WHAT IF WE WENT LOOKING FOR WHAT AMERICA KNOWS?
Find America is a 90-day Find Your Mentor expedition across the United States — up to 10 crews traveling the country to discover the people, skills, stories, communities and wisdom that deserve to be found.
We are not setting out to tell America what it is.
We are going to listen.
To the farmer. The teacher. The mechanic. The grandmother. The veteran. The craftsman. The entrepreneur. The artist. The young person building something new. Indigenous communities and knowledge keepers. The people preserving traditions. And the people quietly creating what comes next.
People whose knowledge may never make the headlines — but whose experience, wisdom and stories are part of what America really is.
Everybody has something to teach.
Everybody has something to learn.
THE JOURNEY
The expedition begins in Warrensburg, New York, in the Adirondacks.
From there, we plan to travel first to Sunray Peace Village in Vermont, where the journey and caravans will receive a ceremonial blessing before the crews head out across the country.
From there, we begin looking.
Our proposed route will take us through places that have shaped America's story — from the places where the nation's founding ideals were debated and declared, to rural communities, Native lands, great cities, small towns, farms, workshops, cultural landmarks and places most travelers simply pass by.
But this isn't a tour with every answer already programmed into a GPS.
The road itself is part of the discovery.
Communities will be able to invite us in.
People can recommend someone we need to meet.
A conversation may lead us to another town, another Mentor, another story.
A discovery may change where we go next.
The journey will help determine the journey.
OUR FULL FUNDING GOAL: $1.1 MILLION
We are budgeting Find America conservatively and responsibly.
A 90-day national expedition involving up to 10 RV crews, thousands of miles of travel, documentary production, technology, safety, communications, community gatherings and a central support operation contains variables that cannot be predicted perfectly months in advance.
Rather than build this campaign around best-case assumptions, we are planning for the realities of the road.
$850,000 — UP TO 10 EXPEDITION CREWS
We are budgeting up to $85,000 per crew for the full 90-day expedition.
Each crew allocation may support:
- RV rental or long-term vehicle lease
- Rental insurance, fees and mileage
- Fuel
- Campgrounds and overnight stays
- Food and provisions
- Connectivity and communications
- Local transportation, parking and tolls
- Equipment and expedition supplies
- Repairs, maintenance and roadside assistance
- Experiences, admissions and local discovery
- Emergency and flexibility reserves
- A $15,000 participation honorarium per crew
That honorarium is our way of recognizing the extraordinary commitment the participating creators, experts and expedition members are making.
They are contributing approximately three months of their lives, their time, their skills, their audiences, their energy and their creativity to help make Find America possible.
Crew funding is an expedition operating allocation, not simply personal compensation.
Actual allocations remain subject to funds raised, crew participation, sponsorships and final operational requirements.
$100,000 — FIND YOUR MENTOR EXPEDITION HQ
A 10-crew national expedition needs a central team keeping everything moving.
The FYM Expedition HQ budget supports:
- Expedition management
- Crew coordination and communication
- Master documentary production
- Video and photography
- Editing and content production
- Marketing and PR
- Technology and the live expedition map
- Livestream and digital infrastructure
- Operational logistics
- Node and community support
- Administration, accounting and professional services
Find America is not simply 10 RVs traveling independently.
There is an entire infrastructure behind the road that allows the expedition to function as one connected national story.
$50,000 — CENTRAL CONTINGENCY & EMERGENCY RESERVE
The road will surprise us.
This reserve exists for unexpected realities such as:
- major vehicle issues
- emergency travel
- route changes
- severe weather
- equipment failure
- replacement crew logistics
- safety requirements
- unexpected production costs
- community opportunities that require us to adapt
We are intentionally creating room for Find America to respond responsibly when the unexpected happens.
FUNDRAISING & PAYMENT PROCESSING
A portion of funds raised will also cover payment processing and fundraising-platform costs associated with running and administering a campaign of this size.
Our goal is to remain transparent about the fact that not every dollar processed through the campaign arrives as deployable expedition funding.
WHY ARE WE CALCULATING CONSERVATIVELY?
Because Find America is an expedition into the unknown — but our financial planning should not be.
Fuel prices change.
Vehicles break.
Insurance requirements evolve.
Campground and lodging costs vary dramatically.
Production equipment fails.
Connectivity on the road costs money.
A story may require us to stay somewhere longer than expected.
A community may invite us somewhere we never planned to go.
And sometimes the most important thing we can do will be to stop moving.
We would rather prepare responsibly and spend carefully than underestimate what it takes to do this well.
Partnerships and sponsorships can reduce actual costs considerably.
If RV manufacturers, fuel partners, connectivity companies, campgrounds, food partners, equipment companies or other sponsors help underwrite expedition costs, those savings strengthen the overall expedition rather than creating an obligation to spend every dollar budgeted.
THE FUNDING MILESTONES
$850,000
Puts up to 10 properly funded crews on the road.
$950,000
Adds the FYM Expedition HQ, professional media operation, technology and national coordination.
$1,000,000
Builds the central contingency and resilience needed for a 90-day national expedition.
$1.1 MILLION
FULL FIND AMERICA GOAL
Ten crews.
Ninety days.
Properly equipped.
Professionally documented.
Supported from the road.
And financially prepared for the unexpected.
THIS IS MORE THAN A ROAD TRIP
We are building a living expedition that America can participate in.
Follow a crew.
Recommend someone we should meet.
Invite Find America into your community.
Come to a gathering.
Share a story.
Introduce us to a Mentor.
Show us something we would never have found on our own.
As the expedition moves across the country, people will be able to follow the journey, meet the crews, explore discoveries and watch the story unfold.
Some discoveries will become films.
Some will become conversations.
Some will become stories shared with the world.
Some will introduce people to extraordinary Mentors, craftspeople, teachers, builders, elders and communities.
And some may simply become moments between people that remind us how much we still have to learn from one another.
WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?
Wherever we go, we will keep asking:
What is actually here?
What does America know?
Who should we meet?
What is being created here?
What knowledge is at risk of disappearing?
What traditions are being carried forward?
What can one generation teach another?
What can one community teach another?
What can we learn from one another?
We don't know what the final story of Find America will be.
We don't want to know before we leave.
Because perhaps finding America isn't about arriving with a predetermined conclusion.
Perhaps it begins with becoming curious enough to meet one another again.
America isn't a story someone can tell you.
You have to go find it.
One person.
One story.
One Mentor.
One community at a time.
HELP US PUT FIND AMERICA ON THE ROAD.
A final note: I would now change the actual Donorbox goal field to $1,100,000 so the meter, description, and Find America page all tell the same financial story.