Ada Jenkins Center: Adopting an Earned-Income Model to Increase Financial Stability
The Ada Jenkins Center, like many other non-profit organizations, primarily rely on philanthropy and government grants as their main sources of income. The Center’s operation costs, however, continue to rise in recent years and often times, private donations and government grants alone are not sufficient enough to cover the costs. In order to generate a third main source of funding that is independent of outside support, therefore, we are designing an earned-income model that the Center can adopt and invest in. In addition to considering the sustainability of this model, we also aim to reach a break-even point within the first three years of startup. This earned-income model involves training the Center’s client partners job-specific skills, which will then qualify them for employment in a revenue-generating business run by the Ada Jenkins Center. Job training will be directed towards the areas of food service and technology.