Dress for Success San Diego T: 619.533.6014 1122 Broadway, Suite 200 F: 619.533.6007 San Diego, CA 92101 www.dressforsuccess.org
Proposal to The Parker Foundation In Support of Dress for Success San Diego
2 2 2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Dress for Success San Diego respectfully requests a capacity building grant of $53,000 over two years ($35,000 in the first year and $18,000 in the second year) from The Parker Foundation to hire a full-time Program Manager to oversee and expand programs and direct client services. Your investment would also allow Dress for Success San Diego’s Executive Director to move out of running the daily operations of the organization and focus on resource development and long-term sustainability. Dress for Success San Diego supports women on their path to social and economic selfsufficiency by providing interview preparation, employment retention and life management programs. Clients are referred to us through collaboration with social service and job readiness agency partners across San Diego County. These organizations provide basic job readiness training, rehabilitation and other agency-sponsored programs. Dress for Success San Diego then supports these women as they continue on their journey to overcome barriers to success and improve the quality of life for their families. The economic downturn, slow recovery, and lingering high unemployment rates make the need for Dress for Success San Diego’s programs more urgent. Unemployment and underemployment come with serious costs to society, not only in terms of financial difficulties but also increased rates of crime, depression, relationship problems and poor health that affect whole families and entire communities. Unemployment and underemployment have a serious effect on children and increase the chance of perpetuating a cycle of economic and social instability. More than 90 percent of Dress for Success San Diego´s clients are single mothers. A capacity building grant from The Parker Foundation would make an important impact on the lives of San Diego County´s disadvantaged women. With the addition of a fulltime Program Manager to our staff, we would be able to significantly expand our services, create partnerships with more social service and job readiness agencies, and provide more personalized follow-up attention to our clients as they navigate their journey to self-sufficiency. In addition, having a full-time Program Manager who oversees the day-to-day operations of Dress for Success San Diego would free up our Executive Director to focus on fundraising. Her fundraising efforts would include creating an individual giving program, increasing grant-writing efforts and furthering our outreach for corporate contributions. Within two years we expect our fundraising efforts to not only fully support the Program Manager position, but also to greatly impact the long-term sustainability of the organization.
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ORGANIZATIONAL HISTORY Founder and Executive Director Sylvia McKinney’s own journey and personal triumph over adversity inspired her to help others. A victim of domestic violence over 30 years ago, Sylvia fled the abuse with her children, few possessions, no money, and limited alternatives. The kindness of strangers at a safe house lit a spark in Sylvia that fueled a new life devoted to helping women who have endured domestic and economic hardship. In the ensuing years Sylvia built the personal foundation of education and business skills necessary to operate a service-oriented nonprofit organization. After moving to San Diego, Sylvia raised five children, found employment, attended classes and earned an Associates degree, a Bachelor’s degree and a Masters degree in Human Services. In 1999, Sylvia established Dress for Success San Diego as one of more than 80 independent affiliates of Dress for Success Worldwide. The organization serves a vital purpose in San Diego County by picking up where social service and job readiness programs leave off – extending a lifeline of programs that help economically disadvantaged women overcome challenges as they work toward social and economic independence. Through collaboration with more than 60 human services and job-readiness agencies, Dress for Success San Diego has maintained a steady size serving approximately 500 women per year with our suiting and self-sufficiency services. Over the years we realized that many of our clients were survivors of physical, emotional or sexual abuse. This led us to develop a relationship with the Family Justice Center, which provides comprehensive support services to survivors of domestic violence. In December 2010, Dress for Success San Diego became a strategic partner with the Family Justice Center. We moved our boutique and offices into their building, making our services more accessible to the 1,200 women that the Family Justice Center (FJC) serves each year. Over the last two years, Dress for Success San Diego has focused on increasing our capacity to meet the growing demand for our services by the Family Justice Center and the job-readiness and human services agencies throughout the County. We have more than doubled the size of our working board, from six directors to 13 directors, and strategically invited people with a variety of skill sets and connections. We have also restructured our board responsibilities to give each board member an area to manage (i.e., volunteers, special events, fundraising, strategic partnerships, etc.). In 2011, for the first time in our organization´s history, we created a signature fundraising event which raised $12,000 the first year and $25,000 last year. We have also hired a part-time program assistant to manage our office and schedule client activities. Dress for Success San Diego has taken these steps in an effort to meet the increased need for services given the number of women, from many different circumstances, seeking support on their courageous journeys to self-sufficiency. Mission Dress for Success San Diego promotes the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support, and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and life.
