POSITIVE CHANGE, BLOCK BY BLOCK

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Dear Friend,As ioby heads into our fifteenth year, we reflect on what we’ve built together in communities from Brooklyn to Memphis, San Juan to Sacramento.One of ioby’s founding values is “Small is Big.” In times of crisis, and in times where our challenges feel monumental, our neighbors are working together to make small repairs to our civic fabric. It’s work that often goes unseen, but it’s central to ioby’s mission, and it is cause for hope.In the past fourteen years, ioby has supported local leaders to raise over $18.6 million for 3,474 projects that actively repair our communities, bring neighbors closer together, and build civic strength. In 2022, 65% of the leaders we served identified as BIPOC, and more than 46% were part of small, unincorporated groups who otherwise lack access to critical resources. I’m excited to share this work with you in our 2022 Giving Report!As I shared last year, I will be transitioning from leading ioby to a new founder-in-residence role in August of 2023. While founding and growing this organization has been the greatest work of my life, what I’m most proud of is the practice we’ve built around deep listening. Our trust and understanding of the leaders we serve—their experiences, their challenges, their relationships, and their deep love of the places they live—all drive what we build together and how we show up for our neighbors. This practice has shaped our fundraising coaching, tools, fiscal sponsorship, match programs, and the resources we offer. And in the coming year, it will provide our true north as we build and launch our new, fully revamped ioby.org.What we offer is simple, but it’s taken years of deep listening and trust to shape, and the work is never finished. Here’s what I’ve learned: Our neighborhoods are places of abundance. If we let our neighbors lead, they will do so with ingenuity, courage, and love.This work is energized by the passionate community of changemakers we serve, and it’s fueled by your support. Thank you for your continued investment in our mission, in our communities, and in our shared vision of a future where residents are leading critical change in every community!With immense gratitude,

Erin Barnes
Co-Founder & CEO
ioby

Sacramento Poderosas
Mural Project

Dr. Rhonda Ríos Kravitz | Sacramento CA

This public art project, which raised over $11,000, celebrates Poderosas (powerful Chicana women) who have been trailblazers in the Sacramento area and across the nation. Through their work, the Poderosas represented in the mural have made history, conquered barriers, and contributed to the health, well-being, and advancement of Latinx communities. The mural will be a visual and public expression of cultural values, ethnic pride, and neighborhood identity, in addition to being a celebration of social and political struggles.

Umoja Farmz Farming Skillshare

Jaris Owens | Lorain OH

Umoja Farmz, a community garden in Lorain County, Ohio raised $1,700 to facilitate a workshop with Clevelander Maurice Smalls. Maurice shared skills, resources, and farming methods with local residents who were interested in starting their own gardens. The workshop encouraged members of the community to rebuild their relationship to food and engage with the local soil. Participants were given the opportunity to learn from a local organic gardening expert and encouraged to invest in local food systems.

Teen Climate Justice Program

Anna Tsomo, Sixth Street Community Center | New York NY

The Teen Climate Justice Program is an extracurricular program in NYC where teens engage around climate justice issues, develop teen-led projects and solutions, and build community power. Their grassroots organizing lens is anti-racist, anti-capitalist, and decolonial. The project raised $3,000 in order to facilitate over 10 workshops with youth on topics ranging from guerilla gardening to food justice. As many young adults grapple with looming questions about what their futures will look like, this project provides tools and resources to take direct action against environmental injustice.

For Us By Us: Uplifting the Black Autism Community

Josselyn Okorodudu | Cincinnati OH

Cincinnati-based Our Tribe is a grassroots initiative building a movement that accelerates equitable outcomes for Black people with autism and their families. Our Tribe raised $1,500 through ioby to further support programming efforts as they work to provide families with the support and resources they need. Their co-founders believe in the importance of having Black people with autism involved at all levels of civic participation from leadership to strategic

Annual Gluszek Christmas
Food Drive

Dylan Gluszek | Midlothian IL

Over the past 6 years, Dylan Gluszek has raised nearly $5,000 through ioby to donate 50,000 pounds of food to his local food pantry in Midlothian, Illinois. His goal has always been simple: collect as much food as possible for the local community. The project started when he was just a freshman in high school, but the amount raised has increased every year!

