Startup Strategy and Planning
Identify stakeholders and partners, form workgroups and committees
Stakeholders and partners are the people, businesses, organizations, and agencies that will work with you on starting your Community ReUse Center. It also includes those who will benefit from or be impacted by the activities of your organization’s efforts, including customers and employees. It takes time, energy, and resources to get any big project off the ground, and there are people out there who will be excited about your project and might be able to help you get it started. Think about who those people might be, and begin a list. Start to form workgroups and committees move your idea forward.
Questions
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Who can help get the project started, and what are the primary focuses of various workgroups and committees?
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Who wants a Community ReUse Center to be started in the community?
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Who might benefit from a Community ReUse Center being started
Tips
Some ideas: nonprofit organizations, human service organizations, businesses, banks, private foundations, community foundations, individuals, solid waste authorities, landlords, Realtors, contractors, educational institutions, workforce development agencies, job training programs.
Finger Lakes ReUse's Story
Our planning partners included Tompkins County Solid Waste Management Division, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Tompkins County, Historic Ithaca/Significant Elements, Ithaca College, and Cornell University. With their help, we were able to leverage broad and diverse perspectives, networks and experiences to help get Finger Lakes ReUse started. Today, the list of partners and supporters is much longer: https://ithacareuse.org/partners/
Develop a community survey
Use surveys to connect with community partners early. Figure out what you'd like to know about waste and reuse in your community, which will help inform your business plan. Ask for help distributing the surveys in order to reach as many stakeholders as possible. Use your surveys as an educational tool -- to both share information and receive it.
Questions
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What would motivate you to donate a reusable item (as opposed to throwing it away, having a garage sale, listing it on craigslist, donating to another organization, etc?)
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What types of items would you buy from a Community ReUse Center? What do you want to know about waste and reuse in your community?
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Who could benefit from a Community ReUse Center starting up in your community?
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Who would like to see a Community ReUse Center started up?
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What is currently being thrown away that could be reused?
Tips
Administering surveys can act as a form of outreach. The introduction can inform a potential stakeholder group about your intentions, as well as invite future involvement. Some surveys ask people to answer questions about their opinions (for example, "How far would you be willing to drive to donate your used furniture to a Community ReUse Center?"); some ask about things that are happening in the world (for example, "How many tons of reusable materials does my county's solid waste division handle every month?")
Finger Lakes ReUse's Story
Before opening our Community ReUse Center, we surveyed other reuse programs, local small businesses, manufacturers, retailers, potential shoppers and donors, and educational institutions. We also went to the Tompkins County Solid Waste Division transfer station's "tipping floor" (where people and contractors drop off their waste) and observed the amount of potentially reusable material being thrown away. (At that time, in 2007, it was 1,000 lbs or half a ton an hour -- and that was just a single site!) This information helped us learn more about our market, the needs not being met in our community, and the potential for new partnerships down the road.
It took us many months to develop the questions for the surveys, and to find the right partners to help disseminate them (we worked with our local Cooperative Extension, Chamber of Commerce and economic development agency and used student volunteers to help distribute the surveys).
Host preliminary information and discussion sessions
Invite interested community members to a presentation and discussion. You can share the goals for a Community ReUse Center and the ways you can all work together, as well as invite questions and ideas. There are likely amazing and passionate people in your community who are excited about a Community ReUse Center but aren't yet in your known network and don't know what kind of involvement is needed. By meeting with them, you begin that discussion and start building a relationship between the new Community ReUse Center and the people it will serve and collaborate with.
If you have existing partnerships with other people or organizations, invite them to the meeting. Don’t forget to invite businesses who may already be operating in the reuse space. It will be helpful to invite them to air concerns early and allow for time to consider ways that collaboration will strengthen both your efforts. Encourage attendees to express their interest in volunteering -- whether in an “advisory capacity” or through “hands on” opportunities -- from helping move and salvage materials to setting up the ReUse Center to participating in or leading repair, training, or creative reuse programming.
If you will be creating a CRC in New York State, contact Finger Lakes ReUse: someone from our leadership team may be able to travel to your area and make a presentation as part of this meeting. Outside of NYS, a remote, online meeting may be an option.
Questions
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Who will attend the meeting? Who will receive personalized follow-up invitations? Should you consider having a series of meetings in order to accommodate a variety of stakeholders?