4 4 4 Program Activities Dress for Success San Diego operates five programs to support disadvantaged women in San Diego County: Suits-to-Self-Sufficiency: Through collaboration with 60 social service agencies and job readiness programs across the county, women are referred to Dress for Success San Diego when they have a job interview. Dress for Success San Diego provides the women with interview appropriate attire. When the women get the job, they are invited back to obtain one week´s worth of professional clothing. This service provides the women with much more than clothing. It is transformative, inspiring feelings of confidence, preparedness and self-worth. Professional Women´s Group (PWG): Employed clients are invited to join the PWG, a monthly forum for networking, sharing of new experiences and challenges, and education. Guest speakers address subjects such as financial literacy, stress management, workplace etiquette, debt counseling, childcare, and affordable housing. Career Center: The Career Center promotes confidence and professionalism by providing Dress for Success clients with career guidance, technology skills and support in their job searches, including: an Internet-accessible computer lab with cutting-edge job placement software; job search assistance; resume and coverletter-writing lessons; interview preparation; and mock interviews. Going Places Network (GPN): GPN helps unemployed and under-employed Dress for Success San Diego clients gain professional skills, accelerate their job search, and build confidence through weekly training sessions, one-on-one coaching and networking in a supportive environment. One-on-One Mentoring: Clients are teamed with successful businesswomen in the community for guidance, support, and personal consultation on employmentrelated issues and career building. Target Population Over the past 14 years, Dress for Success San Diego has provided services to nearly 8,000 women. More than 90 percent of the women we serve are single mothers and 100 percent are are low-income according to HUD guidelines. Clients report their income source as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Unemployment, SSI, or zero income. Our clients are primarily Latina (43%), Caucasian (25%) and African American (21%). Thirty-one percent are between 18 and 30 years old, 31 percent are 31 – 40, 18 percent are 41 – 50, and 14 percent are over 50 years old. STATEMENT OF NEED San Diego County has a significant need for Dress for Success San Diego´s services. In 2009, the United Way published a report titled Overlooked and Undercounted 2009:
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Struggling to Make Ends Meet in California1, which calculated what a decent standard of living is for each of the California counties. By calculating the cost of each basic expense —housing, food, health care, transportation, child care, and taxes—the Standard defined what it really takes for families to meet basic needs. The Greater San Diego region has an income inadequacy rate of 30%. Latinos were the hardest hit ethnicity – 49 percent of people living below the self-sufficiency standard were Latino. Sixty-two percent of those living below the standard had children of which 55 percent are married couples and 35 percent are single mothers. Only 6 percent received cash assistance (TANF) and 9 percent received food assistance (SNAP). A 2012 report issued by the Center on Policy Initiatives (CPI) entitled Poverty, Earnings and Income in San Diego County2 reported a similar finding, estimating that 34 percent of San Diego lives below the “economic hardship” indicator, which the report defined as 200 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL). The number of San Diegans living in poverty today is dire. In 2011, 462,269 people (15.1 percent) in San Diego lived below the FPL of $11,484 for an individual or $22,811 for a family of four. African-American and Latino populations experienced even higher rates of poverty—23 percent and 21 percent, respectively. Nineteen percent of children lived below the FPL. In the city of El Cajon, 34.8 percent of children lived in poverty. In many cases, parents of impoverished children are single parents. While 11 percent of the total number families in the area lived below the FPL, more than 22 percent of singleparent families lived in poverty. In order to get out of poverty and to reach a self-sufficiency standard, women need to have jobs. Although unemployment figures have improved since the peak in 2009, San Diego County´s most recent jobless rate was still 7.7 percent. In addition, it is important to consider the long-term unemployed and those who are underemployed, which a February 2012 Gallup study estimated to be 21 to 24 percent in California. Like unemployment, underemployment is unequally distributed across the U.S. population, with women, younger workers, and African-Americans reporting higher rates of involuntary part-time employment and low pay, as well as higher proportions of “discouraged” workers who have given up on searching for a job.3 Community Impact Children who grow up in poverty have an increased likelihood of earning lower incomes, engaging in crime and having poorer health than children who do not grow up in poverty. These problems end up costing society in a number of ways, including lower workforce productivity, and therefore a loss of goods and services to the U.S. economy; financial costs to the victims of crime and an increase in the costs of administering our criminal 1 Diana M. Pearce, Ph.D. (December 2009). Overlooked and Undercounted 2009: Struggling to Make Ends Meet in California. Published by the United Way.
