Keeping The Faith.

Social entrepreneurship is often a lonely endeavor. For many months, I've spent time trying to inspire confidence in Reach's unique program model. Regardless of who I'm speaking with, I do my best to give a complete and accurate representation of our plans. In such a connected world, you never know when these conversations may lead to material or financial support. Basically, every time I'm given the opportunity to tell someone about Reach, I act as though the person has $10,000 in his or her back pocket or has some specific skills that could greatly benefit the organization.

My first social work supervisor always used to tell me that life comes in waves. You weather the tough times knowing that good times will come. Last week, it was getting tough to weather the storms. It had been so long since we had received any significant financial support, and I was starting to worry that we might not be able to raise the money necessary for program launch. For the first time, I was legitimately considering the possibility of failure. This week, a positive wave came through - the result of so many months of hard work done by so many Reach supporters.

• Through Josh Friedman's advocacy, Reach became the beneficiary of "Jeans Day" at Akin Gump's DC office on Friday. Any employee of the firm could pay $5 for the right to wear jeans to work. All proceeds will benefit Reach. The MoFo Foundation is also considering supporting Reach's work, due in large part to more of Josh's advocacy.
• Two Reach supporters, Brian Hecker and Katie Franklin, encouraged friends to support Reach's work at private events over the weekend. Through creativity and advocacy, these individuals multiplied the financial support they could have provided as individuals.
• Today, I received a phone call from a member of Reach's Board of Directors informing me that she had secured two pledges worth a combined $12,500 in support for our upcoming pilot program.

This win streak may continue. Tomorrow morning, I have a meeting with Deals for Deeds to discuss ways that we can maximize the potential funds created through next month's partnership (see July 12th's blog post). Tomorrow evening, I have a dinner to discuss our plans with a potential donor. I will go into tomorrow's meetings knowing that so many of Reach's supporters are confident in our ability to do good work for DC's kids. The waves will come, but we will succeed.

Thank you for all that you do. I look forward to sharing further good news as we build on this week's momentum.

Thanks, as always, for reading!

Mark