Like most growing organizations, we fail – and learn from our failures – every day. This was true throughout our first phase.
The area where we experienced the most fundamental challenge was our economic model. Although the full-time Dream Director program caused incredible results in young people and was beloved by school partners, the cost of operating the program year over year – which included both full-time personnel and programming expenses – proved untenable for local funders and too costly for most schools. As a result, much of the cost of our local programs was subsidized by general operating funds, and, in time, we grew over-reliant on a small number of major national philanthropists. Eventually, we were forced to accept that the business model was unsustainable and that we had to rethink it.
This was a painful process to go through for everyone involved, and it took time to do so. But our commitment to the mission never wavered and, in reconnecting with the needs of young people, we have discovered new, more sustainable ways to serve them.