St. Marcus Lutheran School…
is a Christian, college prep school serving predominantly low-income African American students in K4-8th grade. The school is recognized as a school at the forefront of educational reform.

St. Marcus plans to double its enrollment to 600 and become a community campus that is a catalyst for revitalization. To raise the $12 million needed, they knew their success was tied to engaging community members

Three years after hiring alinea, St. Marcus has broken through the $8 million mark, broken ground on the project and is on pace to reach its goal. "We didn't want a 'consultant in a box','" says Christine Safranek, Fund Development Director. "We needed to learn how to do the hard work of strategically reaching out to people, welcoming them into our school to experience our mission and being clear about how they could help."

Connecting Youth, Inc.…
empowers at-risk youth and families to reunite and make healthy choices through a temporary nurturing environment, life skills, educational and employment support. They do this through its group home for young adult men, transition program and summer program.

The founder and director became overwhelmed by its success and frustrated with her inability to engage her board members to help with fundraising and launching its transition program.

After working with alinea for just three months, staff people and board members have become re-energized around a clear vision and way to tell its story in a way that is helping to raise awareness. New direction was set through an updated governance structure and specific goals, and five new board and comittee members were recruited. The icing on the cake was receiving its first $1,000 donation from a woman who attended an information session and became inspired by its mission. "I hired alinea because they came highly recommended by several other organizations. I felt such relief as the board became re-energized and committed to achieving specific goals. Receiving our first $1,000 donation made us feel that we could do this!"

Valerie Benton…
plans to launch her second school to serve kids who fall through the cracks at traditional public schools. She knows that the school will need to raise money, and she plans to engage community members before she even applies for her charter. Just two hours of coaching per month was enough to help her develop a professional case statement which helps her team talk about the school in a way that inspires people to support them. "Case statements are the bomb," Valerie exclaims as she continues to use this tool to secure support and resources.