How to Fund a Program for Young Adults with Autism

 — from The Concerto Project —

The Concerto Project Board (and some advisors) on the train that runs on the Mount Baker Farm on Orcas Island.

“This is a bold project,” says Marian O’Brien, Executive Director of The Concerto Project “and we are prepared to meet the challenges head-on.” The Orcas Island nonprofit has spent two years laying the groundwork for this innovative two-year transition program for young adults with autism. They have included stakeholders one by one through a process of engagement and a common interest in meeting the great need for programming in the Pacific Northwest. Local educators, businesses, government officials, and other professionals, as well as long-time Islanders were consulted in the process of determining the capacity of the Island to create a home for the nonprofit program. Then, professionals in the greater Seattle area and nationwide were consulted to gain from their wisdom and experience in meeting the needs of families during the critical transition from high school to adulthood.

O’Brien has been stunned and humbled by the response The Concerto Project has received during this time. “I have never been involved in anything that has had such an overwhelmingly positive response,” she said. “It’s moving like greased lightning towards hope and positive outcomes.”

The Concerto Project has been given the opportunity to purchase the 80-acre legacy property of Mount Baker Farm, and has begun the capital campaign funding process. O’Brien and the Board of Trustees feel very strongly that they must approach potential major donors with the understanding that their funds will not be put at risk, should funding somehow fall short. But, how to do this?

Keith Whitaker, Board Treasurer, has proposed what he calls a “bi-directional funding” approach. It is elegantly simple, but responsible. Whitaker says: “As contributions fill the need from the ground up, conditional pledges reduce the remaining need from the top down.” Pledges of $5,000 or more may be made contingent upon reaching the goal. As soon as The Concerto Project secures the first $1 million towards the purchase price of the Farm, a contract for the purchase will be entered into with the seller and a timetable will be set for raising the balance of the funds required – an additional $1.95 million.

The Concerto Project was begun in 2013 to create a much-needed living and learning residential transition program in the Pacific Northwest. Its mission is to provide young adults on the autism spectrum with the vocational, social, and practical skills necessary for sustained, engaged living, through a supportive, focused and individualized two-year program.

Executive Director Marian O’Brien can be reached at marian@concertoproject.org. See the website for more information about the program.

Website: https://www.concertoproject.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-ConcertoProject/275113819317670

The Concerto Project is a Washington 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity with 509(a)(2) status. EIN # 47-1806269