Success Story
Five-Year Report
Detroit PAL
Detroit PAL provides safe spaces for kids in the Detroit metro area’s underserved neighborhoods to play, grow, and develop self-confidence. They do this by offering quality sports and youth enrichment activities, and since its founding in 1969, about 300,000 participants have participated in their programming.
In the last five years, Detroit PAL has been an active member of the Co.act ecosystem, leveraging two grant opportunities that improved its physical space, youth programming, and fundraising strategies.
The 2020 Activate Fund award allowed them to completely transform youth programming and fundraising tactics, strengthening its long-term impact and stability, as well as address the community’s needs during the COVID-19 crisis.
Programming
During stay-at-home orders, with the Activate funding, PAL staff redesigned their programming, which introduced virtual enrichment programs, such as literacy, mentoring, and athletic challenges and virtual drills to keep kids active and physically and mentally healthy. They hired expert program and youth development consultants to assist them with their virtual programming offerings, and they increased their capacity to train mentors around mental health and self-esteem, which was a community need. Finally, when it was safe to return to in-person activities, funds helped them rethink seasonal in-person programming.
Fundraising
Detroit PAL completely rethought its fundraising strategies. With the Activate Fund, the organization built a Salesforce platform, which allowed them to create a robust individual donor database that could engage 400,000 alumni as potential new donors. They created and launched digital marketing campaigns to reach the alumni and increase their brand awareness.
Space Renovations
The KIP:D+ Fund helped Detroit PAL to leverage community support and funding (financial + in-kind services) support to establish more programs to better serve residents. Specifically, they used this award to hold planning meetings with area nonprofits and community members, which informed the renovation of the new PAL Rec Center, which is used for activities and other community needs, including meetings, soup kitchen, food pantry, STEM classes for youth, digital literacy and job awareness training for adults, adult recreation classes, and more. Funding also helped pay for a PAL coordinator’s time, community survey, postage and analysis, marketing flyers and social media outreach, and hospitality needs.
