New Ground Economic Empowerment Program

Words in [brackets] are blanks you fill in with your own details when you adopt this sample in Supreme Plan AI.

Executive Summary

New Ground Economic Empowerment Program is a nonprofit in Illinois that helps survivors of domestic violence build economic independence. Confidential financial coaching, a dollar-for-dollar savings match paid into the survivor's own account, job readiness with a stipend and child care and transportation help survivors rebuild, with safety planning at every step.

Many survivors stay with or return to an abuser because they cannot support themselves and their children. Many have no savings, damaged credit or debts they did not know about. Financial skills and savings are among the strongest paths to lasting safety.

With this grant we will serve about 60 survivors in Year 1 at 1 location. We are not a shelter or crisis line and we refer survivors to the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233) and call 911 in an emergency. We never reveal a survivor's location. We promise confidential, respectful help and careful use of every dollar.

Our Year 1 budget is about $233,000, growing to about $292,500 by Year 5 as we add sites, coaches and participants. Each year's budget is planned to balance, with a small surplus each year. We have 4 staff in Year 1 (an Executive Director, a Program Director, a Financial Coach and a part-time advocate) and 8 by Year 5.

We are asking the Prairie Safe Futures Foundation for $65,000 for the Financial Coach and the savings match fund. Our other income and startup support cover the rest. These numbers are estimates based on the assumptions listed at the end of this proposal, and we do not promise any result beyond what we describe.

Company Description

New Ground Economic Empowerment Program is a nonprofit organization in Illinois. We are a registered charity with a volunteer board of directors, a written conflict-of-interest policy and a yearly budget the board reviews.

Our mission. Economic independence is one of the strongest paths away from abuse, and every survivor deserves the skills, savings and support to build it.

What we do.
- Provide free financial coaching to survivors of domestic violence in a private, confidential setting.
- Match survivors' savings dollar for dollar, up to a limit, paid into their own accounts.
- Teach credit repair, budgeting, banking and how to protect finances from an abuser.
- Offer job readiness training and a stipend for survivors who complete it.
- Provide child care, transportation and a confidential meeting space.
- Connect survivors with advocates, shelters, legal aid and counseling.

Our values. Respect for every participant, honesty with families and partners, safety first and a place for everyone who wants to belong.

What we do not do. We are not a shelter, a crisis line or a legal service. Our staff are trained in safety planning and call 911 in an emergency and refer survivors to the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233). We never contact an abuser and we keep every survivor's location and information confidential. We do not give legal advice. We do not promise any outcome. We follow the rules of our partner sites and our insurer.

How we got here. A group of advocates, a banker and a financial counselor began offering confidential money workshops for women leaving abusive relationships. Survivors said that money was often what kept them from leaving. We kept simple records of who came and what they asked. This proposal asks for support to move from confidential workshops to a steady program with paid, trained staff and the materials to match.

Problem & Opportunity

Many survivors of domestic violence stay with or return to an abuser because they cannot support themselves and their children.

Cost. A survivor may have no savings, damaged credit or a debt in her name that she did not know about, and starting over costs money.

Access. Few programs combine safety, financial coaching and savings, and many survivors fear that seeking help will put them in danger.

Safety and trust. Safety comes first: survivors need confidential services, and funders want to know that every step protects them.

Missed benefits. Without economic independence, survivors are more likely to remain in danger or return to it.

What we hear.
- A survivor says she left with a bag and no bank account.
- A coach says half of her clients find a debt in their name that they did not open.
- A mother says she stayed because she could not pay rent alone.
- A graduate says her first savings statement made her cry.

We do not claim that a program can solve every challenge. We believe that skills, savings and a safe place to talk about money can help a survivor leave and stay free.

Products & Services

New Ground Economic Empowerment Program gives survivors of domestic violence a safe, welcoming place to build economic independence and safety.

