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Executive Summary
Open Door Housing Network is a nonprofit that helps families and individuals in the west side of our city and the nearby county who are homeless, or about to lose their housing, find and keep a safe place to live. We provide help paying deposits and first month's rent, help finding a landlord, and follow-up after move-in, with a housing navigator who works with each household from the first meeting until they are settled.
Losing housing usually starts with one hard month: a lost job, a medical bill, a rent increase. Once a family is on the street or in a car, every part of life gets harder, including work, school and health. Help that comes early costs far less than help that comes late. Our program focuses on two things: keeping people in the homes they have, and moving people who have lost housing into a stable home as fast as we can.
In Year 1 we plan to serve about 70 households over the year, with about 30 getting active help at any one time. Our Year 1 budget is about $207,000, growing to about $418,000 by Year 5 as we grow from one housing navigator to five. Each year's budget is planned to balance, with a small amount set aside in savings.
We are asking the Carlisle Family Foundation for $60,000, as part of the $187,000 in grants and contracts we need for Year 1. The other $20,000 in Year 1 comes from donations, which we plan to grow to about $60,000 a year by Year 5. Grant money pays for housing navigator time, rental assistance paid directly to landlords, and the record-keeping funders require.
We will measure how many households we serve, how many are placed in or keep stable housing, how many are still housed 6 and 12 months later, and how long it takes to move a household into a home. We will report results to our funders every six months.
Company Description
Open Door Housing Network is a nonprofit organization in Arkansas. A 501(c)(3) public charity
Our mission. To help families facing homelessness find and keep a safe, stable home.
How we started and what we have done. We began in 2023 when a church started paying one month of rent for families facing eviction. Since then we have helped about 70 households stay housed, with 15 volunteers helping each month.
What we do:
- Help households who are about to lose their housing stay in it, through short-term help with rent, talking with landlords, and connecting them to other help.
- Help households who have lost housing find a place to live, apply, and move in, including help with deposits and application fees.
- Connect every household to other help they may need: income and benefits, work, health care, child care and legal aid.
- Check in after move-in, because the first months in a new home are when many placements fall apart.
Where we work. A donated room at a community center, Monday to Thursday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and meetings at libraries or coffee shops when that is easier for the household.
Our partners. Our county's coordinated entry office, two shelters that refer families, a legal aid clinic, and nine landlords who have agreed to work with us.
Our approach. We follow a "housing first" idea: the fastest way to help most people is to get them into housing first, and then work on other goals with them once they are safe and stable.
How we are run. A volunteer Board of Directors (a small group of community members who oversee the organization) meets regularly, approves the budget, reviews the finances and oversees the Executive Director.
Problem & Opportunity
Why this program is needed.
Many households in the west side of our city and the nearby county spend more than half of their income on housing. When a family has no savings, one missed paycheck can mean an eviction. Once an eviction or a lost home is on a person's record, it becomes much harder to rent again, and a family can slip from "almost" to homeless.
Facts about our community. According to our region's annual count, hundreds of people were homeless on the night of the count.
Gaps in the help that exists now:
1. Money for the first move. A deposit, first month's rent and application fees can cost thousands of dollars that a family in crisis does not have.
2. Landlords. Many landlords will not rent to people with an eviction, no credit history or very low income, and many families do not know how to talk to them.
3. Waiting lists. Public housing and vouchers often have long waits, and families need help in the meantime.
4. Shelter space. Emergency shelter is limited, and families may be split up or turned away.
5. Follow-up. A placement that is not followed up often fails within months, sending the family back into crisis.
What we have seen ourselves. Last winter, 11 families came to us after receiving an eviction notice. Eight of them owed less than two months' rent.
Who we serve first. Families with children, people with disabilities, older adults on fixed incomes, and anyone who is in a car or on the street tonight, in families with children in the east and south neighborhoods, and older adults living in their cars.
Products & Services
How the program works.
1. Find the right door. Every household starts with a short meeting with a housing navigator, who figures out what is happening and what kind of help fits: staying where they are, a short-term rent subsidy, or a new place to live.
2. Money paid to the landlord. About $80,000 in Year 1 pays for deposits, first month's rent and short-term rent help. We pay the landlord directly and keep a record of every payment. We do not hand out cash.
3. Landlord partners. We build a list of landlords who will work with us, and we give them one person to call if there is a problem. This is how most of our placements happen.
4. A written plan. Each household and navigator write a simple plan with income, housing and other goals, and what the household will do in the next 30 days.
