Feed the Second Line

Nonprofit | community Development

Retainer client since January 2023

 

"Gray Ink’s... strategic insight coupled with their invaluable leadership coaching have empowered our FTSL initiatives to thrive. Their guidance has been instrumental in honing our leadership skills, enabling us to reach and support the culture bearers in our community."

Tinice Williams, Executive Director

Feed the Second Line (FTSL) is non-profit organization that supports culture bearers in New Orleans. They aim to build a more equitable city by purchasing groceries and other essentials, creating job opportunities for culture-bearers, and providing general support.

Gray Ink started working with FTSL in January 2023, when Tinice Williams started as the first Executive Director. FTSL was just starting to formalize their organizational infrastructure and needed to build on the strong fundraising foundation that they were founded off of to build a sustainable organization.

Client Goals

  • Formalize and operationalize core infrastructure to support a sustainable and scalable organization

  • Strengthen internal capacity through leadership development and executive coaching

  • Build on early fundraising momentum to diversify funding streams, including federal grants and city/state partnerships

  • Expand culturally grounded programming that supports New Orleans culture bearers and deepens community impact

How We Support

  • Support organizational design and the operationalization of internal systems

  • Provide executive coaching and leadership development for the Executive Director

  • Build a comprehensive fundraising strategy to sustain operations and scale programs

  • Identify and pursue city, state, and federal funding opportunities

  • Guide proposal development and manage submission processes

  • Advise on program expansion strategy and alignment with funder priorities

Achievements

  • Raised $5.5 million over two years to support operations, innovation, and programming expansion

  • Supported the development of and secured funding for the “Get Lit, Stay Lit” initiative, which transforms New Orleans restaurants into disaster-resilient micro-grids and community support hubs

  • Secured funding from a diverse portfolio of public and private sources, including:

    • U.S. DOE Inclusive Energy Prize

    • U.S. DOE Solar Prize (in partnership with University of Louisiana at Lafayette)

    • Senate Congressional Appropriations

    • City of New Orleans

    • Hive Fund

    • National Association for African American Economic Development