Safe and Heard Elder Services

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Executive Summary

Safe and Heard Elder Services is a nonprofit in Arizona that helps older adults and their families recognize and report abuse, neglect and financial exploitation. A helpline gives people a trained person to talk to, we connect callers to the agencies that investigate and protect, and we train banks, clinics and community groups to spot warning signs.

Older adults are targeted by scams and sometimes harmed by people they trust, and many never tell anyone. With this grant we will pay a helpline coordinator and the training materials and presentations that reach people before harm grows. We are not an investigative agency and we cannot promise that any problem will be resolved. If someone is in danger, call 911. Suspected abuse should be reported to the state's Adult Protective Services, and the Eldercare Locator at 1-800-677-1116 can help families find local services.

What we are asking for. Our program has a Year 1 budget of about $170,500. We are asking for $55,000 from a community foundation to a helpline coordinator salary and training materials. The rest of the budget comes from other grants, sponsors and donors that are listed in the funding section. Every dollar amount in this plan is an estimate and none of it is a promise of any result for the people we serve.

Company Description

Safe and Heard Elder Services is a nonprofit organization recognized under section 501(c)(3) of the tax code, governed by a volunteer board that includes older adults. The board meets monthly, approves the budget and oversees the executive director. A new organization without its own determination letter can use a fiscal sponsor, explained in the funding section.

What we believe. Older adults have the right to live with dignity and make their own choices. We listen without judgment, protect privacy and support the person's wishes wherever it is safe to do so.

What we do:
- Helpline. A trained coordinator listens, helps callers understand their options and connects them to Adult Protective Services, law enforcement, legal aid and other services.
- Community training. Presentations for banks, clinics, faith groups and senior centers on warning signs and how to report.
- Scam prevention. Workshops about common scams and how to protect money and information.
- Family support. Guidance for family members who are worried about a loved one.

Limits. We do not investigate abuse, remove anyone from a home, give legal or financial advice or take control of anyone's money. We refer people to the agencies and professionals who do. We follow the law on reporting.

Who we serve. Adults aged 60 and older, their families and the professionals who work with them.

Our board has at least five members, including at least one person who has used our services or lives in the community we serve, and only a minority of board members may be related to each other or paid by the organization.

We keep a written conflict of interest policy, a whistleblower policy and a record retention policy, and the board reviews them every year.

Problem & Opportunity

Abuse, neglect and exploitation of older adults are widespread and underreported.

1. Hidden harm. Many older adults are harmed by family, caregivers or trusted people and do not report out of fear or shame.
2. Scams. Fraudsters target older adults by phone, mail and online.
3. Isolation. People who are isolated are more at risk and less likely to be noticed.
4. Confusion about where to turn. Many people do not know who to call.
5. Professionals who are unsure. Bankers, clinic staff and neighbors may notice signs but not know what to do.

Why it matters now. The number of older adults is growing and scams are more sophisticated. Clear information and a trusted helpline can stop harm sooner.

How we know the need is real. We reviewed reports to Adult Protective Services and local police scam reports, talked with 40 older adults and family members and asked banks and clinics how often they see signs. Many professionals told us they want training. The numbers are in the appendix.

We update these facts every year using public data, partner reports and what the people we serve tell us, and we change the program when the facts change. If a need turns out to be smaller than we thought, we will say so and put the money where it is needed most.

Products & Services

What the funded project will do. With this grant we will pay a helpline coordinator and the training materials and presentations for a full year.

How a person takes part:
1. Contact. An older adult, a family member or a professional calls the helpline or attends a training.
2. Listening and safety. The coordinator listens, asks whether anyone is in immediate danger and explains options. If there is danger, the caller is told to call 911.
3. Referral. The coordinator helps the caller reach Adult Protective Services, law enforcement, legal aid or a financial institution, and can stay on the line when the caller wishes.
4. Training. Banks, clinics and community groups receive training on warning signs and reporting.
5. Follow-up. With the caller's permission, we check back to see if help was reached.

