Like my fledglings, we’re reaching for new heights and actively seeking new resources to sustain our growth. This year’s first three months saw us submit a grant application a month!

Our inaugural application was to the National Science Foundation (NSF), aiming to fund a collaboration with UC Santa Cruz researchers. This project would develop a new community game, and prototype our role as a hub for collaboratively creating and distributing games for social resilience and disaster preparedness. As the lead institution, we tackled the immense learning curve of the federal application process — truly a heavy lift for a small organization!

That intensive experience paid off immediately. We navigated a second NSF application, to fund a collaboration with the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, with far greater speed and confidence. This grant seeks to explore how cutting-edge technologies, such as AI and the Internet of Things, can bolster community resilience.

The third application, though less bureaucratic than the others, was a strenuously detailed submission to AARP. While we didn’t receive that grant, the process was invaluable for capturing our vision and history in writing.

We’re still awaiting news on the NSF grants. Needless to say, given current uncertainties, we’re proceeding without relying on them.

Our direct impact continues to grow. This year, nearly 100 people have played our Wildfire Board Game, and our Wildfire Café Game (currently being revised) has a growing waitlist of eager partners. We’ve also forged new connections and potential collaborations at recent preparedness conferences and workshops, and have added new presentations to broaden our outreach efforts.

Internally, we’re building muscle. Finalizing our strategic plan, goals, and budgets for the year involved refining our accounting and bookkeeping system, ensuring it can grow with us. You’ll hear more about our strategic plan in future updates. For now, our immediate priorities are to get the Café Game to our Napa partners, step up our fundraising efforts, and fill key team roles.

To truly take flight and significantly expand our impact, bringing on paid staff is essential. This will enable us to reach more communities, develop more effective tools, and establish new revenue streams.

Having successfully grown our grant-writing feathers, we’re now focused on strengthening our philanthropic wings. I’m currently immersed in an intensive bootcamp training, specifically designed to equip nonprofit leaders with the clarity, skills, and strategy needed for working with philanthropic donors. It’s been incredibly empowering, and given me much to consider.

As I refine our approach, we welcome any connections you might have to individuals or foundations passionate about building community strength. Your insights and networks will be critical to developing successful philanthropic relationships.

With disasters striking with unprecedented ferocity and the federal safety net being dismantled, our work to empower local communities to help themselves and each other is more critical than ever.

I’ll soon share more specific ways you can be part of our next big leap.

In the meantime, we are deeply grateful for all you have already done. Your continued dedication and financial support are making a real difference to us and the communities we serve. We look forward to having you with us as we develop stronger wings and truly take flight.

Thank you for being part of our journey and our family.

— Susanne & the CCL Team