Grantee Spotlight: Keystone Alliance

Launched in 2009, Coleman Foundation grantee partner Keystone Alliance is a family of nonprofits who collaborate to empower people with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (IDD) to participate fully in their communities. Keystone is in the intermediate stage of building the Keystone Solutions Platform, a response to the workforce challenges faced by IDD organizations, such as the high staff turnover rate. The Keystone Solutions Platform strengthens back-office support for small and midsize providers with a comprehensive menu of cloud-based administrative offerings: financial services, information technology, human resources and marketing resources. The platform will also offer applications to help modernize and streamline the Illinois compliancy process for IDD organizations.

Cory Gum, CEO of Search Inc., says that being part of the Keystone Alliance network has benefitted her organization because “they have allowed flexibility for us to be able to focus on our mission by allotting more of our dollars directly into our mission-based programming.” Prior to the pandemic, the workforce crisis seen across the country already burdened the IDD field, and its impact worsened since 2020. Last year in a national survey, 92% of providers stated that they grapple with the impact of the pandemic on recruitment and retention of valuable employees. Most IDD providers rely heavily on public funding, which can be slowly paced. The efficiencies and cost savings gained through the Keystone Solutions Platform will allow leanly staffed organizations to prioritize directing additional resources to the IDD participants they serve. The Coleman Foundation is excited to see how innovations like the Keystone Solutions Platform will enhance the lives of people served by our IDD grantee partners..