We want to share what we have learned with others who would like to start an urban aging-in-place organization. We have very particular advantages:  our neighborhood has clear boundaries, and it is small enough so that one can walk from one end to the other.  We have a number of cafes and small restaurants where people can gather.  We have adequate public transportation.  But these circumstances were givens.  Here are what we believe were the essential decisions we made which allowed GNPS to grow and thrive.

Essential Decisions

1. We waited to start until we had a group of ten people who were interested in meeting regularly and taking on some of the tasks associated with setting up a non-profit corporation with an online presence and a bank account.  It took a few preliminary meetings before these ten emerged from a larger group.  One person can’t do this alone, and two or three people will soon be overstretched.

2. We decided to keep the membership fee low so that most people could join.  Our fee is $30 a year for an individual and $50 for a household and no one is turned away because of inability to pay.

3. We have no paid staff. We don’t have to spend our time raising money, writing grants, reporting to funders, or molding our activities to conform to a funder’s priorities.  Since we have to do the all of the work ourselves, we get to know each other in working relationships, so we feel a sense of agency and ownership.

4. We have a virtual office with a free Google telephone number. This keeps our overhead extremely low.

5. We applied for non-profit status and became a 501c3 organization, with a Board of Directors, bylaws, regular Board meetings and an Annual Meeting for the purpose of electing new Board members. This makes us official and legitimizes us in the community.  It also creates a structure to maintain the organization in the future. Membership dues are tax deductible.

6. We decided to use the Club Express software platform to build our website. It is cost efficient and easy to learn and automatically handles calendar event registrations, membership renewals, and all paperwork tasks. We did not ask someone to build a custom website, which would have meant that we would be dependent on that person for changes, updates and troubleshooting.

7. We prioritized having many and varied activities as a means for our members to meet those with similar interests. At our launch meeting, we asked what activities people would be interested in. Once people joined GNPS, we had a calendar of activities for them to register for. Members started suggesting and leading their own activities—folk singing, French conversation, Aging Transitions, etc.  We added informational sessions on health concerns, estate planning, downsizing and other matters of concern to our members. 

8. We conduct most of our activities in members’ homes. A home setting is warmer and more inviting than a meeting room (and we don’t need to spend money renting space). When COVID hit, we made sure our members learned how to use Zoom. Currently most of our activities are on Zoom, but we are slowly moving back to in-person events.

9. We advocate on issues of importance to our members. We have successfully advocated for an elevator to be installed at our subway station, benches to be placed along main shopping strips, and a senior fitness area to be built near us in Prospect Park. 

10. We formed partnerships with local organizations, institutions, businesses and elected officials. We work together to support advocacy goals. They make space available for large events that couldn’t take place in members’ homes and they provide speakers for our informational programming.

11. We joined the Village To Village Network, a nationwide organization that brings together aging-in-place villages to share information and best practices.