There are a number of ways to get involved in the project, including financial support, through this long and challenging pre-development phase. Thus far, the founder has contributed over $100,000 of her personal savings. The Kickstarter community has added $41,000 with friends and family adding an additional $35,000.
We have a long way to go. We are in the process of establishing a sister non-profit so that these types of contributions can be tax deductible. However, for the time being, these are considered gifts because you believe in the project.
Other volunteer opportunities are below. Don’t let the money scare you. We really need your help at any level.
We are looking to fill some intern and pro-bono roles so please email if you are interested in helping out.
We have a lot of hard work to do that requires a genuine time commitment of both on or off site hours. Coordination of these times is flexible. We welcome students and retirees.
Project Manager
Help us keep track of all this stuff. Help us align our goals with the tasks we need to do to achieve them and work with the rest of the team to find people to help move things forward. This is for someone with a lot of project management exoerience who just wants something fun to do on the side. This could evolve into an operational role in the future if we work well together and the interest is there. 6-8 to 8 hours a week.
Project Management Coordinator
This is a very hand’s on execution role to help the project manager get things done. You will control our calendar, our status updates, and contribute to the overall organization of the project. This is for someone who LOVES details and organizing stuff. 8 to 10 hours per week.
Social Media (Facebook, Twitter)
If you are already using facebook and Twitter a lot and are knowledgeable about things happening in Detroit and interested in things happening in hotels, come play with us. We need daily updates with pictures and video. We also need you to attend our bigger events and make sure people that aren’t here know what we are up to. 8 hours per week.
Graphic Designer
We need someone dedicated to helping us process images and make graphics for our blog, social media, and occasional presentation materials. We need a photoshop and illustrator wiz who can understand our current identity and work with our lead designer to evolve it. Great for someone interested in visual brand development work who can start off running with solid production skills. Typically 4 to 6 hours per week but some may be heavier. We will mutually agree as the occasion arises.
Blogger
Our blog needs attention! If you love to write and can commit to 3 to 4 blog posts a week, ideally more, we want to talk to you. These posts aren’t just about events, but blogs about our progress, calls for help, and highlighting interesting and relevant projects and events in Detroit, or related in some way to our hotel and storytelling. This is a fun role for someone who wants to get into editorial. We will work together to come up with a strategy. 6 to 8 hours per week
Communications & PR (Press Releases and Newsletters)
We need to get better at updating our huge support base, which means we need a newsletter to go out every two weeks and an occasional press release. While we do have PR experts “in the family” that can help with the nuts and bolts of writing press releases, we need someone who can help coordinate that. We also need you to update our contact database weekly which should just take 15 minutes or so. Strong writing skills are essential. 4 to 6 hours per week.
Volunteer Coordinator
Many people want to help with both First Container and Collision Works and we need help getting them into the right roles. This person will meet with potential volunteers, and match them with projects we have going on. They will work closely with the project Management Coordinator to find people for specific tasks. 6 to 8 hours per week.
Event Coordinator
First Container will continue to host events and activities to engage people around storytelling. We need someone interested in continuing to build our community relationships, find suitable partners for events, and coordinate this with the social media and blog team. 10 hours a week.
Land Sale Coordinator
This is a great role for someone interested in real estate development and city processes. We still have a few steps to close on our land deal and need someone to help keep this part moving forward. It will involve coordinating with surveyors, the architect and construction team, filing paperwork with the city, and tracking down associated officials. 3 to 4 hours per week.
Fundraising (3 projects)
- Grant identification and applications – 4 hours a week
- Organize a black tie gala and one or two smaller campaigns – 8 to10 hours a week
- Work with our steering committee to research city, state, and national tools for financing (available loans, partnerships, grants, for real estate and community development) – 8 to10 hours a week
Direct Public Offering Research & Coordination (Community Finance, 2-3 people)
In addition to traditional financing we will be integrating community financing through interest bearing bank notes. This is a form of crowd funding though unlike kickstarter where people essentially “donate” our investors will get a return on their investment over time.
- We need to create materials to inform people of our plan (which will include some research) – 8 hours a week
- Help the web team get that content online – 2 hours a week
- Coordinate a “road show” to visit local churches, schools, organizations to find supporters and investors. – 6 hours per week
This is a big project on the cutting edge of finance and perfect for those who want to get deeper into the field of community finance.
Program Development & Community Outreach (two people)
Help develop the strategy for integrating storytelling into the hotel experience. How will we engage the community? Who should we build partnership relationships with? What are the different tactics for delivering stories? This will be an iterative process with mutually agreed upon deliverables. We need one person with strategy experience and one intern to help execute. – 8 to 12 hours per week each
Hospitality Research
Keep the team up to date on innovations in hospitality and a who’s who locally, nationally, and internationally in the unique boutique hotel space. Follow blogs, dig up statistics, show us pretty pictures, and help keep us informed on the industry. Deliverables will be a weekly summary report (less than two pages, ideally, one page) and a blog update. 6 to 8 hours per week
Kickstarter Rewards
We need to get a bunch of stuff coordinated for our kickstarter campaign last spring. We are woefully behind and need help gathering the stuff and sending it out. This is probably 40 hours of work that could be spread over several weeks. We have the lists already of who gets what, so it’s more a matter of getting our artists to finish their pieces and getting it sent off.
General Volunteer
We always need people to help out with our prototype First Container and special events. If you would like to be involved in a less formal way that is just as important to keeping this all going let us know and we will get you on our general volunteer list.
Please email if you are interested in helping out.