Just Because
- inwankwo
- 43 minutes ago
- 4 min read
· “Well, what’s in it for me?”
· “Ummmmmm…maybe a (very) sincere, ‘Thank you?’”
That’s a conversation we often have with groups or individuals when discussing having participants do anything beyond making handmade cards. We’ve even had some artists reach out to us, asking to be paid and for their expenses to be covered by Cardz For Kidz. I guess it’s somewhat understandable that in this culture, everything seems to be about “give and take.” If someone contributes their time, they usually expect some form of reward or compensation.
With Cardz For Kidz, I’m used to that expectation, but I definitely don’t put such pressure on our partner organizations. We assure them that we’ll consistently send handmade cards and artwork, no strings attached. Our only requirement is that they “pinky promise” to distribute the handmade cards and artwork to the people they serve. If they do that and, in return, send pictures of anyone on the team with the cards, then we work to go above and beyond to send entertainment systems, jewelry, tablets, and more. It doesn’t happen often, but thankfully, there are a few partner organizations that contribute without asking for a reward or compensation.
For some background—recently, there was a Cardz For Kidz board meeting. Some of the board members discussed that as we grow and begin to sell stuff with our name and logo that it would be beneficial to apply for federal trademark registrations to protect the brand we have worked hard to build. We agreed that it was a wonderful idea but remembered that the heroes (aka lawyers) who stepped in to originally do all the 501(c)(3) paperwork—for our national and state applications—had all transitioned to family lives and were no longer able to contribute in the same way.
Also, we’re still at the stage where these past two years, my parents and I have contributed one-third of the donations that we’ve received. With that in mind, Cardz For Kidz is unable to handle a drastic increase in administrative expenses. In a dream world, there would be a firm that would be willing to help a small nonprofit with a limited budget, minimal social followers, and not a single full-time employee. Thankfully, we found one! Well, one of our board members did.
Back to the board meeting. Board members then made the recommendation for me to find a law firm to help Cardz For Kidz secure trademark registration—and I spun it around. I agreed it would be a good idea, but based on bandwidth issues, I wouldn’t be able to handle those tasks and asked if they had recommendations. While we were looking into ideas, we connected with a local university’s School of Law, which did this type of work for nonprofits as a practice/project for students. They followed up by saying that they loved our organization but did not think that our name and mission would work.
Thankfully, a board member, Patrick, soon followed up and provided us with the firm Neal &
McDevitt. Just to confirm, putting their logo on our Sponsors page was my idea.
Our conversation didn’t start with the text above, like many other groups/companies. They simply aligned with our mission and helped secure the trademark registrations for our name, CARDZ FOR KIDZ® and our logo.
Their assistance was essential for many reasons. Yes, it was comforting knowing that we could add a little “®” to our logo, but there were many other situations, ranging from another nonprofit adopting a similar name, with only a one (1) letter difference, to fielding fraudulent solicitations about owing money to renew our trademarks.
There were many detailed questions and attacks we received since the trademark was approved and we started to grow, and they were there to answer my questions. On top of their legal services, one of the attorneys at Neal & McDevitt who has been assisting us, also kindly paid for tickets, and purchased additional raffle tickets for our annual fundraiser, “Hearts & Crafts Mixer.”
We’re not yet a globally well-known brand with millions of followers on social media; so, providing this type of service isn’t for improving awareness. Neal & McDevitt didn’t ask me to put up their logo on our website or write this blog post — both of those were completely my idea. As we grow, we’re not expecting to need a bunch of legal services; so, it’s not like they are simply planning on some type of “return on investment.” Even if that is the case, that still wouldn’t explain the amazing additional support of attending our annual fundraiser event—held on a weekend. After spending the evening with my little nieces, the only definitive, all-encompassing answer I can think of is “because!” They’re serving and making a difference for our nonprofit JUST BECAUSE they want to. And for that, all of us at Cardz For Kidz® are super thankful for the generosity and legal support of Neal & McDevitt.
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