Bright Beginnings Doula Access Program

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Executive Summary

Bright Beginnings Doula Access Program is a nonprofit in Ohio that gives expecting families with low incomes a trained, caring doula at no cost. A doula is a non-medical support person who helps a family prepare for birth, stays with them during labor and visits in the first weeks at home. We also train women from the neighborhoods we serve to become doulas, so the support comes from people the families already trust.

Many families we meet have no one nearby who has recently had a baby, little money for extra help and a long list of worries. They are often unsure how to speak up when decisions are being made, and they go home from the hospital with little support. A doula does not replace a doctor, nurse or midwife. A doula helps a family feel prepared, heard and less alone.

With this grant we will support about 60 families in Year 1 and train about 8 community members as doulas. Each family receives two prenatal visits, support in labor and at the birth, a visit after the birth and up to three home visits in the first weeks. We make no medical claims and we do not promise any birth outcome. We promise to show up, listen and help.

Our Year 1 budget is about $176,000, growing to about $280,000 by Year 5 as we add doulas and families. Each year's budget is planned to balance, with a small surplus each year. We have 2 full-time staff and 2 part-time community doulas in Year 1, and 8 staff by Year 5.

We are asking the Great Lakes Family Health Foundation for $56,000 for our Program Coordinator and for training scholarships for community doulas, for July 2027 through June 2028. Hospitals, health partners, businesses and neighbors also give, so this grant is one part of a shared funding plan.

I am Danielle Whitaker, the Executive Director. The numbers in this proposal are estimates based on the assumptions listed at the end, not promises.

Company Description

Bright Beginnings Doula Access Program is a nonprofit organization in Ohio. We are a registered charity with a volunteer board of directors, a written conflict-of-interest policy and a yearly budget that the board reviews.

Our mission. Every family deserves steady, respectful support around the birth of a child, whatever their income.

What we do.
- Match each enrolled family with a trained community doula at no cost.
- Offer two prenatal visits, support in labor and at the birth, a postpartum visit and up to three home visits in the first weeks.
- Teach small, friendly classes on labor, comfort tools, feeding and newborn care.
- Pay training and exam fees for neighborhood women who want to become doulas, and support them with mentoring and regular case review.
- Help families find other services when they need them, such as food assistance, health coverage, a family doctor or a lactation specialist. We refer and we do not provide medical care.

What we do not do. Our doulas do not diagnose, treat, give medical advice or speak for a family to their medical team. A doula can help a family think through their questions and write them down so they can ask. We say this clearly in our family agreement and our training. In any emergency, we tell families to call 911 or their doctor.

How we got here. A small group of neighbors, parents and health workers started meeting to talk about families who were facing birth and the first weeks alone. We have trained a few volunteers, held classes at the library and kept a simple record of what families told us they needed. This proposal asks for support to grow from a small volunteer effort into a steady program with a coordinator, paid part-time doulas and scholarships for new doulas.

Nonprofit status. Our 501(c)(3) determination letter and board list are in the attachments. If your own organization is new, there is a section near the end of the funding plan about using a fiscal sponsor.

Problem & Opportunity

Birth is one of the biggest changes in a family's life, and the weeks around it can be hard. In the neighborhoods we serve, families tell us the same things again and again.

They do not know what to expect. Some have never seen a birth. Some have a story from a friend that has left them afraid. Many do not know what questions to ask their doctor or midwife, or that it is acceptable to ask.

They do not feel heard. Hospital teams are busy, and shifts change. A family may meet several nurses during one labor. A person who is tired, in pain and worried can find it hard to speak up. A doula who knows the family's wishes can help them stay calm and ask for what they need.

They are alone. Grandparents may live far away, or work, or are no longer living. Friends may not have had children. A partner may be working double shifts or may be away. Single parents often carry everything by themselves.

They lose help just when they need it most. In the first days at home, relatives may visit for a short time. After they leave, a parent may be left to manage feeding, sleep and recovery alone. When a parent is exhausted and worried, it is harder for them to ask for help, and harder for them to enjoy their baby.

Doula support is out of reach. Private doula services can cost more than a family on a tight budget can spend. Many families have never heard of doulas. Others assume the service is only for people with more money. Families with the least support at home often have the least chance to receive it.

