"It's a bad time to be a family resource center," laments the director of a southern Bay Area family resource center (FRC) whose funding was recently slashed by the county. Core funding sources that have initiated and supported FRCs in the past-such as Healthy Start, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and Office of Child Abuse Prevention (OCAP) funds-have withered away. Mean-while traditional FRC partners-school districts, cities, and counties-have their own budget woes and are also cutting funding to FRCs. Private foundations are narrowing their focus and tightening their belts.

"Before, you could write 10 grants and be assured of some," says Mary Jo Buettner, director of the Chula Vista Coordinating Council, which operates six FRCs in San Diego County. "Now, you can write 10 or more and not get any."

But family resource centers can grow and sustain their programs even in tough times, say experts and seasoned FRC directors. "The money is out there," says finance consultant Hansine Fisher. "It's just not where it used to be. You've got to go find it."

Show how your programs save money

"It costs $60,000 per year to keep a child in a group home and $4,000 to provide a family with prevention services through a home-visiting program for three or four months," says Fisher. FRCs "need to quantify outcomes in terms of money saved-and some of these savings should come back into prevention."

Adds Sid Gardner, president of Children and Family Futures in Irvine: "FRCs have got to think more like entrepreneurs than grant-chasers and more strategically than the next $50,000 (grant). They need to do so based on their own strengths." For example, if you can demonstrate to CalWORKS or Title I (federally funded education program) that "you can help families stay out of that system longer," you're more likely to receive ongoing prevention dollars from the public sector.

Build a broad base

"As an FRC, our very nature makes us broad," says Buettner, who takes in a dozen different funding sources for the collaborative's after-school and FRC programs. "It's hard to channel ourselves" to one funding source, she says. The key is "being willing to take little bits from lots of people. All of the players in the community need to give us support." Schools, city, and county agencies are major funders, but Buettner's programs also receive private foundation and state money as well.

"We need to engage our community more broadly," agrees Terry Shearman, director of the South Orange County Family Resource Center. She helped parents organize a community fundraiser in May. Parents with small businesses sold their items-from jewelry to purses to gourmet food-and donated a portion of the profits to the FRC.

Ask partners to share

"Whenever you can, try to get your partners to take up some of the overhead-space, equipment, resources, training. Sharing funding sources, people learn that everybody's got something different (to offer)," says Fisher.

"We're tapping into every grant-writer for each of our agencies," agrees Shearman. "Everyone is finding new talents."

One of South Orange's partners, Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center, as part of its community benefit program, sets aside a portion of its budget to pay the FRC's rent and utilities and some staff salaries. Since "nobody is funding core support," adds Shearman, "if an FRC doesn't have a partner with resources, they're just whittling away." Buettner also taps the members of the coordinating council for resources. "So many of our partners are writing grants. They'll write us in for small amounts to do a piece of the work."

Stick to your mission

In its early years, South Orange FRC received funding through Families and Com-munities Together (FaCT), a collaborative administered by the county social service agency. Since the community has always been "the driving force behind the FRC," it was important that "there was a lot of latitude given for how you met the needs of the community." So when FaCT funds were limited to serving only families in the child welfare system, South Orange FRC turned the money down.

Although the decision resulted in some staffing cuts, it ultimately was "a relief," says Shearman. "We will serve those families (in CPS)...but we don't want this to be all of what we are about." Still, she's worried about a trend in which FRCs "are less about what the community is asking for and more about what (the funder) is driving."

Tap into bigger systems

FRCs can enhance the work they do to support families by linking families to the "larger pools of resources available to institutionalized systems"-such as Medi-Cal, Earned Income Tax Credit, TANF, and Title I funds. That's "real money that is already flowing to the community," says Gardner. Making it your FRC's business to help families access these programs, he adds, not only builds families' self-sufficiency, but also increases the credibility and effectiveness of the FRC-thus making it more fundable (see Support Systems, Children's Advocate, September-October, 2004).

In some cases, these funds can directly support FRC core programs. For example, school-based FRCs that provide nursing or psychological services to students receiving Medi-Cal can bill Medi-Cal for certain administrative expenses.

