EL Easley Labs x Rent-A-Theme
Proposal · May 2026

From event rental to Colorado's most fundable play company.

A clearer story. A signature program. A rebuilt website. A grant pipeline that pays for the rebuild. All delivered as one connected system.

Prepared for: Tonya Milligan, Founder
By: Nate Easley, Easley Labs
From: May 6, 2026 meeting
What we heard

You built something rare. The website does not show it.

You spent 17 years inside Denver Public Schools and Cherry Creek before founding Rent-A-Theme. You bring 10,000 life-size Legos into a senior community and watch grandkids show up because they want to play. You design every experience to keep older adults cognitively sharp and emotionally connected, with younger people in the room beside them. You fund corporate brand activations for Toyota and Kaiser. You do all of this with the operational rigor of a destination management partner.

Your current site reads like a party rental catalog. It does not say any of the above.

“I want it to look elegant and upscale. I have tough skin. I’m not attached to it. I do like my colors and my logo.”
Tonya Milligan, founder
The strategic shift

Stop selling rentals. Start selling outcomes.

One sentence change in positioning unlocks every other lever.

Today

An event rental company

Selling mini golf, giant games, and carnival rentals to whoever books first. Competing on equipment with Triangle Lawn Games, Roman Greens, and Putt Denver. Pricing invisible. Cases studies missing. Outcomes implied.

Tomorrow

Colorado's only purposeful play company

Selling outcomes to schools, senior communities, and corporate brands. Anchored by Grandfriends Play Days, the only intergenerational play program in the state. Funded by sponsors and small business grants. Priced at the premium tier with the data to defend it.

!

Critical legal status note

R.A.T.E. is an S-Corp, not a 501(c)(3). The whole proposal is built around small business grants, BIPOC and woman-owned grants, DBE set-asides, and corporate sponsorships. No donation language. No 501c3-only foundations pursued directly. Foundation pathways like Eisner and AARP are unlocked in year two via a fiscal sponsor partnership (Bessie's Hope or a 501c3 senior community).

The signature program

Grandfriends Play Days.

A class of students visits a senior community for two hours of facilitated play. Five accessible stations. One afternoon a senior and a student will both remember.

01

Mobile Mini Golf

Pairs of one student and one resident play together. Accessible tees. Seated play option. The team scorecard, never individual.

02

Life-Size Board Game

Floor-scale Connect Four, Yahtzee, or a custom board. Residents who cannot stand call moves from a chair. Students execute on the floor.

03

Building Challenge

Mixed-age teams build to a prompt. “Build something from your childhood neighborhood.” Teams share what they made.

04

Story Prompt Corner

Students interview residents using prompt cards. Each student writes one quote on a card. Cards become a takeaway gift for residents.

05

Photo & Reflection Wall

A polaroid of each pair. One sentence answering “what surprised you today?” A photo each goes home with.

One event. Two case studies.

The same afternoon produces a school case study and a senior community case study. Both feed the next 12 events.

Why Grandfriends is the right pilot

  • One event covers two audiences. School proof and senior community proof from a single afternoon.
  • No competitor offers it. Triangle Lawn Games, Roman Greens, Putt Denver all compete on equipment. Nobody competes on intergenerational outcomes.
  • Funders fund it. Eisner Foundation, AARP, Generations United, MetLife Foundation all prioritize this category. So do schools (family engagement) and senior communities (resident wellbeing).
  • Founder story comes alive. “My daughter used to sit and look at her grandmother. Once we put a game between them, they laughed.” That is the program.
  • Outcomes are research-backed. U.S. Surgeon General named senior loneliness a public health crisis in 2023. Stanford Center on Longevity, AARP Foundation, Generations United all have peer-reviewed evidence behind intergenerational play.
The pilot

One weekend. Five hundred dollars out of pocket. A case study that pays forever.

2 hrs
on site
5
stations
~75
total participants
10 days
to case study delivery

Senior community partner

Provides the space and recruits residents. Receives a free 2-hour event with measurable wellbeing outcomes, professional photos, and a written case study.

School partner

Sends 15 to 25 students. Receives a free experiential trip with no transportation cost barrier and a takeaway every child can show their family.

Corporate sponsor

Funds the day at $1,500 to $5,000. Receives brand placement on every station, photos and video, a finished sponsor packet ready for their channels.

