The Supply Closet

What is the biggest operational challenge that you will face in the upcoming year? Our biggest operational challenge will be scaling responsibly as we grow. As The Supply Closet reaches more schools and communities, we need to make sure we can consistently source products, assemble and distribute our kits, support our Supply Sisters chapters, and track our impact. We want to grow quickly, but we also want to make sure that every community we serve receives the same quality, care, and attention to dignity that our organization was founded on.

What is the core mission of your organization? The core mission of The Supply Closet is to end period poverty by ensuring that every young person has access to the products, education, and support they need to manage their period with confidence and dignity. We believe a period should never be a barrier to education, athletics, opportunity, or simply participating in everyday life.

How do you measure impact and success in your programs? We measure our impact in several ways—how many period products and kits we distribute, how many students and communities we reach, how many Supply Sisters chapters we establish, and how many partnerships we build with schools and community organizations. But success is more than numbers. We also look at whether students feel more prepared, confident, and supported. Ultimately, our greatest measure of success is whether fewer young people have to miss class, sit out of an activity, or feel embarrassed simply because they didn’t have access to the period products they needed.

What are your biggest fundraising or outreach challenges? Our biggest fundraising and outreach challenge is turning awareness into long-term engagement. Period poverty affects so many people, but it can still be an uncomfortable or overlooked topic, which can make it harder to start conversations and attract sustained support. Our challenge is not only reaching donors, businesses, schools, and community partners, but helping them understand that their involvement can create measurable, lasting impact. We want to build relationships rather than simply ask for donations—relationships that help us expand access, education, advocacy, and The Supply Sisters into more communities.

How do you build long-term relationships with donors and supporters? We build long-term relationships by making our donors and supporters feel like partners in our mission, not just sources of funding. That means communicating regularly, being transparent about where their support goes, sharing the impact they helped create, and finding meaningful ways for them to stay involved. We want our supporters to see the students, schools, and communities they are helping and understand that they are part of something bigger. Our goal is to turn a single donation or partnership into a lasting relationship built around dignity, access, and measurable impact.

What trends are influencing the nonprofit world today? I think some of the biggest trends influencing nonprofits today are the growing importance of transparency, measurable impact, digital engagement, and partnerships. Donors increasingly want to understand exactly where their support is going and see the difference they are helping create. Social media has also given smaller organizations like ours the ability to educate and build communities far beyond our local area. And I think there is a growing emphasis on collaboration—nonprofits, schools, businesses, and young people working together rather than trying to solve problems independently. For The Supply Closet, those trends create an opportunity to grow our impact while still keeping our mission personal and community-driven.

Can you share a story that shows your mission in action? Our mission comes to life in a very simple moment: a student unexpectedly gets her period at school and realizes she doesn’t have what she needs. Instead of feeling embarrassed, searching for a product, calling a parent, or potentially missing class, she can access a Supply Closet or have one of our kits already in her backpack. She gets what she needs discreetly and can go right back to her day.

It may seem like a small moment, but that is exactly what our mission is about. We aren’t just providing a period product—we’re removing a barrier. When a student can stay in class, an athlete can stay in the game, or a young person simply feels prepared instead of embarrassed, that’s The Supply Closet’s mission in action.

What keeps you motivated in this work? What keeps me motivated is knowing that something so simple can make such a meaningful difference in someone’s day. No student should have to miss class, sit out of a sport, or feel embarrassed because they don’t have access to a period product. Every time we provide a kit, reach a new student, or inspire another young person to get involved through The Supply Sisters, it reminds me why I started this work. Knowing that we can take an issue that is often uncomfortable to talk about and turn it into action, confidence, and dignity is what keeps me motivated.