Shield and Restore Elder Financial Protection Program

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Executive Summary

Shield and Restore Elder Financial Protection Program is a nonprofit in Arizona that protects older adults from fraud and financial exploitation. Advocates teach plain-language workshops, help seniors review suspicious calls and bills, place credit freezes and secure accounts, help victims report to banks and authorities and refer them to partner attorneys, with a fund that pays those attorneys directly.

Older adults lose billions of dollars every year to scams and exploitation, and many are too embarrassed to tell anyone. The money is often gone before anyone notices, and recovering it is hard.

With this grant we will serve about 100 seniors in Year 1 in 2 communities. We are not a law firm and we do not give legal advice. We never hold a senior's money. We report suspected abuse as the law requires, and we call 911 if a senior is in danger. We do not promise to recover lost funds. We promise respectful help, careful records and honest limits.

Our Year 1 budget is about $184,000, growing to about $279,000 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 and an Elder Advocate) and 7 by Year 5.

We are asking the Desert Seniors Justice Foundation for $60,000 for the Elder Advocate, a legal referral fund and part of the Program Director position. 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

Shield and Restore Elder Financial Protection Program is a nonprofit organization in Arizona. 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. Older adults should be able to enjoy the money they have worked a lifetime to earn, free from fraud, scams and exploitation.

What we do.
- Provide free education on scams, fraud and financial exploitation at senior centers, churches and libraries.
- Offer one-on-one help from an elder advocate to review suspicious calls, letters and bills.
- Help seniors place credit freezes, stop unwanted solicitations and secure accounts.
- Connect victims with attorneys, adult protective services and banks, and fund legal referrals paid to partner attorneys.
- Run shredding days and mail and phone safety workshops.
- Train bank and credit union staff and caregivers to spot and report abuse.

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 law firm and our advocates do not give legal advice; they refer to attorneys. We never hold or manage a senior's money, and we do not take a power of attorney. We report suspected abuse as the law requires. If a senior is in danger we call 911. We do not promise to recover lost funds. We follow the rules of our partner sites and our insurer.

How we got here. A group of retired bankers, a social worker and an attorney began holding scam awareness talks at a senior center. Seniors came afterward with stories and papers. We kept simple records of who came and what they reported. This proposal asks for support to move from scam awareness talks to a steady program with paid, trained staff and the materials to match.

Problem & Opportunity

Older adults lose billions of dollars every year to scams and exploitation, and many are too embarrassed to tell anyone.

Cost. Victims may lose a lifetime of savings, and the money is often gone before anyone notices. Hiring an attorney to recover it is out of reach for most.

Access. Seniors may not know where to report fraud, and each agency handles a small piece. Scammers are skilled and persistent.

Safety and trust. Seniors want help that is private and respectful, and funders want a program that protects seniors and follows the law on reporting.

Missed benefits. Seniors who lose their savings may lose their independence and can become dependent on public support.

What we hear.
- A widow says she sent thousands to a man she thought she loved.
- A bank teller says she sees the same seniors withdraw large amounts and cannot always stop it.
- A son says he found his father's account empty.
- A senior says she felt too ashamed to tell anyone.

We do not claim that a program can solve every challenge. We believe that education, a trusted advocate and fast action can prevent harm and help victims recover.

Products & Services

Shield and Restore Elder Financial Protection Program gives older adults at risk of fraud and exploitation a safe, welcoming place to protect their savings and their independence.

How the program works.
1. Education. Advocates teach short, plain-language workshops at senior centers, churches and libraries.
2. Advocacy. A senior who suspects fraud can call or visit an elder advocate for a free review.
3. Protection. Advocates help place credit freezes, stop unwanted calls and mail and secure accounts.
4. Reporting. We help victims report to banks, police, adult protective services and consumer agencies.
5. Legal help. We refer victims to partner attorneys and pay referral fees directly to those attorneys.
6. Professionals. We train bank staff and caregivers to recognize and report exploitation.
7. Follow-up. We check in with seniors after a report and help them rebuild.

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 advocates are trained in elder fraud and exploitation, pass a background check, complete our training and are paid for their time. A volunteer attorney reviews our materials.

Access and fairness. Programs are free. Services are free. We welcome every older adult and offer materials in large print and in Spanish.

Market Analysis

Who we serve. Older adults ages 60 and over in our service area who are at risk of or have experienced fraud or financial exploitation. Eligibility is age and where a person lives, and no senior 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 awareness talks we heard from more seniors with problems than we could help and kept a waiting list. Banks and adult protective services told us that many more seniors need help than the area offers. For Year 1 we plan to serve about 100 participants at 2 communities. By Year 5, with more staff and sites, we plan to serve about 260.

Where participants come from.
- Banks and credit unions.
- Adult protective services and police.
- Senior centers and churches.
- Seniors and families who tell a friend.

Who else benefits. Families gain peace of mind. Banks gain trained staff and fewer losses. Communities gain a safer, better informed senior population.

What the numbers mean. Every number here is a senior who hung up on a scammer. 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. Adult protective services. Investigate abuse and neglect and have large caseloads. We help and refer.

2. Police. Take reports and have limited resources for complex fraud. We prepare reports.

3. Banks. Detect some fraud and cannot stop every transfer. We train and partner.

4. Legal aid. Provides representation and has long waits. We refer and pay for some help.

5. National fraud hotlines. Take reports, with little personal follow-up. We provide a local advocate.

What makes us different.
- Free local advocates.
- A fund that pays partner attorneys for referrals.
- Credit freeze and account help.
- Shredding days and mail safety workshops.
- Training for bank staff and caregivers.

