What is Villages NW?

Villages NW is a new nonprofit organization in development in Portland, Oregon.

Its purpose is to:

  • Educate the public about Villages as a critical, cost-effective piece of the aging-in-place puzzle.
  • Catalyze the emergence of new Villages by assisting Village founders to develop planning groups in their own NW communities.
  • Provide Village planning groups with targeted coaching and tactical support at each stage of their Village’s development.
  • Fast track the Village creation process by sharing materials, resources, best practices and “lessons learned” among NW Villages.
  • Develop Villages NW into an effective regional resource, connecting all the grassroots Pacific Northwest Villages.
  • Serve as information central for the regional Village movement, publicizing NW Villages’ events, presentations, and programs open to the public.
  • Advocate on behalf of the NW Villages, locally, regionally & nationally.
  • Explore cost-savings and economy of scale efficiencies that can be achieved by collaboration among NW Villages.
  • Negotiate key strategic corporate and organizational partnerships and apply for funding on behalf of the NW Villages.
  • Establish a hub and spoke network model for Portland metro-area grassroots Villages, reducing costs, providing key organizational, HR, financial & administrative services, and eliminating the need for each Village to acquire its own 501(c).

OUR MISSION: “To create dynamic, intentionally inclusive, caring communities that connect, engage, and support older adults as they maintain active and purposeful lives.”

Brief History of Villages NW

Villages NW began life as Village PDX, a website that was created by Anne Andler and the Andler Resource Group and launched in October 2011.

Its original purpose was twofold: (1) to raise awareness of Villages and the Village Movement throughout the Portland metro-area and (2) to attract and bring together people who would be interested in developing a grassroots Village on Portland’s east side. However, since Anne knew that the Village PDX website would attract potential Village founders from far beyond their neighborhood, she quickly expanded their vision to include (3) helping to catalyze grassroots Villages throughout the metro-area and (4) sharing resources among developing Villages.

Eastside Village PDX has been the first of these grassroots Villages to take root locally. It is now taking members and providing serivces. Originally planned to be a stand-alone nonprofit, Eastside Village instead became the first member of the Villages NW Hub & Spoke Network.

Since Eastside Village officially opened to members in October 2015, Villages NW has grown from one Village with 30 members to 8 open Villages with 600 members and a comparable number of volunteers, of which half are members. Three additional Villages are on track to open in 2020.

The idea of transforming Village PDX into a nonprofit, that could function as the hub for the many grassroots Villages needed to serve the Portland metro-area, first emerged from conversations with local funders and nonprofits, who pointed out how inefficient it would be for each local Village to have to acquire its own 501(c)3. However, by developing a hub and spoke model, this problem could be avoided, while simultaneously expediting the speed of Village development and creating a cost-effective way to provide administrative and financial services for the Villages once open. Support for the hub & spoke model has also come from the national Village-to-Village Network, and we are indebted to them for the resources and support they have provided to help us flesh out this concept.

With the encouragement of a passionate and visionary Board, Villages NW filed its Oregon articles of Incorporation in Fall 2013, with founder Anne Andler functioning as Director. Villages NW was awarded 501c3 nonprofit status in 2014 and in Fall 2015 was chosen as the Best New Nonprofit by Portland Monthly magazine.

Villages NW’s Articles of Incorporation

Villages NW is registered as an Oregon public benefit corporation.  Our Oregon registry number is 96390290 and our EIN is 46-4190513.

Articles of Incorporation for Villages NW-Metro, d.b.a. “Villages NW”

The purpose or purposes for which this public benefit corporation is organized are as follows: Said corporation is organized exclusively for charitable, educational, and research  purposes, including, for such purposes, the making of distributions to organizations that qualify as exempt organizations under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or the corresponding section of any future federal tax code.

No part of the net earnings of the corporation shall inure to the benefit of, or be distributable to its  members, trustees, officers, or other private persons, except that the corporation shall be authorized  and empowered to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered and to make payments and  distributions in furtherance of the purposes set forth in the purpose clause hereof. No substantial part of the activities of the corporation shall be the carrying on of propaganda, or otherwise attempting to influence legislation, and the corporation shall not participate in, or intervene in (including the  publishing or distribution of statements) any political campaign on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for public office. Notwithstanding any other provision of these articles, the corporation shall not carry on any other activities not permitted to be carried on (a) by a corporation exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or the corresponding section of any future federal tax code, or (b) by a corporation, contributions to which are deductible  under section 170(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code, or the corresponding section of any future federal tax code.
 
Upon the dissolution of the corporation, assets shall be distributed for one or more exempt purposes within the meaning of section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, or the corresponding section of any future federal tax code, or shall be distributed to the federal government, or to a state or local government, for a public purpose. Any such assets not so disposed of shall be disposed of by a Court of Competent Jurisdiction of the county in which the principal office of the corporation is then located, exclusively for such purposes or to such organization or organizations, as said Court shall determine, which are organized and operated exclusively for such purposes.
 
The specific purposes of this corporation shall be to serve as a regional resource organization to promote the development of community-based networks of volunteer support, social activities, educational programs, and information & referral (“Villages”) to assist seniors and people with disabilities to safely, cost-effectively and sustainably age in their own homes and neighborhoods as long as possible; and to provide community education, outreach, shared information and resources, and the incubation and fiscal sponsorship of Villages throughout the Pacific NW region; and to develop new models for community-based collaboration and innovative public/private partnerships to enable seniors and people with disabilities to effectively age in place. This corporation is organized and operated exclusively for charitable, research and educational purposes within the meaning of 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.
 
For a copy of our Bylaws and IRS 990-N filings, please contact info@villagesnw.org.

 

 

 

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