Fundraise for early childhood education - BECOME AN AMERICORPS VISTA Member in our Next Cohort!11/8/2021 
ThrivAlaska ThrivAlaska works to eliminate poverty by serving as an early childhood services hub to over 2,000 children, families, and child care providers in order to build a stronger community, starting with the youngest citizens. The VISTA will leverage resources to increase the financial sustainability of ThrivAlaska. Activities of the VISTA include:
Learn more about Thrivalaska here! APPLY here!
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I spent the past year working with Thrivalaska helping them develop sustainable fundraising and marketing strategies. This has been a wonderful, empowering year and I will always be grateful for the trust and support that I've been given throughout my service. On top of what I've learned with Thrivalaska, it's been incredibly educational to see so much of what it looks like for people to work together and share resources to improve their community. After service, I will be working with Fairbanks Arts Association as their communications associate. I'm so excited to spend more time in Fairbanks and in this beautiful state!
Nicole was our second year VISTA and she really knocked it out of the park! Initially she spent quality time learning all about Thrivalaska and how best to assist the whole organization. She worked with all our program leaders, our Board, the admin team, and reached out into the community so many times for resources! I cannot say enough good things about Nicole – she’s smart, funny, thoughtful, brave, and extremely talented. She helped us with fund development and marketing. She’s so talented putting together flyers – she always seems to find just the right picture to capture what she’s trying to convey. I have the utmost respect for her as a young working professional – she will do so well wherever she lands! We have been so lucky to have her talents – she’s written funding proposals (several were funded), she’s developed training for the Board and has been instrumental in helping them understand their role as fundraisers for the organization, sent out quarterly newsletters, kept up with Facebook and Instagram, is assisting us with building a new website, and is helping establish our 3rd year VISTA goals! We will miss her so very much and thank her for being so awesome and spending quality time with all of us at Thrivalaska!!" It has been a pleasure working with Nicole and watching the magic unfold. She has a keen eye for creating engaging marketing content.I can recall meeting with her, thinking through ideas, sifting through different angles and settling on brilliant concepts. She has truly shaped the way we disseminate information. We were so fortunate to have an innovator on our team. From grant writing to team collaborations, you were present and consistently exceeding our expectations. Nicole, thank you for sharing your gifts with Thrivalaska. It has been an honor watching your impact touch our families and children in a meaningful way. The systems you have created will continue to serve our community beyond your time here." Nicole Wills received an Award of Excellence at Thirvalaska for her contributions to the organization! Her work was recognized by the Board of Directors and described as "setting a standard of excellence for others." Congratulations Nicole!
Listen to Nicole's insight explaining the different programs offered by Thrivalaska and the importance of investing in early childhood education.
Check out the podcast here! 
Mikayla, Tessa, Hal, Sol, Nicole, and Stephen will serve Fairbanks from August 31, 2020 - August 30, 2021. Year-long VISTAs perform indirect service focusing on capacity building. Stay tuned for updates as their year progresses!
Kelsey wrapped up her service year on June 8, 2020. She served ThrivAlaska well as their Development & Communications coordinator. She wrote successful grants, engaged with the community via social media and created a monthly newsletter. Kelsey's next step will be attending Johns Hopkins University to earn her master's in Public Management.
Kelsey, thank you for your service to our community. Our program appreciates your input, hard work and dedication. We wish you the absolute best in your future and know you will be successful in anything you do!
Listen to Kelsey talk about VISTA & her service at ThrivAlaska!
By Kelsey Snyder, Thrivalaska VISTA '19-20
Serving as the Development Coordinator at Thrivalaska involves a lot of outreach to the community including creating relationships with donors and companies. I recently submitted a grant to Wells Fargo to help my host site complete a re-flooring project at our thread Resource and Referral building. One of the main goals for my year of service is to help my site see visible growth in their ability to reach out to companies and individuals in the community for project and program support.
While the flooring project may not be seen as a dire need project, many families come to our organization looking for resources and we want to ensure they feel welcomed and comfortable while getting the help they need. We have used grants as an opportunity to gain funds for projects in the past such as new internet servers or other building updates in the classrooms. If approved for grant funds, you must use the funds given specifically for the project you had listed in your application.
My time writing the grant involved a lot of collaboration with my administration offices. I had to learn about the demographics our non-profit serves, and generate specific numbers to show the application board why our target population was in need. Writing this grant was a very useful way for me to practice painting a full picture of what my site does and the true difference it makes in our community. The process began with creating an organization profile, simple information based on location and contact addresses. The large portion of the grant itself is the project proposal. You begin with funding purpose and describe what project you need funding provided. Many grant applications ask if there is a benefit to the company such as mention in a newsletter, daily paper, or on your website. This specific grant asked for information on how many low to moderate income group individuals you serve throughout the organization. Finally, you talk specifically about your organizations goals and accomplishments. This is where you get the opportunity to show the company why your program matters in your community! After collaborating with my Executive Director and get approval to submit my proposal, we were told to expect our application to be reviewed within 45 days. Around a month and half after submitting our initial proposal to Wells Fargo, we were fortunate to receive an email letting us know that our grant has been approved! The email explained how we could expect a check in the mail within the next 8 weeks. As a non-profit, these application approvals are big victories! 
In July, Ken Miller of Denali FSP Fundraising Consultants presented a fundraising seminar to the Fairbanks VISTA program.
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