Women in our own neighborhoods are also looking for work they can feel proud of. Many are mothers and caregivers who already help their neighbors, and they want a path into health and family support work. Training costs and a lack of paid openings keep many of them from starting.

We do not claim that a doula can fix every problem. We believe that steady, respectful support can make a hard time easier, and that the people who give that support should come from the communities they serve.

Products & Services

Our program has two parts that support each other: free doula care for families, and a path for neighborhood women to become doulas.

Part 1: free doula care for families.
1. Enrollment. A family contacts us through a clinic, a community partner or on their own. A coordinator meets with them, explains what a doula does and does not do and confirms that they qualify under our income guidelines, which our board sets and reviews each year. Families are never asked to pay.
2. Matching. We match each family with a community doula who speaks their language when possible and lives or works nearby. A backup doula is named in case two births happen at once.
3. Prenatal visits. Two visits of about 90 minutes, at home or in a community space. The family and the doula talk through hopes and fears, practice comfort tools such as breathing, position changes, massage and a birth ball and write the family's wishes in plain words.
4. Labor and birth support. From about week 37 the family can call or text their doula. The doula joins them when they ask, at home or at the hospital or birth center, and stays through the birth and the first hour or two afterward, as the birth location allows.
5. Postpartum visits. One visit within the first two weeks to talk through the birth, support feeding and check how the parents are doing, then up to three additional home visits in the first weeks.
6. Referrals. If a family needs a doctor, a lactation specialist, food help or mental health care, the doula and coordinator help them find it. If anything seems urgent, we encourage the family to call their health care provider or 911.

Part 2: training neighborhood doulas.
- We pay tuition and exam fees at an established doula training organization for women in the neighborhoods we serve. About 8 scholarships are planned in Year 1.
- Trainees are matched with an experienced doula for mentoring, shadow families before they take their own and meet regularly with the coordinator for case review.
- Every doula completes a background check, learns our privacy rules and signs our agreement before working with a family.
- As the program grows, graduates can join as part-time paid community doulas. We plan to add about one paid community doula each year.

Why this approach. Families trust people who share their language, neighborhood and experiences. Neighborhood doulas stay in the community and bring their knowledge to other families, so the benefit lasts beyond a single grant.

What we do not promise. Birth is unpredictable. We do not promise any medical outcome. We measure what we control: whether we showed up, whether families felt supported and whether they were connected to the help they needed.

Market Analysis

Who we serve. Expecting families with low incomes in our county, including first-time parents, single parents, teens and young adults, immigrant and refugee families and families without a relative nearby. Families are eligible under income guidelines approved by our board and reviewed every year.

How we estimate demand. We cannot say exactly how many families in our county could use a doula, so we plan carefully from what we can count. Our partner clinics and community organizations have told us they refer more families than we can currently serve. In our small volunteer effort so far, we have had to keep a waiting list. For Year 1 we plan to serve about 60 families. By Year 5, with more doulas, we plan to serve about 180 families a year.

Where families come from.
- Prenatal clinics and community health centers.
- Hospital and birth center social workers and nurses.
- Home-visiting programs and women, infants and children offices.
- Libraries, food pantries, faith communities and neighborhood centers.
- Former participants who tell a friend or a sister.

Who else benefits. Neighborhood women who become doulas gain training, a certificate and a way to earn income helping their neighbors. Clinics benefit from partners who help families prepare and follow through. The wider community benefits when families feel supported and connected.

What the numbers mean. Each family we serve is a family, not a statistic. We keep our early counts small and honest so we can learn from each family and improve.

Competitive Landscape

Other places families go for help, and how we are different.

1. Hospital and birth center classes. These are useful and convenient. They are usually large, general and held in the daytime, and they do not provide one-on-one support during labor.

2. Private doulas. There are skilled private doulas in our area, and we respect their work. Their fees are usually too high for the families we serve. We do not compete with them. We refer families who can pay to private doulas when we are full, and we hope to learn from them.

3. Home-visiting programs. Some public and nonprofit programs send a nurse or family support worker to visit new parents. They are valuable and often have limited space or strict eligibility. A doula is a different kind of support, centered on labor and birth and the first weeks at home. We work with these programs and do not replace them.