ALL-TIME IMPACT

$18,650,374

TOTAL RAISED NATIONWIDE

2022 IMPACT

$2,370,424

TOTAL RAISED NATIONWIDE

ioby mobilizes neighbors who have good ideas to become powerful civic leaders who plan, fund, and make positive change in their own neighborhoods.We are creating a future in which our neighborhoods are shaped by the powerful good ideas of our own neighbors.

Everything ioby does is built on the idea that neighbors know best what their neighborhoods need. It's a simple idea, but it requires radical trust. It means trusting those in our community to step into civic leadership with deep knowledge and creativity rooted in love.ioby gives local changemakers the tools and resources they need, like our online platform, one-on-one coaching and support, fiscal sponsorship, and opportunities to connect and build real, lasting impact from the ground up. Most of the leaders we work with are a part of grassroots or unincorporated groups, so we focus on providing increased access—access to tax-deductible donations, to crowdfunding resources, and to experts who help these leaders navigate opportunities and challenges.Through providing personalized support, ioby mobilizes our neighbors to grow powerful ideas into positive civic change. We work with leaders across the nation who plan, fund, and initiate direct and impactful change within their communities.In 2022, our neighbors worked hard to bring their great ideas to life, and as they did so they strengthened our collective civic muscle, expanded what is possible for our communities, and strengthened our democracy.

At ioby, we’ve worked to be more than just a crowdfunding platform. Since our founding in 2008, we’ve grown our services and impact by listening to our neighbors and the project leaders we serve. Over the years they’ve taught us important lessons about what resources we should provide and why.
That's why we offer:

Personalized one-on-one coaching and support for all ioby project leaders. Our staff supports every leader from the start of an idea all the way through to project implementation.

Experience developing projects across the nation, with a commitment to building deep relationships in place, including current place-based strategies in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Memphis, New York, and Pittsburgh.

Access to fiscal sponsorship, allowing unincorporated groups to receive the tax-deductible funds they need to respond quickly and effectively to neighborhood crises and other urgent funding needs.

Match Programs that pair donations from a local leader’s community with critical funding from our partners in the philanthropic, government, nonprofit, and corporate sectors, so that the work of local leaders can be doubled (or more!)

A commitment to racial justice within our organization and the communities we serve. We are dedicated to holding ourselves accountable and engaged in acts of bold listening as we evolve forward.

A majority focus on providing support to BIPOC-led groups whose needs are less likely to be met in more traditional philanthropic spaces.

Coaching, Support, & Resources

ioby is dedicated to coaching project leaders to sustain their work well beyond their campaign, so sharing our fundraising expertise is an important piece of our mission. As we continue to grow, we have built our fundraising resources to ensure that ioby is much more than just a crowdfunding platform—we’re campaign coaches, strategists, and fellow neighbors.Our staff works together as a team to provide one-on-one coaching and support to every leader we work with. In 2022 alone we provided over 4,850 hours of individualized support, each hour tailored to the specific needs of every leader.Beyond personalized support, we offer leaders access to a variety of tangible resources on our website. There, leaders are able to download and use our Fundraising Curriculum, comprehensive curriculum tailored to the needs of each leader. Whether we’re working with a first-time civic leader, or someone returning to us for their fifth project, our curriculum is designed to help project leaders at every experience level.We also offer a variety of educational webinars. Through our webinars, project leaders are able to share ideas and practices with one another as they build systems of power within their communities. Our 2022 webinars focused on issues ranging from environmental justice in New York City to year-end fundraising in Sacramento.

CELEBRATING CIVIC LEADERSHIP

At our December event, Celebrating Civic Leadership, we gathered for an inspiring keynote conversation with leaders in philanthropy, policy, community leadership, and civic innovation.The keynote panel included Dr. Carmen Rojas, Shamichael Hallman, and Ioanna Paraskevopoulos, with ioby Co-Founder and CEO Erin Barnes as the facilitator. As the conversation developed, our engaged audience helped us hone in on themes of accessibility, hyper-local giving, and project development.After the panel, participants headed to breakout groups featuring—and celebrating—powerful ioby project leaders from across the country who are making their communities stronger.

