Financing Strategies for Youth-Service Organizations

The Finance Project has published a new volume - Cutting Cost, Keeping Quality: Financing Strategies for Youth-Serving Organizations in a Difficult Economy

-- which may be of interest to the workforce community.

The introduction to the publication notes, in part:

Youth-serving organizations are likely to face many challenges in 2010. Notwithstanding signs the economy is improving, continued cuts in state budgets and foundation giving will translate to less funding for many youth programs, most of which already experienced reductions in 2008 and 2009. The strain of the recession also means the vulnerable populations that many youth programs support will need services now more than ever. To maintain high-quality services with limited resources, youth-serving organizations need to embrace a strategic and proactive approach to their financial management.

This research brief highlights three effective financing strategies that successful youth-serving organizations are using to maintain quality services despite difficult economic The brief provides examples of how organizations have implemented these strategies and offers tips to help leaders consider how best to adapt these strategies to their unique context ...

... (The research) was informed by interviews with leaders of 17 youth programs and organizations from across the country that experts identify as using effective financial management strategies. These programs and organizations vary in their size and scope; some have budgets of less than $200,000 and serve youth in well-defined communities, while others serve youth nationwide and have budgets as large as $30 million. The programs and organizations serve both urban and rural areas. They also vary in their primary areas of service, including afterschool, mentoring, dropout prevention, gang prevention, and juvenile delinquency services, though most of them provide services in multiple areas.