Writegirl Shows Young Authors What’s Possible With a Strong Support System

At a time when nonprofits are assuming a larger and larger role in the provision of essential services, it’s more important than ever for organizations to develop sustainable and successful programs. WriteGirl stepped into the national spotlight recently when their alumna Amanda Gorman captured hearts and minds at President Biden’s inauguration - but they have been serving their community and achieving their goals for more than 20 years. By working closely with local government and other stakeholders, building a diverse donor base, and addressing an urgent community need (the overburdened education system in Los Angeles), WriteGirl has demonstrated how nonprofits can be even stronger pillars of community support. 

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WriteGirl is an organization that seeks to change the status quo mentoring hundreds of girls every year in writing and editing.  It holds monthly writing workshops and other events to give girls a chance to work directly with 200 professional women writers – programs that help them develop vital skills as they transition from high school to college. But WriteGirl is much more than a way for girls to improve their writing; it also provides role models who offer emotional support and demonstrate what girls can accomplish if they work hard.

From its role in creating opportunities that aren’t available through the overburdened public education system to its ability to attract support from a broad community of donors, WriiteGirl is an organization we’ll be following for years to come. 

A Record of Success

During the Inauguration on January 20, 2021, the nation was enraptured by Amanda Gorman – a 23-year-old poet and Harvard graduate who delivered a powerful poem about unity, civic responsibility, and equality titled “The Hill We Climb” to her fellow Americans. Less than a month later, she became the first-ever poet to recite her work at the Super Bowl. But in 2014, Gorman was a 16-year-old who was still honing her literary skills – a “skinny girl with a speech impediment who needed a mentor,” as she would later recall. 

Gorman started her journey with WriteGirl when she was 14 years old, and later described the experience as transformative: “WriteGirl has been pivotal in my life. It’s been thanks to their support that I’ve been able to chase my dreams as a writer.” Just like her mentors at WriteGirl, Gorman showed millions of young female writers how high it’s possible to climb if they put pen to paper and have a strong support system in place. 

Gorman isn’t the only WriteGirl pupil who has gone on to do extraordinary things. According to WriteGirl, every single one of the organization’s graduating seniors “have entered college, many on full or partial scholarships.” This 100% rate of college entrance far exceeds the comparable statistic - 70% - from the Los Angeles Unified School District.  WriteGirl has also published more than 20 anthologies of its students’ work, which have won 90 awards nationally and internationally. These metrics of success, as well as stories of the incredible young women in the WriteGirl network, are shared in testimonials, impact stories, and other communications that WriteGirl regularly publishes. 

Addressing an Urgent Community Need

WriteGirl was founded to address problems with the education system in Los Angeles, such as large class sizes and the lack of individual attention many students receive. However, its programs are a reminder that the government - including local education departments - depends on high-performing nonprofits. WriteGirl works with the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE)  to implement educational and emotional support programs for at-risk teen girls in several schools and academies for incarcerated youth. The organization has also helped administer dedicated arts programs for the juvenile justice system, as well as creative writing workshops for middle schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District. 

WriteGirl’s work with LACOE and the L.A. Unified School District is a reminder that collaboration between the nonprofit sector and government is more important than ever. Especially in the middle of a pandemic and a massive economic downturn, nonprofits like WriteGirl can help to strengthen communities’ infrastructure of support and provide vital services. 

An Inspiring Story for the Nonprofit Sector

Beyond the national visibility WriteGirl recently achieved, the organization has repeatedly demonstrated its proof of concept through the academic accomplishments of its graduates, its effective collaboration with local government and other stakeholders, and its ability to maintain continuous operations for two decades. WriteGirl has built a donor base of dozens of grantors (ranging from the United Way to the Walt Disney Company to the Pasadena Arts Council), and it has expanded its programming over the years. The organization’s careful measurement of impact - tracked through the number of program graduates and how alumni succeed beyond their WriteGirl experiences - helps the nonprofit capture its success and communicate its value. 

WriteGirl received a surge of donations after Gorman’s poem during the inauguration, but it has an annual budget of just over $600,000. This is a reminder that even high-profile nonprofits – WriteGirl won the California Nonprofit of the Year Award in 2011 and First Lady Michelle Obama presented the organization with the National Youth Program Award in 2013 – often have very limited financial resources (92 percent of nonprofits have annual budgets of less than $1 million). But by forging productive relationships with local stakeholders, WriteGirl has managed to scale impact in a consistent and sustainable way. 

The organization is continuing to offer its programs virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic, and an article in The Chronicle of Philanthropy reports that girls from Wisconsin to Mumbai are interested in joining. WriteGirl executive director Keren Taylor says she wants to build on the momentum of Gorman’s speech, but that momentum itself is a testament to the power of the written word to inspire. It would be difficult to find stronger evidence that WriteGirl is accomplishing its mission.