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 banks, adult protective services, police and other elder protection 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.
- Senior centers and churches. We will hold workshops and share large-print flyers.
- Banks and credit unions. We will train staff and share a reporting card.
- Adult protective services and police. We will share referrals and information.
- Libraries and community groups. We will hold shredding days.
- Word of mouth. Seniors tell friends.
- A simple website and a phone line with a text option.

Reaching staff and sponsors.
- Recruit advocates through social work programs, banks and senior services.
- 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, seniors helped, losses prevented 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): Begin workshops and open the helpline.
- Months 4 to 10: Hold workshops, help seniors one-on-one, hold shredding days and train professionals.
- Months 11 and 12: Survey seniors and partners, report to funders and plan Year 2.

Space. Workshops are held in senior centers, churches and libraries, and advocates meet seniors in public places or at home with permission.

Safety and privacy.
- Advocates never hold a senior's money, never take a power of attorney and follow mandated reporting rules.
- First home visits are made in pairs.
- 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 $6,000 of equipment once at the start: laptops and a secure case management system ($3,000), portable shredder and workshop equipment ($2,000), phones and a secure helpline ($1,000). 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 workshops, partners and the legal referral fund. The Elder Advocate, paid $40,000, helps seniors one-on-one. We add an advocate in Year 3 and another in Year 5.

Management & Organization

Evelyn Brooks, 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 retired bank manager who watched seniors fall for scams I could not stop. I will complete the training we require of our advocates so I understand the program from the inside. (Replace this paragraph with your own background.)

Staff. The Program Director manages workshops, partners and the legal referral fund, and elder advocates help seniors one-on-one. Each passes a background check. These positions are part of our grant request.

Board of directors. Our volunteer board includes a retired banker, a social worker, an elder law attorney, a senior who was a victim, a banker who serves as treasurer and a police detective. 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. An adult protective services supervisor, an elder law attorney and a bank fraud investigator 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; elder Advocate, paid $40,000 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 100 participants at 2 communities.
- 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 140 participants at 2 communities.
- Year 3: About 180 participants at 3 communities.
- Year 4: About 220 participants at 3 communities.
- Year 5: About 260 participants at 4 communities.

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 53 percent of our budget, down from about 63 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: $60,000 from the Desert Seniors Justice Foundation for the Elder Advocate, a legal referral fund and part of the Program Director position, for July 2027 through June 2028.

The request is spread across these budget lines:
- Personnel: Elder Advocate salary, $40,000.
- Other: Legal referral fund paid directly to partner attorneys, $12,000.
- Personnel: Part of the Program Director position, $8,000.

Other money in the program. This request is about 52% of our Year 1 grant income. Other grants and the income lines below pay for everything it does not cover.

Year 1 budget: about $184,000, planned to balance with a small surplus (about $7,800 after the yearly wear on equipment). Year 1 money coming in: Grant Revenue $116,000; state Elder Justice Funding $40,000; bank and Credit Union Partners $20,000; individual Donors $8,000. Year 1 costs: executive Director $52,000; program Director $46,000; elder Advocate $40,000; education Materials and Workshops about $5,000; legal Referral Fund about $12,000; fraud Prevention Tools and Shredding Days about $4,000; advocate Training about $4,000; interpreter Services about $3,000; administration and Insurance about $9,000; about $2,800 a year for the wear on equipment.

One-time startup costs. Startup costs of $14,500 are paid once from startup money, not from the yearly budget: $3,000 for laptops and a secure case management system; $2,000 for portable shredder and workshop equipment; $1,000 for phones and a secure helpline; $2,500 for attorney review of the client agreement, referral policy and privacy policy; $1,500 for large-print flyers and a simple 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 ($14,500), the cash the program uses before it balances (about $0) and a cash cushion of about $43,800, which is about three months of Year 1 costs. In all, that comes to $58,500. We start with $6,000 from our founding board and $55,000 in startup support from a community foundation and a credit union, $61,000 in all, which covers that amount with room to spare.

The next five years. Our budget grows from about $184,000 in Year 1 to about $279,000 in Year 5. Grants are planned at $116,000, $102,500, $131,000, $117,500 and $147,000 in Years 1 to 5. Other income grows: state Elder Justice Funding from $40,000 to $64,000; bank and Credit Union Partners from $20,000 to $44,000; individual Donors from $8,000 to $24,000. Our surplus is planned at about $7,800 in Year 1, about $8,300 in Year 2, about $10,600 in Year 3, about $10,800 in Year 4 and about $13,800 in Year 5. We grow from 2 communities to 4 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 $56,600, at the end of Year 1. Some grant payments and partner payments arrive after we bill, so we plan for about $7,360 owed to us at the end of Year 1.

Cost per senior. In Year 1, our total costs are about $1,762 per senior served, which includes setting up the program. By Year 5, with more senior served and a trained team in place, that falls to about $1,020 per senior.

After the grant. State elder justice 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 elder financial protection 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 seniors 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: $116,000 in Year 1, growing to $147,000 in Year 5.
- State Elder Justice Funding: $40,000 in Year 1, growing to $64,000 in Year 5.
- Bank and Credit Union Partners: $20,000 in Year 1, growing to $44,000 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; elder Advocate $40,000.
- Other yearly costs in Year 1: education Materials and Workshops $5,000; legal Referral Fund $12,000; fraud Prevention Tools and Shredding Days $4,000; advocate Training $4,000; interpreter Services $3,000; administration and Insurance $9,000. These grow between 4% and 6% a year.
- Equipment: $6,000 at the start, then $1,500 to $2,500 a year.
- Startup costs: $14,500, paid once from $61,000 in startup money.
- Participants served: about 100 in Year 1, growing to about 260 in Year 5. Sites: 2 in Year 1, growing to 4 by Year 5. Workshops and one-on-one help are offered year-round, with shredding days each season.
- 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