[YL] Introducing Monthly Funding Tips from the Youth Programs Resource Center!

[Soumya Bhat]

June Funding Tip

 

The Finance Project is pleased to announce a series of monthly funding
tips for youth programs. These tips will cover different approaches to
help programs finance and sustain their work.

 

About This Series

For promising youth programs to succeed, resources must be accessed and
integrated in creative and strategic ways. As programs, intermediaries,
and policymakers work together to tackle issues of financing for youth
programs, it is useful to ground the approaches in clear principles.
Effective financing strategies for youth programs should:

 

1.	Be driven by a compelling and well-conceived policy and program
agenda;
2.	Be aligned with the programs and services they aim to support;
3.	Take account of changing fiscal needs over a program's life
cycle;
4.	Incorporate multiple funding sources that cut across programs
and services;
5.	Maximize the use of resources already in the system;
6.	Use new funding to leverage other public- and private-sector
resources; and 
7.	Contribute to a positive return on investment.

 

For more information on these principles, please see The Finance
Project's publication, Thinking Broadly: Financing Strategies for Youth
Programs (
http://www.financeproject.org/publications/Thinkingbroadly_PM.pdf) and
the Youth Programs Resource Center (
http://www.financeproject.org/irc/yp.asp). 

 

Within the Youth Programs Resource Center you will also find an online
clearinghouse (see http://www.financeproject.org/irc/youth/index.asp),
jointly developed by The Finance Project and the Forum for Youth
Investment. The clearinghouse contains a wealth of information and
resources for supporting and sustaining youth programs and initiatives.
It is designed to help you learn about data, tools, policies, practices,
financing strategies, coordination efforts and technical assistance
resources developed by organizations in the field that aim to improve
the lives of youth.

 

Tip: Make Better Use of Existing Resources

Targeting existing funding can often be a useful first step in
implementing strategic financing improvements. One way you can make
better use of existing resources is to reduce service and administrative
costs through operational efficiencies, so your dollars can be stretched
further. Other ways may involve exploring approaches to cut costs for
individual program elements, achieving economies of scale across
programs, and changing rules and regulations to make it easier for
programs to access and blend available funding. 

 

 

Example from the Field: Increasing Operational Efficiency

 

Composed of six youth-serving nonprofit organizations, Boston TeamWorks
provides its members with the opportunity to increase their operating
efficiency and reduce their overhead costs. The nonprofit center offers
a shared meeting and common space and centralized office functions while
the member organizations retain their private offices and independent
program development efforts. By streamlining basic operational tasks,
the youth-serving organizations are able to concentrate their efforts on
delivering sports and education services.  Directors also report
increased collaboration among the organizations as a result of this
innovative partnership model.  For more information, visit 
http://metrolacrosse.com/about/news/documents/Teamworks_release_final.do
c

 

 

 

 

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