From Traumatic Brain Injury To Nonprofit VICTORY!

Toby Mathis of Anderson Business Advisors welcomes Meg Busing, founder of the Midwest YouCan Foundation. During her freshman year of high school, she sustained a traumatic brain injury (TBI) that put her in a coma and on life support. Eventually, Meg recovered physically, but had some mental challenges. About 10 years later, while at nursing school, she started having seizures. She shares her long journey of dealing with epilepsy and not being able to find a cure with medications. She had brain surgery to remove part of her brain and scar tissue from the TBI. Meg’s personal experience inspired her to give back by creating Camp YouCan for kids and teens to help them discover what they can do, despite their epilepsy.

Highlights/Topics:

• Traumatic events that occur in life either shape you, or you use it to shape yourself
• Meg’s TBI was the main reason why she wanted to be a nurse; she saw how much of a positive impact nurses can have on patients
• Different types of seizures occur with epilepsy; they can occur at any time, and you have no control over them - emotional impact of epilepsy is as bad as the physical part
• Meg’s camp brings kids with epilepsy together to do regular camp activities, including the zip line, rock wall, shooting bow and arrows, catching fish, and being on a boat
• Camp YouCan benefits parents; allows them to leave their kids in a safe environment  
• Initially, Meg asked a local organization to help publicize the camp, which allowed her to operate it under another non-profit and use the other foundation’s tax ID number
• Meg parted ways with the other non-profit and achieved a 501(c)(3) status for Camp YouCan to control decisions on what to do with money raised and what activities to offer
• Start with an idea, believe in yourself, and find the right people to help you achieve your goal; don’t bombard yourself with limiting beliefs and learn from your failures
• Tax reasons to do a non-profit; you can give or raise money and time

Resources

Midwest YouCan Foundation

Yes You Can - Meg Busing’s TED Talk

501(c)(3)

Toby Mathis

Anderson Advisors

Tax and Asset Protection Event