Help Marijuana Advocacy Group Keep the Mission Moving

Help us secure legal representation, finish our nonprofit foundation, and keep disability advocacy moving forward.

$10,000 FUNDRAISING GOAL

$5,000
Legal Representation

$2,000
Nonprofit and Tax Exemption Work

$3,000
Essential Startup and Operating Costs

Why We Are Asking for Help

Marijuana Advocacy Group Inc. was created in 2025 with a simple belief:

People with disabilities deserve more than referrals, waiting lists, closed doors, and systems that expect them to figure everything out alone.

We started MAG to help people with disabilities navigate vocational services, pursue meaningful careers, understand their rights, access emerging industries, and advocate for themselves when public systems stop working the way they are supposed to.

We are still at the beginning.

And right now, we need help getting through that beginning.

We are deliberately keeping this fundraising goal small.

We are not trying to build a massive reserve.

We are not trying to fund salaries.

We are asking for the minimum amount we believe is necessary to protect the work we have already built, finish establishing the organization properly, and keep moving forward.

Why MAG Exists

MAG started with a problem that received very little attention:

People with disabilities were being left behind as new employment and business opportunities developed within the legal cannabis industry.

But as we began working with people and navigating disability service systems ourselves, we realized the problem was much bigger than cannabis.

People with disabilities routinely have to navigate complicated networks of vocational rehabilitation programs, workforce services, employers, medical providers, attorneys, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies.

The resources technically exist.

Actually accessing them is another story.

Forms become barriers.

Communication becomes a barrier.

Transportation becomes a barrier.

Money becomes a barrier.

Executive functioning becomes a barrier.

And when something goes wrong, simply figuring out who is responsible can become an entire job by itself.

MAG is being built to help bridge those gaps.

Our long term goal is to provide advocacy, education, navigation, workforce support, referrals, resources, and representation for people with disabilities, particularly those pursuing emerging or unconventional industries where traditional disability employment systems are often years behind reality.

Disability advocacy should meet people where they actually are.

Not where a bureaucracy expects them to be.

Where the $10,000 Goes

1. Legal Representation

$5,000

Our largest immediate expense is legal representation.

MAG's founder is currently involved in an ongoing vocational rehabilitation and disability rights matter concerning access to services, accommodations, procedural protections, and meaningful participation in the vocational rehabilitation process.

That experience has helped shape MAG's broader advocacy mission.

It demonstrated firsthand how difficult these systems can become when a person with a disability must navigate administrative procedures, evidence, hearings, agency communications, accommodation requests, and legal questions without representation.

Counsel has been identified who is willing to become involved, subject to a $5,000 retainer.

That amount is currently beyond what MAG and its founder can reasonably absorb without outside support.

Legal representation matters for the immediate proceeding, but professional legal guidance also matters to MAG's future.

We need to understand where individual advocacy ends and organizational advocacy begins.

We need to protect the people we help.

We need to protect the organization.

And when professional legal expertise is required, we need professionals at the table.

Passion matters.

Documentation matters.

Persistence matters.

None of them replaces an attorney when an attorney is actually needed.

2. Nonprofit and Tax Exemption Work

$2,000

Marijuana Advocacy Group Inc. is incorporated as a nonprofit organization in New York.

Our next major organizational milestone is completing the remaining work necessary to obtain appropriate state and federal tax exempt recognition, including our federal 501(c)(3) application and related New York requirements.

That means properly reviewing our:

• Organizing documents
• Charitable purpose
• Bylaws
• Governance structure
• Financial projections
• Programs and activities
• Conflict of interest procedures
• Recordkeeping
• State and federal filings
• Accounting practices
• Tax compliance
• Future reporting requirements

We want to do this correctly rather than rush an application that could affect MAG for years.

These funds may support filing fees, legal review, accounting assistance, nonprofit compliance work, document preparation, administrative expenses, and other costs directly related to establishing MAG's nonprofit structure.

Doing it properly now is much cheaper than repairing mistakes later.

Apparently even an organization created to help people navigate bureaucracy must first climb its own ceremonial mountain of paperwork.

Such is civilization.

3. Essential Startup and Operating Costs

$3,000

The remaining $3,000 gives MAG a small operating runway.

This is not intended to create a giant unrestricted fund.

It is intended to pay for the boring things every organization needs before it can do the interesting things.

That includes:

• Website hosting and technology
• Business software
• Document storage
• Printing and outreach materials
• Accessibility related materials
• Postage and certified mail
• Banking and bookkeeping
• Insurance
• Administrative filings
• Educational materials
• Community outreach
• Program development
• Communication tools
• Basic office supplies
• Transportation related to organizational work
• Professional consultations
• Compliance expenses
• Taxes and tax related reserves when necessary

Individually, many of these expenses are small.

Together, they determine whether an organization can actually function.