How the program works.
1. Referral. Advocates, shelters and legal aid refer survivors, and survivors may refer themselves in confidence.
2. Safety first. An advocate meets each survivor, reviews her safety plan and agrees on how we may contact her.
3. Coaching. A financial coach works one-on-one on a budget, credit and a plan.
4. Savings match. Survivors who save receive a dollar-for-dollar match, paid into their own account.
5. Job readiness. A job readiness program with a stipend prepares survivors for work.
6. Support. Child care, transportation and a confidential meeting space help survivors take part.
7. Connections. We link survivors with shelters, legal aid, counseling and housing programs.

What a typical session looks like. Participants arrive and check in with a staff member, settle in together, work on the day's activity in small groups and finish with a short talk about what went well. Staff praise effort, correct mistakes kindly and make sure no one is left out.

Staff. Our coaches and advocates are trained in domestic violence, trauma and financial coaching, pass a background check, complete our training and are paid for their time.

Access and fairness. Programs are free. Services are free and confidential. We welcome every survivor regardless of gender, background or status, and offer help in English and Spanish.

Market Analysis

Who we serve. Survivors of domestic violence in our service area who want to build economic independence. Eligibility is being a survivor of domestic violence, and no one is turned away for any reason.

How we estimate need. We cannot count every young person who could benefit, so we plan from what we can see. In our confidential workshops we served full rooms and kept a waiting list. Shelters and legal aid told us that many more survivors need financial help than we can provide. For Year 1 we plan to serve about 60 participants at 1 locations. By Year 5, with more staff and sites, we plan to serve about 180.

Where participants come from.
- Domestic violence shelters and advocates.
- Legal aid and courts.
- Churches and clinics.
- Survivors who tell a friend in confidence.

Who else benefits. Children gain safety and stability. Shelters gain a path forward for residents. Communities gain stronger families.

What the numbers mean. Every number here is a survivor with her own bank account. We keep our early counts modest and honest so we can do the work well.

Competitive Landscape

What young people can find today, and how we are different.

1. Domestic violence shelters. Provide safety and have little capacity for long-term financial coaching. We partner.

2. Credit counseling agencies. Helpful and not designed around abuse. We add safety expertise.

3. Bank programs. Offer accounts and limited coaching. We provide matched savings and confidentiality.

4. Workforce programs. Provide training and not safety planning. We combine them.

5. Legal aid. Provides representation and does not teach financial skills. We work together.

What makes us different.
- Safety planning built into every step.
- A savings match paid into the survivor's own account.
- Confidential services and meeting spaces.
- Child care and transportation.
- Job readiness with a stipend.

Why this gap matters. Existing programs do good work, and most serve people who can already pay or who live close to them. The people we serve are the ones left over: they live in the wrong neighborhood, have the wrong schedule or have no one to ask. We are built to reach them.

We have spoken with domestic violence shelters, legal aid and workforce programs to make sure we are filling a gap and not duplicating services. Their letters of support are in the attachments.

Marketing & Sales Strategy

How young people and partners will find us.

Reaching young people.
- Shelters and advocates. We will give staff a short referral form and a named contact.
- Legal aid and courts. We will share confidential information.
- Churches and clinics. We will leave discreet cards and talk with leaders.
- Online. We will use a discreet website and a text line with safety guidance.
- Word of mouth. Survivors tell friends in confidence.
- A phone line with a text option and a safety note on every message.

Reaching staff and sponsors.
- Recruit coaches through advocacy groups, financial counseling agencies and banks.
- Offer an orientation, a background check and training in safety, privacy and respectful practice.
- Give partners a short report each quarter with counts of participants and what they said.

How we decide who joins. We use a simple sign-up form and enroll participants in the order received, with priority for those with the greatest need and for people new to the program. We keep a waiting list when the program is full.

What we watch. Sign-ups, attendance, savings accounts opened, jobs started and how many participants return for a second season.

Operations Plan

How the program will be carried out.

Timeline for Year 1:
- Months 1 and 2 (July and August): Hire the staff, buy equipment and materials, finalize the waiver, consent form and privacy policy with our attorney and sign site agreements.
- Month 3 (September): Open the program with confidential intake.
- Months 4 to 10: Provide coaching, savings matches and job readiness with regular advocate check-ins.
- Months 11 and 12: Survey survivors with their consent, report to funders and plan Year 2.

