NEW CHAPTER:Building Blocks of Success

VISIONOur goal is that someday, every child who needs a Friends will have a Friend for the long-haul. We believe that all children should have access to a long-term, consistent relationship with a caring adult who believes in them.

WHYChildren with complex trauma histories are more likely to face significant challenges at home, in school, and for life. Children in foster care are often left without a consistent, stable adult in their lives and most of the services available lack the intensity and duration needed to change their life trajectories. Our relationship-based model addresses the needs of these most vulnerable children, empowering them to move beyond their circumstances to become healthy, contributing citizens.

WHATWe pro-actively select kindergartners facing the most significant barriers to future success. Using a rigorous process, validated by research as effective for identifying children most at risk, we select directly from both the foster care system and schools. The children who qualify for the Friends of the Children program are youth whose exposure to multiple, compounding risk factors and adverse childhood experiences have already begun to manifest in behavioral and other challenges in kindergarten. Youth in ourprogram represent those facing the greatest challenges.

Friends of the Children has a unique ability to establish relationships with children who are the hardest to reach. And we maintain those relationships. We provide selected children with intensive, individualized guidance from full-time, highly trained, salaried mentors (Friends) for 12 ½ years, through graduation - no matter what.

WHOThe combination of a local champion and committed funders, supported by Friends of the Children’s National leadership to ensure successful establishment of a new, sustainable Friends of the Children Chapter.

WHENThese children need us now. With the right champion and funding commitment, we can begin selecting children at a new site within 6 months.

VISION: FRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN

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FRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN

ORGANIZATION OVERVIEWFriends of the Children began with just a few Friends and children in Portland, OR in 1993. Today, we are on our way to serving thousands of youth, including a growing number of youth in foster care, at fifteen locations in Boston; Harlem & South Bronx in New York; Seattle; Portland, Gresham, Central Oregon and Klamath Falls in Oregon; Tampa Bay; Chicago; Austin, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; San Francisco & Los Angeles in California and Cornwall in the United Kingdom. We also reach youth through our Collaborative Partners in Oregon.

Friends of the Children is a strong network of Chapters, Affiliates and Collaborative Partners, led by a National Network Officethat uses a shared service model in order to leverage strength and leadership. National raises funds to provide sustainable funding for the network, as well as technical assistance, branding and marketing, research and evaluation, and promoting the sharing of best practices, chapter fidelity, and innovation.

MISSIONFriends of the Children’s mission is to provide our most vulnerable children a nurturing and sustained relationship with a professional mentor who teaches positive values and has attainable expectations for each child to become healthy, productive members of the community.

SOCIAL VALUE PROPOSITION – RETURN ON INVESTMENTOur long-term, relationship-focused model has a proven impact on the most vulnerable children living in the highest-risk environments who would otherwise be a cost to society. Program graduates display an increase in educational attainment and reduction of teen parenting and juvenile justice involvement compared to their high-risk peers.

Our approach has shown a social return on investment to society that is 7 times greater than the cost of the program - a benefitof up to $900,000 over the life of each youth served.

FRIENDS OF THE CHILDREN IS WELL-POSITIONED TO SUCCESSFULLY REPLICATE OUR MODEL• Strong and growing cohesive national network • Randomized Control Trial (RCT) study on the model, with significant results expected at the end of the next three years• $7.5 million investment in an endowment, ensuring sustainability of National and thus the entire network• $4 million investment from the federal government through the Social Innovation Fund for scaling in action• Over 25 years of proven success in maintaining a diverse funding model with increasing revenue and new revenue streams• National Board of Directors with diverse expertise and commitment to expansion• Talented, efficient team of National staff members

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SUCCESS IN SCHOOL83% of our youth earn a HS diploma or GED;

50% have a parent who did not

AVOID JUVENILE JUSTICE SYSTEM93% avoid the juvenile justice system;

60% have a parent who has been incarcerated

AVOID EARLY PARENTING98% avoid early parenting;

85% were born to a teen parent

OUR MODEL HAS 25+ YEARS OF PROVEN SUCCESS

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ESTABLISH FOCUSED CHAPTER LEADERSHIP• Hire an entrepreneurial Executive Director

with experience and focus on fundraising• Invest in leadership development and

succession planning• Build strong Board that is committed to

fundraising

DIVERSIFY FUNDING FOR SUSTAINABILITY• Secure diversified funding including a blend of

public and private foundations, corporations, government and individuals

• Leverage multi-year giving opportunities• Optimize matching gifts to inspire investments

GROW EVIDENCE• Leverage network findings and invest in

Chapter-specific third-party evaluation

BUILD INTENTIONAL LOCAL COMMUNITY SUPPORT & IMPACT• Prioritize strategic community

partnerships/relationships to ensure youth needs are met and growth can be sustained

• Sustained year-to-year growth, especially in the beginning years, helps reach a critical mass that garners more funding and accelerates community-wide impact

CRITICAL ELEMENTS FOR SUCCESS

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At the end of Year 5, the following outcomes will show evidence of success:

YOUTH• Serving children selected from Schools and from

Foster Care• Youth are meeting interim outcome metrics as

defined by organizational scorecard, e.g. Less than 95% of youth missing 4 or less days of school

• As a result, youth are on-track to achieve long-term outcomes: graduate from high school, avoid the juvenile justice system, and avoid teen parenting

LEADERSHIP• Effective Executive Director is in place, raising

funds and awareness for Friends

SUSTAINABILITY• More than $1.5 million in private philanthropy to

match the seed capital• At the chapter level, Friends of the Children is

established as a proven intervention for youth facing the highest risk

WHAT DOES NEW CHAPTER SUCCESS LOOK LIKE?

