08/29/2026
Real talk…
Building a new nonprofit organization from scratch is exhausting.
Sometimes I feel like we should be closer to meeting our goals.
Because we don’t have a house YET, we sometimes struggle to gain support because people see Jane’s House as just a really good idea.
The Jane’s House bank account was opened in December 2024 with just $94 to deposit.
Today, that account holds just under $22,000.
It’s true that we still have a ways to go.
But it’s also true that we’ve come a long way.
Could we raise money faster if we did things the way a lot of organizations do? Probably.
We could host trivia nights with open bars. We could raffle off a wheelbarrow full of booze. We could build fundraisers around alcohol because, quite frankly, alcohol sells.
More than once, we’ve been told we’ll never raise the kind of money we need if we don’t have events with alcohol. We even had a popular fundraising organization decline to work with us because they “don’t make enough money when people aren’t drinking.”
But Jane’s House exists because we believe there should be another way.
We believe doing things right is more important than doing things fast.
We believe in creating family-safe events — events that may not always be for kids, but where they are always welcome. Events where someone in recovery never has to wonder whether protecting their sobriety means sitting this one out.
And events that don’t leave us wondering if we’ve somehow become part of the problem we’re trying to help solve.
We spend very little. What we do spend is spent carefully and intentionally.
Dollar by dollar. Fundraiser by fundraiser. Supporter by supporter.
We keep moving forward.
Every large company, invention, movement and organization was once just someone’s really good idea.
So maybe Jane’s House is still a really good idea.
But it’s a really good idea with nearly $22,000 in the bank.
A really good idea with an incredible group of people who believe in it.
A really good idea that refuses to compromise what it stands for just to get there faster.
And someday, that really good idea is going to have a front door.
And when that door opens, you’ll see that what we were building all along wasn’t just a house.
There will be healing happening within those four walls.
And every slow step it took to get there will have been worth it.
To every person who has donated, attended an event, sponsored us, shared a post, encouraged us, or simply believed that Jane’s House can become what we know it can be — thank you.
We’re not there yet.
But we are absolutely on our way. ❤️