A nonprofit still needs technology.

It still needs insurance.

It still needs accounting.

It still needs records.

It still needs working equipment.

And somehow, the electric company remains completely unmoved by the charitable nature of our mission.

Why Only $10,000?

Because we want to be responsible about fundraising at this stage.

MAG has not yet received final recognition from the IRS as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization.

We do not want supporters contributing under the mistaken impression that MAG can currently guarantee a charitable tax deduction.

We also do not want to raise a massive amount of money before our nonprofit and tax structure is fully established.

So instead of launching an enormous capital campaign, we are asking for a limited amount tied directly to immediate needs.

$10,000 gives us enough runway to address what is directly in front of us.

Once MAG's tax exempt status and organizational structure are finalized, we can focus on larger programs, grants, institutional support, sponsorships, partnerships, and sustainable long term fundraising.

Right now, we simply need to get across the bridge.

Important Tax Disclosure

Please read this before donating.

Marijuana Advocacy Group Inc. is a New York nonprofit corporation, but MAG has not yet received final IRS recognition as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization.

MAG is therefore not currently representing contributions to this campaign as tax deductible charitable contributions.

Please do not contribute based on the assumption that you will receive a tax deduction.

Federal law may permit deductibility to apply retroactively under certain circumstances if an organization's exemption application is timely filed and subsequently approved, but MAG cannot guarantee the tax treatment of any individual donation.

Supporters should retain their donation records and consult a qualified tax professional regarding their individual circumstances.

MAG intends to maintain appropriate records of campaign contributions and expenditures.

We would rather be painfully clear now than pleasantly vague and painfully sorry later.

What Your Donation Can Do

$10
Helps with basic administrative and communication expenses.

$25
Supports printing, outreach, postage, educational materials, or technology.

$50
Helps maintain the digital tools MAG uses to communicate with people, agencies, partners, and supporters.

$100
Makes a meaningful contribution toward accounting, compliance, professional, or legal expenses.

$250
Can cover a substantial portion of a professional consultation or organizational expense.

$500
Moves us significantly closer to securing legal representation and completing our nonprofit foundation.

$1,000
Covers 10 percent of this entire campaign and can fundamentally change how quickly we are able to move forward.

And if all you can contribute is $5, that matters too.

We mean that.

MAG exists because systems too often treat people as though their value depends on how much money, influence, education, energy, or institutional support they have.

We are not going to reproduce that mentality in our own fundraising.

Cannot Donate? You Can Still Help.

Share this campaign.

Send it to someone who cares about disability rights.

Send it to an attorney.

Share it with a business owner, disability organization, workforce professional, educator, advocate, or someone in the cannabis industry.

Sometimes the right introduction is worth more than a donation.

What MAG Is Building

This fundraiser is not the destination.

It is infrastructure for what comes next.

MAG is working toward providing people with disabilities greater access to:

• Vocational rehabilitation navigation
• Employment advocacy
• Workforce development
• Self employment resources
• Emerging industry opportunities
• Cannabis industry education and career pathways where lawful
• Disability accommodations
• Agency navigation
• Resource referrals
• Written advocacy
• Educational materials
• Community partnerships
• Peer support connections
• Public awareness
• Accessibility
• Systems advocacy
• Individualized problem solving

We are also building relationships with attorneys, workforce programs, disability professionals, educators, businesses, advocates, government agencies, and community organizations.

No single organization can solve every problem.

That is not the goal.

The goal is to become very good at helping people figure out their next move and connecting them with people who can help make that move possible.

Why This Matters

A person should not need to become an amateur attorney to request an accommodation.

They should not need to become an expert in administrative law to participate in vocational rehabilitation.

They should not need a professional background in bureaucracy to figure out which agency is responsible for helping them.

And they should not have to navigate every system alone.

People with disabilities are capable of extraordinary things.

Capability does not erase barriers.

Sometimes advocacy means removing enough barriers for someone's capability to actually matter.

That is the organization we are building.

Transparency Matters

MAG is young.

We are not pretending otherwise.

We do not have millions of dollars in reserves.

We do not have a massive staff.

We do not have generations of institutional infrastructure behind us.

What we have is a mission, firsthand experience, a growing network, documentation, persistence, and an organization being built piece by piece.

Our tax exempt recognition is unfinished.

Our funding infrastructure is unfinished.

Our organizational systems are still developing.

Our mission is not unfinished.

And the need certainly is not.

Help Us Keep the Mission Moving

GOAL: $10,000

$5,000 Legal Representation

$2,000 Nonprofit and Tax Exemption Work

$3,000 Essential Startup and Operating Costs

Donate if you can.

Share if you cannot.

Help us build an organization capable of helping people who have spent far too long being told to navigate complicated systems alone.

Marijuana Advocacy Group Inc.

Advocacy. Access. Opportunity.