K-12 Education is Our Only Focus​

 

We're focusing all of our available resources to active fund and support sustainably operated K-12 educational programs, education events, and projects that can be completed within a short timeframe. We do this by dispensing mini-grants accompanied by advisory and consultancy support. Examples of K-12 programs and/or projects we can take on include, but are not limited to, sponsoring / co-sponsoring educational programs and events that foster academic excellence, leadership, collaboration, and sense of community; funding / co-funding projects for classroom and/or technology upgrade solutions designed to enhance the teaching and/or learning experience; and providing support, consultation, and data-analytics designed to optimize our nonprofit partners' operational and fundraising capability.

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How We Assess What to Take On

 

We assess what K-12 educational programs, events, or projects to support by considering four factors:​

1. Vision - Do we have a clear and compelling statement of what they aim to achieve? 

2. Value - What benefits will they deliver to the community? How will they solve a problem or meet a need?

3. Validation - How would the outcome of the work be measured or validated?

4. Mini-grant Funding - How much funding would realistically be needed to complete the project in a reasonable timeframe?

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It may look easy, but things are always easier said than done. As humans, we've got this tendency to over-analyze problems, over-engineer solutions, and then end up with programs and projects that cost more and take longer to complete, and that's if we actually complete them. That's why we won't tackle overly complicated and expensive endeavors. We'll only take on projects that can be completed within a reasonably short timeframe. If we ever take on a large endeavor, we'll have to resort to an agile development model where we frame it as an overall epic ("goal") that breaks down into manageable stories ("projects") that can be executed over a longer period of time. And that's honestly a good thing because nonprofits that take on more than they can handle are bound to fail, and no one benefits when that happens.

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Always Learning. Nothing's Perfect. Life Goes On.

 

Our K-12 youth community aren't the only ones learning. We as adults are always learning as well. Through our lived experiences, we've already learned that perfect really is the enemy of good, that most partnerships will be strong and lasting while a few will be short lived, and that most projects will be successfully completed and celebrated while a few will never cross their finish line. That's the reality we live in and we're ok with that. At the end of the day when all is said and done, we acknowledge that nothing's perfect. Life goes on.

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