4. Online groups and videos. These are free and can be helpful. They cannot sit beside a person in labor or notice that a parent is struggling.

5. Family and friends. They are the first and best source of support when they are available. Many of the families we serve do not have that help nearby.

What makes us different.
- Our doula care is free to enrolled families.
- Our doulas come from the neighborhoods they serve.
- We combine doula care with training and pay a path for local women.
- We keep close ties with clinics, so families get coordinated care.
- We track what families tell us and share it with our partners.

We have spoken with our partner clinics and other organizations to make sure we are filling a gap and not duplicating services. They have given us letters of support, which are in the attachments.

Marketing & Sales Strategy

How families and doulas will find us, and how we will keep them with us.

Reaching families.
- Referral partners. We will meet with prenatal clinics, community health centers, hospital social workers, home-visiting programs and benefits offices to explain who we serve and how to refer. We give each partner a simple one-page referral form and a named contact.
- Community places. We will place bilingual flyers and sign-up cards in libraries, laundromats, food pantries, faith communities and neighborhood centers.
- Parent groups and classes. Free classes at the library or a community center introduce families to our doulas.
- Word of mouth. Many families will find us because a neighbor or sister had a good experience. We thank families for sharing and never pressure them.
- A simple website and phone line with a text option, in English and Spanish, with a short sign-up form.

Recruiting doulas.
- Share scholarship information at community colleges, adult education programs, faith communities and parent groups.
- Hold a short information session twice a year.
- Look for women who are already helping their neighbors, who are patient, dependable and good listeners. We do not require prior health care experience.
- Use a simple application, an interview with the coordinator and a background check.

Keeping families engaged.
- Each family has a named doula and a backup, and knows how to reach the coordinator.
- Doulas check in by text or phone between prenatal visits.
- A short family feedback form after the postpartum visit.

Keeping partners informed.
- A short quarterly update to partners with counts of families served and what families said.
- A yearly gathering to thank partners, families and doulas.

What we watch. How many families are referred, how many enroll and how many stay with us through the first weeks at home. We use that to decide where to spend our outreach time.

Operations Plan

How the program will be carried out.

Timeline for Year 1:
- Months 1 and 2 (July and August): Hire the Program Coordinator, buy equipment, finalize the family agreement and privacy policy with our attorney, sign partner agreements and recruit the first doulas and trainees.
- Month 3 (September): Enroll the first 8 scholarship trainees and begin training. Start enrolling the first families.
- Months 4 to 10: Match families with doulas, hold classes, provide prenatal visits, labor support and postpartum visits. Hold monthly case reviews with our clinical advisor.
- Months 11 and 12: Survey families and partners, report to funders and plan Year 2.

Space. Prenatal visits happen in the family's home or in a community room donated by a partner. Our small office is shared space in a community building.

Equipment. We buy about $4,800 of equipment once at the start: comfort kits and birth balls for doulas ($3,000), and a laptop and tablet for records and scheduling ($1,800). Later years replace or add a few items.

Staffing. In Year 1 I serve as Executive Director. The Program Coordinator, paid $42,000 a year, enrolls families, matches them with doulas, supervises trainees and manages partners. Two part-time community doulas, each paid $20,000 a year, care for families. We add one part-time community doula each year, for 6 by Year 5. A clinical advisor, a licensed health professional, reviews our protocols and joins monthly case reviews on a contract basis.

Safety and privacy.
- Every doula and volunteer passes a background check and signs our agreement.
- Doulas are never alone with a family's children and do not give medical advice.
- We keep family information in a secure system, share it only with the family's permission and follow the privacy rules that apply to health information.
- Doulas follow the rules of each hospital and birth center about who may be in the room.
- Our written safety plan names 911 for emergencies and lists who to call for urgent concerns about a parent or baby.
- We never provide cash to families. If a family needs help paying for a necessary item, we connect them to partners who can.

Payments. We pay doulas through payroll. We pay training organizations directly for scholarships and never give training money to the person as cash. Training scholarships are about $14,000 in Year 1, client support supplies and mileage about $7,000, clinical advisor consulting about $6,000 and administration and insurance about $9,000.

Evaluation. We count families served, visits completed, classes held, doulas trained and how many families were connected to other services. We ask every family three questions after the first weeks: did you feel supported, did you feel heard and would you recommend us. We share results with our board and funders twice a year.

