Haiti Empowered, a nonprofit organization providing education, meals, and healthcare to more than 2,500 children in Haiti, has launched a cross-country road tour called The Empowered Road. The initiative comes as the organization faces a larger budget gap than last year, threatening its ability to keep schools open and continue feeding students.
Last year, Haiti Empowered fell behind budget and risked closing a school. In response, it partnered with Creative Studio Productions, an Eagan-based creative agency, to build a campaign called Adopt a Box. The campaign allowed supporters to donate at levels from $25 to $1,000 and was integrated with the organization’s CRM. In thirty days, Haiti Empowered raised $42,000, surpassing its $40,000 goal, and kept the school open.
This year, the gap is larger. Rising costs for food, fuel, medical supplies, transportation, and wages for the Haitian team have added $150,000 to the budget. The organization is currently feeding children on credit. The decline in mission trips during COVID eliminated a key pipeline for new supporters. Child sponsorship, which once made up about 75 percent of income, has dropped to roughly 47 percent.
Kay Larson, president of Haiti Empowered, said the organization needed a new way to connect with potential supporters. “As a nonprofit, you cannot afford to skimp or to neglect your branding and your messaging,” she said. The Empowered Road aims to bring Haiti’s story to people across the country, sharing the mission in person and introducing a new generation of supporters to the children who depend on it.
The need is urgent. More than half of Haiti’s population faces acute hunger, with over 1.8 million in the emergency phase. An estimated 253,725 young children are expected to suffer from acute malnutrition over the coming year, and one in seven Haitian children is already out of school, with nearly a million more at risk of dropping out.
Larson credits Creative Studio Productions with helping the organization survive. “I can honestly say I don’t know that we would still be existing if it wasn’t for them,” she said. The agency built the Adopt a Box campaign page and connected it to Haiti Empowered’s donor system, making it easy for supporters to give.
The Empowered Road runs on introductions. Supporters can introduce Haiti Empowered to others by email, connect them with churches, businesses, foundations, or community groups, or request a meeting through haitiempowered.org. The organization also provides a visual resource at this image link.
For Larson, the campaign is about more than fundraising. It is about sustaining a mission that provides not just education, but safety and hope. “They will take my little idea that I bring to them, and they’ll make it so much better because they ask good questions,” she said of the agency. “They truly are an extension of our team.”
With the road tour underway, Haiti Empowered hopes that one introduction can become a relationship, and one relationship can help keep a school open for years to come.