Follow new opportunities

According to Gardner, two new opportunities offer viable funding strategies for FRCs that have been working successfully in early childhood development and child abuse prevention. First Five commissions in many counties are actively funding-and in some cases creating-FRCs to implement early childhood and school readiness programs (see Starting strong). In addition, the recent statewide child welfare redesign offers opportunities for FRCs to contract with child welfare agencies to provide early intervention services to families who are at risk of becoming involved in the child welfare system.

Each of these strategies limits the population served. And county funding is subject to expanding and contracting with budget cuts. But according to Fisher, these institutional ties mean that "FRCs that are well-positioned"-with a strong community base and relationships with local policy makers-"won't be abandoned."

Document your outcomes

Regardless of the funding source, cautions Gardner, the key to sustainability is evidence of outcomes (see "Measuring Success," Children's Advocate, July-August 2004). "If FRCs don't have the outcomes, then these (opportunities) probably won't work as sustainability strategies. It turns into last-minute grant-chasing."

Effective prevention programs save money and save lives

Research shows . . .

• Every $1 invested in substance abuse prevention saves $5.50 in costs for health care, law enforcement, and incarceration.
  
  
• Every $1 invested in quality early childhood care and education saves $7, by increasing the likelihood that children will be literate, employed, and enrolled in post-secondary education-and less likely to drop out of school, go on welfare, or be arrested for criminal activity.
  
  
• Every $1 invested in vaccinating children against measles, mumps, and rubella saves $16 in direct medical costs to treat those illnesses.
  
  
• Every $1 invested in long-term intensive home visiting saves $3 in costs for government assistance and criminal justice costs.

Source: Prevention Pays Work Group,
[http://www.wcpcan.wa.gov/temp_resource_updates.asp]

Resources

• Children and Family Futures, 714-505-3525, www.cffutures.com
• First Five California, 916-323-0056, www.ccfc.ca.gov
• Hansine Fisher, Finance Consultant, 530-297-3298
• South Orange County Family Resource Center, 949-364-0500, www.socfrc.org
• Chula Vista Coordinating Council, 619-422-9208
• Online publication: Financing family resource centers: A guide to sources and strategies
  www.financeprojectinfo.org/Publications/family_resource_centers.pdf (link removed)

Online Resource

• Developing and Sustaining Prevention Programs in Tough Times, from National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse and Neglect Information, provides information on community collaboration, making the economic case for prevention, marketing, evaluation, and funding.

FRC funding resource

• Winning Proposals and Sustainable Partnerships was a November 2004 workshop for family resource centers on proposal writing and creating partnerships with corporations and community-based and school-based organizations. For more information, contact Strategies, Bianca Herrera at (323) 644-3900, x 208, http://www.familyresourcecenters.net

General funding resources

• Toolkit on Funding, from Connect for Kids, compiles tips and sources for finding funding for child care programs, children's health services, education and arts programs, and efforts to strengthen communities. Online at http://www.connectforkids.org/
  
  
• Creative Financing for School-Based Health Centers is a CD-Rom with resources and tools to help school-based health centers find long-term, diverse funding. Includes sample documents. $25. National Assembly on School-Based Health Care, 666 11th St, NW, Ste 735, Washington, DC 20001; (202) 638-5872; summary online at http://www.nasbhc.org
  
  
• Foundation Center offers funding workshops and resources, including searchable funding databases and sample grant application forms. For more information, contact (415) 397-0902; http://fdncenter.org/sanfrancisco/index.jhtml
  
  
• CompassPoint offers trainings and resources for nonprofits, including funding and fundraising tips. For more information, contact (415) 541-9000; http://www.compasspoint.org
  
  
• Center for Nonprofit Management offers online and onsite fundraising resources, along with other nonprofit tools and trainings. For more information, contact (213) 623-7080; http://www.cnmsocal.org/index.html
  
  
• Grassroots Fundraising Journal offers information on fundraising, including tips for special events, phonebanking, and fundraising in times of crisis. Online at http://www.grassrootsfundraising.org