Forging a new path

Mike Martin has worked for more than a decade on a dream to curb gun violence through outreach and compassionate education. His work has resulted in a full-fledged organization spanning several states across the country. But with funding affected by recent federal and state budget cuts, he is looking for creative ways to keep his work alive.

Mike, a former youth and young adult pastor at Beth-El Mennonite Church in Colorado Springs, was inspired by Isaiah 2:4 to “hammer swords into plows,” and learned to blacksmith so that he could turn guns into garden tools.

Since its founding in 2013, RAWtools (war spelled backwards) has opened new affiliates in Buffalo, New York; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Asheville, North Carolina, and has repurposed more than 6,000 guns. Each affiliate focuses on its local community, providing training based on the specific needs of the city.

“Gun violence has so many different iterations and intersections and contexts, that there are different solutions to solve different types of problems that funnel into gun violence,” Mike said.

Having celebrated their 13th anniversary in February, the organization has fully shaped its identity and is now expanding its model across the country. Each location has its own funding, most of it coming from local donors and grants. A small percentage comes from selling what they produce from the destroyed firearms, such as jewelry and garden tools.

RAWtools’ headquarters, in Colorado Springs, is partially funded by grants from a major municipality. Recently, however, Mike learned that the funding was rescinded after having received verbal approval for a two-year contract. The entity that had promised them grant money was, like many others throughout the country, affected after the federal government cut funding that was earmarked for nonprofits.

“[The cuts] forced states and municipalities to prioritize things like food and housing, and that’s not a wrong decision either,” Mike said. “When those things fall through, then often violence can follow in scarcity.”

The municipality that had to reprioritize and redirect funding is not alone in its dilemma. A report from the Urban Institute shows that a third of nonprofits throughout the country experienced federal, state or local government funding disruptions in 2025. Those nonprofits were more likely to report reductions to staff, programming and future hiring. Even nonprofits that receive funding from other avenues, like foundations, reported that the disruptions have altered the philanthropic funding landscape, presenting fundraising challenges.

Mike has talked with other nonprofits in Colorado that have already seen a stark reduction in their funding and have had to take drastic measures, like laying off employees or cutting internship opportunities.

“It’s definitely been felt in the smaller nonprofit community folks that I’m with, and then when you lose that funding, you have to go look at other funding avenues,” Mike said. “So, there’s also a much higher increase in competition for the grants that are available.”

Dennis LeFevre and Jonathan Harnish, Financial Consultants at Everence, have been in talks with RAWtools and exploring ways of linking educational and marketing resources to guide donors toward them.

For Jonathan and Dennis, working alongside organizations to find well-researched, viable options for alternative funding is as important as any of the other work they do as financial consultants.

“We’re partnering with people so that they’re not doing the work alone,” Jonathan said. “And we offer our expertise and our time and our passion and energy to help them with their mission.”

SUSTAINABLE, RESILIENT INCOME

The 2020 pandemic altered the economy and brought about new challenges for businesses and organizations, the likes of which they hadn’t seen before. Museums like the Lancaster Science Factory in Lancaster, Pennsylvania lost a significant source of income: visitors.

The Lancaster Science Factory was founded in 2008 with the mission to inspire curiosity, creativity and confidence by fostering an inclusive environment for hands-on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) exploration. The science center now houses over 85 hands-on exhibits, an outdoor exhibit area and a maker shop, hosts educational programs, and has a Science Cafe, which features daily hands-on experiments and demonstrations.

The organization is invested in the community and plans to stay for the long run. In 2020, staff and board members created a revised mission and outlined their values, which include fun, wonder, and passion for STEM learning. They established three endowments and named them after scientists who’ve made impactful contributions to the world.

Rob Reed, Chief Development Officer at Lancaster Science Factory, said the nonprofit science center’s budget relies on about 60% earned income from paid admissions and programs, and 40% contributed income. When the pandemic hit, the organization was forced to rely primarily on fundraising for an extended period of time.

“Founding an endowment, which we did in 2021, was determined by our board of directors to be vital to the long-term financial stability of our organization,” Rob said. “Our first draw, which we took at the end of last year, directly supported new hands-on exhibits and exhibit repairs at our science center.”

Elyse Kauffman, Charitable Consultant at Everence, said she and Jamie Detweiler, Everence Financial Planner, offered the Science Factory board of directors a comprehensive overview of their new gift acceptance policy and advice on how to fundraise additional endowment funds, in addition to helping draft an investment policy.

“What’s unique and different about Everence becoming a partner is, we also help organizations gain a better understanding of how to accept appreciated assets, from their donors, to fund their endowment.

We don’t just help with the investment policy,” Elyse said. “We have also sponsored an event at least once a year, including two campaign celebrations as they unveiled features they have added thanks to the funding.”

Lancaster Science Factory partnered with Everence in 2021 during a capital campaign and has cultivated a culture of transparent communication with donors, where they keep their most loyal contributors updated on several fronts, including new exhibits, financial information and minutes from recent board meetings.

“Key to our endowment has been having conversations with donors about flexibility in endowment contributions, most of which are through planned future gifts,” Rob said, adding that ongoing communication with donors about how the nonprofit might use the funds in an emergency, including tapping into the account principal, is critical.

AN ALTERNATE ROUTE

Everence was born out of a need to find alternative routes in funding rooted in mutual aid and faithful stewardship. It started with the plan to help young men returning from Civilian Public Service in need of a home and a means of livelihood, at a time when the federal government was helping young soldiers returning from World War II but denying such aid to those in CPS camps.

Since 1945, Everence has found different means to support individuals, churches and organizations fulfill their mission while aligning with their values, including in times of adversity.

In his talks with Jonathan and Dennis, Mike has started thinking of opportunities for his board of directors’ finance and fundraising committee to learn about the different kinds of donations RAWtools may secure in the future, including estate planning.

RAWtools continues to expand, with the plan to create a national membership model that can help reinforce the organization’s finances.

“We have other affiliates in the upper Midwest and Pacific Northwest that are looking and exploring to see what level they want to be involved, and they’re going to need our support in the future too.”

It’s important to Mike and the organization to connect their mission, vision and work with their fundraising and with the story behind every gun that is donated. He is looking forward to working further with Everence in finding unique ways to engage with donors, both to help support the mission financially and to connect with the community and share their story.

“There are a lot of inherited stories in some of those firearms, from hunting stories or camping and just being outdoors together,” he said. “And I think that’s pretty common within Anabaptist communities as well, to have an heirloom like a firearm that people pass down from generation to generation in the same way that they pass down wealth. It’s something that has provided for their family in the past.

“More and more, when people are working on estate plans, they are also deciding what to do with firearms, and want that figured out while they have a chance to pass it on instead as a garden tool, or jewelry, a different type of heirloom. My generation is inheriting guns in a context that is very different than 30 years ago. It’s another opportunity to think about our legacy.”