5. Follow-up. We check in at 30, 90 and 180 days after move-in and help solve problems before they become evictions.
How we will measure results. We record every household we meet, what help they received, whether they are housed after 6 and 12 months, and what happened if they are not. We ask households twice a year what is working and what is not. Our goals for Year 1: serve 80 households; place 40 in housing and help 30 stay in their current homes; have at least 80% still housed after 6 months; and have a clear plan for every household.
Market Analysis
Where we work and who we serve.
We serve households in the west side of our city and the nearby county, especially families with children in the east and south neighborhoods, and older adults living in their cars.
How we know people need this. We turned away 38 households last year because we ran out of funds, and three schools and two clinics now refer families every month.
How many we will reach. In Year 1, about 70 households over the year, with about 30 getting active help at any one time. Our local homeless count and the number of evictions filed in our county are two ways to size the need, and the guide for this plan shows where to find them. As we grow from one housing navigator to five, we expect to serve more households each year without letting the quality of follow-up slip.
How people reach us. 211, three shelters, two school family offices, a health clinic and four churches
Competitive Landscape
Other help, and how we work with it.
- The local Continuum of Care is the group of agencies in a region that coordinates homeless services and often controls the main entry point (called coordinated entry) for housing help. We want to be part of that system, not outside it. We are a member of our region's Continuum of Care and take part in coordinated entry.
- Emergency shelters give people a safe place for a night or longer. We refer people to them and help people leave shelter for housing.
- Public housing authorities run vouchers and subsidized housing, usually with long waiting lists. We help clients apply and wait, and place them in private housing in the meantime.
- Legal aid helps tenants facing eviction. We refer people to them and do not give legal advice ourselves.
- Other nonprofits and churches offer rent or utility help. We share information so a household does not have to tell its story ten times.
What makes us different: a navigator who stays with a household for a full year, a direct relationship with 15 local landlords, and payments made straight to the landlord
Marketing & Sales Strategy
How we reach people and build support.
Reaching people:
- Referrals from the Continuum of Care's coordinated entry, shelters, schools, health clinics, courts, churches and 211.
- Information in places people go in a crisis: libraries, laundromats, clinics, school family offices.
- Word of mouth from households we have helped.
- A simple phone number and a quick call back, because a family in crisis cannot wait a week.
Landlords. We meet with landlords, property managers and housing groups to explain what we offer: a reliable payment, a caseworker on call, and help with problems. We are honest about what we cannot do, and we follow fair housing law, which means we never steer people toward or away from a neighborhood based on who they are.
Volunteers. Local churches, apartment owners and nearby employers.
Raising money beyond grants. Donations are planned at about $20,000 in Year 1, growing to about $60,000 by Year 5, through a yearly giving campaign, business and community partners, a community event and online giving. Raising more of our own money means we depend less on any one grant or contract.
Operations Plan
How the program runs.
How a household moves through the program:
1. A call or referral, then a first meeting within a few days.
2. A quick check on eligibility and what kind of help fits.
3. A written plan, plus signed forms for sharing information with partners.
4. A housing search, deposit and application help, and a lease signed with the landlord.
5. Check-ins at 30, 90 and 180 days, and help with problems before they turn into eviction.
A first meeting. We ask what happened, what the household needs tonight, and what resources they already have. We explain what we can and cannot do, and agree on a first step within 48 hours.
Records. Many government housing funds require agencies to enter client information into a shared database (usually called HMIS, the Homeless Management Information System), and to take part in coordinated entry. We plan for this from the start and learn the software early.
Privacy. Client information is private. We share it with partners only with a signed release or when the law requires it, and funders get totals, never names.
Equipment. In Year 1 we buy about $4,000 in equipment (laptops, phones, a printer and office furniture), then about $1,500 to $2,000 a year to replace worn items.
Staff. One housing navigator in Year 1, then two in Year 2, three in Year 3, four in Year 4 and five in Year 5. Navigators spend most of their time with households and landlords, not at a desk.
Office work. Bookkeeping, insurance and reporting cost about $16,000 in Year 1.
Management & Organization
Who leads the organization.
Nicole Thompson, Executive Director.
The Executive Director leads the organization, raises money and manages grants and contracts, builds partnerships, oversees the finances and reports to the Board. Planned salary: $62,000 a year.
Housing navigators. Meet with households, work out the right kind of help, build landlord relationships, help with applications and follow up after move-in. One position in Year 1, growing to five by Year 5, at a planned salary of $44,000 each. Qualifications we look for: experience in case management or property management, a calm and respectful way with people in a crisis, and a willingness to work with landlords.