2 Center for Policy Initiatives. (2012). Poverty, Income, and Earning in San Diego County. 3 McKee-Ryan, F. M., Song, Z., Wanberg, C. R., & Kinicki, A. J. (2005). Psychological and physical well-being during unemployment: A meta-analytic study. Journal of Applied Psychology, 90, 53-76.
6 6 6 justice system; and high healthcare costs. According to the CPI report, the costs to the U.S. associated with childhood poverty total about $500B per year, or the equivalent of nearly 4 percent of GDP broken down as: -
Reduction in productivity and economic output by about 1.3 percent of GDP Increases the costs of crime by 1.3 percent of GDP Increases health expenditures and reduces the value of health by 1.2 percent of GDP.
Job loss is not only an economic problem for the unemployed; health and well-being are also affected. For many Americans, health insurance is tied directly to employment, and losing a job means losing that health insurance, often for one’s family as well as oneself. Unemployment is a major barrier to adequate healthcare. According to a 2011 study4, 18 percent of San Diego’s residents did not have health insurance. A New York Times survey found that 54 percent of 708 unemployed respondents had cut back on visits to doctors or medical treatments, and 47 percent of respondents reported being without healthcare.5 Job loss is also associated with higher rates of mental and physical health problems, such as depression, anxiety and poor self-esteem; increases in mortality rates; detrimental changes in family relationships; and in the psychological well-being of spouses and children. The impact of unemployment extends beyond individuals and families to communities and neighborhoods. The characteristics of poor neighborhoods, including lack of affordable housing, deteriorating schools, few community centers, and limited employment opportunities, all contribute to the social and economic isolation of individuals and communities. Lack of resources and employment connections make it more difficult for people to return to work. 6 Dress for Success San Diego helps women to overcome these challenges of unemployment and low-income by providing them with a network of support and services, which not only helps them to find a job, but also to keep their job and advance in their careers. Here are the stories of a few women who have benefitted from Dress for Success San Diego´s services: •
Maryanne came to the United States from Eastern Europe. She soon after found
4 Center on Policy Initiatives. (November 2011). The Uninsured in San Diego County. Retrieved from www.onlinecpi.org.
5 Luo, M., & Thee-Brenan, M. (2009, December 14). Poll reveals trauma of joblessness in U.S. Retrieved December 28, 2009 from: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/15/us/15poll.html
6 Wilson, W. J. (1996). When work disappears: The world of the new urban poor.
New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
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herself in a domestic violence shelter with her two young children. Speaking little English and needing a job, Maryanne was referred to Dress for Success San Diego for an interview suit. Maryanne says that she looked and felt great, and it gave her confidence to know that the company owner would not realize that she was living in a church and travelling by trolley. Maryanne participated in the PWG where she learned about financial literacy. She has since bought a car and a house. Using Dress for Success San Diego´s mentoring services, she has launched her own business in which she teaches manners and etiquette to adults and children. •
Lettice was hit hard by the economic downturn. She was out of work, searching for a job and concerned about her limited resources. She was in a bind because she had lost weight, her clothes did not fit, and she could not afford the professional clothing that would help her succeed in a job interview. After her appointment at Dress for Success San Diego she felt that she could accomplish anything. She succeeded in her interview and feels good about her new job.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION Dress for Success San Diego requests a two-year grant of $53,000 to help fund a fulltime Program Manager. In the first year, $35,000 would fund 100% of salary for the position. In the second year, $18,000 would fund 50% of salary for the position. Dress for Success San Diego has secured a pledge from a family foundation to fund half of the Program Manager position in 2015. By enabling our Executive Director to focus on fundraising, we expect to fully fund the Program Manager position by the third year. Goals and Objectives Given the number of low-income women seeking employment and sustainable economic independence in San Diego County, Dress for Success San Diego feels it is urgent to increase our services. In order to do so, we are seeking funding for a full-time Program Manager who will enable us to significantly increase our services and grow our organization by supporting two important goals: 1) he/she will oversee and expand programs and direct client services; and 2) he/she will free up a significant amount of time for our Executive Director, enabling her to focus on resource development. The objectives of hiring a program manager are defined both in terms of growth in our services and also an increase in our funding. Specifically, our objectives include: YEAR 1 OBJECTIVES PROGRAM • Increase to 550 (10%) the number of clients receiving business attire • Increase by 25% the number of clients served and engaged in PWG, GPN, and Career Center programs
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Increase by 12 (20%) the number of referral agencies
FUNDRAISING • Implement Individual Giving Program o 75 new donors o Additional $10,000 from individuals • Increase foundation grants by $25,000 • Increase corporate grants by $10,000 YEAR 2 OBJECTIVES PROGRAM • Increase to 700 (27%) the number of clients receiving business attire • Increase by 25% the number of clients served and engaged in PWG, GPN, and Career Center programs • Increase by 18 (25%) the number of referral agencies FUNDRAISING • Implement Individual Giving Program o 150 new donors o Additional $25,000 from individuals over Year 1 • Increase foundation grants by $30,000 over Year 1 • Increase corporate grants by $10,000 over Year 1 Methods We expect that in the first year, the Executive Director will need time to hire and train the Program Manager. As such, the objectives are more aggressive the second year than they are the first year. In preparation for receiving this grant, Dress for Success San Diego has already developed detailed job descriptions and identified strategic activities for the Executive Director and Program Manager to focus on in order to meet the program and fundraising objectives. Priorities for the Executive Director will include: • Donor relations • Community relations • Board development • Grant writing • Public relations • Speaking engagements • Agency relationship development A detailed job description for the Executive Director is attached.
