Six Insights For SADD Nation: Part 4

I have spent nearly an entire career in the nonprofit space. Ironically, coming full circle a bit, it started in youth development and quickly into substance abuse treatment for youth in an inpatient and outpatient treatment facility. The past 15+ years have been basically in fundraising and communications leadership roles for local, national, and global nonprofits. Now, I'm privileged enough to be the nonprofit Executive Director of the nation's premier student health and safety organization, and I can tell you one thing that has been consistent throughout that journey: the need, and in all honesty, the struggle, for strong, stable, and diverse funding streams.

- Period -

Fighting the overhead myth is one thing.

Detailed reporting on what at times feels like every single penny, sometimes for donations that rival a family's fast food meal, is another thing.

Attempting to chase funds for proven work only to be steamrolled by a funder's desire to fund a pet project is, once again, a thing.

For SADD, our partnerships and funding streams with state highway safety offices have been longstanding and impactful. (Massive shoutouts to them , for sure!) However, this niche funding cannot advance the organization in a way that fulfills every aspect of our mission. For an organization like SADD, where our programmatic pillars go beyond traffic and mobility safety, we must, as Kevin L. Brown says, be fundable and findable .

• MY FOURTH INSIGHT: Funding for SADD needs to go well beyond our current partnerships, and our mission, a rallying cry for donors to make a difference.

I can't tell you how many times I have talked with prospective donors, both here at SADD and at other nonprofits, who:

1. assumed that their potential support wouldn't help much because "everything was covered;"
2. weren't aware of who we were or what we did, so therefore, the need must not be great;
3. didn't know the outcome we were after; or
4. failed to see how the mission related to them.

I am going to call a spade a spade: these are all the fault of the nonprofit.

SADD must rally around our story, and in doing so, we will advance our fundability and findability. This story is more than a history lesson, and it's more than a need. Our story is a story of youth shouting at the top of their lungs for help and action. It's a story full of lives changed and lives saved. It's a story of inclusiveness and teen advocacy that brings about change today for the leaders of tomorrow. It's about allies who help further the work of elevating youth voices. And it's about the need to invest in the work to fulfill this and future generations.

Are we doing "prevention work?" Sure, but "prevention" doesn't define the entire SADD picture, and we are doing an injustice by sticking to that single word and narrative.

The future of SADD?

Let's talk. I'd like to tell you personally.