A BluePrint for Success: Case Studies of Successful - Educational ...

Sustainability
A Blueprint for Success
According to John Fanning, Director of The Partners Program, the program’s fund raising approach
is to grow at a pace that can be supported both financially and programmatically. He noted that one
of the board members says that it is “important for us to not exceed our ‘caring capacity.’” The program
also strives to keep costs very low through a frugal approach to expenditures and to offer funders
a “strong value on their investment – programming that is high quality with few frills.”
The program’s annual budget has increased from approximately $50,000 in the first few years of the
early 2000s to over $180,000 in fiscal year 2011, and they expect to cross the $200,000 threshold in
fiscal year 2012. This growth in funding is directly correlated with an increase in programs and program
seats. The Summer Academy has doubled in size since 2006, and other program components
have been added, as has been detailed in this report.
The program is growing rapidly, and the board has supported this growth through increased fundraising
efforts. The board chair is an excellent fundraising leader, and all board members participate
readily by helping reach out to their friends and business associates, as well as by making contributions
themselves. That said, there is no set minimum contribution required of board members. The
overall funding strategy is to fill the “fundraising pyramid” with a few large contributions at the top
($25,000 or more), then a larger number of mid-sized contributions (mostly $3,000 - $10,000) in
the middle, and then the largest number of gifts at a smaller level (usually $1,000 or below) at the
base. The majority of individual gifts come in response to an annual appeal. The board chair also
solicits gifts toward an endowment, which currently provides approximately 15 percent of the annual
budget.
As the funding sources have expanded to support the program growth, the funding mix has changed
slightly. The great majority of the early funding (i.e., early 1990s) was from local foundations. By
the early 2000s, this had shifted mostly to individuals and small family foundations. Today, the program
benefits from a mix of small foundations, corporations, individuals and family foundations,
and a bit of government support (for lunch and snack reimbursement, comprising 5% of the total
organization budget). In addition, throughout the program’s history, very generous in-kind support
from The College Preparatory School has provided program and office space, use of office technology
(phone, copier, fax, laptops and computer labs, etc.), and support for professional development,
accounting and finance, an annual audit, and more.
Another change in funding relates to some of the prior foundations that supported the program, but
for which the program no longer fits the requirements. Some have changed focus, while others now
require a level of program and data sophistication that is beyond the capacity of a small organization
like The Partners Program. Director Fanning noted, however, that they “have been able to successfully
supplant this funding with investments from smaller (often family) foundations and individuals
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