Within the questions and answers below, This We Defend is abbreviated as TWD and the Vallo Business Accelerator™ is abbreviated as VBA.
How are This We Defend and the Vallo Business Accelerator™ related?
TWD serves as our “mothership,” driving a mission with significant cultural impact that requires substantial funding. To achieve this mission, we are developing an ecosystem of services and businesses that not only support our core mission but also create a self-sustaining revenue stream. Essentially, we are building layers of practical services that have a real-world impact while advancing our goals.
VBA is an innovative and exciting approach to addressing a major real-world problem faced by thousands of entrepreneurs each year. We are making a foundational impact on communities by providing economic opportunities along with support for faith and families.
TWD’s core mission focuses on education, adopting a holistic and community-centered approach. VBA offers services to these communities while educating adults on how to successfully run businesses that benefit everyone involved.
What’s the mission of VBA?
The Vallo Business Accelerator™ (VBA) is a service which serves the mission of This We Defend (TWD) by helping startups start up and succeed, have balanced and healthy families, and reintroduce prosperity and pride in work to communities desperate for a change. This is the first initiative which will enable the build-out of TWD’s planned ecosystem by providing the core startup services we will provide to external businesses.
What’s the Vision of Vallo Business Accelerator (VBA)?
Our vision is to build good jobs across a wide variety of communities, industries, and skill sets so that a respectful, innovative mindset and working culture has an impact on the personal and professional lives of business owners, their employees, and extending to their families, customers, and neighbors. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and families are the heart of our communities and TWD supports both.
Is my gift tax-deductible?
TWD is categorized under the IRS tax code section 501(c)(3) as a public charity. As such, your support is deductible in accordance with current IRS guidelines.
What types of businesses do you plan to help?
We plan to help a broad spectrum of businesses.
It is easier to identify the types of businesses we do not expect to help. For example:
- Health provider or payer
- Pharmaceuticals / Medical devices
- Political activist organizations
- Organizations advocating for causes counter to our mission and core values
In general, our limitations are based on heavy legal or regulatory issues surrounding these types of businesses. We may still assist in a custom or limited capacity on a case-by-case basis.
While we anticipate that most of our clients will be typical startups/small businesses, we are committed to promoting innovative thinking and processes across the board. Small businesses and entrepreneurs with innovative mindsets will be given priority.
What do you expect a typical prospective client’s financial situation to be?
Tired and broke, but with great ideas, experience, and motivation.
In other words, we have much different acceptance and support measures than any bank, government grant, or other “support” institution who typically will not support anyone until they’re already successful. We will be working with people who need experienced hands to help get them started.
Do you only work with new startups, or do you also work with existing businesses?
We will work with several different scenarios:
- New startups
- Existing companies (recent startups) struggling to get to consistent revenues
- Existing companies who have achieved some success, have a few employees, but can’t get over the hurdle to scale beyond their small enterprise
We expect additional scenarios in the future and will evaluate them on a case-by-case basis.
Why would a person want to be a donor?
This is a unique opportunity to have a practical, tactical, long-lasting impact on your community. Our earnings from one business will spawn two more – and so on. You can have a lasting, personal legacy directly impacting the lives of people – business owners, employees, families, and neighbors.
How do you plan to engage with external business partners?
To fully answer this question would reveal much of our “secret sauce”.
We will have extensive relationships with external partners who will receive fair compensation along with high expectations for their service. We intend to build long-term relationships and will focus wherever possible on local service providers, aligning with our desire to help small businesses – our clients as well as our external partners.
If you’re interested in being a partner, please contact us at [email protected].
Are there opportunities for investors to partner with the VBA service?
Large donors will have unique opportunities to make for-profit investments in many new enterprises. Many will need capital and, since they are part of our organization, your risk profile will be significantly improved, and your likelihood of payback will be high.
What is the problem we are trying to solve?
At our core, we recognize a significant issue in our modern culture: increasing fragmentation. In reality, we share more commonalities than differences. Addressing foundational issues that impact everyone is an excellent starting point. For TWD, we believe the foundation of our culture lies in a combination of faith, family, and economic opportunity. We are focusing our efforts on practical initiatives that will have long-lasting effects, improving civility, breaking down real and perceived barriers, and helping people from all backgrounds see their neighbors for their inherent value.
