Discovering My Purpose

Helping Youth Lead Happier, More Meaningful Lives

Alpharetta, GA   |  https://www.discoveringmypurpose.org

Mission

To provide the resources and guidance for youth to discover their passion in life and connect them with others who share similar interests.

Ruling year info

2017

CEO

Laura Garrison-Brook

Main address

3260 Kingshouse Cmns

Alpharetta, GA 30022 USA

Show more contact info

EIN

82-1675762

NTEE code info

Youth Development Programs (O50)

Alcohol, Drug Abuse (Prevention Only) (F21)

Community Improvement, Capacity Building N.E.C. (S99)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990-N.

Communication

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

The majority of our youth is “adrift," as described by Professor William Damon, Director of the Stanford Center on Adolescence. This results in a variety of challenges for youth ages 14 – 24 years old, such as increases in suicide (now the 2nd leading cause of death within this age group), drug overdoses, anxiety and depression.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

Discovering My Purpose - High School

This program is offered in 14 50-minute sessions with a strong focus on neurobiology and psychology.

Lessons 1 – 5: Creating Fertile Ground
• Understanding the Brain
• How to Use Self-Directed Neuroplasticity
• Meditation/Mindfulness

Lessons 6 – 8: Understanding Yourself Better
• Discovering and Leveraging Your Strengths
• Finding What You Love to Do
• Review
• Midterm test

Lessons 9 – 10: Developing Grit
• The Importance of Failure
• How Purpose feeds Resilience and Perseverance
• How Your Purpose can Power your Studies

Lessons 11 – 12: Understanding and Embracing Purpose
• Definition of Happiness
• Power of Purpose – What it is and isn’t
• Fueling Your Life through Goals
• How to Benefit from a Mentor
• Making Change Stick & Kaizen Action
• Envisioning Your Authentic Life

Lesson 13 – 14: In Conclusion
• Review
• How all the pieces fit together
• Celebrating our Success
• Final Exam

Population(s) Served
Adolescents
Adults

Where we work

Videos

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Number of clients who report a greater sense of purpose and improved overall wellness

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Ethnic and racial groups

Related Program

Discovering My Purpose - High School

Type of Metric

Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues

Direction of Success

Increasing

Goals & Strategy

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.

Charting impact

Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

Our mission is to provide the resources and guidance for youth to discover their passion in life and how they can meaningfully contribute to the world.

Psychologists define happiness as being made up of pleasure and purpose, so purpose is at the heart of human thriving. By connecting with their individual sense of purpose, youth become aware of their internal compass to help navigate life. This purpose-driven “true north" grounds them and helps keep them on a life-affirming path.

Research on purpose has shown that those with a strong sense of meaning in their lives have less anxiety, depression, substance abuse and suicidal ideation.

Discovering My Purpose leverages Positive Psychology concepts such as meditation, growth mindset, grit, and self-directed neuroplasticity to help create a fertile ground for transformative change to take place. Through education and self-reflection, Discovering My Purpose empowers youth to discover, develop and use their unique skills to make meaningful contributions to the world.

The Discovering My Purpose program does three core things for participants: helps them understand how their brains work, what they are best at and what they love to do. For many, this results in a greater clarity about their life purpose. For others, they are equipped to continue seeking, with an understanding around how discovering their purpose will benefit their lives.

The program is taught either online or in-person, depending on the need.

The Discovering My Purpose program rests on evidence-based concepts and exercises. It has been formulated so that it can be easily led by each licensing organization.

The online program gives participants self-directed learning opportunities as well. This allows unlimited scalability for the program to reach a broad group of participants.

Discovering My Purpose has built out the program for both in-person and online learning.

The in-person class can be offered with different time frames - a one-day boot camp with some online follow up, a 10-hour in-person class or a 8-hour online class.

The online class (https://inpursuitofpurpose.thinkific.com/courses/in-pursuit-of-purpose) extends our reach. This is composed of 5 hours of recorded learning and a variety of activities and exercises.

We have experienced success teaching the class to foster and homeless teens. Our next goals are to expand our reach to bring this to more underserved youth, both in high school and in college.

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We shared information about our current feedback practices.

  • How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?

    To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals

  • Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?

    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 act on the feedback we receive

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback

Financials

Discovering My Purpose
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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lock

Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build 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.

Discovering My Purpose

Board of directors
as of 08/18/2021
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Laura Garrison-Brook

Discovering My Purpose

Term: 2021 - 2021

Robert Bales

Quaero

Julie Phillips

PaperClip

Mike Buchanan

TinRoof Filming

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • 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 ? No
  • 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? No

Organizational demographics

SOURCE: Self-reported; last updated 8/18/2021
info Candid has made improvements to the race and ethnicity options.

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
White/Caucasian/European
Gender identity
Female, Not transgender (cisgender)
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual or straight
Disability status
Person without a disability

Race & ethnicity

Gender identity

 

Sexual orientation

Disability

We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.

Equity strategies

Last updated: 08/18/2021

GuideStar 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

Data
  • We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
  • 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.
Policies and processes
  • 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.