We recently connected with David Halvorson and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, David thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

Our foundation, started in 2020, is called the Windy Willow Foundation. It was started as an arm and extension of the original entity started in 2016. The original entity, Windy Willow Co. is a brand of clothing that began with a kickback program to American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Today, the brand supplements the foundation.

The problem we are trying to solve is access. Mental health service is underserved, thus, over priced and out of reach for many. Our goal is to fill that gap. The idea started during my college days, a time of self-discovery as well as identity crisis. We came up with the idea through, unfortunately, losing friends to suicide.

The foundation focuses on mental health awareness initiatives. Specifically, we provide access, advocacy and action for the betterment of awareness and also those seeking services. While still partnering with AFSP, the foundation created the Aid Program which was designed to impact local community on a more personal level. The Aid Program is a financial aid grant in which an individual, who is seeking mental health services, can apply for financial support. Our Aid Program is also multi-functional, servicing local communities, programs and initiatives.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

So I’m a financial advisor by day. My background is also in entrepreneurship, where I started my journey out of The Hatch at Michigan State University. The Hatch is a business incubator for students to come together and create ideas and businesses backed by resources and services through the MSU Network.

Take those supporting facts about me and put them in a blender. I’m a problem solver. When people ask me what my focus is, I like to say that I live in that gray area. The gray area is typically an underserved, overlooked or downright untouched area of an industry or service that (social) entrepreneurs attack. The gray area provides an opportunity to differentiate or create anew.

When we first started Windy Willow Co., the focus was trying to create a scalable business that provided value. The focus was always #1 value for a specific community and #2 a uniquely designed brand. As the years went on we created a cool brand. We created a cool storefront. We had a proceed kickback program to American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. We sold leisurewear clothes- beanies, hats, shirts, hoodies, etc. But I started to get the honest feeling that it just wasn’t enough. I often make the controversial statement and anybody can donate money, but you have to ask yourself does that actually help? Well sure it does. But does it actually help someone who has an itch to provide value back? No. Because anybody can do it.

*Enter nonprofit* In 2020 we had the idea to do a “full send”. I wanted to launch myself into the world of nonprofit and provide an affiliate entity of the brand that participated in community events, regular giving, advocacy, education and an overall initiative that was living and breathing. Now we had something. The nonprofit was our approach to fulfill the three A’s: action, access and advocacy around mental health.

Today our Aid Program is a fund that helps support some amazing initiatives. Before year end we will have done two back to back years of campaigns with American Foundation for Suicide Prevention for their Circle of Hope program. The fund was also created to accept applications from those seeking financial aid for mental health services. We will also have worked with local facilities benefiting benevolent funds, children’s mental health initiatives, and work towards building our Advocacy Network. Our advocacy Network is an idea to put wind in our sails. Essentially, it’s a movement to keep advocacy around education, our support for applicants, supporting our fund from donors, and discovery of new gray areas in a dynamic setting.

Windy Willow Co. is our brand side to the whole entity that creates a “pull attraction” to our nonprofit arm. It’s a new-school way of marketing nonprofit and actually being excited about the value we represent.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

To me, growth can be consistent with branding. There’s two parts to how we’ve grown so far. The first idea was something called reverse marketing. Create the following, launch the “product”. We started the brand first and grew a small following, familiarizing those individuals with our general values. And then we dropped the nonprofit. Immediately our small following showed tremendous support.

Our second growth initiative, was cultivating the community-event following. We host a number of events between metro Detroit and Grand Rapids. These events attract people, personalities and businesses. In hosting these events the goal is to always strongly represent the value of the nonprofit. Articulate to the audience what initiatives the foundation has its hands in. Reiterate what we do. Promote the values of mental health and show vulnerability and what we could use help with. When you speak to communities of people about these things in a very honest way, you attract more resources.

Again, i’ve mentioned before that nonprofit is such a cool way to act on a solution to something that is broken in society. We want to effectively find more people that like our solution.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

I love this question. First because it’s extremely difficult over a period of time. Everyone’s excited at first, which can wear off as the months go on, so it’s important to maintain a level of expectation, excitement and goalsetting. Now I’m definitely not the best at this but what I have learned in managing a team is as follows.

1) Love on your people. That might sound a little cringy. Continuously showing your people that you care creates trust and bond.
2)Ask the right questions. Being the leader isn’t always about setting the goals and telling people what they should be doing. Most of the time the best leaders are asking the right questions and leading their people to answer on their own. I also like to think that in asking the right questions you start to understand how your people work, therefore, you can put them in an environment where they flourish the most as opposed to putting them in a capacity they don’t want to be in.
3)Group goalsetting. Regular calls to discuss the open ended conversations creates a system of inclusiveness.
4)Always refer to the business and nonprofit as “We”. Because it is “We”.
5)Keep it simple. Especially for volunteers or people who don’t have as much time as others, creating simple expectations is an efficient way to get things done on a more consistent basis.
6)Reaffirm why you started. Reminding and reminiscing on the purpose for why you’re doing what you’re doing helps reaffirm those goals in the long run.

Contact Info:

• Website: windywillowfoundation.org
• Instagram: windywillowcousa
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/windywillowcousa
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/windywillow/