Every Organization Shouldn't Have to Build
Everything Alone
New Roots is a nonprofit incubator helping communities build shared infrastructure they actually own and control.
The Absurd Problem
Every nonprofit in your city has a volunteer management system. Every small business tracks inventory. Every community group manages events. They're all building the same things, separately, badly, with money they don't have.
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Enterprise "solutions" are priced for Fortune 500 companies.
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Designed to require expensive consultants, creating permanent dependencies.
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Extracting value from organizations trying to create value, not support it.
Twenty organizations shouldn't build twenty broken systems when they could own one good one together.
Wasted Resources.
Infrastructure as Commons, Not Service
Community-Owned Systems
New Roots incubates systems using principles that worked for credit unions and rural electric cooperatives: shared ownership, local control, community benefit.
Learn moreNot Software-as-a-Service
When organizations share infrastructure, they're not customers—they're co-owners. They control their own data and keep value in their community.
This Isn't Charity
We create jobs for people in your community to build and maintain shared systems. Market-rate employment, not volunteer exploitation.
Not Our Platform
We help communities build their own infrastructure, document what works, and encourage replication. Success is every community having their own version.
Creating Jobs That Can't Be Outsourced
When communities own their infrastructure together, they need local people to maintain it. Not corporate consultants flying in from Silicon Valley.
Infrastructure Coordinators
Configure shared systems for multiple organizations, ensuring seamless operation.
Cross-Domain Experts
Provide specialized knowledge that serves entire communities, bridging gaps.
Community Technicians
Keep systems running and accessible, ensuring everyone can utilize shared tools.
Resource Optimizers
Ensure tools serve human needs, not just metrics, aligning tech with community values.
These jobs can't be outsourced—they're about local relationships. They can't be eliminated—someone has to maintain community infrastructure. They're the connective tissue.
See the jobs we're creatingHow Shared Infrastructure Works
Traditional Approach
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20 nonprofits each spend $15,000/year on separate donor management systems.
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None of them work well, none talk to each other.
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$300,000 leaves the community annually.
New Roots Approach
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Those 20 nonprofits pool resources to build ONE system they all own.
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They hire 3 local people to maintain it.
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Keep $250,000 circulating locally.
It's the difference between renting from a landlord and owning your home with others.
The Living Ratio: Work That Works for Humans
We structure employment around human sustainability, not maximum extraction: 4 hours focused work / 4 hours learning & development / 16 hours life
This isn't arbitrary—research shows productivity peaks at 4-5 hours of focused work. Beyond that, we're just performing productivity theater. When organizations share infrastructure costs, they can afford humane employment.
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When you're sick, you don't "owe" hours back.
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When you're learning skills that benefit the collective, that's paid time.
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When life happens, systems have redundancy built in.
Productivity
Real Examples, Real Impact
The "Cascade Effect" shows how one shared system can spark a chain reaction of community growth and new opportunities.
The Cascade Effect
Local Food Bank implements shared inventory system
- Frees up 15 hours/week of staff time
- Expands meal program, needs 2 more cooks
- Partners with Youth Employment Program
→ Creates 4 training positions
- Graduates start Community Catering Collective
- Needs shared commercial kitchen scheduling
- Creates maintenance and coordination jobs
Each improvement enables the next. Each job creates more jobs. Each success makes the next one easier.
Who This Is For
Organizations Ready to Stop Competing
When ten nonprofits fight for the same grants to build the same systems, everyone loses. When they pool resources for shared infrastructure, everyone wins.
Communities Tired of Value Extraction
Every dollar spent on Silicon Valley subscriptions leaves your community forever. Infrastructure you own keeps wealth local.
People Who Want to Build What Should Exist
The coordination infrastructure for thriving communities isn't complicated. It just hasn't been built because there's no IPO in building things people actually own.
What We're Building Together
Phase 1: Basic Coordination (Current)
- Volunteer management
- Resource scheduling
- Event coordination
- Inventory tracking
Phase 2: Advanced Systems
- Grant application collaboration
- Compliance tracking
- Impact measurement
- Community asset mapping
Phase 3: Economic Infrastructure
- Local procurement networks
- Skill sharing systems
- Community investment pools
- Cooperative support structures
Each phase builds on the previous, creating increasingly sophisticated community-owned infrastructure.
See the roadmapWhy a Private Nonprofit Corporation?
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Private: We choose partners based on readiness and alignment, not whoever shows up.
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Nonprofit: No shareholders, no exits, no extraction—ever.
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Corporation: Legal clarity, operational sophistication, proper employment.
We're not building a platform to sell. We're building infrastructure to share. The legal structure ensures it stays that way.
Read about our structureFor the Commons
This Isn't Revolutionary. It's Obvious.
We're applying proven models to the coordination infrastructure every organization needs.
Credit Unions
Proved community-owned financial infrastructure works better—$2.2 trillion in assets serving members, not shareholders.
Rural Electric Co-ops
Showed communities can build critical infrastructure—900+ co-ops serving 42 million people corporate utilities wouldn't.
Wikipedia
Demonstrated shared knowledge beats corporate gatekeeping—6.7 million articles through collective effort, not employed experts.
Join Us in Building What Should Already Exist
For Organizers
Connect organizations ready to share rather than compete. Your coalition-building creates the foundation for everything else.
For Operations Experts
Design workflows that respect human limits while serving community needs. Your systems prove efficiency doesn't require exploitation.
For Financial Strategists
Structure resource pooling that's transparent and sustainable. Your frameworks enable long-term community ownership.
For Builders
Create the actual tools and systems communities need. Your work becomes the infrastructure others depend on.
For Everyone
Start where you are—an hour monthly, Tuesday evenings, weekend mornings. As shared infrastructure generates savings, employment opportunities expand.
Get involvedThe Choice Is Simple
Keep paying forever for systems you'll never own, that don't talk to each other, that extract value from your community.
OR build infrastructure together that you own, control, and benefit from—creating local jobs while solving real problems.
This isn't about disruption. It's about building what makes sense.