Management & Organization

Danielle Whitaker, Executive Director. I lead the organization, report to the board and am responsible for budgets, partnerships and reporting. I came to this work as a parent who understands how lonely the first weeks can be and how much it matters to have someone beside you. I will complete the doula training we offer our scholars so I understand what they do.

Program Coordinator. The coordinator enrolls families, matches them with doulas, supervises trainees, tracks visits and works with partners. We will hire someone with experience in community or family support work and strong listening skills. Paid $42,000 a year, this position is the largest part of our grant request.

Community doulas. Part-time paid doulas who serve families. They have completed a recognized doula training, passed a background check and join monthly case reviews.

Clinical advisor. A licensed health professional who reviews our protocols and helps with questions about what falls inside and outside a doula's role. They work with us on a contract basis.

Board of directors. Our volunteer board includes a parent who used doula services, a nurse, a small business owner, a banker who serves as treasurer, a community organizer and a lawyer. The board meets every other month, reviews financial reports, approves our budget and sets our family income guidelines. No board member is paid, and board members with a conflict of interest step out of related decisions.

Advisory partners. Representatives from clinics, a hospital social work office and a home-visiting program give guidance twice a year.

Why we can do this. We have run classes and a volunteer doula effort with a waiting list. We have strong partner relationships and a simple, careful plan. We are starting small and growing as we show we can serve families well.

Milestones Narrative

Our goals, how we will measure them and when we plan to reach them.

Year 1 outcomes (July 2027 through June 2028):
- Support about 60 families with doula care.
- Train about 8 community doulas through scholarships.
- Complete about 60 sets of prenatal visits and about 60 postpartum visits.
- Hold about 12 small classes for families.
- Connect at least 80 percent of enrolled families to one or more other services they need.
- Receive positive feedback from at least 85 percent of families who answer our short survey.

What we count and how.
- Families served, visits completed and classes held, from our records.
- Doulas trained and how many start serving families.
- Family feedback, from a short, confidential form after the first weeks.
- Partner feedback, collected twice a year.
We report what we find, including what did not work, and use it to improve.

Growth over five years.
- Year 2: About 90 families and 3 community doulas.
- Year 3: About 120 families and 4 community doulas.
- Year 4: About 150 families and 5 community doulas.
- Year 5: About 180 families and 6 community doulas.

Learning along the way. At the end of each quarter, the coordinator and the board review the numbers and decide whether we are on track. If we are falling behind, we will adjust our outreach, our scholarships or our visit schedule before asking for more money.

After the grant. By Year 5, grants make up about 53 percent of our budget, down from about 70 percent in Year 1, as health partners, businesses and individuals give more. We will also follow state rules about payment for doula services and decide whether to take part. We have not counted on any such payment in this budget.

Funding Request

What we are asking for, and how the money will be used. Our request: $56,000 from the Great Lakes Family Health Foundation for a Program Coordinator and training scholarships for community doulas, for July 2027 through June 2028.

The request is spread across these budget lines:
- Personnel: Program Coordinator salary, $42,000.
- Other: Training scholarships for community doulas, paid directly to the training organization, $14,000.

Other money in the program. This request is about 45% of our Year 1 grant income. Other grants and the income lines below pay for everything it does not cover.

Year 1 budget: about $176,000, planned to balance with a small surplus (about $5,000 after the yearly wear on equipment). Year 1 money coming in: grants $124,000 (this request plus other grants we are applying for), health system and public partners $34,000, individual and business donations $18,000. Year 1 costs: executive director $52,000; program coordinator $42,000; two part-time community doulas $40,000; training scholarships $14,000; client support supplies and mileage about $7,000; clinical advisor consulting about $6,000; administration and insurance about $9,000; about $2,040 a year for the wear on equipment.

One-time startup costs. Startup costs of $12,000 are paid once from startup money, not from the yearly budget: $3,000 for comfort kits and birth balls for community doulas; $1,800 for a laptop and tablet for records and scheduling; $1,500 for opening stock of handouts, newborn care guides and postpartum care packs; $2,200 for attorney review of the family agreement, consent and privacy policy; $1,800 for banners, bilingual flyers and a simple website; $1,700 for background checks for the first doulas and the first insurance payment.