Pilot success criteria (hit 4 of 5)

  1. 80%+ post-event mood improvement among residents
  2. 80%+ post-event “I would do this again” from students
  3. Two named partner testimonials (one school, one senior community)
  4. One sponsor commitment to fund a second event
  5. One inbound inquiry from a third party who heard about the event

If R.A.T.E. hits 4 of 5, the program is repeatable. The same playbook then runs at any senior community + school + sponsor combination across Colorado.

The website rebuild

What your site could look like.

Pulled directly from your existing logo, colors, and hero image. Rebuilt with movement, outcomes-first messaging, and a Grandfriends program page nobody else has.

What changes

  • Logo and gears animate on the homepage (per your direct ask)
  • Three-audience structure (Schools, Senior Communities, Corporate Brands)
  • Grandfriends Play Days as the signature program with its own page
  • Founder story page in your voice, not a brochure paragraph
  • Anchor pricing visible on every package page
  • Sponsor a Play Day section with tiered investment levels
  • Case study library page (post-pilot)
  • Grants and Funders proof page (post-first-grant)
  • Text testimonials with named attribution
  • Corporate Activations page (currently missing)
  • 404 on Destination Colorado Meetings link fixed (separate quick task)

What stays

  • Your logo. Untouched.
  • Your color palette: green, orange, yellow.
  • Your existing program names: Block Party, Golf 'N' Games, Science FX, Mega Moves, etc.
  • Your tagline lineage: “Play Big” and “Not all entertainment is created equal” carry forward as anchor phrases.
  • Your certifications: National Institute for Play, STEM Education Coalition, Good Business Colorado, Destination Colorado Meetings, CO-100.
  • Your warehouse photos and equipment imagery.
The grant + sponsor pipeline

22 ranked targets. 5 drafts ready to submit.

Built using a reusable Easley Labs grant-finder system. Pointed at your client profile. Output below is your first 90 days.

# Target Type Amount Status
1Amber Grant (women-owned)Small biz grant$10K monthly + $25K annualApply now
2Comcast RISE (BIPOC small biz)Cash + tech/marketing$5K + servicesApply now
3Toyota (warm relationship)Sponsorship$1.5K to $5K per eventSponsor outreach
4Kaiser Permanente ColoradoSponsorship$2.5K to $10K per eventSponsor outreach
5Hello Alice (multi-program)Small biz grants$5K to $25K per programApply now
6Tory Burch Foundation FellowshipWomen entrepreneurs$5K + $100K capital networkNext cycle
7-22Goldman Sachs alumni network, IFundWomen, Cartier Women's Initiative, Children's Hospital Colorado, UCHealth, Xcel Energy Foundation, DPS Foundation My Spark, Denver Office of Economic Development, Eisner Foundation (via partnership), Generations United, RRF Foundation for Aging, CDOT DBE Supportive Services, Denver International Airport DBE, King Soopers community grants, Wells Fargo Colorado, more.
$145K to $410K+
total dollars in pipeline
$40K to $80K
expected first 90 days (probability-weighted)
90 min
your time to fill in missing-info checklists

Top 5 first-draft applications are written and waiting

Each has a source profile, requirements summary, draft application or pitch, and a missing-info checklist. You review, you fill in the gaps, you submit. We do not submit on your behalf. You are always the signer.

The engagement

What you actually get.

The website is one piece. The bigger piece is the grant writing program that runs for 12 months after launch. Together they pay for themselves through the funded grants and sponsors they unlock.

The headline value

Easley Match: grant lead-gen and application accelerator

This is the part most agencies do not include. The Easley Match system runs against your business profile to identify the grants you actually qualify for, drafts the bones of each application, and keeps a fresh queue of opportunities ready. You apply on your own schedule. I keep your top 5 top of mind and flag deadlines as they come. Tier choice (below) decides duration and draft volume.

  • 22 ranked targets at engagement start, scored across federal grants, state programs, foundations, BIPOC and woman-owned and DBE-specific funders, and corporate sponsors.
  • Top 5 first-draft applications written at engagement start (already done, ready to read at the link above).
  • Quarterly pipeline refresh as long as Easley Match is active. Each refresh produces a fresh top 5.
  • Application acceleration on every draft: profile-data pre-fill, attachment list, deadline calendar, missing-info checklist. Cuts an application from a half-day of work down to about an hour. You review, edit, sign, submit. We do not submit on your behalf.
  • Funder relationship tracking in your CRM with auto-reminders for follow-ups, reporting deadlines, and renewal cycles.
  • Sponsor outreach playbook with templates for warm and cold corporate sponsorship pitches, follow-up sequences, and phone scripts.
  • Bessie's Hope partnership outreach already drafted to unlock the larger 501(c)(3)-only foundation pipeline (Eisner, AARP, RRF Foundation for Aging).
  • Funded-grant case studies produced as wins come in, used as proof for the next round of applications.
The frequency advantage. Most small businesses submit 1 to 2 grant applications per year. With Easley Match in your toolkit, you can realistically submit 10 (Foundation tier) to 25 to 30 (Full Engine tier). That is a 10x to 25x increase in funded shots on goal, with the time cost per application dropping from a half-day to about an hour.

