Annual Report 2017 Changing Lives
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LIVEBIG ANNUAL REPORT 2017 CHANGING LIVES I recently spoke with a young man who shared with me his struggles growing up in a Los Angeles neighborhood riddled with gang activity and drug use. He talked about the fights, Marie Logan the fear, and the feeling of hopelessness he sometimes felt. He spoke proudly of being successful, of “getting out of there” and all he had accomplished. He expressed how thankful he was for being able to overcome the many challenges he faced growing up. I asked him why he felt he was successful when so many of his classmates and neighbors were not. He thought for a moment and said, “Because I had someone in my life, besides my Mom and Dad, who cared about me, and I didn’t want to disappoint him. A lot of those kids I grew up with didn’t have that. I was lucky.” Stories like this remind me of how vital and important our work is. Decades of research show us what this young man knows, and what we all instinctively know, a caring adult friend in a child’s life can make a positive and long-lasting difference. Our volunteer Big Brothers and Big Sisters give of themselves every day to be that friend to a child. Our staff works tirelessly because they believe in the work we do. Our volunteer Board of Directors dedicate their time, talent, and treasure because they know the foundation of a strong healthy community begins with the health and wellbeing of its children. This past year we provided hope and friendship to well over 500 children through one-to-one mentoring relationships. This next year our goal is to serve 560 children, many who have been waiting for as long as a year for their Big Brother or Sister. This vital, mission driven work, is made possible by financial supporters who donate because they believe in what we are doing, and they know their donation is spent wisely and for a cause that makes a lifetime of change for our community. On behalf of the children we serve, THANK YOU ALL for being a part of the Big Brothers Big Sisters story! Marie Logan Chief Executive Officer Make a BIG Impact with a LITTLE Brother or LITTLE Sister and Receive an Arizona State Tax Credit! You can help make a real difference in the lives of Tucson’s youth by contributing to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tucson, a Qualified Charitable Organization for purposes of the Arizona Charitable Tax Credit. Your gift of up to $400, if you file your state taxes as an individual or head of household, or up to $800, if you are a married couple filing jointly, qualifies for a dollar-for-dollar Arizona state tax credit to offset your state tax liability and possibly increase your Arizona state tax refund! You do not need to itemize your Arizona state tax return and you can still claim your contribution as a deduction for your federal tax return! If you or your spouse work for or are retired from a company that matches employees’ or retirees’ gifts, you can DOUBLE the impact of your gift at no cost to you! Claim this tax credit in addition to any or all of the other four tax credits to which you contribute. That could be an overall tax credit total of up to $2,407 for an individual filing a single/head of household or up to $4,813 for a married couple filing jointly if you donate the maximum amounts for each available tax credit! Your tax-credit-qualifying gift stays local and helps Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tucson’s professional program staff match, monitor and maintain the one-to-one relationships between volunteer Bigs and their Littles, ranging from 6 years to 18 years of age. VISION & MISSION Our vision is that all children achieve success in life. To that end, our mission is to provide children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported, one-to-one relationships that change their lives for the better, forever. Southwest Gas promotes a culture of giving, BIG BROTHER MICHAEL AND LITTLE BROTHER ELLERY employee engagement and integrity. Giving back MATCHED 2017 to the communities, in which Southwest Gas serves, has always been ingrained in the company culture. Fuel For Life™ is a way for Southwest Gas employees A Match Fueled by Southwest Gas to contribute to their local non-profit organizations Normally, one goes to great pains to keep a match away from gas. Not so with through payroll deductions. Since Fuel For Life™ the perfect match of Big Brother Michael and Little Brother Ellery, who met during began in 2013, Southwest Gas employees have an ice cream social hosted by Southwest Gas. In the summer of 2017, Southwest donated more than $7 million of their personal Gas and their incredible employees hosted an ice cream social for Bigs, Littles, dollars to numerous charities in their