mini impact report

ONE YEAR OF

change

SEPTEMBER 2024- 2025

IMPACT OVERVIEW

FROM THE FOUNDERS

As we wrap up our first full year since launching last September, we’re filled with gratitude and awe for how far we’ve come together.

With the support from our community and external partnerships, the Higher Hope Foundation has completed 38 total grants in our first year—providing Hope Grants to individuals and families healing in the aftermath of violent crime, and Empower Grants to nonprofits and like-minded organizations creating the ripple effect of change in their communities.

Now, as we look toward the year ahead, we’re working to reach our year-end impact goal—and we’re just $40,000 away.

Meeting this goal means we can fund eight additional grants, expanding our support to even more organizations and the people they serve. Every gift, no matter the size, brings us closer to that milestone.

Thank you for being part of this first incredible year of impact. We sincerely hope you enjoy this brief look into Higher Hope’s year of change, and we can’t wait to see what we’ll accomplish together in the future!

Kendall & Josh

YEAR ONE HIGHLIGHTS impact overview from launch in Sept. 2024 to Sept. 2025

HOPE Grants

EMPOWER Grants 60%

$245,594.96

40%

in funds disbursed

38 total grants processed

DISTRIBUTION BREAKDOWN 53% 47%

452 donors supporting our cause

TOTAL NUMBER OF GRANTS

“The Hope grant has been more than support. It has been a reminder that we are not alone. That even in the darkest moments, there are people and organizations like Higher Hope standing with us, believing with us, and fighting with us.”

-Cathy Nelams | Hope grant recipient

NIKKI CHENG SAELEE MCCAIN Nikki Cheng Saelee-McCain was a loving and devoted mother of four from Redding, CA. She went missing on May 18th, 2024, after deciding to leave her abusive marriage.

With our 'Hope' grant, we funded a billboard campaign across Redding to help encourage those with answers to come forward and assist in bringing her family justice.

This year, her case was reclassified from a missing person case to a homicide investigation. Additionally, Nikki's abusive partner has been arrested in connection with her disappearance.

GRIEVE WITH ME COMMUNITY CENTER IN HONOR OF APRIL HOLT The Grieve With Me Community Center was opened in October of 2024 in memory of April Holt, a homicide victim whose family was one of our first ‘Hope’ grant recipients.

With our ‘Empower’ grant, Jamie Dickerson was able to open the non-profit that offers hope and a place to grieve for the victim's families of murder, domestic violence, missing person cases, etc.

AFRICAN SOLUTIONS TO AFRICAN PROBLEMS (ASAP) ASAP operates in rural South African villages to drive lasting solutions for their communities’ toughest challenges like genderbased violence and rape reporting. In 2024, one of our first Empower grants went to ASAP’s Gender Based Violence program.

This year, we saw the grant come to life to fund a paralegal’s salary! From a small rural village in Matatiele to leading legal and community development initiatives, Victor has dedicated the last four years to advocacy, project coordination, and policy work that tackles gender-based violence, human trafficking, and education reform.

Now, his leadership is transofrming lives through ASAP’s work.

IMPACTFUL GRANTS

COMMUNITY OUTREACH COVERED CO. SAFE HOUSE OPENING In February, Covered Co. opened a new Safe House for survivors of sex trafficking called “The Lighthouse”. We sponsored and attended the ribbon cutting, symbolizing the first step to a beacon of hope for survivors.

CRIMECON This year’s annual CrimeCon was right in our own backyard of Denver, CO.! Our team met hundreds of amazing supporters from our audience and in only 3 days, raised over $6,000 for Higher Hope via donations!

COVA CONFERENCE One of the leading conferences for victim services and trauma informed training, our team sponsored the 37th annual COVA Conference in Keystone, CO. We were honored to support local victim advocate training.

PORCHLIGHT ‘BE THE LIGHT’ BENEFIT Family justice centers are an immensely important victim services model, but rare to come across. We sponsored and attended the annual benefit for the Denver Metro area’s only family justice center, Porchlight!

COVERED CO. ‘LIGHT THE NIGHT’ GALA Our closest local relationship this year has been with our local Sex Trafficking survivor resource Covered Co.!

We’ve met with them multiple times this year and were honored to end the year sponsoring their gala.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH

2025 Year to date data

EXPENSE DISTRIBUTION BREAKDOWN 68%

20% 12%

Grant Funding

Sponsorships

Administrative

NUMBER OF EXECUTED GRANTS 14 HOPE Grants

11 EMPOWER Grants

REVENUE SOURCES

85%

15%

Mile Higher Media

External Donors

100% of external donations go directly to grant funding.

2025 YEAR TO DATE

And now we invite you to

join the change Only 8 grants stand between us and our full impact goal.

84% Our community has already made an incredible impact — but 8 more families and organizations are still waiting.

Hope is within reach! We’re just $40,000 shy of reaching our full impact goal before the end of 2025.

DEDICATE YOUR

DONATION

$1,250

$2,500

To fund ¼ of one remaining grant

To fund 1/2 of one remaining grant

$5,000

$10,000

To fully fund 1 of the remaining 8 grants

To fully fund 2 of the remaining 8 grants (1/4 of our goal!)

HIGHERHOPE.ORG/DONATE

IMPACT GOAL