Founder Files | Issue 2

Why We Started a Nonprofit — and What Keeps Us in It

By Two Registered Nurses turned Nonprofit Co-leaders

We didn’t set out to start a nonprofit.
We set out to create something that didn’t exist.

We were working in maternal health spaces as Registered Nurses, birth workers, and trusted community care providers. We saw the same gaps over and over:

• Families falling through cracks right after giving birth

• Birth workers doing sacred work with no pay or support

• Cultural knowledge and lived experience being dismissed by the system

• Community members asking for care that didn’t fit in the box of “billable services”
  

We were showing up. Listening. Holding space. And we realized: if we wanted care to be consistent, sustainable, equitable, and community-led — we couldn’t just keep volunteering, patching, or waiting.

So we built a nonprofit.

Not because it was glamorous. Not because it was easy. But because we needed infrastructure to hold the vision.

What called us in

Before we were nonprofit co-leaders, we were Registered Nurses.
We were in hospital rooms, clinical rotations, and community clinics — often the only ones slowing down long enough to notice something was wrong.

For each of us, the spark was slightly different — but the pattern was the same.
We wanted to be present at the most powerful transitions in people’s lives.
We wanted to protect their peace, amplify their voice, and offer support that didn’t come with a pager or a policy.

One of us sat beside a young mother whose concerns were brushed off for hours — until she hemorrhaged.
One of us watched a patient explain over and over again that they didn’t feel safe — and still be discharged.

We weren’t just witnessing poor care.
We were witnessing a system that treated some bodies as disposable.

Birth work gave us a way to respond.
A way to heal, hold, and advocate — not just react.

And over time, we realized: to make this response sustainable, trusted, and rooted in community — we needed more than one-on-one support.
We needed structure. We needed systems we could design.
We needed to build something of our own.

The system didn’t fail because it lacked services. It failed because it lacked trust.

We started this nonprofit to rebuild that trust — one relationship at a time, and with structure that could hold real support.

We wanted families to have doulas and diapers.
Peer counselors and policy advocates.
Care that honored their story — and stayed with them beyond the hospital walls.

And we wanted the people doing this work to have:

• Pay

• Benefite

• Voice

• Respect
  
  
  

Our nonprofit was built out of urgency — but sustained by vision.

What keeps us in it

Starting a nonprofit is one thing. Staying in it? That’s something else entirely.

What keeps us going is simple — but powerful.

1. The people.
We still know the names of the families who’ve texted us in the middle of the night. The birth workers who kept showing up, even when no one was funding them. The parents who told us, “This is the first time I’ve felt seen.”

We’re accountable to them — not just the IRS or a grant deadline.

2. The team.
We didn’t build this alone. We built it with a team that believes in care as power. Our staff, board, and partners don’t just work here — they shape this.

3. The vision.
We don’t just want to fill gaps. We want to build something different:
Community-rooted care that isn’t temporary, performative, or dependent on one charismatic founder.
We want something built to last.

Why a nonprofit — and not a business, program, or project?

We asked ourselves that, too.

Here’s why the nonprofit structure made sense for us:

• We wanted to center mission over profit, always.

• We needed access to grant funding to reach people who couldn’t pay out of pocket.

• We wanted to build a community org, not a personality brand.

• We saw the need for policy change, not just private practice.
  
  
  

That structure came with trade-offs. It meant navigating compliance, reporting, and boards. It meant slower growth sometimes.

But it gave us legitimacy — and infrastructure — in spaces where we were once sidelined.

We used the structure not to limit us, but to protect what we were building.

What we’re still learning

We’re still learning how to lead without burning out.
How to grow without diluting.
How to raise money while staying grounded in our values.
How to say no — even to good things — to stay focused on the right things.

We didn’t go to school for this. But we’ve learned from every mistake, every grant report, every debrief, every parent who said, “thank you for listening.”

And we’ve learned that nonprofits don’t have to look like systems.
They can look like us.

Our invitation to you

If you’ve been dreaming about building something that doesn’t exist yet — we see you.

It’s okay to start small. To be unsure. To lead imperfectly.

You don’t have to wait for perfect timing, full funding, or the “right” credentials.

You need:

• Vision

• Integrity

• Community

• Support
  
  
  
  

We hope Founder Files helps you find a little more of that.

📥 Free Download: Why I Started This Work – Reflection Worksheet (DOCX) Use it to reconnect with your story — or explore whether building something is your next right step.

🗣️ Share your why with us. What made you say yes to leading — and what helps you stay?