Champions Mentoring Youth Success Program

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Executive Summary

Champions Mentoring Youth Success Program is a nonprofit in Ohio that matches middle school students from low-income families with screened, trained volunteer mentors for a full school year. Mentors meet students weekly at school and join monthly group outings, and coordinators check in with every pair each month.

The middle school years are when many young people begin to drift from school and from adults. A steady, caring adult can change that. School counselors have caseloads in the hundreds and cannot give every student the attention they need.

With this grant we will serve about 60 students in Year 1 at 3 schools. We are not a counseling or treatment program and we do not promise any academic or behavioral result. We promise careful screening, close supervision and a mentor who shows up.

Our Year 1 budget is about $178,000, growing to about $226,500 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 Manager and two part-time mentor coordinators) and 7 by Year 5.

We are asking the Central Ohio Youth Success Foundation for $50,000 for the Program Manager, mentor screening and training and match activities. 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

Champions Mentoring Youth Success 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 the board reviews.

Our mission. Every young person should have a caring adult who shows up, listens and believes in them.

What we do.
- Match each young person with a screened volunteer mentor for at least one school year.
- Hold weekly mentoring meetings at school and monthly group outings.
- Train mentors in listening, boundaries and how to support a young person's goals.
- Check in with every mentor, young person and family each month.
- Connect families with school and community resources when they ask.
- Offer a summer enrichment day and a year-end celebration.

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 do not provide therapy, tutoring as a substitute for school or any legal advice. Mentors meet young people only in approved places, in view of others or at our events. We do not promise any academic or behavioral result. We follow the rules of our partner sites and our insurer.

How we got here. A group of teachers, counselors and community members began matching volunteer mentors with middle school students who had few steady adults in their lives. Students asked for their mentors every week. We kept simple records of matches and what young people said. This proposal asks for support to move from a small pilot of matches to a steady program with paid, trained staff and the materials to match.

Problem & Opportunity

Young people in the middle school years are making choices that shape their futures, and many do not have a steady adult outside the family who is paying attention.

Cost. Private mentoring and enrichment programs cost money, and many families cannot add another cost.

Access. School counselors have caseloads in the hundreds, and volunteer programs are often short-lived or poorly supported.

Safety and trust. Parents want to know that mentors are screened, supervised and meet young people in safe places.

Missed benefits. Young people without a consistent mentor may lose confidence, miss school more often and drift from adults who could help.

What we hear.
- A counselor says she has more students who need a trusted adult than she can see.
- A mother says her son lights up when his mentor's name comes up.
- A mentor says showing up every week matters more than any single lesson.
- A principal says attendance improves for students who are matched.

We do not claim that a program can solve every challenge. We believe that one steady, caring adult can change how a young person sees the future.

Products & Services

Champions Mentoring Youth Success Program gives middle school students from low-income families a safe, welcoming place to grow with the support of a caring adult.

How the program works.
1. Referral. School counselors, teachers and families refer students who would benefit from a mentor.
2. Screening. Every mentor completes an application, interviews, references and a background check.
3. Training. Mentors complete a training in listening, boundaries, safety and goal setting.
4. Matching. We match mentors and students by interests, schedules and needs, with a family meeting before the first session.
5. Weekly meetings. Pairs meet weekly at school and join a monthly group outing.
6. Monthly check-ins. A coordinator checks in with the mentor, the student and the family each month.
7. Celebration. A year-end event honors every pair.

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 mentors are screened volunteers, and our coordinators are trained staff who pass a background check and are paid for their time.

Access and fairness. Programs are free. Programs are free. We welcome every student and match with care so each pair has a good chance to succeed.

Market Analysis

Who we serve. Middle school students ages 11 to 15 from low-income families who attend our partner schools. Eligibility is based on school referral and family income guidelines our board sets, and no student is turned away for lack of a good report card.

How we estimate need. We cannot count every young person who could benefit, so we plan from what we can see. In our pilot we matched every mentor we trained and kept a long waiting list of students. School counselors told us that many more students need a mentor than we can serve. For Year 1 we plan to serve about 60 participants at 3 schools. By Year 5, with more staff and sites, we plan to serve about 180.

Where participants come from.
- School counselors, teachers and family liaisons.
- Community and faith groups.
- Employers who want to give volunteer time.
- Families who tell a friend.

Who else benefits. Families gain support and a trusted adult. Schools gain better attendance and engagement. Volunteers gain a meaningful way to give back.

What the numbers mean. Every number here is a young person with a mentor who shows up. 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. School counselors. Essential, with caseloads that leave little time for one-on-one support. We work with them.

2. National mentoring organizations. Strong models, with long waiting lists in many communities. We add local capacity.

3. After-school clubs. Offer activities and group supervision. Few provide a one-to-one relationship.

4. Faith-based youth groups. Caring, and not available to every family.

5. Informal mentors. Valuable and not available to every young person.

What makes us different.
- Free to every student.
- Screened, trained and supported mentors.
- A year-long match with monthly check-ins.
- Group outings that build community.
- A coordinator who knows every pair.

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 school counselors, mentoring organizations and youth 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.
- Schools. We will work with counselors and teachers to share a one-page referral form in English and Spanish.
- Families. We will hold a short information night at each school before matching begins.
- Employers and faith groups. We will present at meetings and invite volunteers.
- Community events. We will share information at fairs and festivals.
- Word of mouth. Mentors and families tell friends.
- A simple website and a phone line with a text option.

