I don't remember where I left off on my last update.

I'm pretty sure that in the time that's elapsed, we received our IRS determination and are officially a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. I was very nervous about this because I hacked our bylaws together from various sources and examples. I wanted to make our application look as good as possible by increasing the number of board members and change the length of our terms. But, it was apparently just fine; it only took about 45 days to come back with a go. This about finishes up government paperwork, aside from waiting for our state tax exemption to come back, and annual tax forms. Thank God.

We also had our first fundraiser. I didn't know how much a pain in the ass these things are to organize and to run fluidly without much awkwardness. We learned a lot from it, and made a decent amount of money. This was last month.

Since then, we've spent a lot of time debating whether or not we should show our faces at an annual county-wide event for homeless veterans that takes place next week. The woman who organizes it is the CEO of the housing nonprofit that I work for, and wants to ensure that we don't succeed so that she can eventually do it herself... or something.

We've done a few assessments on veterans to try and gather some data, since we cannot provide services beyond x-rays and cleanings right now. We also debated whether we should learn a general approach with handling the process with which a veteran goes from walking into our office to having his appointment with a dentist. We've been preparing to begin sending out grant applications. And always, always networking.

We've been going to district Republican meetings and trying to be sly about bringing up what we're doing. Not that they genuinely buy it; they know and respect how this form of networking operates. However, dropping one line in the middle of the conversation seems to make them salivate: "Well, I just think that government can't do everything." This is a calculated way of biting into their hate for Obamacare and instantly makes us kin. We have slowly worked on opening the door to Democrats by befriend a staff member for a Democratic congresswoman.

We ended up deciding to participate in the annual homeless event, and all of the dentists doing free dental work for 2 of the 3 days there have agreed to wear our logo. It's a victory for us, but presents the issue in that it's really going to piss off the woman who organizes it. We're essentially sneaking in, and there's no way she's going to be able to do anything about it. We did not officially send an "application of intent" to participate in it, although the dentists had beforehand.

Today, we officially "launched" and tried to let people know that we exist. It's slowly daisy chaining through our respective social networks. There is no better timing because we can launch by saying that we'll be doing free dental work during this homeless event, to make it seem as though we're already steaming pretty well this early in our short life. We will likely get some media attention during the event, which should help some. And our next fundraiser is scheduled for October. We're beginning preparations for Veterans Day to have more free dental care. I found another dentist today who wants to do the same thing, so we'll be able to shoot any overflow over to his clinic.

All in all, things are looking up, and it's starting to get exciting. We consider this a make it or break it period, with which we'll be able to gauge what we're capable of and if dental care can be made interesting enough to sustain itself at a growing pace.

However, the CEO of the housing nonprofit I work for must have gotten word about some of this today. She invited myself and my other board member out to dinner tonight (where I gotta go now, actually). I have not told here that I am serving as the treasurer of this dental nonprofit (it's really none of her business), and I have been nervous as to what she will do when she finds out. If you have read any of my prior posts about her, you'll know she's a vindictive, conniving cunt. Should be interesting.

Thanks for making it through, if you did. Hope it was interesting.