BEYOND DOLLARS

Beyond Dollars is an innovative program by Constellation Fund that connects notable companies and their talented professionals with nonprofit grantees to deliver exceptional capacity-building services. Every pro bono activity, from executive coaching and leadership groups to fully-customized strategic projects, is rooted explicitly in grantee needs, maximizing their poverty-fighting impact.

TO DATA AND REALIZING POTENTIAL

One of more than 80 connections made through Beyond Dollars includes Oasis For Youth, Constellation grantee, and Hayley Hadges, Senior Associate Consultant at PhData, a premier data engineering and strategy firm.

Oasis For Youth is a nonprofit based in the Twin Cities that provides outreach, housing, and employment resources to support young people across our community. The organization shared some of its needs with Constellation and the Beyond Dollars team, solidifying in the goal of wanting to better manage Oasis’s programmatic data and more efficiently and accurately track the needs of the young people using their services.

After meeting with the Oasis team to further assess their needs, Hadges built two Power BI data workspaces for the organization. One that amalgamates existing data from previous years, and another built to use current data with the flexibility to continue growing with Oasis as they grow and their needs change. Hadges also offered training for staff on the Oasis team on how to use Power BI, strong data management practices, and troubleshooting approaches to ensure the organization could benefit from the software in a sustainable way.

I’m able to filter data so I can see what our highest needs are within our program—and that’s something that before would’ve taken me much more time to navigate.”

ALEXIE ALAS CASTRELLON

Employment Program Manager | Oasis For Youth

Alexie Alas Castrellon, Employment Program Manager at Oasis For Youth, said gaining this tool and method of collecting information in a way that could be easily presented or shared in different ways, perhaps to the board or for grant applications, has been a way for them to take their data and share meaningful stories from it.

The tools shared from Beyond Dollars pro bono projects enable Constellation grantees like Oasis For Youth to focus on prioritizing their resources and staff expertise toward the work and mission. Alas Castrellon says the skills shared and product delivered by Hadges has been transformative, noting that she can complete many tasks within a few moments rather than a few hours.

STAR-CROSSED CONNECTIONS

Alexie Alas Castrellon

There’s a young person we’ve been working with for about three years now. They were a new Mall of America team member at this point and somebody who would come into Oasis’s space to eat and relax but was very quiet and reserved at first. Over time, they slowly opened up to us and we learned so much more about them and their backstory. This person just really didn’t see the point in going further in school or work and just couldn’t see next-level.

As Oasis staff got to know them over time, we were able to help build this young person’s confidence and their decision-making skills. Eventually they ended up applying for a team lead position, and got it! That was so exciting and honestly huge to have that happen from where we started.

I share this story because at first, this young person wasn’t someone who thought they deserved more. And now they recognize that they do. For me, that’s the lasting shift! Don’t get me wrong, I know it’s about the numbers, I know it’s about the data, all those things, but I am here because I love when who our clients are as a person is fundamentally changed because Oasis is able to give them the support they need. Even if it’s just one visit. Even if we just help them make it through one day. THAT is significant to me.

The young person is still in a leadership role today and you know what’s really amazing to notice? There’s a different walk that happens. There’s that initial, almost hesitant, slower walk when they were a new team member that has transformed into this stride that says “I got this, I understand things now, things have clicked.” And that‘s what I LIVE for, the moment when things click for people. It’s just such a powerful moment.