Kindred Spirits Trust

05/15/2026

And now for a capital campaign! While the work of building a healing Secret Garden will largely be done with volunteer labor and small donations, we need to ensure that the house itself has necessary maintenance and deductibles in our investment account.

All donations are tax deductible and you will receive a receipt form Zeffy, or a letter from us if you donate by check.

Your gift helps build “The Nest”—The property owned and managed by our 501c3 Non Profit is nicknamed "The Nest", and we are housing a family of three who are self named as the "Bronzewings", a colorful bird! Our capital fundraising goal is to have $5000 in our investment account to cover the d...

05/14/2026

While we need as many volunteers as possible to develop our Secret Garden, donations would enable us to pay local folks who need the income. We will also need to buy some established vegetable and herb plants!

Help us grow a healing and healthy space for our residents! Our family, nicknamed the Bronzewings, has requested the development of a food forest, and we will be setting up raised beds for vegetables.Every contribution plants something real—Fresh vegetables to grow and eat, herbs to help with flav...

04/16/2026

Big News: We got our confirmation letter today from the IRS, and we are now officially a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization!!
If you donate via Zeffy, you will get a tax receipt from them. If you have sent us a check, we will mail you a receipt. You can still send checks to 710 West Walnut Street, Bloomington, Illinois 61701, or drop them off at the The Bistro.

Last week, we spent nearly $900 having the drains cleaned. The gutter job is scheduled for Tuesday. We should have enough to cover that bill, but it might drain our operating account.
Please donate if you can, and whether you donate or not, please share on your own social media 😊.

🌟 Join us in Creating Change! 🌟The Kindred Spirits Trust needs your help to keep the home safe and healthy for the family we are housing, and for the financial future of the TrustHow you can help power our mission:Donate: Every dollar counts. Contribute now to help us reach our goal.Share: Sha...

04/10/2026

https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/gutters-and-drains-for-the-nest

A new way to donate! Money goes directly into our bank account!!

🌟 Join us in Creating Change! 🌟The Kindred Spirits Trust needs your help to keep the home safe and healthy for the family we are housing, and for the financial future of the TrustHow you can help power our mission:Donate: Every dollar counts. Contribute now to help us reach our goal.Share: Sha...

04/08/2026

The mission of our non profit is to help LGBTQ folks with housing, and right now, we are providing housing to a family who relocated here from an unsafe state. The first picture is a year view of one of our resident's blood pressure. They moved here in August. You can see how things leveled off, and now that they have access to the care and community support they needed, they are doing so much better!
Maintaining the property itself is the current focus of the Trust, and we are facing some serious infrastructure challenges. We have barely enough in the bank to cover the cost of replacing the gutters and the rotten wood on the fascia. Yesterday, the washing machine water backed up into to the shower, so now we need the drains cleaned.
The Trust IS a registered non profit. We've applied for 501c3 status with the IRS.
Please donate now if you can! Checks can be written to the Kindred Spirits Trust and mailed to 710 W Walnut Street, Bloomington Illinois 61701 or dropped off at the Bistro.
Or use this digital donation platform! https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/gutters-and-drains-for-the-nest?fbclid=IwY2xjawRHs4xleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFkYjZsaXJWY2VQMTlsZFBLc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHmkNwrlN7bWjYOm_eNMYWuQ7kA5O3YKqCgAsIQ8BmjDPMv74D00YRSCaCbgd_aem_PIRB6ujp8zGyxqHb6KKYiA
Help us keep our family safe and secure and dry!

04/03/2026

We are looking for an electric, corded or battery powered lawn mower to keep at the Nest. So if you are upgrading this season and wish to make a do nation, we'd greatly appreciate it!
We have volunteers willing to mow, thanks to the recent Transgender Day of Visibility event at The Bistro, but we don't have a mower to keep at the house.
Please message the page or text 309-200-7106. This is the phone for the Trust.

Most homeowners cutting front- and backyards will get plenty of power and runtime from a battery mower.

03/31/2026

Our organization is an official Non Profit registered with the state of Illinois, and we have filed for 501c3 status with the IRS!
Until we get the tax exempt status, donations aren't legally tax deductible. Many other organizations that do good work are also not tax exempt, such as Equality Illinois and the ACLU, due to the political work they do. We still donate because the money goes to help people.
And the Kindred Spirits Trust still needs donations to cover upkeep on the property owned by the Trust!
Thankfully, a generous donor covered the unpaid property tax bill from 2023, but the gutter work will cost another $1000 we've yet to raise.
You can Venmo Karla, a Trustee and non profit Board member https://venmo.com/code?user_id=2485146502561792836&created=1774925262
, or message us for an address to send a check. Most of the wood that holds gutters in place is rotten, and sections of gutters have now fallen down completely. 😟

02/08/2026

We still need another $1000 to cover the cost of new gutters and fascia for the house, and there is an unpaid property tax bill from the year our friend died. It will take some time for thr tax exempt status so donations are legally tax deductible, but the Trust IS a registered non profit!
Checks can be made out to the Kindred Spirits Trust, or you can Venmo Karla, a Trustee.
https://venmo.com/code?user_id=2485146502561792836&created=1770565026

Picture of a pink axolotle for attention!

01/01/2026

Big news as we enter 2026: The Kindred Spirits Trust is now registered as a non profit, charitable organization! There are a few more steps to go before we can 100% say that your donations are tax deductible.
Yesterday, we received a check in the mail for $1000!! This will go towards the gutter repair job.
This check came from someone in Indiana who heard about this project and wanted to support it!
Can we get another $1000 in matching donations?
Message this page for mailing or drop off options if you want to write a check to the Kindred Spirits Trust, or you can Venmo Karla, a Trustee: https://venmo.com/code?user_id=2485146502561792836&created=1767285190

12/11/2025

Thank you to everyone who donated towards the pest control campaign! We have $62.36 left from that round of donations. Holes in the foundation were cemented over, live traps were purchased, and today, the holes in the soffit, which would allow access by squirrels and raccoons, were repaired with pressure treated wood.
Up next: The Gutters!
I do not have an estimate yet, so we welcome recommendations from gutter specific companies, because we want the whole surround replaced, not just one repair.
If you haven't donated yet, or recently, the easiest way is to Venmo https://venmo.com/code?user_id=2485146502561792836&created=1765478060
Checks can be written to the Kindred Spirits Trust. Message us for delivery/drop off options!

12/08/2025

The answer to the critter question is; MICE! The house has mice in the crawl space that are enough of them and loud enough to be heard at night and cause a disturbance. There are two cats living in the house, so right now, there isn't evidence of them coming inside. We hired Tarzan, who does not advocate for or recommend poison. My Facebook hive mind: What do you think we should do to reduce the numbers of mice in the crawl space?
And if you can donate to the Trust, let me know! You can write a check to the Kindred Spirits Trust, use Zelle, or Venmo or PayPal to Karla Bailey-Smith (a Trustee) https://venmo.com/code?user_id=2485146502561792836...
I'm working on the Trust Venmo and Paypal verification!! It' a brand new bank account, so they are suspicious.
We had to pay Tarzan $250 for the inspection, assessment, advice on how to block access points around the foundation, as well as critter access points (holes) in the soffit around the house. I paid an extra $50 for Tarzan to set up cameras to monitor if any animals are using the attic as a home before he repairs the soffits, and we will have a new fundraising goal when we get his estimate for that work. We only had $225 in new donations, form two donors. Please help if you can!!