Annual Report

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The year 2020 was very difficult for many people and organizations, for our nation, and for the world. It was also a year of building, pivoting, and launching for RootedGood. RootedGood was created at the beginning of 2020 as an outgrowth of the beautiful legacy of Matryoshka Haus in London. Within weeks of getting up and running our team had to pivot on one of our primary projects, the Oikos Accelerator, due to COVID-19. We immediately set about changing the way we would deliver our support for congregations around the U.S. who want to explore their use of property and buildings for greater impact and financial resiliency. It became clear that church leaders also needed help with their own changes due to the pandemic and so we built, designed, and released our What Now? and How Will We Gather? tools to help more than 1200 congregations plan in this new age of COVID-19. More than one thousand leaders have accessed these tools and many have found them incredibly helpful in a challenging season. They have now been translated into Spanish.

In addition to this major pivot, 2020 was a year of building: building our board of directors, our infrastructure, our database, our team, our fundraising, our online store - basically all of the behind the scenes elements of a nonprofit like RootedGood! And it was a year of design: we designed a new logo, new branding, a new website, and we created or redesigned eighteen tools for social entrepreneurs, nonprofits, teams, and congregations.

As we head into 2021 we look forward to many things: the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine across the world, the launch of our revamped Oikos Accelerator (request your application here!), expanding the reach of Mission Possible and our other tools, the release of books from two of our founders, and perhaps more than anything - opportunities to connect with you in person.

We are especially grateful for our donors, funders, board members, and champions who make up the larger RootedGood family. Together we make more good in the world.

Gratefully,

Mark Elsdon, Shannon Hopkins, Mark SampsonRootedGood Co-Founders

Living in the new normal has brought opportunities and challenges…and lots of time on Zoom!

WHAT NOW?A creative tool to help congregations make decisions in the age of Covid-19

12

Months since RG launched

Created a new name and logo

New members joined the board of directors: David Bailey, Jim Knutsen, Laura Peck, and Christian Peele

DOWNLOADS

HOW WILL WE GATHER?

1hr Activity worksheetThis exercise can be done as a stand alone planning activity or as part of the full “What Now?” planning tool available from RootedGood. This exercise is meant to take an hour or less. You can fill in the PDF on your computer, or print it out and fill it in by hand.

INTRODUCTIONSince Covid-19 began spreading rapidly across the US, the rhythms and rituals of congregational life have been challenged in a way that is unprecedented for many. The future is uncertain. And while restrictions are being

lifted, we don’t know when we will be back to ‘normal’. In this ‘interim’ time, the number and complexity of leadership decisions are exhausting and overwhelming.The purpose of this exercise is to help a congregation or organization have a good conversation and make decisions about how they will gather given the current context.

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6ft

This way

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Published 5 articles and podcasts on so cial innovation, impact measurement and more

5 12 19Led 12 workshops, panels, and webinars

Created, updated or redesigned 19 tools

100%

100% of survey respondents responded a�rmatively to the tools in these ways:

Would recommend for other congregationsFound it helpful for their congregationFound it helped create agreement in their leadership teamsIs likely to something di�erent as a result of using the tool

2020 highlights

of What Now? and How Will We Gather?

$

Secured grant funding to begin a new tool on aligning money and mission

5 teams of licensees from 4 states in first Make Good cohort

4

“It gave a beautiful structure to plan in an unknown time. Helped my students rethink what we could do instead of focusing on what we can’t.”

“Grateful for the work you do!”

Produced high quality updated Mission Possible physical games and new online Mission Possible game board to expand access to our flagship tool.

GAVE AWAY

Mission Possible games to Mental Health Organizations

Feedback from What Now? user

https://youtu.be/Za7BIwz8r4c

Produced an animated video describing how we help leaders and organizations make more good in the world

Income from donations and grants Income from program services, licensing & sales Pre-funded grant funds allocated for 2020 Expenses Net income

Net assets at beginning of 2020 Net assets at end of 2020 Change in net assets

53,89071,531

357,299(471,787)

10,933

1,246,490900,124

(346,366)

A big THANK YOU

to our 2020 donors!(You can find them on our Good Stuff page.)

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TOOLMy Mission Possible

COURSE

Make Good Accelerator

COURSE Oikos Accelerator for congregations

Ideation & Imagination: getting started (or helping others start)

Discovering and Understanding your Context

TOOL Community Discovery Tool

TOOL I-Spy

Aligning Money and Mission

HEURISTICAligning Money and Mission

TOOLAligning Money and Mission Assessment

TOOLMoney and Mission Simulation

TOOLLet’s Talk About Resources(In collaboration with the Lake Institute on Faith and Giving)

Planning and Pivoting

TOOL Pivot Now for nonprofits

Measurement and Evaluation

TOOL Impact on Track

WEBINARMeasurement Master Class

TOOL Three Little Pigs

TOOL Transformational Index

Coming soon

TOOLS AND RESOURCES FOR THE JOURNEY

TOOLMission Possible

Positive

impact

Costs m

oney

Costs m

oney

Costsmoney

Break even

Generates m

oney

Generates m

oney

Positive impact

Neutral

Negative impact

Negative

impact

Positive impact

Negative impact

MO

NE

Y

MO

NE

Y

MIS

SIO

N

STOP NOW

STOPASAP

MIS

SIO

N

FOCUS ENERGY

HERE

Break even

PROCEED WITH

CAUTION

Generates

money

Neutral

1

2

3

6

9

8

7

4

5

Communicating and collaborating

TOOL What Now? for Congregations planning in the age of COVID-1(IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH)

TOOLHow Will We Gather? for congregations in the age of COVID-19 (IN ENGLISH AND SPANISH)

WEBINAR How to use What now?

?

”“

Congregational specific

From imagination...

Coming soon

TOOLSay What?

TOOLMake it Memorable

... to resilience

From imagination, to planning, to measurement we offer dynamic and engaging process tools and games that help you do your work better. We continue to build new tools in response to the needs that social impact organizations are facing and alongside partner organizations.

Stay in touch!

rootedgood.org

info@rootedgood.org

facebook.com/rootedgood

We are grateful to our donors, partners, and customers for your support in 2020. We could not do our work without you! Together we make more good in the world.

@RootedGood