Staffing 101 and other truths…
How does Wanda J function as a nonprofit organization? Our staffing is 100% grant funded and this is the rest of the story…
1️⃣ As many of you know, we were awarded an Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention grant in Fall of 2022 which funded our first four staffing positions- Director of Development, Amachi Program Director, Family Transition Coordinator and Executive Director. (Thank you Franklin County Fiscal Court for taking a chance on us and applying on our behalf.) We had high hopes of this grant being renewed, however, the federal government pulled the application and we were not able to reapply.
2️⃣ In 2024, we were sub-awarded federal funding through a SAHMSA grant received by Yes Arts. This provided two additional staffing positions for us- a Director of Marketing that is a split position with the Just Say Yes program and a Data Analyst position which was required by the grant application to monitor the Franklin County Youth Survey. This is a five year prevention framework of increasing protective factors for youth in Franklin County- things like the Yes Card, Yes Arts and Wanda J programming align perfectly with this grant.
3️⃣ Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice, a third grant, provided funding for a sixth staffing position which sustains our high school outreach program.
4️⃣ A fourth grant, state opioid funding, sustained our Amachi Program Director position. City Opioid dollars allowed us an Amachi Match Specialist for one year. Together, these positions provide oversight of one to one mentoring for more than 80 kids!
‼ This year, our original grant expired and we’ve only been able to sustain one position through state opioid funding. The other three positions within that grant have not been sustained with those staffing positions ending in January and April. The Executive Director position is funded through June 30.
Recently, we were part of the Franklin County Health Department state opioid award which sustains our high school social worker position for two years. At this time, we are a team of five- two of our staff are sustained through October 2028, two are sustained through July 2028 and our executive director position will only be covered 25% starting July 1.
This is where we need to define “staffing.” All the staff funding we are talking about is their paycheck. Our staff doesn’t receive benefits, reimbursements for gas, overtime pay or insurance.
We have no private donations for staffing, programs or any other expenses. You may see the amazing work we’re doing and think that we have all the money we need. Our staff fully relies on grant funding. Our programming fully relies on fundraising and sustainers. The amount of hours and research that goes into writing a grant application in order to bring in financial resources in order to do our job is incredible. Grants are also reimbursed, meaning we have to have the money in the bank to spend in order to get reimbursed. It’s just how that works.
What does Wanda J need to keep going? We need grant funding to come through for the positions we are losing this year. What we really need is a grant writer position and a major gifts coordinator to bring in additional funding. Shameless plug for becoming a Wanda J Sustainer… this is yet another reason our sustainer program is so important. A monthly gift of $25 can make the world of difference for us!
As we move into our eighth year as an organization, we know this is what we signed up for. We are here the ups and downs and the figure it out moments. For our kids, our families and our community. We know that our Amachi and high school programs are set for a few years and focusing on those alone is still a huge benefit for Frankfort.
We are an open book. Our financial information is on our website and always listed in our annual report. If you have questions, you can reach out to us at info@wjrfoundation.org. If you have a magical idea or suggestions, we’re here for that too. If you want to become our corporate sponsor and give us all the money to do tons of good work, you can call us at 502.229.3307. All jokes aside, we are here for our community and will remain here with passion and love for as long as we can.
xoxo,
Wanda J
Read recent press release from Franklin County Health Department about grant funding received.