Assistance League of Albuquerque

The Assistance League® of Albuquerque (ALA), an all-volunteer organization, improves lives through philanthropic programs that fulfill basic needs and enhance the quality of lives in the Albuquerque metropolitan area and surrounding area communities. ALA offers nine philanthropic programs that touch thousands of adults and children yearly.

• Clothe school children and provide necessities in high-poverty schools to enhance their educational opportunities.
• Provide aid to victims of rape, abuse, and critical illness to children and adults.
• Support individuals returning to the workforce and provide families with limited income the ability to purchase clothing, housewares, books, and other necessities at reasonable costs.
• Provide gallery space for senior artisans to display their art, supplement their income, and enhance their quality of life.

In addition, the organization owns and operates two facilities, one housing a full-service Thrift Shop, and the second facility provides senior citizen artisans with a gallery in Albuquerque’s Old Town.

Assistance League of Albuquerque adopted three (3) strategic goals and identified strategies supporting each goal. The goals assist the organization in moving closer to our vision that "Essential needs are met in our community and families flourish."
1. Build Community Engagement - Increase external exposure through social media, increasing public and corporate donations and partnerships.
2. Grow Membership - Increase net membership resulting in an increase in service hours by membership to support program expansion and fundraising.
3. - Enhance Thrift Shop revenue through space use analysis and financial best practices.

Assistance League of Albuquerque (ALA) began as the Service League of Albuquerque in 1959 with twenty-three members. The organization had a permanent location for Hospitality House, its major program, and Bargain Box, its ongoing fundraising activity. In 1962, the organization was chartered as 28th chapter of National Assistance League®. ALA is now an all-volunteer organization with 270 members with diverse skills and expertise from multiple careers and life experiences. All members have a common goal to make a difference in our community. Members become involved in specific ALA programs and operational efforts that speak to their hearts and leverage their capabilities.

Over the years Assistance League of Albuquerque has offered diverse programs in response to the needs of the community. At the request of the City of Albuquerque in 1978, Assistance League of Albuquerque created The Blue Portal to provide a venue for senior crafters and artists to sell their work. Since then, Blue Portal has served over 5,500 crafters and has returned almost $2,000,000, the full price of each sale. In 2019, a remodel of its Old Town property into a gallery enhanced artisan sales and attracted increased numbers of customers. Installation of consignment software created efficiencies in fiscal management and initiated online sales opportunities.

Much of ALA’s program outreach is focused on addressing inequities in educational opportunities. In general, over 90% of the students served by the OSB program are students of color (non-Anglo). Assistance League of Albuquerque began Operation School Bell®, the League’s signature program, in 1999 to provide appropriate school clothing for elementary and middle school students at Title 1 schools in Albuquerque. Since then, almost 50,000 Albuquerque students have been served using funds from Thrift Store purchases and other fundraising activities. Beginning in 2015, Shoes for Kids held shoe distributions at 60 high-poverty schools. Rather than selecting the children in most need, every student at the school receives a new pair of athletic shoes. A teacher noted, “Students who needed shoes but parents aren't able to replace shoes ...usually have behavior issues and once they got their new shoes and were the same as everyone else’s they were very happy and felt equal to their peers.”

Internally, ALA has been focusing on membership recruitment and retention. By improving our social media appeal, refreshing our mentorship approach, and adding more social opportunities, ALA plans to increase the size and diversity of our membership. ALA is also engaged in improving the safety and economic development within our neighborhood which struggles with high crime, minimal opportunities for youth, and lack of available retail and services. In all we do, ALA abides by our key values: Commitment, Leadership, Ethics, Accountability, and Respect.

Build Community Awareness and Engagement: ALA has been serving the Albuquerque metro area for over 60 years, yet we find many people unaware of us and our contributions to our community and opportunities to support or join ALA. Increase emphasis on external exposure through social media such as Instagram and Facebook, increased engagements with adjacent neighborhoods, website improvements, as well as the development of a weekly newsletter for Thrift Store customers have slowly increased the number of Thrift Store customers, increased our return to the community, and expanded our external presence.

The Tender Loving Care (TLC) group welcomes community members to join them in crafting blankets, caps, and more. ALA provides the materials. Partnerships have increased due to TLC’s outreach. Our donors are very generous with donations to our Thrift Store and there are times we have a workroom full of items that need to be sorted and organized. Not everything donated meets our criteria and we share items with several other organizations to leverage their programs and reduce waste in our landfills.
This only lists some of the accomplishments as we look to the future. COVID impacted Thrift Store operations and the number of members needed to continue supporting operations and programs. Evaluating outsourcing specific responsibilities such as marketing/social media, updating technology, assessing program impacts based on community needs, gauging program expansion opportunities, and continuing to focus on membership recruitment and retention are all relevant as we engage in supporting our community.
Membership Growth: COVID negatively impacted membership, reducing ALA to 232 members. ALA’s website improvements, social media engagement, emphasis on member safety and security, and new member orientation have resulted in slow but positive growth. ALA developed a standardized approach to counting hours, an important element in grants and the 990 report. Outsourcing marketing/communication to enhance recruitment efforts will be evaluated in the next year.
Meeting Community Needs: As we grew our membership, expanded programs, and increased revenues, space became an issue. In 2003, the chapter purchased a larger building to accommodate the growing space needs. By 2015-2016, expansion into adjacent leased space supported Thrift Store revenues and Operation School Bell to expand. Subsequently, contiguous leased space became available and ALA expanded again. Advances in infrastructure and technology benefited the Thrift Shops with Point of Sale, allowing for space analysis. Despite reduced hours after COVID, revenues are equal to or slightly above projections. Online delivery of goods to partners has continued, and outreach efforts have improved our understanding of community needs. Even though the cost of business has increased, funds have been available to meet program needs, but additional resources are essential to continue ALA's positive community support.