What the grant pays for. The request covers the helpline coordinator's salary and training materials and presentations.

What we do not promise. We do not promise that any report will lead to action, and we do not investigate. We explain what to expect from the agencies and report our own numbers honestly.

Safety rules. We follow the law on reporting suspected abuse. We call 911 in emergencies, we direct callers in crisis to 988, and we never encourage anyone to confront an abuser alone.

We start small, check what works and grow only when we can do the work well. Every few months we review the numbers and the stories from the people we serve and change the plan where it is not working.

We write plain-language handouts for every step so people know what to expect, what it costs and who to call with questions, and we ask each person at the end whether the help was useful and what we could do better.

Market Analysis

Who benefits from this project are older adults in our service area, their families and the professionals who work with them.

Who we serve. Adults aged 60 and older, many living alone or on fixed incomes, and families who worry about a loved one.

How many people we plan to serve. In Year 1 we plan to answer about 600 helpline calls and train about 1,500 people in 60 presentations. By Year 5 we plan to answer about 1,200 calls a year and train about 3,000 people a year. We chose these numbers from the capacity of one coordinator and a part-time educator at first and two coordinators later.

Where we serve. The county and nearby communities, with phone and video options and presentations at senior centers and clinics.

Who else benefits. Banks that prevent losses, clinics and caregivers who gain tools and neighbors who know how to help.

How we will be careful. Calls are confidential, we collect only what we need, we share information only with the caller's permission or as the law requires and we respect the older adult's choices.

We choose how many people to serve from the number of staff, hours and rooms we really have, not from the size of the need. If we reach fewer people than planned, we will report it and explain why.

Competitive Landscape

Other choices in our area.

1. Adult Protective Services. Investigates reports but does not provide a listening helpline or training.
2. Law enforcement. Responds to crimes but may have limited time for education.
3. Legal aid. Provides legal help but is overloaded.
4. Area agency on aging. Provides services but may not focus on abuse prevention.
5. Other nonprofits and national hotlines.

What makes us different. We combine a friendly local helpline with training for the people who are most likely to notice abuse. We refer to the agencies above and do not replace them.

How we avoid duplication. We work with Adult Protective Services, police and the area agency on aging and use shared referral information with consent.

We keep a written list of every other organization that does similar work in our area and review it each year. If another group can serve a person better, we refer the person and say so plainly. Funders can expect us to tell the truth about overlap, to share what we learn and to work as part of a larger network of help.

Marketing & Sales Strategy

How we will reach older adults, families and professionals once the project is funded.

Professional partners. Banks, clinics, pharmacies, faith communities and senior centers will host trainings and post our number.

Community education. Presentations at senior centers, libraries and housing communities.

Media and mailings. Large-print flyers and a short message on local radio and in community newsletters.

Word of mouth. People who have been helped tell others. With permission, we share anonymous stories.

Digital outreach. A website and social media will list the helpline, scam alerts and training dates. We will not post personal information.

Access. We provide large print and materials in English and Spanish, phone and video options and an easy-to-remember phone number.

Measuring outreach. We will track how callers heard about us and adjust our outreach where it is not working.

Marketing budget. Outreach and printing are part of the program budget.

Most people hear about services from someone they already trust, so we spend more time with partners and neighbors than on advertising. We write our materials in plain language, test them with a few people from the community and fix anything that confuses them.

Operations Plan

How the project will be carried out, in plain terms.

Timeline for Year 1. Months 1 and 2: hire the coordinator, set up the helpline and software, and sign partner agreements. Months 3 to 12: answer calls, deliver trainings and hold scam prevention workshops.

Space. The helpline is staffed from a private office. Trainings are held at partner sites.

Partners. Adult Protective Services, police, legal aid, banks, clinics and the area agency on aging. Each has a written agreement.

Safety, privacy and legal rules. Staff are trained mandated reporters and follow state law on reporting. Calls are confidential, and records are locked. We never ask for a bank account number or password. We call 911 in emergencies and direct anyone in crisis to 988. We tell callers honestly what the agencies can and cannot do.

