Supportive Housing For American Indian Youth
Overview
Twenty-two percent of Minnesota’s homeless youth are American Indian. A St. Paul nonprofit sought to address homelessness among American Indian youth through a supportive housing facility for young adults ages 18-24. Our client envisioned a home that would not only provide safe and stable housing but would also reconnect Native youth to their culture through art, ceremonies, language, and much more.
The Challenge:
The organization was new in their individual donor fundraising efforts. To achieve the $17.5 mil lion goal, it would be necessary to build the individual donor program while also drawing from diverse public and private funding sources.
Solution:
Fox Advancement devised and implemented a strategy that methodically grew the individual donor base from approximately 140 individuals at the start of the campaign to over 300 at the end of the campaign. A Campaign Committee facilitated many new introductions to individual donors, helping to cultivate them and inform personalized requests throughout the campaign. Additionally, Fox Advancement worked with the organization to develop culturally responsive strategies to activate their deep relationships with two key Tribal Communities, as well as private, community, and corporate foundation support.
Fox Advancement assisted the organization in applying to several public funding sources, including housing tax credits, tax-exempt rebate programs, federal home loan bank, livable communities demonstration account, rental assistance, continuum of care, GRH, CADI waiver program, and watershed district grants. These funding sources were leveraged to build a capital stack, allowing the organization to have a significant ownership stake in the project with a housing partner and investors who understood the importance of land ownership as a primary goal. Councils composed of both youth and elders informed the facility design and campaign activities to ensure that events and community engagement were always presented through a cultural lens.
Result:
The organization reached their $17.5 million goal within just three years. Fox Advancement also supported the organization through a sustainability campaign that allowed the organization to secure operating expenses for the following three years.
Overall, the campaign was a tremendous success, more than tripling the grant awards for the organization from $600,000 each year to $2.1 million, doubling individual giving, and ensuring that the organization would ultimately own the housing facility in 15 years time due to the unique ownership structure that was developed with their housing partner.
Would the expertise and knowledge that the Fox Advancement team used in this scenario help you get your project accomplished as well? Let's discuss what we can do together.