Advisers Giving Back: Kristi Baker

Every year, retirement industry leader Kristi Baker gets the chance to help organize a golf fundraiser for people with intellectual and development disabilities as part of her board duties with nonprofit Same As U. And every year, she is moved by the energy and positivity she sees both among the students in the program and those donors who get to meet them.

“I am always impressed by how much [the students] enjoy and appreciate playing and participating,” Baker says. “The joy spreads to everyone who participates—it’s a special day.”

The annual golf fundraiser is just one way that Noblesville, Indiana-based Same As U raises funds for its mission to provide a college-like setting to adults with development disabilities. The organization, founded in 2019, embarked on a three-year, $1.65 million capital campaign in fall 2021 that continued through 2024 and drew donations from individuals, grant programs and local businesses.

At Same As U, students can participate in programming that includes math, science and history, along with recreational activities such as sports and games and life skills programs ranging from personal finance to job simulation.

Baker, founder and managing partner of CSI Advisory Services, a Hub International company, was approached by a client to be on the board when Same as U with founder Jennifer Sell, the co-founder and executive director. At that time, the nonprofit was serving five people in a donated church space.

Since then, with the work and support of Baker and many others, it has bought and renovated a building to create a dedicated campus, and it now serves more than 100 students, with plans to keep growing.

Fulfilling Aspirations

Imagined Same As U plan for campus expansion. Source: Same As U

Baker credits co-founders Sell and Sara MacGregor, along with the program’s teachers and other staff members, but she says the real drive to continue growing the organization comes from the enthusiasm and success of the students.

“People with disabilities have the same goals and aspirations as everyone else, and this program gives them the opportunity to see that happen,” Baker says.

The cost to attend Same As U is $50 for one day per week and $85 for two days, though assistance is available for families that struggle to make payments.

The fundraising with which Baker assists does help cover tuition costs, but it has also helped Same As U create its own campus, hire staff and offer its wide variety of programming.

Meanwhile, Baker says, the organization is now raising money to expand its campus to include a cafeteria for the students and more land for activities. She also says the organization is considering how it could add housing to support more full-time stays.

“We have big plans for the future,” she says.

Sense of Belonging

Baker notes that the program is somewhat unique in serving a critical role for people with special needs who, after high school, often have nowhere to go for continued community and to keep developing interests and skills.

“It’s incredible to see how much the students get out of the program, but also how much they put into it,” Baker says. “When they graduate high school, they see their peers and brothers and sisters going off to college or work, and they want the same things for themselves. This provides them with that opportunity.”

The adviser also stresses that the program focuses on what those with special needs can do, not what they cannot. Same As U gives people a chance not only to expand their interests, but learn and develop new ones, she says.

In a video on the Same As U website, one of the parents explain her son and their family’s experience with the program this way: “When young adults leave high school, there is a big void,” she says. “You really, as a parent, are not prepared for that, but you feel it once they are home for awhile. … Same As U has been huge in providing so much for him: just a sense of belonging, making friends, continuing to grow his skills—I feel like he has really advanced.”

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