A National Movement,
One Neighborhood at a Time

Anyone who has an idea to strengthen and benefit their community can work with ioby. In 2022, ioby project leaders hailed from more than 200 zip codes across the nation, all working to address the unique needs and challenges of their own communities. There are endless ways to define community, but we see a hyperlocal focus as an essential building block to vibrant and strong neighborhoods, and we believe it's the best place to start making positive change.No matter where they’re from, once a leader reaches out to ioby with an idea they are paired with a one-on-one fundraising coach to help them start building out their idea. Our fundraising coaches support leaders at every level of the process, from budget creation to marketing strategy.

A Place-Based Approach

In addition to our national presence, ioby has spent over a decade developing deep relationships in several specific places. In 2022, our attention was focused in Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Memphis, New York, and Pittsburgh. In these cities we pursue a layered, place-based strategy, with the intention of impacting change in neighborhoods that lack resources due to a legacy of racist policies and disinvestment.In many of these places, local staff—ioby’s Action Strategists—build relationships of trust with resident leaders while partnering with local organizations and providing on-the-ground support. Many Action Strategists lead their own projects or organize with fellow leaders in their neighborhoods, so they are able to quickly identify with leaders and help navigate any challenges that arise. This kind of personal and holistic engagement with local leaders is part of what helps us standout as more than just a crowdfunding platform—we’re neighbors, friends, and local allies.

The Importance of Fiscal Sponsorship

When you think of crowdfunding platforms, fiscal sponsorship isn’t something that usually comes to mind. At ioby, however, our project leaders tell us that our fiscal sponsorship service is one of our biggest strengths.In 2010, when ioby began fiscally sponsoring our neighbors, we didn’t know the immediate impact it would have. Since the program began, we’ve been able to fiscally sponsor hundreds of projects—including 160 in 2022—to get leaders the support they would not have received otherwise. The projects that we fiscally sponsor are typically led by “deep roots” and grassroots groups—those that are not a part of traditional nonprofit organizations.Sometimes these groups form in the wake of crises that require immediate action, which means they lack the time and organizational infrastructure needed to legally raise, process, and spend donations. Our fiscal sponsorship services are powerful because they allow these leaders to immediately collect tax-deductible donations and access unrestricted funding.Additionally, many of our neighbors choose to forgo the legal hurdle of incorporation simply because they don’t want to change who they are. Some want to maintain their identity as a small volunteer community group, while others are working towards more liberatory ways of organizing themselves and their communities. As an equity-focused intermediary, we are able to accept donations on behalf of these leaders and provide them with the funds they need. This reduces funding barriers and empowers leaders to tap resources they might not otherwise be able to access.

Fiscally Sponsored Project

Habla Environmentalism | Brooklyn NY

Project leader Kofi Thomas is a community builder and an avid gardener. Over the years he has successfully funded four projects with ioby as he continues to grow his community garden. That space, called the Good Life Garden, has grown into a green space, a hub for community gathering, and a place for celebration and joy. Kofi has raised over $25,000 through ioby—including $10,000 in 2022—all while producing food and spreading cultural awareness within his community of Bushwick, Brooklyn. ioby’s fiscal sponsorship service has enabled Kofi to remain nimble and responsive to the needs of his community, and quickly put funding and other resources where they are most needed.

In 2022, ioby implemented 11 match programs in partnership with foundations, corporations, nonprofit organizations, and local governments.ioby's match programs are unique partnerships that support those best positioned to make change and build power in their neighborhoods—residents themselves. Match programs provide local leaders with an opportunity to double their crowdfunded gifts and access timely, flexible funding alongside ioby’s proven coaching and resources.The local leaders ioby supports in communities across the country often do not have access to traditional sources of funding, and the organizations ioby partners with to provide match programs are looking to get funding to the grassroots and “deep roots.” Our equity-centered model works to address both of these needs and provide a powerful boost to neighbor-led positive change.

2022 Key Match Programs

CINCINNATI

With support from the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. Foundation, ioby implemented the Greater Cincinnati Community Recovery Match Program to support residents helping their neighborhoods recover from COVID-19.

CLEVELAND

In partnership with Cuyahoga Arts & Culture, ioby completed a new round of the Cuyahoga Arts & Culture Match Program, supporting more residents with ideas to improve their communities through the arts. In partnership with the Community Foundation of Lorain County, ioby implemented the Lorain County Match Fund, continuing to grow our place-based support in the area.

DETROIT

With support from the Ford Foundation, ioby implemented a new round of the Detroit Match Program for neighbors with creative ideas for a thriving Detroit.