communities. and Waiting Littles (enrolled children waiting to be “matched” to a Big Brother Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tucson was a proud or Big Sister). Everyone was having a great time and Michael Blimes, the new partner of Fuel For Life™ in 2017, receiving not Philanthropy Director for Big Brothers Big Sisters was thoroughly enjoying his just financial support for our programs, but also new assignment, playing Monopoly™ with Little Brother Ellery, when Ellery asked, volunteer hours. From Fuel For Life™ match events “Michael, would you be my Big Brother?” like an Ice Cream social to running our Kickball While Michael wanted to say yes right away, he knew that Big Brothers Big Sisters game at an annual picnic, Southwest Gas continues has a very structured, careful process of interviews, background checks and review to support Tucson’s kids through the positive impact by the professional Match Support Specialists to ensure the best possible match of one-to-one mentoring. Thank you, Southwest of Bigs and Littles. He said he would investigate it and was determined to be Gas and Fuel For Life™! Ellery’s Big Brother when he learned that Ellery had been on the waiting list for a year. Fortunately, Michael and Ellery were deemed a perfect match and it became official on August 1, 2017, and they have shared many fun activities since then. Southwest Gas employees have chosen Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tucson as one of their beneficiary organizations of their 2017 and 2018 annual Fuel For Life™ Employee Giving Campaigns. Thanks, in part, to the amazing generosity of Southwest Gas over 560 children will be matched to a Big Brother or Big Sister in 2018. As many of our Big and Little matches last a lifetime, Michael and Ellery’s match – and many others – may be “fueled for life” thanks to Southwest Gas employees! LIVEBIG ANNUAL REPORT 2017 1 PROVEN OUTCOMES FOR YOUTH The Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tucson Youth Outcomes Survey (YOS) substantiates that our organization’s mentoring programs have proven positive academic, socio-emotional, and behavioral outcomes for youth in areas linked to high school graduation, avoidance of juvenile delinquency, and college or job readiness. The YOS is a real-time measurement of our programs’ effectiveness and is unique to Big Brothers Big Sisters. The YOS demonstrates a depth and breadth of outcomes for our youth facing adversity in multiple areas of their lives, not just one. Big Brothers Big Sisters understands that what we achieve matters to our investors, partners, volunteers and the children and families we serve. 2017 YOUTH OUTCOMES REPORT 81% of Youth Outcome Area and % Improving or have Positive Outcomes Maintaining from Baseline to Follow-up in 2 or more Outcome Areas Social Acceptance 54.6% Finish High School 93.3% Attend College 61.1% Grades 66% Attitudes Toward Risky Behaviors 93% Parental Trust 67% Relationship with Positive, Special Adult 98% 0 20 40 60 80 10 BIG BROTHER KYLE AND LITTLE BROTHER ROBERT MATCHED IN 2016 2 BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF TUCSON Support & Other REVENUE FINANCIALS .63% 13.41% 25.81% EXPENSES 7.94% 1.71% 24.46% 8.18% 33.98% 83.88% Contributions $256,132 Government Grants 16,938 Foundations & Other Grants 337,243 Program $860,456 Special Events (net of direct donor benefit) 242,754 Management / Administration 83,958 Misc. and Investment 6,302 Fundraising 81,399 Donation Center Contributions & Rental Income 133,143 Total Expenses $1,025,813 Total Revenue & Support* $992,512 Net Assets at Year End $1,378,992 *$69,209 of temporarily restricted net assets released to fulfill multi-year grant obligation funded in 2016 not included in the total above. 81% of Youth have Positive Outcomes Our volunteers spent over 26,000 hours in one-to-one mentoring activities with Littles in 2017. This is a $641,940 in-kind value to the Big Brothers Big Sisters program each year. in 2 or more Outcome Areas COMCAST MAKES AN IMPACT BEYOND SCHOOL WALLS Beyond School Walls, funded by Comcast NBCUniversal and supported by Comcast employee volunteers, is a perfect example of business, non-profit, and education coming together to strengthen our schools, neighborhoods, and community. Comcast employee volunteers, Bigs, meet several times a month with their Littles, who are students from Prince Elementary to work together on homework, crafts, games and just have fun. Littles also enjoy field trips to see work in action at the nearby Comcast office. Big Brother Kyle and Little Brother Robert have been matched in the Comcast Beyond School Walls program since the 2016/17 school year. Kyle has gone above and beyond his commitment as a Big Brother, taking notice of Robert’s needs and doing all he can to fill them.