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Friends Without Friends

83% 58%

Friends Without Friends

88% 75%

Friends Without Friends

98% 29%

Long-Term Outcomes for foster care youth with a Friend and without a Friend

7Friends of the Children

Meet Kevin. Kevin was born into a cycle of poverty, neglect and abuse.

From an early age, Kevin struggled to find enough food to eat and a safe home in which to live. People in his life told him that he wouldn’t amount to anything – that he would end up in prison.

But Kevin’s Friend Darren thought differently. Darren knew that Kevin had incredible potential. Darren showed up for 4 hours every week, every year, no matter what. Darren helped Kevin build the skills to achieve academic success and find his spark –computer science.

After 12 ½ years with Friends of the Children, Kevin graduated from high school with a 3.45 GPA and received numerous college scholarships. Now, he attends Oregon State University where he majors in Computer Science Engineering. Kevin acts in plays, is an RA, and can include Dormitory President on his growing resume. He is the first person in his family –in any generation – to attend college.

“Darren and Friends of the Children saved my life. I am excited about my future.”

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Shared services and network collaboration enable sharing of best practices and economies of scale:

•Research & Evaluation•Shared Database•Training & Innovation •Branding •Access National Funding

THE ROLE OF NATIONAL

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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NATIONAL AND CHAPTER

NATIONAL CHAPTERChapter Board of Directors

• Meet with and help form a diverse local Board of directors who actively give to the Chapter• Provide templates for all Board forms, Board

books, and meeting structure & schedule

• Build strong Board of up to 20 people for the Chapter

Funding • Identify ongoing opportunities for pass-through funding from national funding sources

• Meet with local prospects • Write grants • Engage with Child Welfare/key public officials• Share language, documents and data that have

resulted in funds for other sites

• Raise $1.5 million in pledges and gifts prior to opening the chapter• Develop sustainable funding plan• Engage with School and Child Welfare/key public

officials

Strategic Plan Share of lessons learned and best practices for Chapter strategic plans

Create 3-year strategic plan

Training Provide on-site training for:• Program model (e.g. Selection, New Friends

Training, Core Assets, ETO Database)• Fundraising model• Organizational infrastructure• Marketing (e.g. website, assets)

• Participate in training to fulfill commitment to program and brand fidelity/implementation of Friends of the Children model

• Learn how to train future Chapter staff• Provide ongoing professional development

opportunities for staff

HR Support in hiring the Executive, Program, and Development Directors and Friends

Work with National to understand best hiring practices and leads logistics of hiring

IT/Finance Provide pass-through services at-cost:• IT support• Accounting & Financial Services

Share IT/Finance at-cost

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RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NATIONAL AND CHAPTER

NATIONAL CHAPTERShared Database

• Provide shared network database to track youth outcomes

• Provide support via Database Administration Manager

• Use shared database (Efforts to Outcomes from Social Solutions)

• Pay minimal annual fee for database use

Evaluation • Create monthly, quarterly, and annual organizational network dashboard to focus areas of National support

• Shares site-specific third party evaluation results

• Contribute information to dashboards• Commit to chapter specific third-party

evaluation

Branding Lead network with over 23 years of Friends of the Children brand equity and provides:• Use & manage brand identity• Maintain current brand guidelines• Provide web host, website template & visual

assets

• Use Friends of the Children brand with fidelity to leverage brand equity

• Work with National to publish website; provides Chapter content

Network Lead communication across the network:• Monthly calls for Executive Directors, Program

Directors, and Development Directors• Annual in-persons meetings (National covers

costs of one each year): ED/DD meeting, ED/PD meeting

• Participate in monthly calls and in-person meetings

• Attend both in-person meetings (covers the cost to attend one)

• Contribute minimal annual affiliation fee to National

Research • Oversee randomized control trial study of Friends model & shares findings with sites

• Lead participation in Third Sector Capital Partners feasibility study to determine Friends’ fit as Pay for Success model & shares findings with sites

• Is able to share preliminary RCT findings with funders and community leaders

• Is able to leverage all research findings on Friends of the Children

• Invests in Chapter specific third-party evaluation

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NEW CHAPTER: TIMELINE TO LAUNCH

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Our timeline to launch new sites varies, depending on how quickly our regional champions gather initial funds. The following arerecommendations; some stages may overlap.

FIRST 90 DAYS________________________________________________________________________________________Inquiry, Research & Agreement• Sharing of overview of criteria for establishing a new site• Champion visits a Friends of the Children demonstration site (meets leadership, goes on Friend/child outing)• Champion and National connect with other funders in area• Champion begins to identify and engage with community leaders• Friends leadership determines that criteria are or can be met

Commitment and Agreement Signed• $1.5 million is committed• National Board approves establishment of new site• Chapter agreement is signed by Champion and Board of Directors• Relationships with School and Child Welfare officials are established, formalized• Champion begins building Board of Directors• Champion and Board seek additional donations• New site applies for independent 501(c)3 status

SECOND 90 DAYS______________________________________________________________________________________Friends of the Children Model Implementation in Collaboration with National• National development, program, and executive leadership visits new site to help:

• Hire Executive Director with fundraising expertise • Hire Program Manager • Hire Friends • Train Friends and staff• Select and enroll youth in program

• Program Director engages community leaders and builds support for the program in the focus communities• New site staff visit demonstration sites to continue training

ONGOING____________________________________________________________________________________________Evaluation• Criteria measured on regular basis – quarterly, monthly, and annual performance scorecard• Friends conducts site visits to evaluate implementation and fidelity, and to provide guidance through organizational development stages

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THANK YOU!

Thank you for considering yourself the potential champion that empowers and transforms the lives of our most vulnerable youth! We are excited to partner with you for generational change.

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