm, Manny’s Cafe. Register here.

• Jun 27 - Build IRL Capstone Showcase, 6 pm, MindsDB. Register here.
  

That’s it for this week!

Next newsletter drops Monday, Jun 24.

Keep building 🛠️

Until next week,

Saum & Colt