Reaching staff and sponsors.
- Invite volunteers through employers, colleges, faith groups and civic clubs.
- 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, matches made, meetings held 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 matching mentors and students at three schools.
- Months 4 to 10: Hold weekly meetings and monthly outings, with monthly check-ins by the coordinators.
- Months 11 and 12: Hold a celebration, survey students, mentors and families, report to funders and plan Year 2.

Space. Meetings are held in school libraries and counseling offices and outings in public places, provided at no cost.

Safety and privacy.
- Mentors meet students only at school, in public places or at our events, and every meeting is logged.
- Any concern is reported to the coordinator the same day, and mandatory reporting rules are followed.
- 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 $4,000 of equipment once at the start: laptops and tablets for match records ($2,500), group outing gear and activity supplies ($1,000), locking file storage ($500). Later years replace or add a few items.

Staffing. In Year 1 I serve as Executive Director. The Program Manager, paid $46,000 a year, oversees screening, matching and training. Two part-time mentor coordinators, each paid $18,000 a year, support the pairs. We add a coordinator as we add schools.

Management & Organization

Darnell Washington, 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 teacher who watched students change when an adult kept showing up. I will complete the training we require of our mentors so I understand the program from the inside. (Replace this paragraph with your own background.)

Staff. The Program Manager oversees screening, matching and training, and part-time mentor coordinators support the pairs. Each passes a background check. These positions are part of our grant request.

Board of directors. Our volunteer board includes a school counselor, a retired principal, a parent, a banker who serves as treasurer, an attorney, a mentor and a former participant. 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 school principal, a youth services staff member and a social worker give guidance twice a year.

Staffing and pay in this plan: Executive Director, paid $50,000 a year; program Manager, paid $46,000 a year; mentor Coordinator (part-time), paid $18,000 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 3 schools.
- 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 3 schools.
- Year 3: About 120 participants at 4 schools.
- Year 4: About 150 participants at 5 schools.
- Year 5: About 180 participants at 6 schools.

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 46 percent of our budget, down from about 67 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: $50,000 from the Central Ohio Youth Success Foundation for the Program Manager, mentor screening and training and match activities, for July 2027 through June 2028.

The request is spread across these budget lines:
- Personnel: Program Manager salary, $40,000.
- Other: Mentor recruitment, screening and training, $6,000 (other funds add $2,000).
- Other: Match activities and outings, $4,000.

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 $178,000, planned to balance with a small surplus (about $7,200 after the yearly wear on equipment). Year 1 money coming in: Grant Revenue $120,000; school District Partnership $30,000; corporate Mentor Partners $20,000; individual Donors $8,000. Year 1 costs: executive Director $50,000; program Manager $46,000; mentor Coordinator (part-time) $18,000; mentor Recruitment, Screening and Training about $8,000; match Activities and Outings about $10,000; transportation about $5,000; match Support Software about $3,000; evaluation about $3,000; administration and Insurance about $9,000; about $2,400 a year for the wear on equipment.

One-time startup costs. Startup costs of $12,500 are paid once from startup money, not from the yearly budget: $2,500 for laptops and tablets for match records; $1,000 for group outing gear and activity supplies; $500 for locking file storage; $2,500 for attorney review of the consent form, mentor agreement and privacy policy; $1,500 for banners, bilingual flyers and a simple website; $2,000 for screening system and background checks for the first mentors; $2,500 for first insurance payment.

How we got our startup number. The Funding Need Calculator in this plan adds the startup costs ($12,500), the cash the program uses before it balances (about $0) and a cash cushion of about $42,500, which is about three months of Year 1 costs. In all, that comes to $55,000. We start with $6,000 from our founding board and $51,000 in startup support from a community foundation and a local employer, $57,000 in all, which covers that amount with room to spare.

The next five years. Our budget grows from about $178,000 in Year 1 to about $226,500 in Year 5. Grants are planned at $120,000, $106,500, $112,000, $99,000 and $104,500 in Years 1 to 5. Other income grows: school District Partnership from $30,000 to $54,000; corporate Mentor Partners from $20,000 to $44,000; individual Donors from $8,000 to $24,000. Our surplus is planned at about $7,200 in Year 1, about $7,700 in Year 2, about $9,100 in Year 3, about $9,900 in Year 4 and about $11,000 in Year 5. We grow from 3 schools to 6 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 $53,900, at the end of Year 1. Some grant payments and partner payments arrive after we bill, so we plan for about $7,120 owed to us at the end of Year 1.

Cost per student. In Year 1, our total costs are about $2,847 per student served, which includes setting up the program. By Year 5, with more student served and a trained team in place, that falls to about $1,197 per student.

After the grant. School district 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 mentoring 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 students 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: $120,000 in Year 1, growing to $104,500 in Year 5.
- School District Partnership: $30,000 in Year 1, growing to $54,000 in Year 5.
- Corporate Mentor 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 $50,000; program Manager $46,000; mentor Coordinator (part-time) $18,000.
- Other yearly costs in Year 1: mentor Recruitment, Screening and Training $8,000; match Activities and Outings $10,000; transportation $5,000; match Support Software $3,000; evaluation $3,000; administration and Insurance $9,000. These grow between 4% and 5% a year.
- Equipment: $4,000 at the start, then $1,500 to $2,500 a year.
- Startup costs: $12,500, paid once from $57,000 in startup money.
- Participants served: about 60 in Year 1, growing to about 180 in Year 5. Sites: 3 in Year 1, growing to 6 by Year 5. Matches last a school year, with weekly meetings and monthly outings.
- 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