DREAM!

The challenge

DREAM! is a Bronx-based nonprofit offering arts-based restorative practice and conflict resolution programs to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline.

When we began working with DREAM!, its programs were in high demand in NYC schools, and showing promising results. But fluctuating DOE funding, a lack of access to New York’s extremely competitive foundation world, and the general inequities faced by nonprofits led by people of color, left DREAM! facing perpetual uncertainty.

Like many small and mid-sized orgs, DREAM! was forced to focus on the most pressing short-term needs, lacking time or resources to step back and address underlying issues that may limit fundraising success.

The solution

Bureau for Good worked with DREAM! to transform its fundraising operation, including:

• Unique theory of change work that helped to clarify DREAM’s organizational story, leading to a new case statement and stronger external messaging.
• Comprehensive reformatting of budgets to parse program spending more precisely, leading to the kind of clear budget stories that funders prefer to see.
• Ongoing coaching on cultivation practice for DREAM’s talented young Executive Director, who, starting with little to no professional fundraising expertise, grew to become an extremely strong cultivator of new opportunities.
• Connected DREAM! to partners within our network, who have invested major revenue in hiring DREAM! to consult on the development of restorative practice programs in urban school settings outside of New York City.
  

All of this work led to drastically increased funding for this grassroots organization, including major, multi-year grants from the Pinkerton Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, and a handful of smaller grants.