MENTOR Vermont
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
One out of every three young people will grow up without a mentor outside their family, this is the mentoring gap. We want to close the mentoring gap. We know that young people who have a mentor are much more likely to participate in after-school activities, be leaders in clubs and teams, volunteer and go on to college – in other words, to do things that help them grow up to be thriving adults. But one out of every three young people will grow up without a mentor outside their family.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Improve Quality + Quantity of Youth Mentoring
Partnering with mentoring programs to increase the number of youth and adults engaged in effective mentoring relationships. Services include training, providing technical assistance, circulation of resources, convenings, peer learning, DEI work, program evaluation, and one-on-one support to ensure nationally-recognized best practices are met.
Enhance Public Will
Spearheading statewide public awareness and mentor mindset efforts to share the impact and need of mentoring. Efforts include an annual statehouse celebration, leading VT advocacy efforts, elevating media presence, collecting and sharing data, and collaborating with organizations.
Strengthen Investment & Sustainability
Overseeing the Vermont Mentoring Grants: the only mentoring-specific grant funding in VT, providing over $300,000/year to agencies, ensuring programs have the necessary funding to meet youth needs. Additionally, we advocate for government funds; secure diversified support via foundations, corporations, and individuals; and build strong relationships with philanthropic changemakers to achieve long-term, sustainable change.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
MENTOR National 2013
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Total dollar amount of grants awarded
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth
Related Program
Strengthen Investment & Sustainability
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
MENTOR Vermont provides annual funding to mentoring agencies, investing in the creation and support of quality, long-term youth-adult mentoring matches.
Number of organizations accessing technical assistance offerings
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Improve Quality + Quantity of Youth Mentoring
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of convenings hosted by the organization
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Enhance Public Will
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
MENTOR Vermont hosts the Vermont Mentoring Symposium and the Vermont Mentoring Month Celebration each year.
Number of independent organizations served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Related Program
Improve Quality + Quantity of Youth Mentoring
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Context Notes
The number of youth mentoring organizations engaged with MENTOR Vermont's support services (funding, training, public awareness, technical assistance, etc.)
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?
Quality:
75% of programs are meeting the quality benchmark in NQMS system
60% of agencies are accessing comprehensive training catalog on an annual basis to improve their growth, development, and knowledge in the mentoring field
75% of NMRC TA requesters return year-after-year
Quantity:
Establish a plan to close the youth mentoring gap in Vermont
Build Mentoring Mindset into MENTOR Vermont’s work as a core component
Build capacity among mentoring agencies to support 2,500 youth-adult matches
MENTOR Vermont actively supports and promotes peer-based mentoring
Public Will:
The Vermont State Government values youth mentoring as a tool and resource for communities across the state
Implement a statewide awareness campaign
Increase the number of new mentor inquiries per year to support match growth
Conduct a statewide population poll, measuring public will and community buy-in outcomes
Investment:
Increase the amount of funding granted out to youth mentoring programs and ensure funds are sourced sustainably through a combination of private, state, and federal dollars.
Ensure all major MENTOR Vermont initiatives are sustainably funded
Sustainability:
Secure 6 months of operating expenses in reserve
Increase operational funding sources: individual, corporate, and foundation
Recruit board members to secure a board of 12-15 members that represent the diversity of the communities we serve and are engaged in our work.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
We aim to close the mentoring gap and drive equity through quality mentoring relationships so every young person in Vermont has the supportive mentoring relationships they need to grow and thrive.
MENTOR Vermont’s role is to unify and elevate the mentoring movement for our Vermont's young people.
Our work is about making sure no young person has to walk the path to adulthood alone. We demonstrate that positive mentoring relationships are necessary and critical to the healthy development of every young person. Our
role is to unify and amplify the youth mentoring movement, set standards to ensure mentoring is safe and effective, and connect more youth to mentors.
How do we do this? Research, training, recruitment, and advocacy:
MENTOR Vermont is the only statewide youth mentoring support organization in Vermont. We operate in collaboration with local youth mentoring agencies across the state to serve the mentoring field and young people throughout Vermont. We set proven standards and identify best practices; provide training and consulting to mentoring programs, schools, and nonprofit agencies;; advocate to expand mentoring locally and nationally;
lead public awareness campaigns to increase support and volunteerism; maintain a database for programs and host a searchable inventory of programs to connect volunteers with programs volunteers to search and connect to programs; and host an annual conference for participants to share knowledge and network.
We are working to achieve our strategic plan goals through the following focus areas:
Quality & Quantity: Partnering with mentoring programs to increase the number of youth and adults engaged in effective mentoring relationships. Services include training, providing technical assistance, circulation of resources, convenings, peer learning, DEI work, program evaluation, and one-on-one support to ensure nationally-recognized best practices are met.
Public Will: Spearheading statewide public awareness and mentor mindset efforts to share the impact and need of mentoring. Efforts include an annual statehouse celebration, leading VT advocacy efforts, elevating media presence, collecting and sharing data, and collaborating with organizations.
Investment & Sustainability: Overseeing the Vermont Mentoring Grants: the only mentoring-specific grant funding in VT, providing over $300,000/year to agencies, ensuring programs have the necessary funding to meet youth needs. Additionally, we advocate for government funds; secure diversified support via foundations, corporations, and individuals; and build strong relationships with philanthropic changemakers to achieve long-term, sustainable change.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Please visit www.mentorvt.org/about/#7 to view our most recent annual report which highlights our accomplishments over the last year.
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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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, 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 identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, 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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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 look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, 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?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection
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
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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.
MENTOR Vermont
Board of directorsas of 01/19/2024
Beth Vanderputten Perlongo
Redstone
Nate Formalarie
Vermont Department of Tourism & Marketing
Andrea Haddad
Ernst & Young LLP
Beth V. Perlongo
Redstone
Joshua Jarvis
Merrill Lynch
Amy Spector
Alice Urban
Tetra Tech
Phillip Foy
Encore Renewable Energy
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? No
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
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.
Equity strategies
Last updated: 05/12/2022GuideStar 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 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 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.