Communities in Schools of Augusta Richmond County

Exhausted from running her programs during the day and struggling to write grants in the middle of the night, Executive Director Laurie Cook desperately needed support. Laurie has great grant-writing skills - her ability to win funding was not the issue.

Time. Energy. Sleep. That’s what she kept losing by trying to do it all. The at-risk students and overworked teachers of Richmond County needed her. The CIS tutors and site coordinators serving those students and teachers needed her. The network of community partners who believe in and tangibly support her programs needed her. Being executive director of an organization that serves over 4000 students and families a year means lots of responsibilities. And grant writing was one of them that she could hand off.

In Laurie’s own words, she describes how Gateway became “that solution” for CIS: 

CIS has worked with Gateway since 2017. We have been impressed by their research, attention to detail, and writing abilities, but we “partner” with them because of their involvement in the community and their commitment to honesty, integrity, and candor. As a nonprofit leader, balancing available resources is a constant struggle – they are hard choices to make. You easily recognize the “need” for your services in the community, but how you steward and stretch your time, money, personnel, and resources to drive the biggest impact requires careful consideration. Knowing how to do something, even if you are good at it does not always make business sense... Using Gateway Grant Services for some of our grant projects has allowed us to focus more on direct client services and program development. Grant calendars, research, outcome modeling, grant writing and follow-up  – they do it all!

In addition to giving Laurie back countless hours for her to spend furthering their mission, the funding Gateway won allowed CIS to double the number of struggling students served with remediation, mentoring, and wrap-around supports.