October 7, 1999 | Read Time: 1 minute
The Volunteer Exchange of Santa Clara County is going public.
Taking a page from the playbook of the high-technology companies that dominate Silicon Valley, the San Jose, Cal., volunteer center is modeling its annual fund-raising campaign on an initial public offering. In the business world, an I.P.O. is the first public sale of stock in a company.
The Volunteer Exchange is offering donors the opportunity to buy what it describes as “stock in your community.” Common shares will cost $1 per share and be sold in increments of 50, and preferred stock will cost $5 per share, in increments of 100. As an acknowledgment of their gifts, donors will receive stock certificates.
“Thematically, it capitalizes on a very hot craze right now, the I.P.O. craze in Silicon Valley,” explains Callie Gregory, a board member of the Volunteer Exchange and chair of its fund-development committee. “But, it also has the added benefit of truly changing the way people view their investment and representing how we view donors as investors.”
The campaign’s original goal was $95,000, but after receiving $30,000 gifts from Applied Materials and the Intel Corporation before the campaign even began, the group increased the goal to $125,000, approximately 15 per cent of its annual budget of $800,000.
To get there: Go to http://www.volunteerexchange.org/buystock.
