Nonprofit Youth Services Business Plan

Unite For Youth

Execution

Fundraising

Marketing Plan

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.

Sales Plan

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.

Activities and offerings

Main programs

Unite for Youth offers youth, that have already been identified as at-risk, an opportunity to work with a caring mentor to improve their ability to develop a positive attitude towards their future. The long-term goal of Unite for Youth is to empower the young person to break the habits that are leading to trouble in school and in the streets.

Unite for Youth has four mentoring programs. They are as follows:

• Trailblazers: Trailblazers is the central program of Unite for Youth. At-risk middle school students and their mentors participate in a structured program of support. At-risk middle school students and their mentors participate in an energizing retreat, followed by a seven month structured program that includes monthly team-building and group activities. The program ends with a graduation but the mentor and youth remain together for the following five months.
• Turnaround: Turnaround focuses on students who are chronically suspended from middle and high schools. The goal of the program is to rekindle the youth’s commitment to learning and being successful in the classroom. By empowering young people to finish school, mentors are improving the student’s success in the work world as adults.
• Higher Ground: Higher Ground engages youth involved in the juvenile court system. The mentoring relationship is utilized to establish a program of change in the young person’s life. The mentor encourages goal-setting, self discipline, and skill development that improves the young person’s sense of hopefulness. Mentors and youth work one-on-one for a year and are also offered opportunities to participate in monthly group activities and outings.
• Lunch Friends: Lunch Friends works with children from local elementary schools. Adult mentors come to school each week to have lunch with their "friend." The program lasts for the duration of the school year.

Milestones & Metrics

Key Metrics

More and more, metrics are critical for non-profits as donors and general community demand them. 

• Obvious metrics are money raised, money spent, and, specifically, money spent on activities as a percent of total money raised. We need that to be as high as possible. In the projections it’s about 70%
• Children served.
• Hours spent per child, on average.
• Children served staying in school.
• Children served graduating from school.
• Children served going on to compete in sports in school programs
• Comparison of average delinquency rates in the served population demographic in general, vs. average delinquency rates for children who have participated in our programs. 

Milestones Table