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Priorities for the Program Manager will include: • Agency relationship management • PWG, GPN and one-to-one mentoring program coordination • Development of Robert Half International relationship • Volunteer management • Client tracking and follow up • Administrative and operational support • Resource development support A detailed job description for the Program Manager is attached. Timeline YEAR 1 PROGRAM ACTIVITIES One of the primary responsibilities of the Program Manager will be to focus on agency relations. The Program Manager will reach out to agencies that are no longer active with Dress for Success San Diego in order to re-establish the referral program. The Program Manager will also reach out to new agencies that work with women who could benefit from Dress for Success San Diego´s services. This activity will enable the Program Manager to achieve the objectives of increased number of referral agencies and increased number of women served. The program manager will also actively recruit women to participate in the Professional Women´s Group and Going Places Network. Activities will include making follow up phone calls with clients, creating inexpensive promotional materials, and understanding clients´ needs to make the meetings more accessible. These activities will enable the Program Manager to achieve the objective of increased number of women participating in the self-sufficiency services. YEAR 1 FUNDRAISING ACTIVITIES With the Program Manager in place, the Executive Director will have time to focus on resource development for the first time in the organization´s history. In order to achieve the fundraising goals, she will capitalize on several initiatives that she has begun but has not been able to fully implement due to the demands of the organization´s day-to-day operations. First, Dress for Success San Diego recently hired a resource development consultant to provide the organization with an Individual Giving Program plan. The Executive Director will focus on increasing the number of individuals giving to Dress for Success San Diego by implementing several of the opportunities identified in that plan. An opportunity that we expect to show quick returns is to follow up with individuals who are already in touch with the organization, including people who donate clothing, companies that organize suit drives, individuals who attend events at which the Executive Director is a guest speaker, and people who attend the organization´s signature event. In addition, the Executive Director will identify prospects and begin cultivating relationships with
10 10 10 donors who have the potential make major gifts. In order to increase grants, the Executive Director has engaged an experienced grant writer who is donating 20 hours per month to writing grants for Dress for Success. One of the grants will be focused on board development and specifically fundraising training. This grant will support the individual giving objective by training the recently expanded board of directors on how to increase donations from individuals. Our grant plan is to obtain two $10,000 grants and one $5,000 grant. Our plan to increase corporate contributions is to obtain two grants for $5,000 each. We would focus on major banks and financial institutions that provide support to organizations serving economically disadvantaged clients with a financial literacy component and/or fund career development initiatives. Dress for Success is currently in discussion with LPL Financial, Inc. to develop a partnership of financial and volunteer support. YEAR 2 PROGRAM ACTIVITIES In Year 2 the Program Manager will continue to build upon the activities implemented in Year 1. We believe that this focus will enable the organization to reach its objectives regarding number of clients serviced, number of referral agencies, and number of clients attending the PWG, GPN and other programs. YEAR 2 FUNDRAISING ACTIVITIES In our second year of the grant, we expect to more than double our individual contributions based on the organization´s Year 1 efforts, including our follow up processes and procedures and our board outreach. In addition, we will continue the cultivation process with potential major gifts donors. Our grants efforts will focus on increasing our grant awards to support the growth in our services and programs. We expect to increase corporate contribution by reaching out to clothing companies (i.e., Macy’s District Grants, TJX, etc.) or local companies with philanthropic initiatives such as SDG&E, etc. EVALUATION AND REPORTING Dress for Success San Diego conducts rigorous annual reporting as part of our relationship with Dress for Success Worldwide. Information tracked includes client demographics, number of suitings, number of program participants, employment retention, number of referral agencies, etc. Dress for Success San Diego will be able to use this information to track the success of its new staffing arrangement. The statistics measured will include: • Number of suiting clients • Number of referral agencies
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• • • •
Number of clients participating in PWG, GPN and other self-sufficiency services Number and amounts of individual donors Amount of grant awards Amount of corporate awards
BUDGET AND SUSTAINIBILITY A key component of Dress for Success San Diego´s plan to make the Program Manager a sustainable position is enabling the Executive Director to move away from the day-to-day operations of the organization and to focus on resource development. We believe that we will need two years in order to accomplish this goal. During the first year, several months will need to be dedicated to hiring and training the Program Manager. We believe that within two years, with the Executive Director freed up to focus on resource development, the program manager position will be self-sustaining and in fact will enable the organization to bring in even more funds than are required for the salary. On the next page, please find a detailed organizational budget for the two-year grant period, with budget notes addressing various income and expense line items impacted by this funding if awarded.
