Proportionate to our size, and honest about what is not here yet.
One run
150+ is the figure we plan an outreach around, not a count. Counts will be published on Our impact, from approved records.
Each person may receive approximately:
What goes out depends on inventory, individual need, weather and the number of people we meet. Calories depend on brands, flavors, serving sizes, availability and substitutions.
The supply value above is an estimated replacement cost — what those supplies would cost to buy at current quantities and retail prices — not necessarily what Not By Chance spends from its account on any given outreach.
A recent supply calculation: sandwich supplies $108.66, drinks $263.60, other food and snacks $538.48, and food storage and distribution bags and related supplies $72.80. Food and beverages alone were approximately $910.74 — at 150 people, approximately $6.07 a person, or approximately $6.56 with the bags counted in.
Individuals, businesses, organizations and community partners routinely give food, beverages, clothing, hygiene products and other outreach supplies, and what is given can substantially reduce what we have to buy. Donated supplies are not guaranteed: no contract promises a set quantity for any outreach, donations rise and fall from one run to the next, and whatever is short must be purchased or sourced elsewhere.
Community donations help make this work possible. Some supplies are donated, while others must be purchased. Because donations, attendance, prices, and needs change from one outreach to the next, our actual out-of-pocket cost varies. These figures illustrate the approximate resources required to conduct a typical outreach and should not be interpreted as a fixed expense every two weeks.
Food is one part of a run. When available, we also provide or distribute socks, underwear, hygiene supplies, clothing, shoes, tents, blankets, sleeping bags, seasonal supplies, harm-reduction supplies and other necessities, and excess supplies routinely go on to established camps and to people with greater immediate needs. Fuel and mileage, monthly storage, insurance and other outreach supplies are costs of their own; none of them is in the $983.54.
Not By Chance is entirely volunteer-run. Nobody is paid, and that includes the board and everyone in a leadership role. Every dollar donated goes back into the work — supplies, and the things that make outreach possible, like storage and other immediate operating needs. No salaries are paid. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
You can check our status yourself in the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search (opens in a new tab) by searching our EIN, 41-3276459. We have not yet published a Form 990 or an annual report here. When there is one to publish, it will be on this page.
What each approved outreach actually recorded is in the outreach history.
We publish a short summary after each board meeting: when it met, what it discussed, and what it decided. We do not publish raw minutes, and personnel, legal and individual client matters stay private.
No board summary has been published yet. The process exists — a summary is written, read and approved by somebody other than whoever wrote it, and only then published — but nothing has been through it, and there is nothing here we would be willing to invent.
Rather than line-by-line income and expenses, we publish what recurs each month, and will add broad funding sources, what was spent on the mission, and annual filings when they exist.
No income or expense totals are published yet, and storage is the only recurring cost published so far. What one outreach takes in supplies is above — an estimated supply value, not necessarily what was paid for it. Rather than claim more, this page says so.
Not By Chance, Inc. has bylaws and a conflict-of-interest policy, adopted by its board.
Not By Chance, Inc. is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Our EIN is 41-3276459. That is the number to look us up by, and the one a donor needs to claim a deduction.