As a national nonprofit consulting firm, we shy away from playing favorites or calling out our clients by name. Coalition For Kids, Inc. is a big exception to this rule. I’ll admit, C4K is my all-time favorite client, one of my favorite nonprofits, period, and an organization I have my new employees tour to understand why we do what we do and the impact we have, not only on organizations, but on the lives of the people they serve.
Coalition For Kids, Inc. (C4K) has served children and families in Northeast Tennessee since 1999 and is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. This faith-based nonprofit began as a grassroots effort within one of the lowest-income, highest crime areas in Johnson City. Concerned business leaders and citizens came together to envision a safe environment where children could gather for academic assistance and enrichment activities. C4K has grown from one site serving 25 students to serving more than 750 children a day across three school districts.
Coalition kids are referred on the basis of failing academic grades, anti-social behavior, potentially unsafe home environments, or previous juvenile offenses. Nearly every child enrolled in a C4K program is eligible for free/reduced-price school lunch, is at-risk of academic failure and has already been exposed to one or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). In an area with a very small minority population, many C4K sites are majority minority. C4K implements strategies to build resilience in children and families, while helping parents develop stress management and positive parenting skills and providing a structure for kids during out-of-school time that includes trauma-informed care, good nutrition, and regular exercise, all of which help mitigate the effects of ACEs.
It has been one of the most satisfying accomplishments of my career to walk alongside Coalition For Kids supporting their growth, development, and sustainability. I often tell the story of why I became a grant writer– how I was frustrated working in social services and needed to find a more effective way of helping people. C4K is precisely the best-case scenario I was looking for in building a more gratifying career. I learned of C4K while I was working in human services. Many of the clients in my caseload raved about this nonprofit caring for their children while they worked during the summer and after school hours, often late into the evening.
Starting Point: Building a Foundation
Since I was aware of their work and liked what they were doing, I made a point to send them an invitation to my inaugural two-day grant writing workshop way back in 2010. Not only did they attend, they kept coming back! C4K’s grants manager not only attended my first workshop, she was the only person I’ve ever had attend it twice. When the knowledge and skills she gained propelled her career in new directions (first as executive director of another nonprofit, then to the state capital to serve as a program manager over a massive grant portfolio), her successor attended my next workshop.
Strategic Growth Through Expert Guidance
These well-trained grant writers did a great job for C4K. They took my lessons to heart and followed my advice to the letter. They partnered with larger, more established organizations on a few grants to build their credibility. They pursued right-size grants for their growth and development. And they engaged the services of an independent, third-party evaluator to quantify their impacts so they’d be ready to make the case for bigger, more competitive investments.
As C4K grew, so did their aspirations and capabilities. When they were ready to elevate their funding strategy to match their expanding operational goals, C4K reached out to KFA to engage in a more hands-on way to support their initial pursuits of major grants. By this point, about a decade ago, C4K had already grown from one 25 participant site to serving about 250 kids a day. Our partnership was pivotal for C4K; we helped them secure their first major million-dollar government grant. But the support didn’t end there; KFA continued to assist C4K in securing multiple million-dollar state grants. Since that first grant, we’ve helped them through tripling both their service population and their service area.
Impact: From Numbers to Narratives
The impact of our partnership on C4K’s service delivery is profound. Growing from serving 250 students in one school district to over 750 students across three districts was no small feat and it took more than just grant dollars to make it possible. This is where we shine as more than just grant writers, but development consultants. Over the past four years, we’ve been engaged not only in securing grants, but helping C4K develop the internal competencies around evaluation, reporting, and compliance to manage tremendous growth and mitigate the growing pains that come along with it.
Just about every time we meet, I make a point of thanking everyone at C4K for making my job relatively easy. It seems whenever they face a strategic decision, they do the right thing (sometimes whether they know how we’re going to pay for it or not). And with that solid commitment to doing the right thing, inevitably, we find funders compelled to support it. More than just numbers, their growth translates into real-world outcomes. When they feed at-risk kids hot, family-style dinners five nights a week and make significant improvements in third grade reading proficiency among participants, they make a tangible difference in children’s lives. With solid metrics to prove out these impacts, it is relatively easy to make a compelling case for supporting what they do.
