Over $1.4 million in funding raised — with new strategies and systems built to scale

The Client

Life Skills for Youth (LSY) has been mentoring, tutoring, and feeding kids in southwest Little Rock since 2007. LSY serves over 300 K–12 students annually through afterschool and summer programs, including its signature ATM (Anger, Time, and Money) Management Program. Its results speak for themselves: a 98% high school graduation rate among participants, a 50% reduction in disciplinary incidents at partner schools, and more than 4,000 youth served over 18 years.

The Challenge

LSY's programs already had strong outcomes. But the organization's leadership knew that in order to serve the growing waiting list of families, expand into new schools, and launch a capital campaign for its first permanent facility, they needed a more systematic approach to grant funding. They brought in Lightmaker in March 2024 to build the strategy and infrastructure to match their ambitions.

The Solution

We partnered with LSY to optimize every stage of the grant lifecycle: strategy, writing, budgets, reporting, and systems.

We analyzed each funder's priorities and scoring criteria before writing a word, tailoring proposals to speak each funder's language rather than submitting one-size-fits-all applications. For grants that hadn't been funded in prior cycles, we identified what was missing and rebuilt submissions from the ground up—converting previous denials into funded awards.

We built multi-year program budgets, ensured narrative and financial documents were fully aligned, and conducted pre-submission reviews to catch weaknesses and continuously improve with each new application. We managed reporting for multiple funders to maintain renewal eligibility and strengthen relationships.

And we built the funding infrastructure—grant calendar, document library, tracking systems, and updated charity ratings profiles—to support a growing portfolio of funders and position LSY for its $20 million capital campaign.

The Results

Over $1,440,652 in funding raised from March 2024 to August 2026
Previous losses transformed into wins through strategic proposal overhauls
Scalable grant systems in place to support continued growth and a major capital campaign
Hundreds of children and families directly impacted, in a community where per capita income is $16,900 and juvenile crime rates are among the highest in the state

LSY didn't need to change what it was doing. It needed a funding operation that could keep up with the scale of its vision. That's what a partnership with Lightmaker can do.

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“Our programs had strong results, but our grants process couldn't keep up with our vision. That changed when we brought in Ginny & the Lightmaker team. Before we started, I felt like we were leaving money on the table. The biggest difference now is having real systems in place and winning grants that had been turned down in the past. I'd recommend Lightmaker to any organization that wants to raise more money.”

— Coach Larry Clark, Executive Director, Life Skills for Youth