What is the solution to the problem we are trying to solve?
An old adage is that people will not be able to hear your message over a growling stomach. When we look at our communities, there are some foundations areas where we can help people pick themselves up, be good neighbors, and truly experience the Blessings of Liberty.
Job Creation: Economic downturns are causing widespread job losses, leading to financial and emotional hardships for many individuals. In addition, business owners struggle to build or expand their operations and create quality jobs. People with great ideas and capabilities do not have the broad functional or financial support to get started, leaving entrepreneurship solely in the hands of those with significant means. We seek to unlock the creativity, innovation, and hard work of a broader population, particularly populations who generally have the ability, but don’t have the resources or support.
Family Well-being: Families of business owners and employees are affected by the professional challenges faced by their loved ones. The businesses we help will not only be great places to work but will actively support the well-being of their families of the owners AND the employees.
Community Impact: Local communities are suffering from economic stagnation and lack of good jobs. This impacts the spirit and attitude of people in those communities. As buildings fall into disrepair, pride and ambition falter, yielding a downward spiral. Buildings and families both become dilapidated, undermining the foundations of communities. We want to restore the pride of these neighborhoods by rebuilding their economic opportunities as well as their families and faith communities.
Who will benefit?
Families of the entrepreneurs and any employees who work in those businesses.
Local communities who are impacted by their neighbors owning and working in these businesses.
Local economies that need good jobs, new opportunities, and great places to work.
Big picture? As the impact of VBA expands, the mindset of people in these companies as well as the economic growth in communities will positively impact our culture.
What are your impact targets?
For the first year, we intend to help entrepreneurs to launch 50 new businesses which create at least 200 new jobs. This will help us refine our framework into a repeatable, scalable structure so we can accelerate quickly, so we are being deliberately conservative in our approach for Year 1.
In Year 2, we expect to accelerate to 200+ launches as well as new geographical areas.
What do you mean when you say you have a “holistic” approach?
We are focusing not just on the business, but on the people in the business. We want profitable businesses which are great places to work. In addition, we will provide coaching, guidance, and programs to support the families of everyone working in these businesses so that they create their own communities.
How will the funds be used?
For anyone who wanted to start their startups, everyone providing the services they need charge their nickels and dimes – funds most people do not have. Statistically, startups fail almost entirely because of failure in these key areas.
We use the funds to provide a comprehensive end-to-end suite of services with no up-front fees. Our standard model is a true partnership with the business owner, yielding a true value-based structure where we succeed when they succeed.
Early funds will help establish infrastructure, provide required technologies, solidify external partnerships, and provide possible funding to new startups. Later funds will help to accelerate our impact.
What are your plans for long-term funding?
The plan is to be self-funded by year 2 via revenue streams from the successful businesses we help launch.
Ongoing non-profit fundraising will continue so that we can accelerate and scale our impact.
Why will this work?
That’s a great question!
If you would like to discuss this as a potential partner or donor, please contact us at [email protected]. We’d love to talk with you more!
How do you plan to engage with donors?
Major Individual Donors: Invited to participate on boards to provide wisdom and expertise.
Major Foundation Donors: Invited for board input if interested; otherwise, kept informed as desired.
Mid-Range Donors: Encouraged to stay personally and financially involved through boards, advisory sessions, and events.
Small Donors: Often lean towards volunteering; their contributions are significant to them.
Micro Donors: Engaged through emails, mailers, and holiday cards; invited to events when feasible
How can I donate?
Donate directly through our website using one of the following methods:
- Credit/Debit Card
- Google Pay
- Amazon Pay
- Apple Pay
- Direct Bank (ACH)
You will receive a receipt and confirmation via email for your generous donation.
Larger donations can be paid via ACH, wire transfers, or physical checks. Confirmation and receipts will be provided once deposited.
Can I volunteer or participate beyond donations?
Absolutely! We welcome volunteers, mentors, and partners aligned with our vision and mission
Are you politically aligned? Do you have a political agenda?
No. TWD does not take partisan positions and neither opposes nor endorses any candidate for public office or any political platform. All TWD resources are animated by the ideas of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and are not aligned to the dictates of any external entity.
We are using free market principles coupled with the civil responsibilities inherent in the founding concept of Liberty to create a solution that is both economically sound and culturally relevant.