New Roots Resettlement Services

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

Executive Summary

New Roots Resettlement Services is a nonprofit in Ohio that welcomes refugee families and helps them settle into their new community. A case manager helps families with housing, school enrollment, health care and public benefits, an employment specialist helps adults find work and interpreters make sure language is never a barrier.

Refugees arrive after fleeing danger, often with few belongings, and the first months are the hardest. With this grant we will pay a case manager and interpretation services. We work alongside the national resettlement agencies and community partners. We do not give immigration legal advice and we do not promise any outcome. We refer legal questions to accredited representatives and licensed attorneys.

What we are asking for. Our program has a Year 1 budget of about $223,000. We are asking for $50,000 from a community foundation to a case manager salary and interpretation services. 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

New Roots Resettlement Services is a nonprofit organization recognized under section 501(c)(3) of the tax code, governed by a volunteer board that includes former refugees. 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. Every family deserves safety, dignity and a chance to build a life. We listen to families about what they need and respect their culture, faith and language.

What we do:
- Case management. A case manager helps with housing, schools, health care, transportation and public benefits.
- Employment support. An employment specialist helps with applications, interviews and workplace skills.
- Interpretation. Professional interpreters help families at appointments, schools and job sites.
- Cultural orientation. Classes on everyday life, transit, money and rights.
- Community connections. Volunteer mentors and faith groups welcome new families.

What we do not do. We do not give immigration or legal advice, decide anyone's immigration status or give cash to families. Emergency help is paid directly to landlords and vendors.

Who we serve. Refugees and others who have been granted protection, within their first few years in our service area.

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

Newly arrived refugee families face many challenges at once.

1. Language. Many adults and children do not speak English, which affects health care, school and work.
2. Housing. Finding an affordable apartment with no credit history is hard.
3. Work. Credentials may not transfer and early jobs may be low paid.
4. Trauma and stress. Many families carry the effects of violence and loss.
5. Unfamiliar systems. Schools, health care, transit and banking work differently than at home.

Why it matters now. Communities are welcoming new families and want them to succeed, and early support can set a family on a stable path.

How we know the need is real. We reviewed the number of arrivals in our county, surveyed 50 families and talked with schools, clinics and landlords. Families said that someone who speaks their language and an interpreter at appointments mattered most. 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 case manager and interpretation services for a full year.

How a family takes part:
1. Welcome. A family is greeted by the team, volunteer mentors and, where possible, a person who speaks their language.
2. Assessment. The case manager learns about the family's strengths and needs and makes a plan.
3. Basic needs. The case manager helps with school enrollment, health care appointments and public benefits. Emergency help is paid directly to landlords and vendors.
4. Work. The employment specialist helps adults with resumes, interviews and job matches.
5. Orientation. Families attend classes on daily life and community resources.
6. Follow-up. We stay in touch for the first year and connect families to long-term supports.

What the grant pays for. The request covers the case manager's salary and interpretation services.

What we do not promise. We do not promise housing, work or a benefit decision. We track results such as families settled and adults employed and report honestly.

Safety and respect. We follow privacy laws, share information only with consent, refer immigration questions to accredited representatives or attorneys and report suspected abuse as the law requires. We call 911 for emergencies and direct anyone in crisis to 988.

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 newly arrived refugee families in our service area and the community that welcomes them.

Who we serve. Families from several countries, including adults and children, most with low incomes and limited English.

How many people we plan to serve. In Year 1 we plan to work with about 90 families, to place about 50 adults in jobs and to provide about 1,200 hours of interpretation. By Year 5 we plan to work with about 180 families a year. We chose these numbers from the capacity of one case manager at first and two by the third year and the number of arrivals we expect.

Where we serve. The city and nearby suburbs, with classes at community centers and libraries.

Who else benefits. Schools and clinics that can communicate with families, employers who gain reliable workers and neighbors who gain new friends.

How we will be careful. We keep information private, never ask for more than we need and respect each family'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. National resettlement agencies. Provide initial services but with limited time and staff.
2. Public schools and health clinics. Offer services but not always in families' languages.
3. Faith communities. Offer welcome and volunteers but not case management.
4. Immigrant-serving nonprofits. Offer legal help and classes.
5. Family and community networks.

What makes us different. We provide ongoing case management, employment support and interpretation in one place and we are led by former refugees. We work alongside agencies and refer families to them for legal help.

How we avoid duplication. We meet monthly with the national agencies, schools and clinics to share arrivals and avoid duplication.

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 families once the project is funded.

Referral partners. The national resettlement agencies, schools, clinics, faith communities and community centers will refer families.

Community networks. Former refugees and community leaders help us reach new families through trusted channels.

Word of mouth. Families tell others about what helped. With permission, we share stories.

Digital outreach. A multilingual website and social media will explain services and how to reach us. We will not post personal information.

Access. Materials will be in the main languages of our community, we use interpreters for every meeting and we hold events in the evening and on weekends.

Volunteer outreach. Faith communities and community groups will provide volunteers and donations.

Measuring outreach. We will track how each family 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 case manager and employment specialist, sign interpreter and partner agreements and set up the welcome room. Months 3 to 12: serve families, hold orientation classes and place adults in jobs.

