Welcome to our idea warehouse! This is a collection of repositories for existing and potential projects where we collect and organize information as it is developed and discussed.

The Orchid Initiative draws inspiration from the fascinating world of orchids to illustrate our mission and approach.

Unlike other plant seeds, orchid seeds lack the nutrients to grow on their own. The gorgeous blooms you see come from one-in-a-million lucky matches with specific symbiotic partners.

​Like orchid seeds, promising ideas start small and can lack crucial connections and resources necessary for them to take off and thrive.

​At the Orchid Initiative, we nurture mutually beneficial collaborations by connecting our members to meaningful projects otherwise limited by conventional means. Our members are volunteers who offer their mentorship, guidance, and expertise to identify viable paths to success for every project we take on.

Our goal is to establish a pipeline of passion projects that empower people to contribute concrete output with true impact. We do this from three angles.

From one side, we look for good ideas that are under-resourced and connect them with an unconventional workforce. We are happy to put in the time to TRY to get traction for the project, even if it might not result in profit or success.

From another side, we look for people who want to develop or demonstrate skills and connect them with tasks and mentors. The mentors we want to emulate can introduce a mentee to a big problem and distill it into achievable tasks. Our mentors lend their credibility and empower the mentee see themselves as capable of more.

From the third side, we look for teams of people that would like to put their expertise to good use and connect them with challenging, impactful projects and an engaging community of colleagues.

• Learners - Share your time and effort. What skills are you motivated to practice / develop / apply?
• Advocates - Share your sense of purpose. What problem do you want to solve? If you are willing to share your passion and ideas, we'll help supply the labor and build momentum.
• Experts - Share your experience and influence. What do you know how to accomplish?

Right now, we are doing projects focused on hospital discharge data, healthcare for people experiencing homelessness, support for publication of medical research on rural health, and internships in biotechnology and gene therapy.