Records and reporting. We track calls, referrals and trainings in a secure system and report anonymous numbers to funders each quarter.

Training. Staff receive training in elder abuse, trauma-informed practice and scam awareness.

We write down every step of the project in a short manual so that any trained staff member can carry it out the same way. We hold a short team meeting every week to review problems, safety concerns and numbers, and we ask the people we serve for feedback at least twice a year.

Management & Organization

The executive director leads the organization and manages the budget and partnerships. The helpline coordinator answers calls and manages referrals, and the community educator delivers trainings.

The team. Pay figures include payroll taxes and workers' compensation insurance. The numbers in parentheses are how many people we plan to have in Years 1 through 5.
- Executive Director: 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 (Years 1 to 5), about $58,000 a year each.
- Helpline Coordinator: 1, 1, 1, 2, 2 (Years 1 to 5), about $44,000 a year each.
- Community Educator (part-time): 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 (Years 1 to 5), about $24,000 a year each.

Governance and money controls. A volunteer board of directors oversees the budget and the executive director. Two people review every payment, the board reviews financial statements every month, an outside accountant prepares the yearly tax return and audit-ready records, and every grant is tracked in its own budget line. We screen staff and volunteers who work with the people we serve, train everyone on privacy and safety and keep written policies on conflicts of interest and complaints.

Staff and advisors. We seek staff with experience in aging services, social work or law enforcement. An advisory group of older adults, a banker, a nurse and an attorney meets quarterly.

Feedback and complaints. Anyone we serve can give feedback or a complaint by phone, in writing or in person, and can ask to speak with the board chair. We reply within five working days, keep a log of every complaint and report the themes to the board each quarter. No one loses services for speaking up.

Milestones Narrative

Goals for each of the first five years and how we will measure results. These are goals, not promises.
- Before the grant starts (2 to 3 months before the grant starts): hire the helpline coordinator, set up the phone line and software, sign partner agreements and prepare the training materials
- Year 1: answer about 600 helpline calls and train about 1,500 people. The budget is $170,500.
- Year 2: add scam workshops at banks and senior centers. The budget is $172,000.
- Year 3: add a bilingual line and expand clinic trainings. The budget is $174,000.
- Year 4: hire a second coordinator. The budget is $221,000.
- Year 5: answer about 1,200 calls a year and train about 3,000 people a year. The budget is $223,000.

How we will measure results: helpline calls answered, referrals made, professionals trained, callers who report reaching help and partners who say they would recommend the program. We report results to funders in the same plain numbers we use here, and we say honestly when a goal was missed and what we changed.

We report to funders every quarter and send a short plain-language summary to our board each month. At the end of each year we review all of the goals, publish a short results report and update the plan for the next year.

Funding Request

What we are asking for, and how the money will be used. Our request: $55,000 from a community foundation for a helpline coordinator salary and training materials, for January through December 2027.

The request is spread across these budget lines:
- Personnel: Helpline Coordinator salary, $44,000.
- Other: Training materials and presentations, $11,000 (other funds add $3,000).

Other money in the program. This request is about 40% of our Year 1 grant income. Other grants and the income lines below pay for everything it does not cover.

Year 1 budget: about $170,500, planned to balance with a small surplus (about $6,400 after the yearly wear on equipment). Year 1 money coming in: grant revenue $138,500; individual donations $20,000; community and bank sponsors $12,000. Year 1 costs: executive director $58,000; helpline coordinator $44,000; community educator (part-time) $24,000; training materials and presentations about $8,000; helpline phone and case software about $9,000; outreach and printing about $8,000; administration and insurance about $12,000.

One-time startup costs. Startup costs of $13,800 are paid once from startup money, not from the yearly budget: $3,000 for laptops, headsets and a locked file cabinet for confidential calls, $2,500 for presentation equipment, display and training kits, $2,400 for case software setup and a secure phone line, $1,500 for background checks and mandated reporter training, $2,400 for policy review and legal setup, and $2,000 for brochures in large print and in english and spanish and a simple website.