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Budget Notes: 1. Requests from Parker and the additional Family Foundation pledge in Year 2 are included in Budget totals. Please see Project Timeline for details on grant plan. 2. Please see Project Timeline for details on plans to increase corporate giving. 3. Please see Project Timeline for details on increasing individual giving. 4. Includes Rotary, Lions Club, Kiwanis, and various church/religious organizations. 5. Growth resulting from more focused attention on individual giving, broading the donor base, as well as increasing sponsorships. 6. Fees paid by local agencies that refer clients to DFSSD for services. Currently (FY2013), we have 200 paying clients X $75/client = $15,000. In Year 1, we expect to increase to 225 paying clients X $75/client = $16,875. In Year 2, we expect to increase to 275 paying clients X $75/client = $20,625. 7. Services we provide as subcontractor for a Community Development Block Grant awarded to Family Justice Center. Expected annually for duration of grant period. 8. This includes new and gently used donations of business attire and accessories (i.e., jewelry, handbags, scarfs, shoes, etc.). 9. Program Manager $35,000/year will be 100% funded by Parker in Year 1. In Year 2 increase to $36,000/year and will be 50% funded by Parker and 50% pledged by a Family Foundation. 10. Fringe represents payroll taxes of 12.75% as follows: FICA (7.65%), SDI (1%), SUI (4.5%), ETT (0.1%). 11. Includes D&O, Liability, WC. Will increase in Year 1 & 2 with addition of new employee. 12. New equipment purchases (i.e., laptop, printer, furniture, etc.) for Program Manager and additional office supplies. 13. Includes CPA, bookkeeping, etc. 14. Includes purchase of suit inventory not donated, particularly plus-sizes, and accessories (i.e., jewelry, hand bags, shoes,etc.). Inventory growth is proportional to growth in clients served (10% in Year 1 and 25% in Year 2).
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May 6, 2013 15. Boutique/office space donated by Family Justice Center, however this line represents rental of storage facility for suit inventory, which has adequate space to accommodate increased inventory.
CONCLUSION Every day in San Diego County, thousands of economically disadvantaged women struggle to find and sustain employment and provide stability for themselves and their children. No matter what their circumstance, whether fleeing domestic violence, emerging form recovery and rehabilitation, enduring long-term unemployment, or living with physical disabilities, Dress for Success San Diego provides an array of services to assist women on their journey to self-sufficiency and economic independence. The recent economic downturn, slow recovery, and lingering high unemployment rates have serious long-term negative consequences for our community. Over the last two years, Dress for Success San Diego has focused on increasing our capacity to meet the growing demand for our services. We hope The Parker Foundation appreciates the many ways in which we plan to leverage your capacity building investment of $53,000 over two-years, by not only expanding our ability to serve more clients, but also to grow our donor base to ensure financial longevity and sustainability. As the Eleanor Roosevelt quote that adorns the walls of our boutique states: The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. Thank you for believing in Dress for Success San Diego, and the many women we serve who dream of one day thriving in work and in life.
ATTACHMENTS
IRS 501c3 Letter of Determination Board of Directors Roster with Affiliations FY2012 Audited Financials Executive Director Job Description Program Manager Job Description Major Gifts Plan
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