Looking Back At 6 Months with WAVE
WAVE was founded 6 months ago, and we, as the founders, are so thrilled with the progress made. Did we accomplish a ton or make the most amount of money? No, we did not. But, what we didn’t make up for in events and income, we made up for with a steady foundation that will help up build something that will last.
In our first 2 months, we prioritized setting up a stable communication and meeting system that our small founding team could easily work with around their schedule. There are only 3 of us at WAVE currently, and so things took time to do, especially when also working full-time jobs to maintain our own lives while we build WAVE. During these first couple of months, we also worked towards a 501(c)3 nonprofit status from the IRS. This didn’t come until closer to May, but we were still able to accomplish that step!
After achieving that, we started building a brand image and started developing a social media following. We believe that social media is an important key to unlock understanding of our purpose from the general public, a great gateway to potential partnerships, and even revenue opportunities. So far, as of this writing, our TikTok page seems to be growing as we’ve nearly doubled our follower count since beginning in April 2025.
We had several key victories in our event launches, with our first fundraiser with Duck Donuts in Woodbury and an art auction at the end of the year. Financially, we brought in $250 these first 6 months, but due to our current status as a startup without having done a full year yet, our capacity for grant funding is small!
We’ve also built community events designed to support our community and bring people closer together within nature! Owen, one of our founders, led a great nature walk in October, sharing fun facts about plants and even sharing foraging techniques! Grace, our other founder and professional mermaid, was invited as a mermaid to the opening of a high school play in Farmington to celebrate the kids and their play! It was so great seeing the kids of Farmington High School shine on stage and Mermaid Neveah was able to swim by for some photo ops with the kids!
There is still a lot to do for WAVE but we are now coming into our first FULL year as a nonprofit! Therefore, we feel it’s only right to share some of our New Year's Goals with all of you today!
On the financial side, WAVE aims to raise at least $10,000 by the end of the year to cover the costs of scuba equipment needed for our Underwater Classroom. Getting $40,000 would mean we could launch the program sooner!
To help us with this financial goal, our amazing contracted artist is working towards an amazing merchandise line designed to mix whimsy with science! Continue to follow up to learn more about this Merch Line and when it will be completed!
In terms of community, Owen will again be bringing science and education to community members through WAVE’s CTIs (Community Teach-Ins), which will be free workshops for people to attend and learn about environmental issues and conservation!
On the science and conservation side of the company, we are putting more focus into conservation this year and ramping up our nature clean-ups, which are free to attend!
Lastly, WAVE would like to host our first education workshops in classrooms this year and really bring STEM into Minnesota schools that may not have the funding for STEM programs!
2025 was great, but 2026 will be a year for hard work, dedication, and community! We are so excited to be going into this new year with supporters, and we cannot wait to show you what we have in store! If you are curious about what WAVE’s next few years are going to look liike we encourage you to check out our Strategic Plan for 2026-2028 to get the full picture.
Thank you all for your support, and we will see you next year! Happy 2026!