Space. Services are provided in a confidential office and at partner locations, and survivors may meet by phone or video if safer.

Safety and privacy.
- Staff are trained in safety planning, never reveal a survivor's location and follow each survivor's contact preferences.
- Staff call 911 in an emergency and refer survivors to the National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233).
- Every staff member and volunteer passes a background check and completes safety training.
- Staff work in pairs or in view of others whenever participants are minors or in a vulnerable situation.
- We keep an emergency plan at every site, and participants complete an emergency contact form.
- We keep records private, share them only with a participant's permission or as the law requires and follow a written policy.

Equipment. We buy about $7,000 of equipment once at the start: laptops and a secure case management system ($3,000), confidential meeting room furnishings and a child corner ($2,500), phones and a secure text line ($1,500). Later years replace or add a few items.

Staffing. In Year 1 I serve as Executive Director. The Program Director, paid $46,000 a year, manages the program and safety. The Financial Coach, paid $40,000, works with survivors. A part-time advocate, paid $24,000, supports safety planning. We add a coach in Year 3.

Management & Organization

Dr. Angela Rivers, 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 financial counselor who learned that money is often the lock on the door. I will complete the safety and trauma training we require of our staff so I understand the program from the inside. (Replace this paragraph with your own background.)

Staff. The Program Director manages the program and safety, financial coaches work with survivors and a part-time advocate supports safety planning. Each passes a background check. These positions are part of our grant request.

Board of directors. Our volunteer board includes a domestic violence advocate, a banker who serves as treasurer, a survivor, an attorney, a financial counselor and a pastor. The board meets every other month, approves our budget and reviews our safety plan. No board member is paid, and members with a conflict of interest step out of related decisions.

Advisory partners. A shelter director, a legal aid attorney and a trauma-informed therapist give guidance twice a year.

Staffing and pay in this plan: Executive Director, paid $52,000 a year; program Director, paid $46,000 a year; financial Coach, paid $40,000 a year; advocate (part-time), paid $24,000 a year.

Milestones Narrative

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

Year 1 outcomes (July 2027 through June 2028):
- Serve about 60 participants at 1 locations.
- Run at least two full seasons and a summer session.
- Have at least 85 percent of participants attend most sessions.
- Have at least 80 percent of participants return for a second season.
- Receive positive feedback from at least 90 percent of families who answer our short survey.

What we count and how.
- Participants enrolled, sessions and games attended, from our records.
- Skills learned and goals met, from the coach's checklist.
- Equipment issued and returned, from our log.
- Participant and family feedback, from a short, confidential form.
We report what we find, including what did not work, and use it to improve.

Growth over five years.
- Year 2: About 90 participants at 1 locations.
- Year 3: About 120 participants at 2 locations.
- Year 4: About 150 participants at 2 locations.
- Year 5: About 180 participants at 3 locations.

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

After the grant. By Year 5, grants make up about 48 percent of our budget, down from about 66 percent in Year 1, as partners and donors give more. We will keep building those relationships every year.

Funding Request

What we are asking for, and how the money will be used. Our request: $65,000 from the Prairie Safe Futures Foundation for the Financial Coach and the savings match fund, for July 2027 through June 2028.

The request is spread across these budget lines:
- Personnel: Financial Coach salary, $40,000.
- Other: Savings match fund paid into survivors' own accounts, $25,000.

Other money in the program. This request is about 42% of our Year 1 grant income. Other grants and the income lines below pay for everything it does not cover.

Year 1 budget: about $233,000, planned to balance with a small surplus (about $9,600 after the yearly wear on equipment). Year 1 money coming in: Grant Revenue $153,000; state Victim Services Funding $50,000; bank and Corporate Partners $22,000; individual Donors $8,000. Year 1 costs: executive Director $52,000; program Director $46,000; financial Coach $40,000; advocate (part-time) $24,000; savings Match Fund about $20,000; job Readiness and Training Stipends about $14,000; child Care and Transportation about $8,000; safety Planning and Confidential Space about $5,000; staff Training about $4,000; administration and Insurance about $9,000; about $3,000 a year for the wear on equipment.

