Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Katie Bunnell. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Katie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. Coming up with the idea is so exciting, but then comes the hard part – executing. Too often the media ignores the execution part and goes from idea to success, skipping over the nitty, gritty details of executing in the early days. We think that’s a disservice both to the entrepreneurs who built something amazing as well as the public who isn’t getting a realistic picture of what it takes to succeed. So, we’d really appreciate if you could open up about your execution story – how did you go from idea to execution?

My husband and I were neighbors growing up. After we married in 2002, we had a lot of fun traveling, working on projects, going to school, playing co-ed softball, etc. My husband and I had our first child in 2005. We were elated to start growing our family. When my daughter was three months old, he unexpectedly passed away in his sleep. My world turned upside down, and I didn’t know how I would provide for my three-month-old daughter and myself. I had gone to Paul Mitchell School after high school; however, after I had my daughter, I was going to be a stay-at-home mom. It was my hobby to do hair, not something I saw myself doing forever. After a year of grieving, I decided to go to college. I was terrified. I lacked the confidence that I could do it, and felt the full weight of mom’s guilt knowing I would have to be away from my daughter. I decided to take a couple of classes with my mother-in-law to see if it was possible. After that semester, I gained the confidence in myself and felt that I could do it! It wasn’t easy to find resources and scholarships to accomplish my dream of going to college to better provide for my daughter and myself. I took 18+ credits most semesters during college and did hair on the side to earn money. After much trial and effort, I graduated from Utah Valley University in just two and a half years.

After my experience of going to college as a single mother, my sister Shannon Golladay came to me and asked me what I thought about starting a scholarship fund for single mothers. I was excited by this idea. I knew firsthand how difficult it was to pay for college, child care, cost of living, etc., with a child to provide for. With support from my family (Young Family), in 2010, we started Live Your Dream.

For the first few years, Live Your Dream was a nonprofit (without a 501(c)(3) status)—my father’s business, Paragon Wealth Management in Provo, was and still is the Founding Sponsor for Live Your Dream. In the beginning, my sister Shannon Golladay was the director of the 5k races for our fundraising events. We awarded two tuition scholarships each year in the first three years. In 2013, we started the process of becoming a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and decided to create a new fundraising event. I became the foundation’s president with board members, an advisory board, and volunteers during that time. The event was a Raft and Run; raft down Provo River and run a 5k down the Provo Canyon Trail to Canyon Glen Park. My father’s employees at Paragon Wealth Management were very active in making the foundation a success. We began awarding more scholarships and getting more support from the community. In 2014, we received a 501 (c)(3) status approval; this process was lengthy and expensive. We were ecstatic about this exciting opportunity to help grow the foundation.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am President of the Live Your Dream Foundation. We support single mother families by providing scholarships for single mothers that desire to attend college, university, technical school, Bootcamp, or any education that will increase their earning potential to better provide for their children. The value of each scholarship varies: tuition ($2,000-$3,000), class fee ($1,000), and textbook ($500) scholarships. The number of single mothers the program financially aids is determined by the amount of money raised each year. To apply for our scholarship, they must complete an online application (Liveyourdreamfoundation.org/apply) that includes financial information, a personal story, proof of admission, and a letter of recommendation. Selected applicants interview with board members. Scholarship recipients may receive the scholarship for multiple semesters. All scholarship funds are paid directly to the school.

Our scholarship recipients become members of our Live Your Dream Family. We support these women in their educational and life journeys as a foundation, during school, and after graduation. We have donors that support us in various service projects throughout the year that depending on their needs, the women and their children have the opportunity to participate in. Each current scholarship recipient is assigned a peer mentor to help them during their time at school. With this program, we offer one-on-one (online) meetings. We support them in various ways and direct them to other local resources throughout our community to help them with their needs.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I re-married in 2009. Money was tight for many years for my young growing family. However, it has always been important for me in my healing process to volunteer my time and energy to support the foundation. That journey of going to college changed and saved my life. It got me out of my deep dark depression and finally allowed me to move forward positively. You never get over losing a loved one, but you can get through it. The women the foundation supports all have their own stories and are facing different challenges. Being able to provide hope and support for them is crucial to me. I am grateful for the people that supported me through my education.

As a foundation, we wanted all our donations to benefit our cause directly. This is made possible because our foundation consists of all volunteers, which directly allows 100% donations to help single mothers and their families. I am thankful for all our volunteers and local businesses that work tirelessly behind the scenes. As well as Paragon Wealth Management’s continued support in donating funds for any additional overhead costs acquired during the year. I work 20-40+ hours per week operating the foundation. A great deal of work goes on behind the scenes; writing grants, social media, reviewing scholarship applications/interview processes, board meetings, services projects, fundraising, networking, caring for our Live Your Dream Family, document management, annual report, etc. I am proud of the work we have accomplished at Live Your Dream. The many sacrifices made are far out weighted joy I feel providing support and opportunities to the families we serve.

