Blog
What’s on our minds
We share what we learn and what we’re doing so that others can learn from us and we can learn from others. Comments welcome!
Meet the Team: Lindsay Burr!
It’s been a week!
Big shoutout to our contributors! 👉🏿 Claim your place on the map. Donate now!
Our first week as an independent nonprofit passed by in a whirlwind! Here’s what we were up to:
- Updating our CRM (Contact and Relationship Manager), Salesforce, and starting up the learning curve of how to use it so that we can be mindful in our communications and effective in our collaborations – great for quickly finding who our contacts are in your area.
- Talking to our partners at UC Santa Cruz. Grant applications coming soon! We will use these grants for research to take our game-based learning experiences to the next level! We know we engage communities and effect behavioral change – let’s get more data!
- Students from San Jose State University are setting up our DAM (Digital Asset Manager), Box, so we can find what YOU want to see in the THOUSANDS of pictures and videos from our community events.
- Preparing our intriguing 2024 Holiday Calendar — Coming soon!
- Revisiting the Café Game to ensure that what we deliver what really matters, and keeps getting people excited and prepared for wildfire.
Most gratifyingly, you’ve kept us busy with your outpouring of support and congratulations.
You’ve helped us raise $1200, so far!
If you haven’t had a chance to claim your place on the map and fuel the vision of empowered communities, there’s still time!
👉🏿 Claim your place on the map. Donate now!
With sincere thanks and appreciation for all the support and cheerleading you give us! 🤗
— Susanne
Susanne Jul, PhD
Founder & Executive Director
Creative Crisis Leadership
A California nonprofit 501(c)3 corporation!
👉🏿 Donate now!
Special thanks to Zach Pipkin and his Salesforce magic for the map. More visualizations coming soon of where we are and where we’re having an impact.
A Thrilling Announcement!!!
From the keyboard of Lindsay Burr, Board Chair
Nov 12 2024
We live in a time of change and huge divides in our nation. But, one thing we can all agree on is that, when disaster strikes – we want everyone to be safe. That is why I am proud to be Chair of the Board of Directors for Creative Crisis Leadership: Through imagination, games and play, we create fun spaces where individuals and communities can come together and discover what they need to set themselves up to come through disaster safely and well.
Today, I am very excited to announce that we are embarking on a new phase in our journey. We have left our fiscal sponsorship and are standing on our own nonprofit legs:
Creative Crisis Leadership is officially an independent 501(c)3!
[Fireworks going off. Trumpet fanfares. 👉🏿 Donate here]
Being an independent nonprofit means that we are now eligible to apply for State and Federal funds for work that is desperately needed. It also means taking on more responsibilities and duties. So, while we are eligible for more project and funding opportunities, we still need your financial support in order to be able to empower individuals and communities to prepare for disaster. 👉🏿 Donate here
For those of you who’ve traveled with us for years, we are so grateful for your support! Without you, we would not have gotten this far.
For those of you who are new to our journey, welcome! We know we will be able to do more because you are here with us.
We have proven our approach works! Instead of ignoring boring binders, our games land in people’s hearts and minds. After playing, people follow through to prepare their families and talk to neighbors about steps needed before, during and after a disaster to help each other.
In this time of change and divides in our nation, let’s work together to foster the strong communities needed to face disaster.
Join our journey. Your contributions will make sure our legs are strong for the next phase, and are 100% tax deductible! 👉🏿 Donate here
Sincerely,
Lindsay
Lindsay Burr
Board Chair
Creative Crisis Leadership
A California nonprofit 501(c)3 corporation!
👉🏿 Donate here
PS Over the next few months, we will be introducing ourselves by sharing who we are, what we have built, what we are building, and our vision for where we are headed next. At the same time, we’d like to learn more about you. Please be in touch!
We look forward to hearing from you.
*Featured image of Cecil the Mascot replicated from an early sketch by Katherine Yamasaki.
Fall 2024 Update: My, how time flies when you’re having fun!
Our Fall 2024 Update is out! Get the scoop on what’s been happening at Creative Crisis Leadership in the past nine months!
501(c)3 application, Part IV, Line 1: Mission & Activities
Base image by Freepik
We recently submitted our application to the IRS for tax-exempt status 🤩. As part of that process, we had to develop a strong response to this question:
Line 1. Describe completely and in detail your past, present, and planned activities. Do not refer to or repeat the purposes in your organizing document.
a. What is the activity?
b. Who conducts the activity?
c. Where is the activity conducted?
d. What percentage of your total time is allocated to the activity?
e. How is the activity funded (for example, donations, fees, etc.) and what percentage of your overall expenses is allocated to this activity?
f. How does the activity further your exempt purposes?
We’re so excited about the clarification of our vision and mission that we couldn’t wait to share it with you. (And, yes, we’re busy updating the website to align with our refined understanding.)
Part IV, Line 1: Your Activities
Creative Crisis Leadership (CCL) is a public charity that harnesses the transformative power of experiential learning, games and fun to create innovative disaster preparedness education tools and spread social resilience and disaster preparedness. We also aim to further understanding of social resilience, disaster preparedness, and community empowerment, and contribute to a broader knowledge base for effective crisis management.
Founded in 2014, CCL has operated under the fiscal sponsorship of Social Good Fund since 2019.
To support its mission, CCL will conduct activities in Design & Development, Public Education and Research. See the 2023 Annual Report for specific examples of past activities.
1. Design & Development
CCL will design and develop engaging learning experiences and effective training materials that increase preparedness, develop train-the-trainer and other supporting materials, and make these products available to community organizations and the general public.
Design and development will be done by paid staff, volunteers and partners working remotely and in local communities, as appropriate. This area will consume approximately one half of CCL time and resources. This activity directly delivers on the CCL mission of spreading social resilience and disaster preparedness.
These activities will be funded through grants, donations, and licensing and sales of learning products.
2. Public Education
CCL will conduct public education activities, delivering learning experiences directly to the public and to partner organizations, and sharing best practices, research findings, and related knowledge through publication, speaking engagements and collaboration.
Public education will be done by paid staff, volunteers and partners working remotely and in local communities, as appropriate. This area will consume approximately one third of CCL time and resources. This activity directly delivers on the CCL mission of creating tools to spread social resilience and disaster preparedness.
These activities will be funded through grants, donations, fee-for-service, licensing and sales of learning products, and event participation fees.
3. Research
CCL will conduct cross-disciplinary research independently and in collaboration with academic and industrial partners, and work to promote knowledge exchange and collaboration across academic, professional, and civic communities.
Research will be done by paid staff, volunteers and partners working remotely and in local communities, as appropriate. This area will consume approximately one fifth of CCL time and resources. Research activities support and inform Design & Development as well as Public Education activities, and deliver on CCL’s secondary mission of furthering understanding of social resilience, disaster preparedness, and community empowerment.
These activities will be funded through grants, donations, and event participation fees.