The Rooted School Story: How Freedom to Launch Built a Dashboard to Power Impact

The Beginning: A Big Idea Needs the Right Tools

Jonathan Johnson, the founder and CEO of Rooted School, had a powerful idea. What if giving high school students $50 each month could help them stay in school and succeed? He called it "The $50 Study" - a program that would test if a little financial support could make a big difference in students' lives.

But Rooted School’s team had a problem. How do you track hundreds of students across multiple schools and states? How do you know if the money is being spent? How do you prove the program is working?

"We needed a way to manage all this data," Talia, the program’s manager, explains. "We had students getting money each month, and we needed to track everything - who got paid, how much they spent, and whether it was helping them."

The program was growing fast. They were working with schools in different cities and states. Soon, they would have too much information to handle with simple spreadsheets.

The Challenge: Drowning in Data

Like many social impact leaders, Jonathan and Talia were experts in education - not technology. They knew their program could change lives, but they didn't know how to build the digital tools they needed.

"We were getting data from banks, from schools, from students," Talia recalls. "We had CSV files everywhere. It was getting hard to make sense of it all."

The challenge was bigger than just organizing data. They needed to:

• Track which students were in the program

• Make sure monthly payments went out on time

• See how students were spending their money

• Prove to funders that the program was working

• Handle students who dropped out or moved schools

Without the right tools, they couldn't scale their program or show its impact. Their important work was getting buried under piles of CSV files and manual data scraping.

The Turning Point: Finding the Right Partner

That's when Rooted School connected with Freedom to Launch.

"We needed someone who could understand what we were trying to do and help us build something that actually worked," Jonathan shares. "We're not tech people, but we had this vision of what we needed."

Freedom to Launch listened carefully to understand the real challenges. The team learned about the $50 Study, how it worked, and what kind of information Rooted School needed to track.

"It felt good to work with people who got it," Talia explains. "They asked the right questions and made us feel comfortable about the whole process."

The partnership started with simple conversations about what the dashboard needed to do. Even when technical limits meant some features had to work differently than first imagined, the Freedom to Launch team explained everything clearly.

The Work: Building Something Amazing

Over two months, Freedom to Launch built a complete financial dashboard for Rooted School. The new platform could:

• Track hundreds of students across multiple schools and states

• Upload bank transaction data automatically

• Calculate how much money was distributed vs. spent

• Handle students who left the program

• Export reports for funders and researchers

• Spot duplicate transactions

• Manage different schools and their program dates

When Talia first saw the finished dashboard, her excitement was clear: "This is exactly what we needed. Now we can actually see what's happening with our program."

The platform was built to grow with them. It could handle more students, more schools, and more data as the program expanded.

The Impact: Real Results for Real Students

The new dashboard immediately changed how Rooted School could manage their program. Instead of struggling with spreadsheets and CSV files, they could see everything in one place.

"Now we can quickly answer questions like 'How many students are in the program?' or 'How much money did we distribute last month?'" Jonathan explains. "That's huge when you're talking to funders or researchers."

The platform also helped them understand their students better. They could see spending patterns and identify students who might need extra support.

Even more importantly, the dashboard made it easier to prove the program was working. With clear data and easy-to-read reports, Rooted School could show funders and policymakers the real impact of giving students financial support.

The Journey Continues: Planning for the Future

With their new dashboard working smoothly, Rooted School is dreaming bigger. They're already planning to add new features like:

• Monthly student surveys to track how students feel about money

• Academic data to see if the program improves grades

• Better reporting tools to measure program impact

"We're thinking about phase two," Talia shares. "We collect monthly surveys from students, and we'd love to be able to upload those and see patterns over time."

The partnership with Freedom to Launch gave them more than just a dashboard - it gave them confidence to scale their program and prove its impact.

"This platform lets us focus on what we do best - helping students succeed," Jonathan reflects. "Now we have the tools to track our progress and show the world that this kind of support really makes a difference."

Looking Ahead: Scaling Their Impact

The success of the dashboard has opened new doors for Rooted School. They're working with more schools and exploring how to expand across the country.

"We're talking with partners about supporting their next round of implementation," Talia explains. "It's really exciting to think about how many more students we can help."

For students across the country, programs like The $50 Study represent hope - proof that small amounts of support can lead to big changes. And now, with the right technology behind it, Rooted School can make sure that support reaches the students who need it most.

"It's amazing to see how the right tools can help you do more good in the world," Jonathan says. "We're just getting started."

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