MEMPHIS

In partnership with the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, ioby implemented the Memphis COVID-19 Recovery Match Program to help residents bring their neighbors together, lift spirits, and recover. In partnership with the Hyde Family Foundation, ioby implemented the Memphis Neighborhoods Match Program to support residents working to make the Binghampton, South City, and Medical District neighborhoods great places to live, work, and play.

NEW YORK

ioby launched two new programs to catalyze crucial local environmental work. The NYC Environmental Justice & Sustainability Match Program, made possible in partnership with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, supported New Yorkers with great ideas for improving and protecting their local environment. The NYC Clean Bay Match Program amplified residents’ work to restore water quality.ioby also completed successful rounds of both the the NYC Green Fund Crowdfunding Challenge—funded by City Parks Foundation to improve, maintain, and build community through NYC’s green spaces—and the Con Edison Power Up Neighborhood Match Program.

SACRAMENTO

ioby partnered with the City of Sacramento’s Office of Arts & Culture to launch the Sacramento Arts & Culture Match Program, helping residents across the city step up to make their neighborhoods stronger, more vibrant, and more just through the arts.

SPOTLIGHT: POWERING CHANGEMAKERS WITH CON EDISON

Since 2018, ioby has partnered with Con Edison to bring the Con Edison Power Up Neighborhood Match Program to New York City and Westchester residents with innovative and inspiring ideas for green space, environmental, and public arts projects in their communities. Over the past five years, ioby has leveraged $250,000 in matching funds provided by Con Edison to support residents to raise an additional $553,303 in donations for 88 local projects—for a total of $803,303 directed to grassroots work in communities served by Con Edison!

Racial Justice & Accountability

Over the past decade, ioby’s commitment to racial justice has been in a state of constant evolution. Historically, our work focuses on BIPOC communities and spaces where a lack of funding and resources is a direct result of systemic racism.That’s why we actively incorporate feedback from our staff and community members into our equity work. We aim to evolve through bold listening and accountability. However, this work is never perfect. As an organization, we are always changing, growing, and learning more about how we can be better.In 2022, we began engaging with Co-Creating Inclusion, a diversity, equity, and inclusion firm that has focused on helping us to shift culture and drive equity within our organization. They have facilitated numerous all-staff sessions and supported us on our journey as an anti-racist organization.

Who We Serve

Annual Budget <$25K
Rarely have paid staff, 501(c)3 status, or existing donor base

Annual Budget $25K - 2 Million
Some have paid staff, 501(c)3 status, or existing donor base

Typically, these are regional or national organizations, or coalitions of local organizations

In 2022, 65% of the projects we served were BIPOC-led. Further, the majority of ioby project leaders, 93%, hailed from deep roots or grassroots groups, and our services are tailored to meet their needs.By offering resources, such as fiscal sponsorship, we are able to help new civic leaders who are responding to the urgent needs in their communities. Many of our leaders are quickly adapting to the changing needs of their neighbors, so we work to provide them with timely and efficient support.

Four Levels of Impact

How can we measure the difference that an ioby project makes to its neighborhood, to its leaders and supporters, to its community, to the world? We believe the true impact of ioby projects goes beyond dollars raised and volunteer hours worked. We have seen that when residents start conversations, mobilize resources for their projects, and work together there is a ripple effect that makes change across multiple levels.

Jamie Hand
ioby Board Chair
Director of Strategic Impact and Narrative Change, Creatives Rebuild New York

Evelyn Burnett
ioby Board Vice Chair
Co-Founder and Partner, ThirdSpace Action Lab

Apollo Gonzales
ioby Board Chair-Elect
President, Nimbus Strategies, Inc.