Live Your Dream is my passion project, which started small and has grown substantially. When we started the foundation, I never expected we would be where we are today.

As a foundation, we have experienced many different milestones:

-Starting a nonprofit with my family

-Learning the ups and downs of fundraising and pivoting

-Receiving our first $5-$500 donation

-Local News Coverage

-Creating a 501(c)(3)

-Creating a Board of Directors and Advisory Board

-Raising $10,000 at our first golf tournament

-Getting a phone call from an anonymous donor that wanted to help with Christmas

-Planning and participating in service projects

-Driving around the state visiting scholarship recipients

-Partnering with local nonprofits

-Developing the Free Live Your Dream Foundation App with AppsTango

-Partnering with local businesses to spread awareness and raise funds

The women we support become inspired by the support they receive from the foundation and are giving back. We are not only helping single mothers; we are helping entire communities. When we support a scholarship recipient going into nursing, education, social work, etc., the number of people they will help and make a difference in the lives of others is endless, and the pay-it-forward effect is in full force. Witnessing our Live Your Dream Family members’ desire to serve the community has been incredible.

On November 15, 2022, I will receive the Utah Philanthropy Day Outstanding Volunteer Award. I am grateful to my board members, volunteers, and community volunteers for supporting me. This award would not be possible without them. Turning my pain into purpose has been incredibly healing for me, and I couldn’t be more grateful for all the love and support throughout the years.

I look forward to seeing what the future brings.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

There are two major pivotal moments that have helped the Live Your Dream Foundation. The first one is about obtaining our 501(c)(3) status and the second one is regarding our fundraising events.

When Live Your Dream started, we wanted to immediately get a 501(c)(3) to get support from businesses to grow. However, I am grateful that we waited approximately four years because it taught us about “the grind,” the workload that a nonprofit takes. Commonly, people who start nonprofits have great enthusiasm in the beginning and desire to make a difference; however, building a nonprofit is much more involved than most people realize, and the good, intended hearts are not sustainable.

Once we received our 501(c)(3) status, the number of awarded scholarships slightly declined for a few years. Looking back, I have found that building a nonprofit takes time to develop trust amongst donors and sponsors.

If you are thinking of starting a nonprofit, research the ones in your community. A successful charity may already have built a foundation that you can help build on.

Our fundraising events taught me a great deal. We had success and challenging, stressful times. I love the quote, “grow through what you go through.” During difficult times in the early years and even now, it is essential to remember why you started and not get defeated and give up. I have grown so much as a person as I have grown through what I have gone through.

We discovered that 5k races were getting saturated, and we needed to pivot and come up with a new creative fundraiser. Paragon Wealth Management’s employee, David Kyle, came up with the idea of a Raft and Run Fundraiser. This event was a fun, family-friendly activity over Pioneer Day. This event required a great deal of effort. We had to get city permits, insurance, bus transportation, race company/ timing bracelets/race packets, food, river rafting company, etc. Everyone that participated in the event loved it! We hosted this event for a few years; however, it didn’t raise enough money to make it worth the time and effort it took. Especially for a foundation with all volunteers.

In 2013, we decided to pivot again and hosted our last Raft and Run. I will forever be grateful to the people who supported us in this exciting event and will always cherish the memories we shared. That same year, our board member, KaNeil Menlove, came up with the idea that we host an annual golf tournament. She did an excellent job as the golf tournament director, which was a huge success! From there, we focused on networking and spreading awareness about our cause. A few years after starting our golf tournament, we were finding success! However, we were feeling a little stagnated as we raised money, awarded it all, and started fundraising again. We decided to award scholarships twice a year and raise money for our endowment fund. This fund would allow us to award scholarships for generations. Our goal is to become fully endowed and self-sustaining while helping as many single mothers as we can throughout the year. We have raised over $415,000 in our endowment fund. We have a short-term goal of reaching $500k and a long-term goal of over 5 million. We are accomplishing this goal by raising money through grants, donations, our annual golf tournament, and investing our funds in a fiscally responsible way.

These two pivot moments have resulted in not only helping me grow as an individual but also help grow the foundation into what it is today.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liveyourdreamfoundationutah/

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/liveyourdreamfoundationutah

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-bunnell-liveyourdream/

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/LiveYourDreamUT

• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAWFo4LFWt1dGopClTQOyiA

Image Credits
Photo of Katie Bunnell speaking at an event and a scholarship recipient group; Photo Credit: Faleshia Mary Photography.