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Where and when will everyone meet?
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What are the important ideas and issues to discuss at the meeting?
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What questions might attendees ask about the Community ReUse Center?
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What do you want their relationship with the Community ReUse Center to be?
Tips
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Create an agenda
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Prepare a brief presentation
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Prepare a sign-in sheet (to collect their contact information and why they are attending)
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Capture and retain attendees' contact information and why they participated
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Call to remind key stakeholders
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Record the meeting or ask a colleague to take notes
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Develop an online survey that will be shared before and after the meeting to continue to capture engagement and interest.
Practice talking about the Community ReUse Center idea with friends, neighbors, and colleagues. Some people will want to help but won't have a lot of time and/or money to give, so think creatively about how to build partnerships with potential supporters.
Finger Lakes ReUse's Story
Our first planning meeting was in December 2005. There was enthusiastic agreement that a Community ReUse Center was a good idea. We followed this meeting with a well-attended community meeting in March 2006 with more stakeholders.The takeaways from that meeting became the preliminary questions that helped us begin to draft a business plan.
Identify potential volunteer sources
Develop a list of agencies, foundations, businesses, and people who might be interested in doing business with, or giving money to, the Community ReUse Center.
Questions
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Who will be in charge of recruiting, training, and working with volunteers?
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What skills could be useful to a Community ReUse Center that your volunteers might have?
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What will you do to ensure that volunteers keep coming back to help out at the Community ReUse Center?
Tips
Use free tools such as Google Forms to create a simple online volunteer application.
Finger Lakes ReUse's Story
Our volunteer corps has grown every year since we first opened our doors in 2008. We host one-day volunteer events for larger groups and also have volunteers who help with general operations on a regular basis. Our volunteers help us in many different ways: in retail operations, on building deconstruction, computer repair (and other items). Some teach workshops for our job skills training program. Just as there are many ways to creatively reuse items, there are many ways to harness the people-power in your community!
Identify potential funding sources
Develop a list of agencies, foundations, businesses, craftspeople, tradespeople and others who might be interested in doing business with, partnering with, or giving money to, the Community ReUse Center.
Questions
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Where do other organizations and businesses get funding support from in your area?
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Are there grants or other kinds of support available from your town or county government?
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What about Community ReUse Centers in other areas?
Tips
The revenue a Community ReUse Center earns from its customers for the goods or services it provides will eventually become your primary funding source, supporting the majority of your expenses. Capturing this idea in your business plan will be a key component. As soon as possible, share your draft Case Statement with potential funders for feedback.
Finger Lakes ReUse's Story
Our first funder was Tompkins County Solid Waste Management Division. In our first year of operation in 2008, 8 percent of our funding came from merchandise sales and the fees for our programs and services. The other 92 percent came from grants and donations. Since then, the amount we earn through sales and fees has increased annually. In 2013, 67 percent of our budget came from our sales and fees. In 2024, that figure was nearly 80 percent. Our budget has grown, too: the more a Community ReUse Center does, the more it will cost to run, and the more space, equipment, and employees you will likely need in order to get everything done!
Draft a case statement, share with stakeholders, invite feedback
A case statement draft is a document you can share with stakeholders and potential funders for feedback. It is a way to engage people with questions instead of solutions, so a project can be built collaboratively. Start by listing the reasons to start a Community ReUse Center, why your community needs and wants one, why now is the time to start one, and what it could mean for your community in the long term.
Questions
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What do people need that a Community ReUse Center can provide?
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Why should one be started right now?
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Who wants to see a Community ReUse Center started in your area?
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What do community members envision a Community ReUse Center doing and being in the future?
Tips
This case statement will become the backbone of your funding requests. Make it impossible for anyone who reads it to NOT want to support your Community ReUse Center! Show that you did your homework, and that there are committed, passionate people ready to help make this happen.
Finger Lakes ReUse's Story
We shared our case statement in draft form (no fancy graphics, just a plain document) with several community members and asked for their feedback. In hindsight, we wish we had shared it more broadly, because every individual we initially shared it with has become a supporter, some in major ways. It may be a "DRAFT" but ensure it is a well-conceived, well-edited document. We encourage you to send it to possible stakeholders or supporters you don't know very well (or at all), because in a couple of years, they may become your good friends.