GIRLS INCORPORATED OF COLUMBUS AND PHENIX-RUSSELL
Inspiring all girls to be strong, smart, and bold.
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Despite historic strides in the fight for women's rights and equality, girls continue to encounter significant obstacles to their well-being and success.
- 1 in 6 girls will not finish high school.
- 78% of girls are not happy with their bodies.
- More than 1 in 20 U.S. teen girls become pregnant each year.
- 1 in 4 girls experiences sexual abuse or assault by age 17.
- Only 62% of U.S. college women graduate
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
STRONG (Healthy)
Girls Inc. teaches healthy living so girls are able to make informed decisions, resist peer pressure, avoid risky behaviors, and take charge of their health:
- Girls develop assertiveness and refusal skills to avoid substance use and educate peers and younger girls on these issues.
- Girls learn about their bodies and identify ways and reasons to avoid early pregnancy and prevent STIs.
- Girls learn about media influences on self-perception.
- Girls embrace sportsmanship, positive risk taking, and team building.
- Girls build a holistic approach to stress management, nutrition, physical activity, and body image.
SMART (Educated)
Girls Inc. provides academic enrichment so girls increase their love of learning, improve performance in school, aspire to and plan for education beyond high school, and explore non-traditional careers:
- Girls receive homework help and tutoring in support of classroom learning.
- Girls boost literacy skills and take ownership of learning.
- Girls develop enthusiasm for and skills in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and view these fields as career options.
- Girls prepare for college, including course selection, campus visits, and securing financial aid.
- Girls explore job readiness through workshops and introduction to diverse women professionals in various careers.
BOLD (Independent)
Girls build life skills to set and achieve goals and increase resilience in the face of obstacles to live productive and fulfilling lives:
- Girls learn to earn, save, and spend money with confidence and understand economic concepts from the individual to global levels.
- Girls build leadership skills and create lasting social change through community action projects.
- Girls gain the skills and confidence to be future voters, candidates, and legislators with nonpartisan civic engagement activities.
- Girls learn to avoid and address violence in their homes, relationships, and communities
- Girls develop their voices and learn to positively advocate for themselves and others.
Where we work
External reviews

Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of girls served with holistic, high-impact experiences enabling them to grow up healthy, educated and independent.
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Women and girls, Children and youth
Related Program
STRONG (Healthy)
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Girls Inc. creates trusting relationships with adult mentors, as well as hands-on experiences for girls that address their ability to grow up healthy, educated and independent.
Number of financial literacy courses conducted
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, Children and youth, Women and girls
Related Program
SMART (Educated)
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Distinct count of Economic Literacy classes, by year. Economic Literacy is composed of the following classes: "Futures and Options", "Dollars, Sense and Me", "Equal Earners, Savvy Spenders", "E3".
Number of youth who report less likelihood to engage in criminal activity
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Economically disadvantaged people, Children and youth, Women and girls
Related Program
BOLD (Independent)
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
As we embark on a new strategic direction, building from our current position of strength, our goals for the future include:
- Our program framework will effectively deliver desired outcomes for girls, particularly those who live in low and very low income communities.
- We will consistently deliver a high-quality Girls Inc. Experience.
- We will grow the number of low income girls served with the Girls Inc. program model.
- We will expand our impact by becoming a leading advocate for advancing the rights and opportunities for all girls.
- We will have the necessary resources, systems, and supports to be data-driven, performance-oriented, and an external influencer.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Effectively deliver desired outcomes for girls: align with a network-wide approach to reaching girls with an intensive, holistic method that is distinctive to Girls Inc.
Consistently deliver a high-quality Girls Inc. Experience: align business practices and strategic goals to emphasize sustainability and risk mitigation, opening the way to reach new communities.
Grow the number of low income girls served with impact: ensure we are anchored in communities where girls who most need us are located.
Expand our impact by being a leading advocate for advancing rights and opportunities for all girls:
engage in advocacy at national, state, and local levels, with a focus on the needs of girls from low-income communities and girls who face multiple, intersectional challenges.
Ensure the resources, systems, and supports to be data-driven, performance oriented, and external influencer: utilize Outcomes Measurement Strategy to demonstrate measurable difference.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Girls Inc. of Columbus has strengthened its business operations and financial management, and actively leverages our relationship with the national organization. Changes include:
• Improved operational efficiency and more properly-focused functional roles.
• Better internal controls, consistent operations policies, and clear performance expectations.
• A new pay structure based on market research to ensure competitive salaries and a stronger ability to recruit and retain high caliber staff.
• Regular professional development opportunities for all staff at all levels.
• Improved financial management practices and policies to ensure transparency and facilitate timely management decisions.
The organization has embarked on an ambitious growth plan that will increase the total number of girls served with impact to more than 2200 by 2020.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
On a local level, Girls Inc. of Columbus successfully met 85 percent of its 2015-2020 strategic goals by January 2017 and ended the fiscal years 2016 and 2017 with modest revenue surpluses. In May 2016, the first new Executive Director in 35 years assumed leadership of the organization. Since then, operating and infrastructure changes have been implemented, local partnerships have been strengthened, and visibility of the organization has grown.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
Girls Inc. serves all girls between the ages of 6 and 18, with a primary focus on serving girls living in economically disadvantaged communities. More than 85% of the girls we serve live in households at or below federal poverty guidelines. Girls Inc. Centers are directly located in low-performing school attendance zones and low-income areas. In addition, school-based programs are delivered in seven Muscogee County middle schools.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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What significant change resulted from feedback?
In response to the feedback provided to us from The United Way of the Chattahoochee Valley, we recently reimplemented school-based learning within the Muscogee County School District. In the post COVID-19 world of education; literacy and math scores have plummeted due to the negative impacts of virtual learning. Thanks to our combined partnerships with our community leaders, we have been able to continue this service to local families to ensure our community daughters become strong, smart, and bold.
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We take steps to get feedback from marginalized or under-represented people, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We look for patterns in feedback based on demographics (e.g., race, age, gender, etc.), We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback, We ask the people who gave us feedback how well they think we responded
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
We don't have any major challenges to collecting feedback
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
GIRLS INCORPORATED OF COLUMBUS AND PHENIX-RUSSELL
Board of directorsas of 04/14/2023
Mr. Carmen Buckner
Aflac
Term: 2023 - 2024
Amie Guin
Board Treasurer - Synovus
Kia Chambers
Prestige Property Brokers
Sherricka Day
Aflac
Darcy Brito
Aflac
Tiffany McBride
Columbus State University
Sherpri Giles
St. Frances Hospitals
Amy Hudock
Synovus
Shantina Lovejoy
Board Secretary - Martin Army Hospital
Kathryn McCamy
TSYS
Ashley Woitena
Visit Columbus
Shannon Reynolds
Green Island Country Club
Latshia Stephens-Archibald
Muscogee County School District
Susan Berry
Retired
Cyndee Redmond
Synovus
Martha Ingram
Pratt & Whitney
Robert Landers
Columbus Civic Center
Tiffanee McDaniel
Synovus
Marvin Smith
Retired
Kimberly Wright
Muscogee County School District
Donna Baker
Aflac
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data
Equity strategies
Last updated: 02/14/2023GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We use a vetting process to identify vendors and partners that share our commitment to race equity.
- We have a promotion process that anticipates and mitigates implicit and explicit biases about people of color serving in leadership positions.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.