How we got our startup number. The Funding Need Calculator in this plan adds the startup costs ($12,000), the cash the program uses before it balances (about $1,040) and a cash cushion of about $42,500, which is about three months of Year 1 costs. In all, that comes to $56,000. We start with $12,000 of our own savings and $50,000 in startup support from a local family foundation and our board, $62,000 in all, which covers that amount with room to spare.

The next five years. Our budget grows from about $176,000 in Year 1 to about $280,000 in Year 5. Grants are planned at $124,000, $126,000, $138,000, $144,000 and $148,000 in Years 1 to 5. Other income grows: health system and public partners from $34,000 to $82,000 and individual and business donations from $18,000 to $50,000. Our surplus is planned at about $5,000 in Year 1, about $5,000 in Year 2, about $14,800 in Year 3, about $18,600 in Year 4 and about $20,200 in Year 5. We add one part-time community doula each year.

Savings. We plan to keep several months of costs in savings. The lowest year-end balance in the plan is about $56,200, at the end of Year 1. Some grant payments and partner payments arrive after we bill, so we plan for about $7,040 owed to us at the end of Year 1.

Cost per family. In Year 1, our total costs are about $2,900 per family served, which includes training new doulas and setting up the program. By Year 5, with more families and a trained team in place, that falls to about $1,400 per family.

After the grant. Health systems, businesses and individual donors grow every year, so grants become a smaller share of our budget. Families and doulas share their stories, and sponsors can underwrite a doula scholarship or a family by name. We will follow state rules about payment for doula services and decide whether to take part, and we have not counted on any such payment here.

Risks and how we will handle them:
- A doula is unavailable at a birth. Every family has a named backup doula, and we limit how many families each doula carries.
- A privacy problem. We follow a written policy, use secure systems and train every doula.
- A scholar leaves the program. We match scholarships to commitments, keep a waiting list of applicants and mentor each scholar closely.
- Families are hard to reach. Coordinators call, text and work through partners.
- A grant ends. We keep savings and grow partner and donor support each year.
- A medical emergency. Our doulas call 911 and the family's care team and never give medical advice.

If you are just starting. A new organization can begin before it has its own 501(c)(3) status through a fiscal sponsor: an established nonprofit that receives grants for you and passes them to your program, usually for a fee (commonly around 5% to 10% of the grant, sometimes more; ask before you agree). Another way is to start smaller: one neighborhood, a handful of families and two or three trained doulas, tracked carefully. Strong results from a small start make larger grants easier to win.

Appendix Notes

Documents to attach with this proposal:

- Your IRS 501(c)(3) determination letter, or your fiscal sponsor agreement.
- Your most recent financial statements and your current year budget.
- A list of your board members and what each one does.
- Signed letters of support from clinics, community partners and a hospital social work office.
- Your family agreement, consent form and privacy policy.
- Your income guidelines and enrollment form.
- Your doula training plan and mentoring plan.
- Your safety plan and background check policy.
- Quotes for the equipment and the training scholarships.
- Resumes for your Executive Director and key staff.
If you don't have any of this yet, no worries - let's continue.

The assumptions behind our numbers (change them in the Financials section to match your own):
- Grant Revenue: $124,000 in Year 1, then $126,000, $138,000, $144,000 and $148,000.
- Health System and Public Partner Support: $34,000 in Year 1, growing to $82,000.
- Individual and Business Donations: $18,000 in Year 1, growing to $50,000.
- Pay (a full year, per person, including payroll taxes and workers' compensation): executive director $52,000, program coordinator $42,000, community doula (part-time) $20,000 each, growing from 2 in Year 1 to 6 in Year 5.
- Other yearly costs in Year 1: training scholarships $14,000, client support supplies and mileage $7,000, clinical advisor consulting $6,000, administration and insurance $9,000. These grow between 4% and 6% a year.
- Equipment: $4,800 at the start, then $1,200 to $1,500 a year.
- Startup costs: $12,000, paid once from $62,000 in startup money.
- Families served: about 60 in Year 1, growing to about 180 in Year 5.
- About 4% of each year's income is still owed to us at year end.
- Tax: none, as a nonprofit.
- Every dollar amount is an estimate. Replace them with your own quotes and real budget.

Startup Costs