How we got our startup number. The Funding Need Calculator in this plan adds the startup costs ($13,800), the cash the program uses before it balances (about $0) and a cash cushion of about $40,800, which is about 3 months of Year 1 costs. In all, that comes to $55,000. We start with $12,000 of our own savings and $44,500 in startup support from a local foundation and our board, $56,500 in all, which covers that amount with room to spare.

The next five years. Our budget grows from about $170,500 in Year 1 to about $223,000 in Year 5. Grants are planned at $138,500, $133,000, $128,000, $168,000, $163,000 in Years 1 to 5. Other income grows as sponsors and donors join. The program plans a small surplus each year, about $6,400, $6,000, $5,900, $6,800 and $6,600 in Years 1 to 5, which we put into savings.

Savings. We plan to keep several months of costs in savings. The lowest year-end balance in the plan is about $51,700, at the end of Year 1. Some grant payments and partner payments arrive after we bill, so we plan for about $6,820 owed to us at the end of Year 1.

After the grant. Individual donors and bank and community sponsors grow each year, so grants become a smaller share. Banks and clinics may help fund trainings over time.

Risks and how we will handle them:
- A caller may be in danger. We follow safety protocols and call 911.
- A privacy mistake could harm someone. We lock records and train staff.
- A grant may end. We grow donors and sponsors each year and keep savings.
- Calls may exceed capacity. We add trained volunteers and set clear hours.
- Staff may suffer burnout. We provide supervision and time off.

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 with one site or one staff member and track results carefully. Strong results from a small start make larger grants easier to win.

Appendix Notes

Documents to attach before you send this proposal:

- Your IRS determination letter showing 501(c)(3) status, or your fiscal sponsor agreement.
- Your board list and board minutes approving the application.
- Your most recent budget and financial statements.
- A list of other funders and what each has given or been asked to give.
- Your helpline protocol and mandated reporting policy.
- Partner agreements with Adult Protective Services, police and legal aid.
- Training materials and staff training records.
- Letters of support from partners.
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: $138,500 in Year 1, growing to $163,000 in Year 5.
- Individual Donations: $20,000 in Year 1, growing to $36,000 in Year 5.
- Community and Bank Sponsors: $12,000 in Year 1, growing to $24,000 in Year 5.
- Staff pay is shown in the management section and includes payroll taxes and workers' compensation.
- Other yearly costs in Year 1: training materials and presentations $8,000, helpline phone and case software $9,000, outreach and printing $8,000, and administration and insurance $12,000. These grow between 4% and 5% a year as the program grows.
- Grant and partner payments arrive after we bill, so about $6,820 (4% of Year 1 income) is owed to us at the end of Year 1.
- The program does not pay income tax. Any surplus stays in the program.
- Every dollar amount is an estimate. Replace them with your organization's real numbers.

Plain words used in this proposal:
- Grant: money given for a specific purpose that does not have to be paid back, as long as it is spent as promised.
- Request: the part of the budget we are asking this funder to pay for.
- Surplus: money left over after a year's costs. A small surplus is healthy because it builds savings for slow months.
- Startup costs: one-time costs, such as equipment, paid once before the program runs at full speed.
- Working capital: cash kept in the bank to pay bills while waiting for grant payments.
- In-kind: goods or services given instead of money, such as donated space.
- Fiscal sponsor: an established nonprofit that receives grants for a new group and passes the money to its program, usually for a fee.
- 501(c)(3): the tax status that lets a nonprofit receive tax-deductible gifts and many grants.

How to read the numbers. Every income and cost figure is a plan, not a result. Income rises as sponsors and donors join, costs rise a little each year, and each year's budget is planned to balance with a small surplus. Startup costs are shown separately because they are paid once. If a real number turns out different, we will update the plan and tell our funders why.

Startup Costs