Give to Manos Unidas "Scale and Sustainability" Campaign May, 2026
- Celeste Marion
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Three years ago, Manos Unidas set out to change educational outcomes and community participation for young Latino children with disabilities in King County through a $600k innovation grant to fund our program Ayllu Hogar. Now we ask ourselves two big questions:
How well did we do? Is anyone better off?
Here's what I can tell you. We have families who trust us. Moms who, for months, were afraid to open their front doors — afraid of unmarked vehicles, afraid of judgment, afraid that their child's meltdown in public would mean stares and shame. Those same moms are now showing up to school meetings armed with knowledge and confidence. They are advocating for their children. Some are becoming promotoras — certified community health workers — and reaching back to help other families just like them.
We have children who are now connected to early intervention services, preschools, autism evaluations, and therapies they never would have accessed without us. We are an award-winning human services organization in King County. I'll take it! And we just got renewed — not one, but two major grants — including a new King County Universal Developmental Screening grant to grow our reach even further. But here's the honest truth: 95% of our funding has come from one source. And that can't be our future.
This is where you come in
May 5, 2026 was Washington State’s #GIVEBIG event but trendy like we are, we work on our own timeline. However, we were inspired to jumpstart a sustainability campaign! Our goal is to raise a lofty $25,000 by May 31. And then the goal will grow. We want to be prepared to thrive once these major county grants are gone. We are growing our sustainability plan but need initial donor investments for long term growth. I've been in nonprofits for 20+ years. I've done the galas, the auctions, the concerts. I know what it takes. And I know that the most durable thing we can build is a community of people who believe in us — people like you, giving what you can, consistently, because you know this work is real.
What does your gift actually do?
It means a mom doesn't navigate her child's autism diagnosis alone. It means a family who doesn't speak English gets a trusted person — someone who has lived it — sitting beside them at a school meeting, not just translating words but translating an entire system. It means our promotoras — Latina moms with lived experience, certified by Washington State — can keep doing this work. It means we can keep showing up. At their homes. In the community. In the legislature. Wherever they need us.
One more thing.
During our monthly Mom's Café in April, we asked families to create a collage — magazine cutouts — of their dreams for their children and for their future. I watched moms envision their kids traveling the world, becoming Michelin-star chefs and staying close as a family. And in every single collage, Manos Unidas showed up. We showed up as people they trusted to help them navigate this complicated world, people who showed up to listen to their struggles and share empathy, people who showed up to truly say “I know what you are going through".
Our mom’s café is a “plus” program, a program that we created within the grant to meet the desperate isolation and loneliness of being an immigrant in this community with a young child with a disability.
Will you open your door? These families literally have opened their doors and let us into their lives. We have earned their trust. Now can we earn yours? Whether you can give $25 or $2,500, it matters. Want to go bigger? We'd love to talk about corporate sponsorships, DAF funds, or monthly giving. Reply to this email — I am genuinely back in the business of coffee dates and happy hours. Let's connect!
With gratitude, joy, and a full heart,
Celeste Marion
Founder / Executive Director
Manos Unidas International
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