RI Mentoring Partnership Launches Guiding Light Giving Partnership

WARWICK, RI  –  The Rhode Island Mentoring Partnership (RIMP) has launched a new individual donor program, a first for the organization tasked with serving as the statewide leader in youth mentoring.  The Guiding Light Giving Partnership is designed to help strengthen the Warwick-based non-profit’s financial footing amidst difficult economic times by both attracting and acknowledging individual donors who want to support the effort to change a child’s life through mentoring.

“We are finding that funding opportunities, both grants and corporate donations, which we have relied on in the past, are dwindling, both in the number of them available and in the amount that they award,” says Jo-Ann Schofield, President and CEO of the RI Mentoring Partnership. “Beyond, fundraising events, we have been reluctant to push for individual contributions from people involved with our organization, because often they are already giving us their time, by serving as a mentor.”

But, with the cost of creating and maintaining a positive mentoring relationship estimated to be around $500-per-child, RIMP decided it was time to create an individual donor program. “We wanted something that goes beyond the one-offs of things like an annual appeal or an event,” says Schofield. “We hope that we’ve created a program that is engaging, provides incentives for giving, and builds a base of loyal, consistent donors.”

The Guiding Light Giving Partnership is a tiered program with a donor’s total amount donated to the organization in a given year placing them in a particular level. Each tier has a range of incentives, from a coffee-hour with the organization’s president to a profile on the organization’s website. For more information on the Guiding Light Giving Partnership please visit: www.mentorRI.org/GuidingLight.htm

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