From $1,000 to $80,000+: What Nonprofit Growth Actually Looks Like

I want to talk about what nonprofit growth actually looks like — because the version I see celebrated online is usually not the version I have lived.

The version I have lived looks like this: you start with almost nothing. You run programs on faith and volunteer hours. You write grant applications that get rejected. You build relationships slowly, one conversation at a time. You prove yourself in small ways, over and over, until someone decides to take a chance on you.

And then, if you are doing the work right, something shifts.

The Numbers

In 2023, More Than A Smile Foundation raised $1,000.

In 2024, we raised $17,800.

In 2025, we raised $80,000+.

That trajectory is not a fluke. It is the result of three years of showing up, delivering on our promises, and building the kind of trust that funders and community members extend to organizations they believe in.

What Changed

The honest answer is: we got better at everything, slowly.

We got better at telling our story. Not because we hired a communications firm, but because we kept doing the work and the story got clearer. When you serve 1,200 people in a year, you have things to say. When you run the largest immigrant and refugee youth sports tournament in the region, people notice.

We got better at relationships. Every funder who invested in us in 2025 had a conversation with someone from our organization before they wrote a check. Those conversations were real. We did not pitch them. We told them the truth about what we were doing and why it mattered.

We got better at accountability. We track our outcomes. We report honestly. We tell funders what worked and what did not. That kind of transparency builds trust faster than any polished impact report.

What I Want Other Nonprofit Leaders to Know

If you are running a small nonprofit and you are in the $1,000 to $20,000 range, I want you to know: this is not a ceiling. It is a starting point.

The path from there to $80,000+ is not a secret. It is relationships. Consistency. Proof. And the willingness to keep showing up even when the funding is not there yet.

It is also community. More Than A Smile Foundation did not grow because of one funder or one grant. It grew because a community of people — funders, volunteers, partners, families — decided it was worth growing.

We are building toward $150,000+ in 2026. If you want to be part of that, visit our Invest page. And if you are a nonprofit leader who wants to talk about what this growth has looked like from the inside, I am always willing to have that conversation.

The work is worth it. Keep going.