Editor’s Note: Our Military Community Resource Spotlight is an Q&A that provides information about organizations who serve military spouses and their families. The purpose is to connect military spouses with available resources designed to help them thrive in military life.
This week’s military community resource spotlight is Milspo Project.
Military Community Resource Spotlight: Milspo Project
Year Established: 2014
What’s the mission of Milspo Project?
Milspo Project is on a mission to help 10,001 military spouses launch, grow, and achieve sustainability in their businesses by 2024.
The organization was founded in 2014, and provides digital resources, along with virtual and in-person business events for future and present military spouse entrepreneurs.
What services does your organization offer military spouses?
We have two levels of membership: Incubator and Accelerator.
Incubator members are military spouses who are pursuing the idea of entrepreneurship. They may be freelancers, direct marketers, side hustlers, or working for other organizations and haven’t yet stepped out on their own.
Our Accelerator membership is for business owners with an established EIN number, who have committed to starting a business for themselves, or are already a business owner.
Both groups cater to the military spouses’ stage of entrepreneurship, and the two communities often combine at our in-person and virtual business events.
Membership to Milspo Project can include (based on your level of membership):
- A 24/7/365 community network of military spouse entrepreneurs
- Virtual workshops with entrepreneurial leaders and subject matter expert facilitators
- Ask Me Anythings with entrepreneurial leaders and business tool/platform builders
- Business workbooks
- Business Book Club
- Discounted pricing to in-person and virtual events including our Gather networking events, Milspo Project Live! mini-conferences and Restore entrepreneur retreat
How does your organization specifically meet the needs of today’s military family?
To actually make a dent in the staggering levels of underemployment, and bring meaningful work opportunities back to military spouses everywhere, with careers, rather than low-skill/low-wage jobs, Milspo Project’s team realized that the adaptable nature of entrepreneurship solved many of these problems.
The mission is clear: getting business and leadership resources into the hands of spouses to help them reach career satisfaction and professional potential through entrepreneurship.
Our model of access, community, and accountability is helping military spouses leverage their existing skills by integrating them into their business offerings, build a business they love, and have an opportunity to contribute to their family’s financial and future well-being.
A strong military family of the future starts with a fulfilled military spouse.
What does your organization do differently than any other military community organization or resource?
Milspo Project takes an innovative approach to fundraising and programming.
We are a virtual organization with members spread out across the United States and OCONUS, which means we need to be thoughtful about how we build our community.
What is special about Milspo Project, is no matter where you are you can participate in our resources, or download them and view them later in our member library.
We take a similar approach to fundraising, which can be seen in projects like our Amaryllis Backpack. It is just as much about raising awareness about all military spouses, as it is about the funds for us.
Hear the story behind the creation of the Milspo Project’s amaryllis backpack on Episode 81 of the Happy Hour podcast.
We put the military spouse first in all things we do. When you are serving veterans, or the military family as a whole, this can sometimes be hard to do.
What is your most underutilized program/service?
Our most underutilized program is our Business Book Club.
Those who participate love it, but it is a huge time commitment for members to commit eight to 12 hours of their month reading.
Related: Our Favorite Associations For Working Military Spouses
Anything else you’d like our readers to know about your organization?
Our organization welcomes military spouses regardless of station and duty status.
For more information about Milspo Project, connect with them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Does your nonprofit organization serve military spouses? We would love to tell your story and help you connect with military spouses. Complete NextGen MilSpouse’s Military Community Resource Spotlight Questionnaire today.
