Nonprofit Youth Services Business Plan

Strategy and Implementation Summary

There are three focuses to Unite for Youth's program implementation:

• First is the creation of a network of contacts with Claremont School System and the county's juvenile court system.
• The second is the recruiting and training of mentors.
• The third is the development of fundraising strategies.

5.1 Fundraising Strategy

Unite for Youth's funding sources include private donations, federal and state contracts, grants from private foundations, school districts and business sponsorship. The program's fundraising Coordinator has established a number of contribution options that a supporter can select from.

• Cash Donation: From $1,000 to sponsor a youth for a year to $30 to fund the Outdoor Challenge course that all participants take part in.
  
• Gift of Appreciated Stock: a gift of appreciated stocks, bonds, or mutual funds can both support the program and provide tax saving to the donor.
  
• Legacy Gifts: a planned gift in a will, trust, or other estate plan.
  
• Corporate Giving and Sponsorship: Businesses can provide cash or grants. Businesses are also encouraged to participate in the Unite for Youth fundraising events that take place throughout the year. These events include Fun Runs, Wine Tasting, Bike Races, and Raffles.
  
• Food Store Community Partnership Program: Unite for Youth receives a portion of what is spent in local food stores when the shopper uses the program card when making purchases. The card will be scanned at the checkout and the program will receive credit for the sale.

5.1.1 Funding Forecast

Unite for Youth forecast of revenues for 2003 is $267,396. The stable core funding is from Federal/State contracts, private foundations, and the school districts. Yet anticipated growth from these funding sources is estimated to be only 5% over the next three years. Unite for Youth will focus on rapidly increasing funding from sources where the percentage growth is projected to be higher. The targets are private donations, business sponsorships and fundraising campaigns. By 2005, estimated revenue should be in excess of $350,000.

5.2 Marketing Strategy

Unite for  Youth believes in the goal of leaving no child behind.  The goal is to raise the visibility of program to assure that:

• Referral sources will use the service;
• Funding sources will support the program;
• Adults will volunteer to be mentors.

The marketing strategy will be to successfully sell this new resource to the schools and the juvenile court system.  This will be accomplished by a referral coordinator who will create and maintain a network of contacts that will serve as the referral source for the program.

Brochures will be developed to sell the benefits of the program to both potential referrers and participants. The referral coordinator will provide progress reports for the referring program, school, or agency.  The goal will be to build an effective marketing program on the success of the mentoring relationships.

A marketing effort will also be implemented to attract and retain quality mentors for the program.  The program's mentor recruiter/trainer will make presentations to Claremont civic and social group, selling the benefits of participating in Unite for Youth.  Reward activities will be planned for mentors.  These activities will be used to recruit new mentors from the friends and associates of current mentors.

The core of the marketing strategy will be the creation of the program's Board of Directors who will be chartered with the responsibility of selling the benefits of the program to the community.