Volunteers. Volunteers help with moving days, furniture and household goods, rides to appointments and landlord outreach, and are trained before they work with clients.
Board of Directors. A five-member board including Robert Johnson, who brings nonprofit finance experience.
Money management. Grant and contract money is tracked separately so we can show each funder exactly how their money was spent. An outside accountant reviews our books every year.
Milestones Narrative
Our goals and how we will measure them.
Year 1:
- Join the local coordinated entry system and set up the data system.
- Hire and train our first housing navigator, and build a starting list of landlord partners.
- Serve about 70 households over the year, with about 30 getting active help at any one time.
- Reach our Year 1 housing placement and retention goals.
- Stay within a balanced budget of about $207,000.
Year 2: two housing navigators; budget of about $259,000.
Year 3: three housing navigators; budget of about $311,000.
Year 4: four housing navigators; budget of about $364,000.
Year 5: five housing navigators; budget of about $418,000.
Over the five years: grow to five housing navigators, add a second office day or location, and build a bigger landlord network. Rental assistance funds grow about 8% a year as more households are served.
How we will check our results. For each household we record where they started, what help they received, whether they were housed, and whether they are still housed after 6 and 12 months. Twice a year a short survey asks households what helped. Staff and the Board review the results and share them with funders. If a household returns to homelessness, we look at what we could have done differently.
Funding Request
What we are asking for, and how the money will be used. Our request: $60,000 from the Carlisle Family Foundation for our first housing navigator's salary, rental assistance for 40 households, and the costs of reporting results, for January through December 2027. Year 1 budget: about $207,000, planned to balance. Year 1 money coming in: - Grants and government contracts: $187,000 (this request plus other grants we are applying for). - Donations: $20,000. Year 1 costs: - Executive Director: $62,000. - Housing navigators: $44,000. - Rental assistance funds (deposits and short-term rent paid directly to landlords): $80,000. - Office costs (bookkeeping, insurance, reporting): $16,000. - That is about $202,000 in costs. The remaining $5,000 or so goes into savings. Equipment we buy once at the start (about $4,000) is paid from startup money, not from the yearly budget. The next five years. Our budget grows from about $207,000 in Year 1 to about $418,000 in Year 5 as we grow to five housing navigators. Grants and contracts are planned at $187,000 in Year 1, $231,000 in Year 2, $273,000 in Year 3, $315,000 in Year 4 and $358,000 in Year 5. Donations grow from $20,000 to $60,000, so grants become a smaller part of our budget over time. Savings. We start with about $20,000 of our own plus $70,000 in startup support, and we add to savings each year. Important for government housing funds. Many pay you back after you have spent the money, and they come with rules: housing inspections, income checks, reports and sometimes audits. We plan to keep enough cash on hand to cover the gap, and we keep careful records of every expense. Help we receive that is not cash. Donated space, volunteer hours, furniture and household goods, and landlord discounts are a real part of what we do and are not counted in the budget above. Free office space at a church (about $6,000 a year in rent value), about 1,200 volunteer hours a year, and donated furniture and household goods If we are just starting. A new organization can begin before it has its own 501(c)(3) status. One way is a fiscal sponsor: an established nonprofit that agrees to receive grants for you and pass them to your program, usually for a fee (commonly around 5% to 10% of the grant, sometimes more; ask before you agree). Many funders accept this. Another way is to start smaller: partner with a church or community center, work with a small number of households, build a short list of landlords, and track your results carefully. Even a small program can show that it works. Strong results from a small start make larger grants and contracts easier to win.
Appendix Notes
Documents to attach with this proposal:
- Your IRS 501(c)(3) letter, or your fiscal sponsor agreement.
- Your most recent financial statements and your current budget.
- A list of your Board members and what they do.
- Letters of support from the Continuum of Care, landlord partners, shelters and other referral partners.
- Your intake form, release-of-information form and housing plan template.
- Your client numbers from the past year, if you have them (households served, housed, still housed).
- Your policies on fair housing, privacy and handling client money.
- 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):
- Staff pay: Executive Director $62,000; each housing navigator $44,000, growing from 1 to 5.
- Rental assistance funds about $80,000 in Year 1, rising about 8% a year
- Office costs about $16,000 in Year 1, rising about 4% a year.
- Grants and contracts set so each year's budget balances with a small amount saved.
- Every dollar amount is an estimate. Replace them with your organization's real budget.