Friends of Guest House

Challenge

For 50 years, the Northern Virginia-based nonprofit Friends of Guest House (Guest House) has been at the forefront of breaking the cycle of incarceration by helping justice-involved women to reintegrate into their communities. As the largest reentry home for women in the state, Guest House has helped over 5,000 women through an array of supportive and compassionate residential, aftercare, educational, and workforce & life development programming. 

In 2019, Guest House reached out to Elevate after their long-time contract grant writer left to pursue other opportunities. The organization was looking for added development capacity to help them stay on top of their grants calendar. Additionally, Guest House sought support in identifying new and aligned funder prospects to grow their institutional grant revenue with an eye toward organizational expansion and supporting more robust workforce development programming.   

Response

Guest House engaged  Elevate for Comprehensive Grant Writing Services in April 2020. Before working with Elevate, the small team at Guest House lacked the capacity to actively research new funding opportunities. The Elevate team assumed primary responsibility for ongoing prospect research and cultivation support, which has continually increased the organization’s pipeline of new funding. As a result, Guest House was able to procure funding for expanded peer support and substance use recovery programming. 

Elevate also provided continuity for Guest House’s fundraising efforts during staff transitions, including the induction of a new Executive Director and a vacancy in the Director of Development position, ensuring that the small team of internal staff could continue to  focus on their crucial work with the women they serve. 

Over the years, the Elevate team has earned a spot as a key thought partner and advisor to Guest House leadership.Elevate has become an integral part of the organization’s development team, helping to navigate emerging challenges and identify solutions. For instance, when Guest House faced a deficit in its nutrition program budget resulting from rising food costs, Elevate successfully pivoted its funding strategy to fill this gap by finding new funding partners and cultivating existing relationships for increased funding. 

Given the success of the collaboration with Elevate, over time Guest House has increased its Elevate Scope of Work so that Elevate could support drafting and submission of up to 6 grant deliverables per month.

Impact

In the first four years of our partnership, Guest House’s grant win rate has been consistently greater than two times the national average, with an ROI that is also well above the 3:1 standard for the fundraising field. 

Additionally, with the compelling organizational and programmatic language that Elevate’s team worked with the organization to develop, Guest House was selected as an awardee in Yield Giving’s 2023 open call. This transformative seven-figure award will enable Guest House to expand its programs and services, empowering even more women reentering their community from incarceration to rebuild their lives and achieve lasting success.

About the Organization

Friends of Guest House helps women successfully reenter the community from incarceration. Since it’s founding in 1974, Guest House has helped more than 5,000 women break the vicious cycle of incarceration, reunite with their families, and reintegrate into their communities.

Service Details

healthcare, human services, and housing

Founded

1974

Started with Elevate

2020

Location

Alexandria, VA

Budget

$1.7M

Visit Online