Interview by Carol Wright | Photos Courtesy of Matthew Morales
We got to chat with Briana Franklin founder of the Prosp(a)rity Project. A non-profit focused on empowering Black girls and women in the U.S. with tools for financial, professional/entrepreneurial, and holistic success.
Have you always been someone who wanted to create their own business venture or non-profit?
100%! I first learned the definition of “entrepreneur” as a grade schooler (somewhere around 8-10 years old), and still remember how strongly it resonated with me as a new concept. Quite some time later during my sophomore year of college, I came back around to the idea after reading an article about entrepreneurs who’d started some of the world’s most successful businesses without having an MBA, and that’s largely what I credit with lighting the spark—though I didn’t finally act on it until around three years after that.
What initially gave you the idea to start the Prosp(a)rity Project?
Prosp(a)rity Project started coming together upon the start of my undergraduate journey in 2013. It wasn’t the smoothest transition; I faced a steep learning curve and struggled to adjust to life (read: winter) in the northeast as an Atlanta native, which led to poor academic performance and ultimately rethinking my entire trajectory.
The following fall, while trying to pick up the pieces and map out my remaining years of college, I was overcome with all kinds of creative inspiration for things I wanted to accomplish. At that point, I re-fixated on the idea of entrepreneurship and even identified wanting to create an offering tailored toward helping Black girls/women specifically, but was told it was too narrow of a market, so I backed away for the time being.
The next stage of inspiration came after I graduated and entered the workforce. As an English major, I experienced the common trope of landing low-paying, and in my case, inconsistent income, since the only job opportunities I managed to successfully secure were contract and temp roles. With that element in place on top of owing upwards of $115,000 in student loan debt, courtesy of my pricey Ivy League degree, I became intimately familiar with the struggles of the now $1.6T crisis that affects the livelihoods of 44 million-plus Americans. The final piece came through having to indefinitely suspend my first venture, The English Major Takes Tech, and take on two part-time jobs to get back on track with student debt payments, which was such a disheartening experience.
Fast-forward to the spring of 2020; right as #BLM made a resurgence following the murders of Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and George Floyd, a longtime idol of mine at the time announced via Instagram that she was looking to hire more Black female talent to bring on her team, and I leaped at the chance, which led to us exchanging a few messages, and me ultimately coming up with the idea to do a survey that I could use to gather data for how to bring the most value to her brands.
As the survey responses came in, I quickly saw that I needed to go in a new direction and create a separate organization in its own right. The next day, I put the name The Prosperity Project to it (derived from one of my blog series, Pursuing Prosperity.) The final tweak came the day after that when I went to set up an Instagram account, but the handle was already taken, so I thought to mix it up by combining the words “prosperity” and “parity”, and boom—The Prosp(a)rity Project was born!
Tell us a bit about the Prosp(a)rity Project’s mission.
Our mission entails empowering Black girls and women in the U.S. with tools for financial, professional/entrepreneurial, and holistic success, which we’re focusing on currently through our signature program, the Economic Empowerment Initiative (EEI). With the EEI, we’re looking to transform the lives of our 22 inaugural Prosperettes (beneficiaries) by awarding them 100% student debt relief over the course of our 12-month program, along with ongoing financial coaching and career acceleration to create a widespread cycle of generationally wealthy/generous Black women.
At the end of their time in the program, they’ll be celebrated at a Juneteenth graduation ceremony and then move into the pay-it-forward stage, where they do so by sponsoring/mentoring a future Prosperette or volunteering with our organization.
What is the process for someone who wants to apply and become a Prosperette?
To be considered for admission into our EEI, a prospect is first required to complete our written application, which assesses educational background, student debt details (amount, lender(s)), personal and professional aspirations, and anticipated contribution as a beneficiary, among other factors.
Next, our team reviews the application to verify the prospect meets our qualifying criteria, which is as follows:
● Is Black/African-American
● Identifies as female
● Holds student debt issued through an accredited US lender/enrolled at an accredited US institution and
● Is in or has already completed their final year of any degree program they plan to pursue
From there, we set up an interview to get more familiar with their student debt/financial situation and a stronger sense of how our programming can help them achieve their career and personal aspirations. For this pilot cohort, all 22 applicants were able to move forward as Prosperettes, due to the small size of the group, but in the future, we anticipate we will have to make final selections if demand surpasses resources available.
In the beginning, what were some obstacles you faced when creating the Prosp(a)rity Project?
When I started this, I was completely new to the nonprofit space and moreover, someone who at one point swore that the not-for-profit sector wasn’t for me, so I surprised myself and hit a lot of learning curves getting going—the largest of which was working through the legalities.
I (very naively) thought that the 501(c)(3) acquisition process would be as simple as that of forming an LLC with a turnaround of just a few days or perhaps a month at longest, but after some research and a few eye-opening conversations, discovered that it would take several months, and with delays caused by COVID-19, potentially a year or so.
501(c)(3) status is what allows charitable donations to be 100% tax-deductible, and I knew that without it, we’d get virtually nowhere financially. So, I networked and spoke with those familiar with the nonprofit space—particularly with one individual who told me about fiscal sponsorship, which is when an existing 501(c)(3) essentially takes a non-(c)(3) official organization under its wing so to speak to grant the status in exchange for a percent of revenue. From there, he introduced us to the team at our now-fiscal sponsor organization, Players Philanthropy Fund, which helped us get past the hurdle in just a matter of months.
What advice do you have for others who want to start a non-profit?
I love this question so much because several of our Prosperettes have expressed interest in forming their own nonprofits, and I really value being in a position to pass on the expertise/insights I’ve gained from this journey thus far to help others avoid our mistakes.
My best piece of advice is: Know your “why” and commit to it. There’s a book called Start with Why by thought leader, Simon Sinek, and in it, he breaks down the importance of having a clear “why” and how it makes all the difference in helping an organization not just stand out, but achieve staying power.
To my incredibly pleasant surprise, as I read along, I realized I’d been following that exact guidance since starting Prosp(a)rity—and can 100% verify that it’s one of the best principles out there. When you start with “why” you’re more than likely end up setting your sights on something greater than the limitations of your own existence. That’s what allows for more organic creation of opportunities for and deepening impact in the lives of others. And that, I believe, is the spirit of nonprofit work in its purest form.