Spero

History

In 2016, Jonah Traaseth was working in corporate sales while also being deeply passionate about fighting human trafficking on an international level. While on a business trip with his boss, he shared about the problem and his desire to help. To his boss, this was the first time he had even learned about this type of modern-day slavery. He was captivated by both Jonah’s evident passion for this issue and his own grief about the reality of what hundreds of thousands of women and children were enduring each year at the hands of traffickers.

Several weeks later, Jonah’s boss approached him to share how moved he was by their conversation. While he knew he couldn’t directly do something, he also knew he had significant financial means that could help fund a solution. So, he gave Jonah a substantial donation to start a nonprofit fighting human trafficking.

Jonah and several friends who shared his passion for helping others decided to take a trip to India to learn more about the trafficking problem in that area and see where they get involved. They originally intended to start a shelter or outreach program to solve human trafficking. While there, Jonah met many nonprofit leaders from the communities they served who were already running incredibly effective, responsible, and impactful programs, making a real difference in the lives of trafficked individuals. Jonah realized that these countries didn’t need another American-led, culturally incompetent nonprofit but rather help uplift the excellent work already being done.

At the same time, Jonah knew American donors were generous, had good intentions, and wanted to help. However, international giving comes with high barriers, and it is hard to know where your money is going and whether organizations are using it responsibly. These barriers result in a lack of funding for many quality organizations making a real impact. Out of this trip came the vision for Spero, a nonprofit dedicated to connecting donors to vetted international nonprofits fighting human trafficking in their local communities.

Since launching, Spero has supported three partner programs in New Delhi, India and Bucharest, Romania, impacting hundreds of lives through prevention, rescue and rehabilitation.

Strategic Priorities

Spero has been led solely by Jonah up until recently. Spero is no longer his full-time job, but through the dedication of our generous major donor and several smaller donors, the impact and support to program partners has remained the same. In late 2023, Jonah hired fractional development support to reignite growth and increase impact. Spero’s 2024 fundraising goal is $130,000, which will fund our strategic plan to increase internal capacity to triple our impact by 2025. Spero has added two new positions to the team: a Development Director and a Program Director. Through this expansion, the team will be able to develop a more robust fundraising plan, provide more support for current program partners, and actively seek out new partners while providing high-quality vision trips to generate earned income to continue funding even more programs. 2024 is a rebuilding year for Spero as we reenergize the organization to support more partners in ending human trafficking.

Annual Budget: $100,000 – Individual Contributions

Skills

Spero is seeking board members with skills in the following areas:

• Board Governance
• Financial Management
• Fundraising
• Marketing and Communications

Information

• Number of members currently: 2
• Meeting time and frequency:  2 meetings annually
• Meeting location: Virtual
• Does nonprofit carry liability insurance? No

Expectations

• Time Expectation: Up to 5 hours/month
• Financial Contribution Required: No
• Service on Committee Required: No
• Length of Term: 2 Years
• Renewable: Yes