Challenge
The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), is a non-profit organization with a mission to teach entrepreneurship to low-income young people, ages 11 through 18, so they can become economically productive members of society. NFTE has helped over 65,000 young people, all over the world, by improving their academic, business, technology and life skills.

In light of these successes, NFTE’s profile among members of Congress and other federal policy makers was disproportionately low. Despite significant congressional support for competing programs, the bulk of NFTE’s budget relied on private funding.

Solution
NFTE retained O’Neill and Associates for federal relations services to build the organization’s credibility on Capital Hill to better position them for federal funding. O’Neill and Associates developed a strategic campaign that targeted key legislators on the House and Senate appropriations committees, education committees, and targeted caucuses.

O’Neill and Associates brought NFTE to Capital Hill for over a dozen meetings with members, their staff, as well as committee and caucus staffs to educate them about the organization and begin to build relationships. Simultaneously, O’Neill and Associates pursued federal funding through multiple channels.

Results
O’Neill and Associates secured $100,000 in federal funding for NFTE’s Seattle program in the fiscal year 2004 appropriation cycle and significantly improved their profile and position for increased funding in subsequent years.

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