The website rebuild

  • Full rebuild from scratch. No templates. Fully owned by you. Transferable to any platform.
  • Your existing logo, colors, and hero image preserved.
  • Animated logo and gears (per your direct ask).
  • Three-audience structure (Schools, Senior Communities, Corporate Brands).
  • Grandfriends Play Days dedicated program page.
  • Founder story page in your voice, not a brochure paragraph.
  • Corporate Activations page (currently missing on your site).
  • Sponsor a Play Day section with tiered investment levels.
  • Case study library page (post-pilot).
  • Grants and Funders proof page (post-first-grant).
  • Mobile responsive, accessibility-tested, fast-loading.
  • 404 fix on the Destination Colorado Meetings link.
  • White-label. No Easley Labs tag on your site.

Strategy, content, and brand

  • Three printable one-sheets: Schools, Senior Communities, Sponsor a Play Day.
  • Pilot playbook for the first Grandfriends Play Day.
  • Impact framework with research-backed citations and survey instruments.
  • Pricing benchmark for every package, anchored against the Colorado competitive set.
  • Brand voice guide so your future content stays consistent.
  • Cold email and outreach templates.
  • SEO keyword targets and on-page optimization.
  • Text testimonials with named attribution (current ones converted from images).

Tools, infrastructure, and support

  • HubSpot CRM setup with your Rent-A-Theme lead pipeline.
  • Google Analytics 4 with custom event tracking.
  • Google Business Profile optimization.
  • Booking and inquiry system that captures lead data you currently lose.
  • Vercel deployment and custom domain setup (proposal.easleylabs.com infrastructure).
  • Training so you can update the site yourself.
  • Monthly office hours for the first 3 months post-launch (1 hour each, 3 hours total of direct strategy time).
  • 12 months of grant pipeline management with quarterly refresh cycles.
  • Same business day response on anything urgent.
  • Weekly check-ins during the build (3 to 4 weeks).
What this typically costs in the market

Itemized at market rate, this is a $50K to $90K bundle.

Custom small business website (Denver agency rates)
$15,000 to $50,000
Grant writing services (per application, professional rate)
$3,000 to $10,000 each
Or grant writing retainer (monthly)
$5,000 to $15,000 per month
CRM setup and SEO foundation
$5,000 to $15,000
Brand strategy, copy, and content system
$5,000 to $15,000
Pilot program design + impact framework
$3,000 to $10,000
Total bundle at market rate
$50,000 to $90,000+

Your last website cost $35,000 and took two years. $2,000 of that went to color analysis. $5,000 went to focus groups. The actual product, by your own honest read, was probably worth $4,000 in real labor. And that site has not earned $35,000 back.

Easley Labs costs less than what you already paid Camp Digital, builds in 3 to 4 weeks instead of two years, owns nothing of your work (you do), and includes the grant writing program designed to recoup the engagement within the first 90 days.

The investment

Two tiers. Pick the one that fits.

Foundation gets you the new website and gets the grant pipeline started. Full Engine adds the full year of Easley Match plus priority everything. Most clients in your position pick Full Engine.

Option A

Foundation

$25,000

The website and the start of the engine. Site live in 3 to 4 weeks. Easley Match runs for 6 months.

  • Full website rebuild with all four content categories above
  • Top 5 grant drafts at engagement start (already done)
  • 1 quarterly Easley Match refresh (5 more drafts)
  • 10 grant drafts total over the engagement
  • 6 months of Easley Match (deadline tracking, funder updates)
  • 3 months of monthly office hours post-launch
  • Standard response time
  • Standard new-cycle draft turnaround
Option B
Recommended

Full Engine

$35,000

The full system. Same site timeline. Easley Match runs for the full 12 months with priority everything baked in.

