Thrive Youth Center was established because of the efforts of one woman who recognized a dire need to serve LGBTQIA+ youth living on the streets of San Antonio. In the spring of 2015, Sandra Whitley simply planned to partner with a local church to provide the very basics of food and shelter for this almost invisible homeless population.
Soon after, Haven for Hope and the City of San Antonio invited Sandra to open the Center on Haven for Hope’s new campus. She accepted and Thrive Youth Center was born! After one year of concentrating on developing their programs, Sandra realized the need for building organizational capacity by establishing an active and engaged Board of Directors. The organization also needed to create a framework for fundraising and philanthropy.
In 2016, the Cielo Strategy team partnered with Thrive Youth Center to create and launch a fully functioning Board of Directors. This included creating bylaws, Board documents, recruiting and onboarding the Directors – everything needed when you are first starting as a nonprofit organization. We made recommendations and implemented a Donor Relations Management system, developed a fundraising strategy focused on long-term sustainability, and offered ongoing guidance for growth and expansion.
We also offered regular, one-on-one coaching with staff for social media content and calendaring, email campaigns, and communications outreach to their family of supporters.
Our partnership with Thrive Youth Center built a foundation for growth and sustainability. What started as one woman’s dream, turned to a nonprofit organization with three staff members. Now, they have 22 staff and a robust fundraising and grants program. And, their Founding Executive Director is in a place where she is retiring to allow the next generation of leadership to continue what she started. The organization is now soaring to new heights.