One-time startup costs. Startup costs of $15,500 are paid once from startup money, not from the yearly budget: $3,000 for laptops and a secure case management system; $2,500 for confidential meeting room furnishings and a child corner; $1,500 for phones and a secure text line; $2,500 for attorney review of the consent form, confidentiality policy and safety plan; $1,500 for discreet cards, flyers and a safe website; $2,000 for advocate training and background checks; $2,500 for first insurance payment.

How we got our startup number. The Funding Need Calculator in this plan adds the startup costs ($15,500), the cash the program uses before it balances (about $0) and a cash cushion of about $55,500, which is about three months of Year 1 costs. In all, that comes to $71,000. We start with $6,000 from our founding board and $67,000 in startup support from a community foundation and a bank, $73,000 in all, which covers that amount with room to spare.

The next five years. Our budget grows from about $233,000 in Year 1 to about $292,500 in Year 5. Grants are planned at $153,000, $139,000, $167,000, $153,500 and $140,500 in Years 1 to 5. Other income grows: state Victim Services Funding from $50,000 to $82,000; bank and Corporate Partners from $22,000 to $46,000; individual Donors from $8,000 to $24,000. Our surplus is planned at about $9,600 in Year 1, about $10,300 in Year 2, about $12,700 in Year 3, about $13,500 in Year 4 and about $14,500 in Year 5. We grow from 1 locations to 3 by Year 5, adding a part-time coach for each new site.

Savings. We plan to keep several months of costs in savings. The lowest year-end balance in the plan is about $67,700, at the end of Year 1. Some grant payments and partner payments arrive after we bill, so we plan for about $9,320 owed to us at the end of Year 1.

Cost per survivor. In Year 1, our total costs are about $3,723 per survivor served, which includes setting up the program. By Year 5, with more survivor served and a trained team in place, that falls to about $1,545 per survivor.

After the grant. State victim services funding, corporate sponsors and individual donors grow every year, so grants become a smaller share of our budget. Participants and families share their stories, and businesses can sponsor a team or a season by name. We will look for partnerships with schools and the city that want a safe, free economic empowerment option for every child.

Risks and how we will handle them:
- An injury. Certified coaches, proper equipment, groups matched by age and skill, a written emergency plan and insurance.
- A site is no longer available. We keep agreements with more than one site and a plan for bad weather.
- A coach leaves. We keep a list of trained backup coaches and share lesson plans.
- Low attendance. We adjust sites, times and rides based on family feedback.
- A privacy problem. We follow a written policy, use secure systems and train every staff member and volunteer.
- A grant ends. We keep savings and grow partner and donor support each year.

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 survivors and a small team, 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 partner schools, agencies and sites.
- Your site agreements and your insurance certificate.
- Your consent, waiver and privacy policy.
- Your safety plan and background check policy.
- Your program outline and schedule.
- Quotes for equipment and materials.
- 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: $153,000 in Year 1, growing to $140,500 in Year 5.
- State Victim Services Funding: $50,000 in Year 1, growing to $82,000 in Year 5.
- Bank and Corporate Partners: $22,000 in Year 1, growing to $46,000 in Year 5.
- Individual Donors: $8,000 in Year 1, growing to $24,000 in Year 5.
- Pay (a full year, per person, including payroll taxes and workers' compensation): executive Director $52,000; program Director $46,000; financial Coach $40,000; advocate (part-time) $24,000.
- Other yearly costs in Year 1: savings Match Fund $20,000; job Readiness and Training Stipends $14,000; child Care and Transportation $8,000; safety Planning and Confidential Space $5,000; staff Training $4,000; administration and Insurance $9,000. These grow between 4% and 6% a year.
- Equipment: $7,000 at the start, then $1,500 to $2,500 a year.
- Startup costs: $15,500, paid once from $73,000 in startup money.
- Participants served: about 60 in Year 1, growing to about 180 in Year 5. Sites: 1 in Year 1, growing to 3 by Year 5. Services are available year-round, with coaching and the savings match lasting about twelve months per survivor.
- 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