  • Everything in Foundation, plus:
  • 4 quarterly Easley Match refreshes (vs 1 in Foundation)
  • 25 to 30 grant drafts over the year (vs 10)
  • 12 months of Easley Match (vs 6)
  • 6 months of monthly office hours post-launch (vs 3)
  • Same business day priority response on anything urgent
  • 5-day new-cycle draft turnaround when fresh funder cycles open
  • Annual partner status referenced in your case studies

Side by side

Foundation $25K Full Engine $35K
Website rebuildIncludedIncluded
Site live in3 to 4 weeks3 to 4 weeks
Top 5 grant drafts at startIncludedIncluded
Easley Match duration6 months12 months
Quarterly refreshes14
Total grant drafts1025 to 30
Monthly office hours3 months6 months
Response timeStandardSame business day
New-cycle draft turnaroundStandardWithin 5 days
Annual partner case study referenceYes
Strategy, content, brand workIncludedIncluded
Tools and infrastructureIncludedIncluded

Four payment options (apply to either tier)

Pay in full at signing
5% discount. $23,750 (Foundation) or $33,250 (Full Engine).
50/50 split
Half at signing, half at site launch. The standard, most flexible option.
Quarterly
4 equal payments. At signing, month 3, month 6, month 9.
Often grant-funded
Deferred payment plan
$5,000 at signing, then 6 monthly installments. Many clients use grant proceeds, sponsor revenue, or operating cash to pay these monthly. The fee is fixed; how you fund it is your call.

On the grant-funded path. The grants in your pipeline can absolutely cover the engagement. Many clients win their first grant within 90 days of launch and use those proceeds to pay the deferred plan. We help you identify and apply. The contract amount is fixed and not contingent on grant outcomes, which is the right structural choice for both of us (and avoids the funder restrictions on contingent grant-writing fees).

Why this pays for itself

The floor case.

You do not need to win every grant. You need to win two. Here is the math on the top 5 alone.

Source
Floor
Ceiling
Amber Grant (women-owned, monthly cycle)
$10,000
$25,000 annual
Comcast RISE (BIPOC small business)
$5,000 cash
+ up to $20,000 in services
Toyota (warm relationship, single event)
$1,500
$5,000 high tier
Kaiser Permanente Colorado
$2,500
$10,000
Hello Alice grant program
$5,000
$25,000 plus
Win 2 of 5 at floor pricing
$15,000+
$50,000+ at ceiling

Plus 12 months of pipeline refreshes (15 to 20 more drafts beyond the first 5). Plus the website that converts visitors into bookings. Plus the case study assets that close senior community contracts and corporate activations for the next year.

Win one. The engagement covers itself. Win two. You are profitable on day 90.

What is not included (yet)

  • Paid ad management (separate scope, quoted later)
  • Photography for the pilot day (recommended add, quoted separately)
  • Video production (recommended add, quoted separately)
  • 501(c)(3) formation or fiscal sponsor legal work (we draft outreach, your lawyer files)
  • Direct submission of grant applications (you are always the signer)
  • Guarantee of grant award outcomes (we maximize qualified shots on goal, never guarantee)

What happens after the engagement

  • You own the website outright. Domain renewal is roughly $20 a year. Hosting is free on Vercel.
  • You own the grant templates, the funder list, the application drafts, and the CRM data. Reuse them forever.
  • The CRM, the GA4 tracking, and the booking forms all keep running on free tiers indefinitely.
  • If you want ongoing Easley Match pipeline refreshes after Foundation (month 6) or Full Engine (month 12), retainer is $497 per quarter. Pay-as-you-go, no contract, cancel anytime.
  • If you do not need ongoing support, the engine you built keeps running on its own. Foundation graduates can also upgrade to Full Engine support mid-engagement at the price differential.

30 / 60 / 90 day timeline

30 days
  • Demo site reviewed and refined
  • Top 5 grants and sponsor pitches submitted
  • Pilot date locked with senior community + school + sponsor
  • Founder story finalized
60 days
  • Pilot Grandfriends Play Day delivered
  • First case study, sponsor packet, photos delivered
  • Rebuilt website live with case study
  • First grant or sponsor decisions arriving
90 days
  • 2 to 4 additional events booked from the rebuilt site
  • $40K to $80K in funding closed (probability-weighted)
  • Pipeline refresh run by the grant-finder skill
  • Year-2 planning kickoff
Next steps

Three things, in order.

1

Pick the engagement

Option A or Option B. Reply to the email or schedule a 15-minute call. We confirm scope and start.

2

Lock the pilot

One senior community. One school. One sponsor. Target month: [your call]. We help you book all three.

3

Submit the first grant

Amber Grant. Under 60 minutes of your time. We have already drafted it. You review, sign, submit.