What do you believe are the most critical areas for improvement to achieve your mission?

Expanding the network of supporters to further our mission.

Our main goal for 2025 at the Shirley-Eustis House Association is to build a broader network of businesses, institutions, and well-connected individuals who know about us and what we’re doing.

Among the 500 or so that know us well, we’re getting high praise and a gradual increase in donations, but for us to really get support for our important mission, we need to grow beyond that 500 to 1,500 in the next couple of years.

That may not seem like much in absolute terms, but it will make a world of difference and building authentic support does not happen overnight.

— Suzy Buchanan from Shirley-Eustis House Association

Expanding our reach to better support the LGBTQ+ community.

To maximize our impact, the Cherry Fund will expand our fundraising methods, strengthen our partnerships, and engage new audiences through innovative and transparent practices.

By addressing these key areas of improvement, we can continue to play a crucial role in supporting the LGBTQ+ community and ensuring that resources are directed where they are most needed.

— Paul Marengo from the The Cherry Fund

Securing funding for vital international projects.

As a ministry founded as a Private Member Association – Faith-Based Organization, our most critical issue is securing funding for international projects to help the poor and needy in rural villages in East Africa.

Because we choose not to be under the government’s thumb by acquiescing to the 501(c)(3) status game, we are generally not permitted to apply for grant funding. Raising capital for community projects for the world’s most vulnerable populations is difficult to say the least.

We would love to qualify for funding for education, agriculture, electricity, fresh water, and jobs creation. We cannot achieve our mission of sustainability and creating opportunities to pull themselves from abject poverty. Help us help the world.

— David J. Dunworth from Trinity International Ministries FBO PMA

Building a strong foundation for sustainable growth.

Our mission is growth-oriented, but to achieve that growth, we must set the foundation to scale.

For us, that means focusing on the current volunteer experience and how to make it better, injecting autonomy and personal value into our culture, and solidifying our operations so they are easily accessible and efficient.

We are focused on slow and steady growth rather than rapid, erratic growth to meet our goals.

— Kelly Boyett from Silicon Valley Bicycle Exchange

Expanding access to mental health resources, counseling, and crisis intervention.

To better serve our community and ensure long-term success, the DC LGBTQ+ Community Center needs focus on the following areas:

Mental Health and Wellness: We need to expand access to mental health resources, counseling, and crisis intervention, especially for transgender and non-binary individuals facing unique challenges.

Inclusive Healthcare: Ensure LGBTQ+ individuals have access to culturally competent healthcare, including gender-affirming care and hormone-replacement therapy.

Youth Outreach and Support: We need to create programs offering safe spaces and peer mentoring for LGBTQ+ youth to address issues like bullying and family rejection.

Legal Advocacy: We need to advocate more for legal protections in employment, housing, and healthcare while providing legal resources and fighting discrimination.

Economic Empowerment: We need to offer job training, financial literacy, and connections with inclusive employers to improve economic opportunities for LGBTQ+ individuals.

Intersectional Programming: We need to address the diverse experiences of individuals facing multiple layers of marginalization, including race, socioeconomic status, and disability.

Social & Peer Support: We need to expand peer-support programs to create safe spaces for individuals of various identities to connect and reduce isolation.

Awareness and Education: We need to provide educational resources, workshops, and training to reduce stigma and discrimination, fostering broader societal change.

Focusing on these areas will help us further uplift and empower the community, fostering a more inclusive and supportive environment.

— Paul from The DC LGBTQ+ Community Center

Adaptability, foresight, and volunteerism.

The key to advancing our mission lies in adaptability, foresight, and volunteerism. How do we ensure that we honor our foundational purpose while evolving to address the growing and critical needs of the families we serve?

To achieve this, we must focus on strengthening our infrastructure to scale operations, diversifying our funding sources to ensure sustainability, and leveraging innovation to remove barriers more efficiently.

By balancing tradition with transformation and expanding upon the talents of our staff with strong board and committee members, we can achieve more. Bringing leaders and action-takers to the table is key to our future.

— Pat from Children’s Flight of Hope

Engaging Gen Z and Millennials — and offering fair wages.

Engagement of Gen Z at all levels of the organization; engagement of Millennial donors and board leaders; and wage equity/justice for our workers — meaning we need to increase budget by about 15% without doing anything more.

To implement change in these three areas requires great technology and a more sophisticated use of technology; multichannel communication that is modern, interactive, and responsive; and much more time spent cultivating and educating donors.

— Karen Delaney from Volunteer Center of Santa Cruz County

Amplifying our impact through engagement and storytelling.

1. Storytelling: Better sharing our work, how that work impacts and brings our vision to life, and the ways in which others can support the work.

2. Maximizing the engagement and support from all who are connected to and impacted by our work. This would include all internal connections (board, staff, and volunteers) and external partners (corporate, funders, community members, etc.).

It requires the individual approach to collective action — identifying and utilizing skilled volunteers, helping people see how their engagement (no matter how small) impacts the outcome.

— Colleen from The Mentoring Partnership of Southwestern PA

Transparency and vulnerability in advocacy.

Advocacy. We need to promote what we do well, be transparent about our needs and opportunities — and even our issues, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. But doing this the right way is hard. It means being vulnerable and subjected to criticism. It is the way we learn.

— Christy Crosser from Estes Park Museum Friends & Foundation, Inc.