Doing the Right Thing
I can’t overstate how C4K’s responsiveness to community crises is a critical aspect of their success. Following two tragic disasters, the organization has swiftly pivoted to meet emergent community needs. Each time, seemingly out of nowhere, the funding materialized to support the work. For example, when the COVID pandemic struck in 2020, rather than shutter their facilities, C4K employed its massive commercial kitchen and transportation fleet to deploy meals to their participants and their families. Several other nonprofits got on board to assist the effort. And not only did this provide crucial nutritional support to low-income households, it ensured that the at-risk kids they serve received discrete welfare checks while they were away from school.
When schools reopened under remote learning, C4K threw the doors open, under strict and careful protocols, to support distance learners who didn’t have adequate adult supervision at home during the day to manage online classes. Data shows this support had a dramatic impact on learning loss and effectively kept these at-risk kids from falling behind their peers. Largely after the fact, relief funding began to flow to support these activities and C4K was well-positioned to seize it when it became available because they didn’t just have a plan– they were already doing the good.
More recently, when Hurricane Helene swept through Appalachia impacting a portion of C4K’s service area, they did it again. With a couple of school-based sites closed, they didn’t think twice about reallocating those personnel to assist with relief efforts. And again, after the decision to do the right thing was made, suddenly funding became available to support it.
Seriously, this little organization and their commitment to doing the right thing in the face of just about any sort of situation is a grant writer’s dream. While other organizations are trying to figure out how to be a part of the solution, C4K is always out-front solving the problems well ahead of just about anyone else.
Key Strengths
Coalition For Kids possesses some key elements that contribute to our ability to be successful for them. It may sound cliché, but the most important is their commitment to their mission and vision. This is an organization with a strategy that doesn’t creep from their core values. Individual personnel at every level within the organization are teachable and committed to their own growth and development. They keep detailed records. They measure everything. And best of all, they communicate effectively and are responsive when the clock is ticking and deadlines are tight.
While C4K is truly our best-case scenario, our relationship isn’t necessarily an outlier. Some organizations hire us to write a grant. Some engage us for several grants. But C4K invited us in to truly walk alongside their growth, development, and sustainability. By having depth to our relationship and going beyond merely writing a few grants, we have accomplished precisely the outcomes real development consulting should achieve.
Looking Ahead: Lessons for Other Nonprofits
Can we replicate what we’ve done with Coalition For Kids? Sure. At the midpoint of this year, we had another former workshop attendee reach out. Like the grants managers at C4K, this nonprofit founder took my lessons to heart and has been working diligently ever since to grow her organization sustainably. Now, she’s reached the point that she is positioned for our help to be impactful. We’re at about the midpoint of our initial engagement, the first grant award has already arrived, and I am confident there will be many more to come. Over the past six months, we haven’t just been writing grants. We’ve been looking at organizational documents and making suggestions, providing samples, sharing best practices, and attending to the details that reinforce an organization’s administrative capacity.
We aren’t just writing grants; we’re supporting this nonprofit’s growth and development. Yes, we write grants. But that isn’t the sum of what we do. Nonprofits who want to reap the full benefits of development consulting should emulate what Coalition For Kids and some of our other favorite clients have done:
- Stay focused on a clear mission and vision.
- Be proactive in solving social problems aligned with your strategy.
- Develop a thorough understanding of grants and how these investments fit into your sustainability and growth strategy.
- Actively engage in a meaningful development consulting relationship that includes open communication, a willingness to learn, and responsiveness.
A Model of Success
Coalition For Kids, Inc.’s journey with KFA is more than just a success story; it is a model for other nonprofits aiming to transcend their operational levels through strategic grant writing and expert partnerships. It illustrates that with the right support and a proactive approach, scaling impact is not just a possibility but a reality.
For nonprofits looking to navigate the complexities of funding and growth, connecting with a seasoned expert like KFA might just be the stepping stone needed to transform potential into success.