Jena’ Bradley
ioby Board Secretary & Governance Cmte Chair
Director, Community Impact, United Way of Greater Cincinnati

Christine Rico
ioby Board Treasurer & Finance Committee Chair
Consulting CFO, CFO on Speed Dial

Omar Parbhoo
ioby Board Development Committee Chair
Vice President, ideas42

Erin Barnes
CEO and Co-Founder,
ioby

Loren Blackford
Interim Executive Director,
Sierra Club

Projjal Dutta
Director, Sustainability Initiatives, Metropolitan Transportation Authority, NY

Michelle Huang
Partner,
Generation Investment Management

Michelle Garcia
Partner,
Vicente & Partners

Justin Garrett Moore, AICP
Program Officer, Humanities in Place, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Nadia Owusu
Director, Storytelling,
Frontline Solutions

Ioanna Paraskevopoulos
Executive Director and Co-Founder,
Action Tank USA

Harriet Tregoning
Director, NUMO Alliance,
WRI Ross Center For Sustainable Cities

Camilla Velasquez
GM,
New York Times Cooking

New Board Members

In 2022, ioby was thrilled to welcome four new outstanding board members, each of whom brings their own unique background and perspective to the table as they help guide ioby forward:Jena’ Bradley serves as the Director of Community Impact at the United Way of Greater Cincinnati. There, she leads research and program design. She has also created a new program to fund Black Ideas, both for nonprofit and for-profit ventures. She is dedicated to ensuring racial equity in philanthropy and has an innovative approach to change.Ioanna Paraskevopolous is a dedicated multi-time ioby project leader from Cincinnati. As Co-Founder and Executive Director of the non-profit Action Tank, her projects have focused on formal civic leadership and highlighted the importance of civic engagement. Given her familiarity with fundraising, she is highly knowledgeable about the process of raising funds and giving.Christine Rico has been a supporter of ioby for over a decade. Before ioby became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Christine served as ioby’s fiscal sponsor. She is the Founder of CFO on Speed Dial, where she works with her team to help women business owners build profitable companies that are making a positive social impact.Camilla Velasquez currently serves as the GM of New York Times Cooking. Camilla’s extensive experience in e-commerce, SaaS, and media will help strengthen ioby’s technology product. Additionally, she is passionate about instituting antiracism in the workplace and growing equitable employment practices.

Art Chang
Innovation Leader

Alyssa Dizon
Growth Product Manager, BlocPower / Organizer, Bed-Stuy Strong

Natalie Evans Harris
Senior Advisor for Delivery (Tech and Data), Secretary of Commerce

Erica Guyer
Deputy General Counsel, The Rockefeller Foundation

Huma Hamid
CoFounder,
Pakistani Women in Computing

Thomas Knight
Product Manager,
Teachers Pay Teachers

Melissa Malzkuhn
Founder & Creative Director, Motion Light Lab, Gallaudet University

Koketso Moeti
Founding Executive Director,
amandla.mobi

Kirsten Moy
Complexity explorer;
practitioner member of the WICI

Ramya Raghavan
Director, Civics and Policy Marketing,
Google

Doug Rushkoff
Professor of Media Studies, Queens/CUNY; Author & Host of Team Human

Jonathan Schwartz
Chief Technology Officer,
Jetty

Micah Sifry
Co-Founder of Civic Hall,
Author of The Connector

Yolonda Smith
Cybersecurity,
Sweetgreen

George Suttles
Executive Director,
Commonfund Institute

Allison Thrush
Fortress Investment Group

ioby’s work in 2022 was made possible with generous support from the individuals, foundations, nonprofit organizations, businesses, and local governments listed below. We are incredibly grateful for their dedication to supporting resident-led positive change in communities across the country.

Foundations, Nonprofit Organizations, Businesses, and Local Government

Individual Donors

2023 will mark ioby’s 15th year of
supporting neighbors to make positive change.

With your support, we will:

Continue to seek out, train, and support hundreds of neighborhood leaders in funding and leading local projects that make a difference in our communities.

Carry out a nationwide executive search rooted in ioby’s equitable hiring principles, as founding CEO Erin Barnes transitions to a new Founder-in-Residence role.

Grow our Match Program partnerships with local governments, companies, foundations, and nonprofits, so we can support more local leaders, and give partners a new way to grow their impact in their communities of focus. This will include launching an exciting new program in Northwest Arkansas with support from Walton Family Foundation!

Building on years of feedback from the leaders we serve, expand ioby's role as an equity-based intermediary by growing our fiscal sponsorship service so that more unincorporated groups can have access to timely, critical funding.

Using our Digital Inclusion Policy as a blueprint, launch our new, revamped fundraising platform on ioby.org to better tailor our digital services to the needs of grassroots and “deep roots” leaders.

Continue to put into action our shared values as an antiracist organization by building on our Racial Equity and Inclusion framework to audit and evolve our internal and external practices on an ongoing basis.

THANK YOU!

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