Hey friends!
The first quarter of 2019 went by fast. Our team worked on some exciting projects but mostly spent this time hunkering down and working through things internally. As I sat down to write about this quarter I thought, WOW what a boring few months. But that’s the reality of running a business. You need to have times that are not exciting in order to grow.
What We’ve Been Up To:
We started the year by working through our internal strategy, mapping out our priorities and focus areas. We are dedicating a lot of time gathering data from our students and ensuring that we continue to offer high-quality programs and trainings. This included completing a full audit of our programs. It’s been awhile since we have done this, so a lot of my time this quarter was spent revisiting The Spark Program – making some edits and re-recording a lot of curriculum videos in our new recording studio.
In addition to helping with some new partner organizations launch The Spark Program, we also mailed our very first Kindling box to our Minnesota partner, Lionsgate Academy. This was the first time we had a partner-led workshop outside of Colorado so we relied on UPS to get everything needed for the workshop there in time. Even with a giant snowstorm, it made it on time. PHEW!
In honor of my 31st birthday, we launched a new monthly giving program called “Trailblazer”
Finally, in honor of my 31st birthday, we launched a new monthly giving program called “Trailblazer”. As many of you know, I have dedicated my birthday to fundraise for Celebrate EDU in the past. Last year I also asked people to share The Celebrate EDU Story video (click here if you haven’t shared it). This year I decided to switch it up again. I wanted to make sure that people’s generosity wasn’t happening 1 day a year, but rather all year long. I’ve thought about offering a monthly giving campaign for a long time (shout-out to our OG monthly donor Karl Ruter) and finally decided to do it. Becoming a Trailblazer allows you to amplify your impact and make a bigger difference in the lives of people with disabilities. If you are interested in becoming a Trailblazer, click here.
What’s Next:
One of the big projects we have been working on is the rebranding of this “Updates” section and the launch of the “Resources” section on our website. This has been a labor of love. We hoped to get it launched in March, but we had to work out some other website issues and now plan to have it available in Q2. With the launch of the “Updates” section, we will be posting more frequently about Celebrate EDU happenings so this will be my last quarterly transparency report. Check back to keep seeing all of this great information in real-time!
We are headed to Cincinnati in early April to continue our partnership with some amazing disability organizations who are committed to building a Cincinnati Entrepreneurship Coalition! Along with some other planned trips and exciting projects, Q2 will be much more eventful for everyone.