Space. A welcome room near public transit for meetings and classes.

Partners. National resettlement agencies, schools, clinics, employers and interpreter services. Each has a written agreement.

Safety, privacy and legal rules. We do not give immigration advice. Interpreters are trained and sign confidentiality agreements. Emergency help is paid directly to landlords and vendors, never as cash. Records are secure. Staff and volunteers pass background checks. We call 911 for emergencies and direct anyone in crisis to 988.

Money controls. Two people review every payment and payments are recorded against a family file.

Records and reporting. We track families served, jobs and services and report anonymous numbers to funders each quarter.

Training. Staff receive training in trauma-informed care, cultural humility and working with interpreters.

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 partners. The case manager works with families and the employment specialist works with adults on jobs.

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 $60,000 a year each.
- Case Manager: 1, 1, 2, 2, 2 (Years 1 to 5), about $46,000 a year each.
- Employment Specialist: 1, 1, 1, 2, 2 (Years 1 to 5), about $44,000 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 social services and welcome staff who are former refugees or speak community languages. An advisory group of former refugees, a teacher, a nurse and an employer 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 case manager and employment specialist, sign interpreter and partner agreements, set up the welcome room and recruit volunteers
- Year 1: work with about 90 families, place about 50 adults in jobs and provide about 1,200 hours of interpretation. The budget is $223,000.
- Year 2: add a second case manager and a youth tutoring partnership. The budget is $226,500.
- Year 3: add an employer partner network. The budget is $277,500.
- Year 4: add an employment specialist. The budget is $326,500.
- Year 5: work with about 180 families a year and publish a plain results report. The budget is $330,500.

How we will measure results: families served, adults employed, children enrolled in school, interpretation hours, families who report feeling welcome and partner satisfaction. 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: $50,000 from a community foundation for a case manager salary and interpretation services, for January through December 2027.

The request is spread across these budget lines:
- Personnel: Case Manager salary, $36,000.
- Contractual: Interpretation and translation services, $14,000 (other funds add $3,000).

Other money in the program. This request is about 27% of our Year 1 grant income. Other grants and the income lines below pay for everything it does not cover.

Year 1 budget: about $223,000, planned to balance with a small surplus (about $7,800 after the yearly wear on equipment). Year 1 money coming in: grant revenue $185,000; individual donations $24,000; faith community and business sponsors $14,000. Year 1 costs: executive director $60,000; case manager $46,000; employment specialist $44,000; emergency needs paid directly to landlords and vendors about $30,000; interpretation and translation services about $14,000; cultural orientation materials and classes about $6,000; administration and insurance about $14,000.

One-time startup costs. Startup costs of $15,800 are paid once from startup money, not from the yearly budget: $3,600 for laptops, a secure database and a locking cabinet, $2,400 for a welcome room with furniture, a small library and a children's corner, $2,800 for opening household basics and welcome kits, $2,400 for staff training in trauma-informed care and cultural humility, $2,600 for policy review and legal setup, and $2,000 for banners, multilingual flyers and a simple website.

How we got our startup number. The Funding Need Calculator in this plan adds the startup costs ($15,800), the cash the program uses before it balances (about $0) and a cash cushion of about $53,500, which is about 3 months of Year 1 costs. In all, that comes to $69,500. We start with $14,000 of our own savings and $57,000 in startup support from a local foundation and our board, $71,000 in all, which covers that amount with room to spare.

The next five years. Our budget grows from about $223,000 in Year 1 to about $330,500 in Year 5. Grants are planned at $185,000, $180,500, $223,500, $264,500, $260,500 in Years 1 to 5. Other income grows as sponsors and donors join. The program plans a small surplus each year, about $7,800, $7,700, $8,900, $9,900 and $9,700 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 $65,100, at the end of Year 1. Some grant payments and partner payments arrive after we bill, so we plan for about $8,920 owed to us at the end of Year 1.

After the grant. Individual donors and faith community and business sponsors grow each year, so grants become a smaller share. Employers and former clients help support new arrivals.

Risks and how we will handle them:
- Arrivals may change suddenly. We keep a flexible staffing plan and partner with other agencies.
- A grant may end. We grow donors and sponsors each year and keep savings.
- Interpreter availability may be limited. We contract with several services and train bilingual volunteers.
- A privacy mistake could occur. We lock records and train staff.
- 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 partner agreements with resettlement agencies, schools and clinics.
- Interpreter agreements and a confidentiality policy.
- Your privacy policy and staff training records.
- Letters of support from families and 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: $185,000 in Year 1, growing to $260,500 in Year 5.
- Individual Donations: $24,000 in Year 1, growing to $40,000 in Year 5.
- Faith Community and Business Sponsors: $14,000 in Year 1, growing to $30,000 in Year 5.
- Staff pay is shown in the management section and includes payroll taxes and workers' compensation.
- Other yearly costs in Year 1: emergency needs paid directly to landlords and vendors $30,000, interpretation and translation services $14,000, cultural orientation materials and classes $6,000, and administration and insurance $14,000. These grow between 4% and 6% a year as the program grows.
- Grant and partner payments arrive after we bill, so about $8,920 (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