Spotlight: Take Stock in Children

Insight from Helen Quinn, Leadership from Take Stock in Children

DonateStock: Your mission is to break the cycle of poverty for low-income, underrepresented, academically qualified students by providing opportunities for degree attainment through postsecondary education. How do you do that?

Helen: Since 1995, Take Stock in Children has helped over 38,000 Florida students find a way out of poverty and into higher education and careers through scholarships, mentors, and hope. The organization was founded by a group of education, community, and business leaders frustrated by the many at-risk children in Florida without access to higher education, jobs, and life-changing opportunities. Together, they created a simple yet transformative solution to instill hope in low-income youth. Students are selected between the 6^th and 9^th grades and provided with support services through a volunteer mentor, a college success coach, and college readiness workshops while mitigating financial barriers to higher education by providing a Florida Prepaid College Foundation Project STARS scholarship. When students successfully graduate high school, they are automatically enrolled in the Take Stock in College program, which provides them with coaching and connects them with existing resources on their respective campuses to help them on their journey to success. By investing in students’ potential early on and following them through postsecondary studies, we help our students build a bridge to certification/degree attainment that ultimately leads to an economic opportunity that lasts a lifetime. Quality education can never be taken from you and can set you up for success in life. I know firsthand because my sister and I are grateful graduates of the Take Stock program.

DonateStock: What are the top 3 challenges you face today, and are there any silver linings?

Helen: First, in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are seeing a decrease in the number of students enrolling in postsecondary studies. That number is even higher for students from low-income, underrepresented backgrounds. Secondly, student engagement has taken a hit since the pandemic. We’re hearing from some of our postsecondary partners that students aren’t as engaged as before the pandemic. Engagement is vital because it helps students build a sense of connection to their postsecondary institution and peers, indicating persistence in postsecondary studies. Low engagement leads to decreased retention rates. Completing postsecondary studies is important because 90% of Florida’s fastest-growing careers require some postsecondary education, whether certification or degree attainment. Lastly, on the philanthropic side of things, in recent years, there was concern that folks would stop giving due to the uncertainty caused by the pandemic. Questions arose around how we could continue to fuel our missions if folks stopped giving.

There are silver linings in everything. The silver lining for the postsecondary completion side is the number of technological advancements we made during the remote learning era. The pandemic pushed us to think outside the box to serve our students and leverage technology better to meet them where they are. Take Stock invested in an app to make mentoring safe, secure, and accessible when schools were closed down, as well as an artificial intelligence chatbot that uses behavioral intelligence to drive students toward postsecondary persistence and completion and connects them to resources on their respective campuses. Together these tools help ensure that our students get the guidance and support they need on their journey to success. On the philanthropic side, the silver lining is that Floridians are giving! A recent study completed by the Florida Nonprofit Alliance showed that 7 out of 10 households in Florida made charitable donations in 2021, which is on par with the national average. According to one study, charitable giving grew by about 4% due to the events and challenges presented in 2020. People and partners stepped up, not away from helping. That’s great news for our missions!

DonateStock: Where do you see possibilities for innovations?

Helen: I see possibilities for innovation through the continued use of technology to deliver and scale services. At the onset of the pandemic during the Spring break of 2020, we worked tirelessly to transition our mentoring to an entirely virtual model within two weeks. With the help of a Take Stock mentor and military veteran, we created the Take Stock App, which allowed mentors and mentees to continue meeting in a safe and secure environment during a very challenging time. It gave mentees and mentors access to the Take Stock in Children Mentoring Toolkit and other resources, including access to student mental health and wellness workshops. It has become an integral part of our program. The success of the App led to further innovation when in 2021, we secured a state-of-the-art artificial intelligence chatbot for our college program that builds a knowledge base over time to deploy specific enrollment, advisement, and student success initiatives specific to our scholar’s school of attendance within the 40 public colleges and universities across Florida. In the first year, we’ve seen a 91% total engagement rate. When faced with challenges, we have the opportunity to rise to the occasion to effect change and keep making an impact on our missions in ways we never thought possible. Or maybe we did think of these ways before, but we were forced to move faster and more collaboratively because of the circumstances leading to innovations with a lasting impact on our work.

DonateStock: What key insights would you share with other nonprofits?

Helen: Nonprofits are created to solve some of the biggest challenges in our communities and world, but we can’t do it alone. I recently read that because of the last two years, there’s a realization that no single entity – nonprofit, corporate, government, or civic, can create systemic change on its own. We must work together to solve these challenges, especially now when our communities need more support than ever. It’s essential to have an open dialogue with potential funders and partners to work together and innovate to solve these challenges and meet the needs of those who need it most, as well as the funders’ goals. This may lead to a potential funder or partner saying, “this doesn’t work for us.” And that’s okay. You walk away from that. But often, it can lead to some pretty innovative ways of meeting the needs of the mission.

DonateStock: Is there anything else you would like the audience to know?

Helen: The work we do is challenging. DonateStock is an easy way to help folks invest in your mission. Your profile is already uploaded from Charity Navigator. All you have to do is activate your page and give your donors an easy way to put stock in your mission. It’s beneficial to them, beneficial to you, and the challenges you’re trying to solve. Every dollar invested is a dollar that’s helping to make your community a better place.

About Helen Quinn:

Helen A. Quinn is Director of Strategic Partnerships and Philanthropy with Take Stock in Children. She has over 15 years of non-profit experience in the college access and development space. Helen began her career as a College Success Coach with the Take Stock in Children programs in Clay and Duval Counties, where she guided hundreds of students on their journey to postsecondary education. In 2010, Helen transitioned to working with the Take Stock in Children state office as the Administrator of College Transition and Retention, where she was responsible for leading the development and implementation of college transition and retention curriculum and services state-wide for the Take Stock in Children program scholars attending Florida's state colleges and universities. Seeing the need for financial support to fuel mission-driven movements, Helen shifted her focus from programming to development. In her career, she has raised millions of dollars to solve some of Florida's most pressing educational and environmental challenges in her work with Teach For America, the National Audubon Society, and the United Way. She is excited to be back home with Take Stock in Children to help create partnerships and invest in more individuals, companies, and foundations in Take Stock's mission to change the lives of low-income, underrepresented youth through education.