About Help Now!

In January 2004, our founder and executive director Larry Kahn conceived the idea of forming an organization that, on an individual case-by-case basis, would speak up and advocate for those in our society least equipped to do so for themselves and without the funds to pay someone else to do it for them. . . Read The Help Now!Story.

Our Management Team
Click on the name of each person to access that person's biography:

Laurence M. Kahn, Executive Director

Our Board of Directors
Click on the name of each person to access his or her biography:

John Statler, President
Casey Murdock, Secretary
David R. Gilmour
William A. Mansfield
James C. Roemer
Laurence M. Kahn (advisory)
Jennifer Womack (advisory)

Our Funding

Help Now! is organized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Service as a public benefit, publicly supported non-profit corporation. We are organized under the laws of the State of Oregon as a non-profit corporation.

Because we are organized in this manner, all of our funding is received from donations, fundraising events, and grants. The grants may be from corporate foundations, private foundations, or government. We do not charge our clients any fee for our services.

Since our inception in 2004, we have received both cash and in-kind contributions from numerous individuals including from some of our clients or their family members who wanted to contribute to the organization because of the assistance we had provided. Although most of our individual contributors live locally in the Rogue Valley of Oregon, some live elsewhere in the country having heard about our organization and its work through the media, through our website, or through their personal contacts. In addition to individual contributions, we have received donations from both local and national businesses. Some of the national businesses from which we have received support to date include Wal*Mart Foundation, Federal Express, Target, Costco, Safeway Foods, Albertson's, Intuit, Iris Software, and Office Depot. We also have received grants from local governmental entities including the cities of Ashland, Oregon and Medford, Oregon as well as, on the county level, from Jackson County, Oregon.

Beyond donations and grants as sources of revenue, during 2005 we sponsored a very successful horseback riding fundraiser, "Hoof It for Help Now!", and participated in several others. We plan to build on our 2005 success with the Hoof It event by expanding it in future years to include a hike--"Hike It for Help Now!"-- besides the horseback riding. Likewise, we will continue to participate in other fundraisers in future years as appropriate opportunities present themselves.

Our Clients

We will eventually be linked to current reports from the database we are in the process of establishing so that anyone visiting our website will be able to review up-to-date statistics on the demographics of the client population we have served. It is likely that the number of facets of client demographics presented here will expand once our database is operational.

Click to see the Report on Client Demographics as of February 2008.

Our Clients' Comments

We have received comments from our clients about what we have accomplished for them and about the service we have provided them. This list of comments will continue change over time in order to remain current.

Click to see the Client Comments as of November 2006.

Our Performance

This page will eventually be linked current reports from the database we are in the process of establishing so that anyone visiting our website will be able to review up-to-date statistics on the types of client matters we have handled and our performance results. It is likely that the number of facets of our performance will expand once our database is operational.

Click to see the Report on Performance as of February 2008.

Our Newsletters

We distribute electronic newsletters on a periodic basis to update our supporters and others in the community about our organization. To read any of these, please click on its link below.

Our Expansion Plans

Help Now! is located in Jackson County, Oregon, and the vast majority of clients served to date have been residents that county. A five-year business plan has been created for Help Now! The plan provides for deliberate and staged growth of the organization as follows:

First, Help Now! will become fully operational having its own office space, equipment, and furniture as well as a staff fully trained to handle client matters. Office forms and procedures will be put into place and tested for effectiveness in anticipation of an expanding volume of clients. Problems that surface in day-to-day operations or in the manner in which advocacy is handled will be addressed while the number of clients being served at one time is still relatively low.

Second, key positions currently held by volunteers will gradually be turned into paid positions. This change will occur at times when it is clear that the paid position(s) can be funded for the long term and that adding them will not financially jeopardize the mission of Help Now! in any way.

Third, Help Now! will grow through program outreach initiatives. These initiatives will involve devoting staff and other resources towards serving a particular segment of Help Now!'s focus population (e.g. disabled persons who are mentally ill). Channels of referrals will be cultivated and refined, and advocates will receive more substantive training on how to address the problems of that particular segment of Help Now!'s focus population. We expect to receive grant funding to assist us in initiating this facet of our expansion plans.

Fourth, after it has demonstrated a track record of success in Jackson County, Help Now! will expand to other geographic areas by replicating its model. The business plan anticipates that there will be local management and boards of directors in other geographic areas but that these groups will become part of the umbrella organization linked by executive directors and board representatives on an oversight board. Appropriate quality control measures will be implemented to assure the requisite degree of professionalism and performance throughout the organization.